Just to repeat the obvious, “not ever having sex with her” is not in any way a defense to these charges.
Tracey Menzies holds up a copy of Trump’s book “Think Big: Make it Happen in Business and Life” so the courtroom can see it.
She says Trump narrated a part of the audio book.
Tracey Menzies notes Trump’s name is larger than his co-author, Bill Zanker.
Different sections of the book are written by the different authors, Menzies says.
“Donald Trump’s words, or at least the writing, is in a serif font, and Zanker’s is in a non-serif,” she says.
The jury is now seeing excerpts from the book “Think Big: Make it Happen in Business and Life.”
Tracey Menzies is reading an excerpt being shown to the jury:
- “I used to say, ‘Go out and get the best people, and trust them.’ Over the years I have seen too many shenanigans, and now I say, “Get the best people, and don’t trust them.’ Do not trust them because if you don’t know what you are doing, they are going to rob you blind.”
- “As a matter of fact, I value loyalty above everything else—more than brains, more than drive, and more than energy.”
- “I just can’t stomach disloyalty. I put the people who are loyal to me on a high pedestal and take care of them very well. I got out of my way for the people who were loyal to me in bad times,” reads an excerpt.
- “I think the reason we have so many loyal people is that we reward loyalty and everybody knows this. It has become part of the corporate culture of the Trump Organization. People like Allen Weisselberg and Matt Calamari are great and have proven themselves over many years.”
The portions read by Menzies for the court include:
- “My motto is: Always get even. When somebody screws you, screw them back in spades.”
- “When you are wronged, go after those people, because it is a good feeling and because other people will see you doing it. Getting even is not always a personal thing. It’s just part of doing business.”
Prosecutors have wrapped up their direct questioning of Tracey Menzies. The defense team is now starting the cross-examination.
Trump attorney Todd Blanche is asking Tracey Menzies to confirm generally book covers are designed and developed for sales.
She confirms they are designed “to help sell the book, but they’re also done very closely with the author.”
Blanche follows up and asks whether she picked the excerpts to read or if the prosecution did. “I did not pick them,” Menzies says.
Cross-examination of Tracey Menzies is over and she is off the stand.
She testified for about 14 minutes.
onward to ms westerhout.
Madeleine Westerhout is smiling and speaking toward the jury as she’s describing that she worked for former President Donald Trump at the White House.
“I am now, yes,” she says when asked if she was nervous to testify, letting out a small giggle.
Trump gave a big smile, lifting his chin and looking at Westerhout when she said she was nervous.
Westerhout looked at Trump and smiled after she spelled her name.
More context: She left her role at the White House after she revealed details about his children at an off-the-record dinner with reporters in Bedminster, New Jersey. From her desk directly outside the Oval Office, she observed almost every coming and going over more than two and a half years.
Madeleine Westerhout is being asked about the “Access Hollywood” tape.
“At the time I recall it rattling RNC leadership,” she says.
Madeleine Westerhout is asked if there were discussions about replacing Donald Trump on the presidential ticket after the “Access Hollywood” tape.
“It’s my recollection there were conversations about how to, if it was needed, how it would be possible to replace him as the candidate if it came to that,” she says.
Correct. As far as I know, there is no evidence of the encounter, it’s simply Trump’s word against Daniels. So it’s a he-said, she-said thing.
If she had a story and he was worried someone would believe her, maybe because they had been seen socializing together at events, then even if the story wasn’t true it could damage him. And he might still be motivated to pay her off to shut her up and protect the election. The truth of the allegation has no bearing on the merits of this case because there is no way to prove it either true or false.
If the truth of the allegation was a requirement for conviction, then they wouldn’t have even gotten an indictment (my WAG) since there is no way to prove that beyond a reasonable doubt.
Not only do I think the cross of Stormy was ineffective, it may have solidified in the jury Donald’s attitude of self-entitlement, as it clearly was an extension of his attitude towards her. The jury may later cite it as the point where they decided that, yes, he really was as sleazy and dishonest as described.
Weren’t these payoffs included on the Trump org ledger? Or is the defense here that Donald’s payoffs were personal, and so he didn’t fabricate business records?
(If so, I’d think that the rejoinder is that, by nature of how it received invoices and issued paymets, a big part of Trump org’s business was devoted to managing Donald’s personal finances. And so those personal bills were still Trump org records)
Aside from adding my thanks to @rocking_chair for the play-by-play …
Playing the home game, while engaged in other things, it’s easy and tempting to pay rapt attention to the salacious crap and half-listen to the dry, dull, administrative, clerical, and documentary stuff.
I hope and assume that this is either not the case with the jury, or that the opposite is true for them.
The dull stuff is going to be critical in this case. It’s always been my perception that juries generally take their role very seriously and listen attentively.
Everything I’ve/we’ve heard about the dry and the documentary so far … I love.
As an inveterate Trump-hater, that is.
I’d take hope because:
But wouldn’t that still leave Trump on the hook for misdemeanor penalties? By contrast, saying that Cohen paid Daniels on his own initiative and then billed Trump for legal services without mentioning that he was reimbursing himself for that out-of-pocket hush-money payment — wouldn’t that, if believed, let Trump sidestep even misdemeanor penalties?
per cnn update:
Trump is craning his neck to look at Madeleine Westerhout as she testifies.
Westerhout, who sat the closest to Trump in the White House through much of his presidency, adjusted her language at one point, first referring to him as “President Trump” and then correcting herself to say “Mr. Trump.”
Madeleine Westerhout recalls her then-boss asked her if she wanted a job sitting outside the Oval Office.
With a big smile looking at the jury Westerhout said, “Yes I do. That sounds like a really cool job.”
Donald Trump is sitting back in his chair watching Westerhout and smiles again as she describes being offered the job.
“I knew I was going to sit outside the Oval Office and I didn’t really care what my title was,” she testifies.
A map of the first floor of the West Wing is being shown to the jury.
Madeleine Westerhout’s office was in the “outer Oval Office,” which is where the president’s secretaries or assistants sat, she says.
Madeleine Westerhout testifies that in the first few months of the Trump presidency, no one else sat closer to Trump.
Westerhout adds that Hope Hicks also sat in the area with her during her time working in the White House.
Madeleine Westerhout’s title was special assistant to the president and executive assistant to the president, she testifies.
Her focus was the president. Prosecutor Rebecca Mangold asks whether that was her only focus. “I tried to have it be my only focus,” she says, with a bit of a laugh.
Westerhout has glanced in the direction of the defense table a couple times as she’s testified.
She worked in the White House until August 2019, for about 2 and a half years.
“At some point, I switched to the desk that was further away, but it had a line of sight to the Resolute desk. That was more helpful for the president and I to communicate,” she said.
Trump she said, “liked speaking to people in person or on the phone.”
Jurors are paying attention this testimony. Their eyes are bouncing from the prosecutor to to Madeleine Westerhout as she answers questions.
Madeleine Westerhout says that when calls were screened for the president, they would typically come to her if Donald Trump was in the Oval Office.
Trump preferred hard copy documents, his former close aide Madeleine Westerhout testifies.
She says Trump did not use a computer or have an email address to her knowledge.
Madeleine Westerhout is providing details about working for the former president.
She says they kept the resolute desk “pristine” for meetings and Trump spent his time going over documents in the dining room.
“It was really his working office,” Westerhout says.
Trump preferred to sign things himself, Madeleine Westerhout testifies.
“He liked to use Sharpies or, I believe, a Pentel felt-tip pen,” she says.
Asked if Donald Trump paid attention to details, former assistant Madeleine Westerhout says, “In my experience, yes.”
“To my understanding, the president knew where things were and he kept things organized,” she says, adding that he “had a lot of papers” and often brought a lot of things back and forth between the residence, Air Force One and Marine One.
Madeleine Westerhout confirmed that in her experience Donald Trump typically liked to read things before signing them.
Prosecutor Rebecca Mangold asks ex-Trump assistant Madeleine Westerhout whether the former president used social media while in the White House.
“He did, yes,” Westerhout says, adding that he posted tweets himself.
Former White House Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Scavino also had access to Trump’s Twitter account, she testifies. She does not believe anyone else had access.
Scavino might post an event video recap without Trump seeing it, but Westerhout said, “The president did like to see the tweets that went out.”
“My recollection there were certain words he would like to capitalize, words like ‘country,’ and he liked to use exclamation points,” Westerhout says.
Trump would review hard copies of the post drafts and make handwritten edits, Westerhout continues. She’d fix them and reprint it with his edits.
rc note:
argh! get of my team, trump.
“It’s my understanding that he liked to use the Oxford comma,” Madeleine Westerhout says.
Trump smiled at that comment.
I really, really hate that Lake Tahoe had to get dragged into this.
Godfather Part II all over again.
The statute of limitations for a misdemeanor offense has expired.
The jury is now seeing a text thread between Madeleine Westerhout and longtime aide Hope Hicks from March 2017.
“Hey - the president wants to know if you called David Pecker again?” Westerhout wrote.
The former Trump assistant says she doesn’t remember the events surrounding the text, and adds it wasn’t unusual for her to send a message like this to Hicks.
Remember: Hicks testified earlier in the trial, and this exchange came up during her testimony as well.
Pecker is a key figure for his role in helping “catch and kill” the story from Stormy Daniels about Trump.
Madeleine Westerhout emailed Rhona Graff in January 2017 asking her to send a photo to Allen Weisselberg, who was the chief financial officer for the Trump Organization.
“He sent to his family and wanted Allen to see it as well. First time boarding Air Force One!”, Westerhout wrote in the email, referring to Donald Trump.
Prosecutor Rebecca Mangold is asking about Madeleine Westerhout’s understanding of how Donald Trump’s personal expenses were handled.
“Checks were sent from the Trump Organization to an employee at the White House and I brought them in for the president to sign,” Westerhout testifies.
She says she would take a manila folder with a stack of checks to Trump when she received them. “I didn’t really dig around in the folder but I believe there were invoices attached to some of the checks sometimes,” she adds.
She says it was “consistent” that the checks were regularly sent, adding, “maybe twice a month.”
Asked how many checks she would receive at a time, Westerhout says, “Sometimes there was one, sometimes there was a stack, maybe half an inch thick. I never counted them.”
“I can’t speak to the ones I didn’t see him sign,” she says.
Westerhout said after Trump signed the checks, “he would give the folder back to me” and she would put them in a pre-labeled FedEx envelope to send back to the Trump Organization.
Prosecutor Rebecca Mangold has Madeleine Westerhout read a handwritten note Rhona Graff wrote on an invoice for the Winged Foot Golf Club asking if he wanted her to look into suspending the membership for 4 to 8 years.
Written in black sharpie: “Pay–” At the bottom, “ASAP,” which is underlined in sharpie next to Trump’s “short signature,” Westerhout says.
This was included in the stack of checks so he individually approved the invoice, Mangold confirms with Westerhout.
Winged Foot is a golf course in Westchester County, New York.
Another email is being displayed in court. This one is between Madeleine Westerhout and longtime Trump assistant Rhona Graff about buying a picture frame for a family photo.
“Please note that the frames are on the pricey side… about $650 minus %15 discount. (Does) DJT wans to spend that much?” Graff emailed Westerhout.
“We may have made the executive decision without his approval,” she says, adding, “sorry sir” — directed at Trump — and shrugging her shoulders.
She says “I don’t recall any other instances like this” where Trump weighed in on expenses at this price point. It was for a photo of his mother, Westerhout recalls.
Prosecutor Rebecca Mangold asks Madeleine Westerhout if she recalls the Stormy Daniels story coming out.
“I remember he was very upset by it,” Westerhout says of the story.
Madeleine Westerhout recalls that Donald Trump and Michael Cohen spoke around the time of the Stormy Daniels story.
the direct has ended, cross is happening now, with court to end soon.
When asked, former Trump assistant Madeleine Westerhout testifies that Trump is very close to his family and his wife.
She’d see Trump talking on the phone with his wife when he was in the Oval Office, Westerhout says.
She also recalls hearing him say, “Honey come over to the window.” The former assistant explained there was a window in the residence where Melania Trump could wave to the president in the Oval Office.
They’d stand by the window and wave to each other, Westerhout said, smiling.
The jury is being dismissed for the day.
There will still be motions from Trump’s side to go through after the jury leaves.
rc: the defence is starting to go for the “won’t someone think of the family” theory.
trial to continue at 9:30 am tomorrow.
AFAIK no. As the prosecution has only listed felonies as charges in this case, but again IANAL
Yeah that but is coming from Trump I’m sure (for the umpteen millionth time: WORST CLIENT EVA!). But as a general defense strategy will it hurt them to suggest multiple reasons he should be found guilty that flatly contradict each other?
correct. the misdemeanors have crossed the limitations time.
the hearing has started on the 2 issues.
one down, the people have decided not to call karen mcdougal.
ooooh, good try defence, try having your client respond in court, under oath.
“We ask that President Trump be allowed to respond publicly to what happened in court the past day and a half,” defense attorney Todd Blanche says to Judge Juan Merchan.
He’s specifically asking for Trump to be permitted to comment on Daniels’ testimony and her story, in part to respond to media coverage.
In making his argument, Todd Blanche says Donald Trump will be “asked repeatedly over the next week or two about these new accusations of consent and of what happened that night.”
“He is not allowed to say ‘I did not do that’” for voters who are seeing this coverage, the attorney argues.
Speaking for the prosecution, Chris Conroy is saying that “it seems as though the other side almost lives in an alternate reality.”
“If somebody wants to respond to something said in this room, that can happen in this room. It’s not supposed to happen out there,” Conroy says.
Conroy says there are people saying things "with the defendant in mind. I’m not in the position to say at his direction or anything close to that.
I suspect that the jury will notice that, as President and with pretty much the full choice of any assistants in the land, he chose some model-looking ladies; one of whom doesn’t come across as necessarily the most serious nor capable of all people that you could ever find.
The prosecution will not be calling McDougal making one of the motions moot.
The Defense wants Donny to have permission to publicly respond to Stormy’s testimony.
Prosecution says that any response can happen in the courtroom
Hadn’t known that; much obliged!