Manhattan Prosecutors file criminal charges for Trump re Stormy Daniels case - ongoing discussion here (Guilty on all 34 counts, May 30, 2024)

Politics & Elections
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other than an earlier report of them being attentive and some taking notes, not much colour on that. mostly on blanch, cohen, and trump.

it was mentioned that alina habba gave george conway a death glare at either the morning or lunch break.

from cnn update:

Trump attorney Todd Blanche is asking Michael Cohen about the interest of ABC News in Stormy Daniels’ story, inquiring about who Keith Davidson was speaking to at the news outlet about the story.

“I’m actually blanking on his name,” Cohen says, before remembering it was John Santucci.

Cohen said Santucci “used to come to the office quite a bit.”

So when Cohen heard ABC News through Santucci was fighting for Daniels’ story, he recalls he was surprised.

“I was shocked that John Santucci actually did, I meaning he had spent quite of bit of time following the Trump campaign and then of course he denied that they were involved," he said.

Todd Blanche asks whether Michael Cohen believed that Stormy Daniels was extorting Donald Trump.

Judge Juan Merchan overrules an objection.

“Yes, I recall making a statement like that,” Cohen says. “That they were extorting Mr. Trump.”

Now referring to the settlement with Stormy Daniels, attorney Todd Blanche asks, “Make no mistake, this was a completely legal binding contract, correct?”

“Yes sir,” Michael Cohen says.

Blanche referenced the agreement between “Peggy Peterson” and “David Dennison” — pseudonyms for Donald Trump and Stormy Daniels — asking whether these sorts of agreements are common.

“A non-disclosure agreement, an NDA, a settlement between two parties, happens all the time?” he asks. “Yes,” Cohen says.

When asked, Cohen confirms he still understands it to be a proper legally binding contract.

“And there’s nothing illegal about a settlement contract between two parties, both of whom have lawyers?” Blanche also asks. Cohen agrees.

there was a sidebar about the nda. mostly about ndas not covering crimes.

cohen is now testifing that he never had a legal retainer with the trump org.

rc: they are now going after the argument that because there was no retainer doesn’t mean he didn’t do legal stuff.

msnbc is confused by this line of questioning. the lawyers on the panel believe that the defence is now having cohen repeat his direct testimony.

cnn update:

Attorney Todd Blanche asks Michael Cohen about work he did for the “The Apprentice” or members of Donald Trump’s family.

Blanche confirms with Cohen again that he did personal work for Melanie Trump and Donald Trump Jr.

“And you never had a retainer agreement with those individuals did you?”
Cohen agreed.
“And the reason why you didn’t have a retainer agreement was because you didn’t need one.”
Yes."

Blanche then asks if he ever had a retainer agreement while working at the Trump Organization.

“I never had a retainer agreement,” Cohen says.

“It’s not just January 2017,” Trump’s attorney says. “It’s from the day you never went back to your law firm” and was hired by Trump.

Blanche then asks Cohen to confirm that under New York ethics rules, a lawyer doesn’t need a retainer agreement for a client.

For context: Blanche is raising this because prosecutors noted in their direct that Cohen didn’t have a retainer when he became personal attorney for the president in 2017.

rc:

blanche is not doing as well as he did before lunch. he is starting to go scattershot instead of the focused gotchaya he was doing earlier.

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Just as a side question to the attorneys in the thread:

Contracts signed with fake names are enforceable? If so, seems like a weird, non-intuitive loophole readily allowing all sorts of subterfuge.

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fron cnn update:

Trump attorney Todd Blanche is now bringing up a 2018 letter Michael Cohen’s attorney sent to the Federal Election Commission in response to a complaint from a watchdog group about the $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels.

The group, Common Cause, alleged Trump had violated campaign finance laws in making the payment.

Cohen was asked to read a section of the letter his attorney sent in response to Common Cause at the time, which said the $130,000 payment was a private transaction using Cohen’s own personal funds, and that, “Neither the Trump Organization nor the Trump campaign was a party to the transaction with Ms. Clifford and neither reimbursed Mr. Cohen for the payment directly or indirectly.”

Blanche asks Cohen if he asserts the statement is true because he used his own personal funds.

Cohen says yes, Trump either reimbursed Cohen from his own funds of from the revocable trust.

Jurors are following along, heads swaying back and forth between Blanche and Cohen, and then looking down at the document on the monitor as the two discuss the letter.

Judge Juan Merchan is stopping proceedings for the day.

Trump’s attorney Todd Blanche was ready to move onto a different area in his cross-examination of Michael Cohen.

The cross-examination is not over.

The jury is leaving and Trump is reading papers he’s holding close to his face at the defense table.

Michael Cohen is also leaving. He’s keeping his head facing forward as he exits through the side door.

rc:

house keeping is going on in the courtroom. cohen will be back on the stand on monday at 9:30. cohen has been on the stand for over 12 hours.

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This is very typical.

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I can’t imagine the sort of bladders everybody in the courthouse would have to possess if they took fewer breaks. Seems like they go at least 2 hours each time, so that’s about right to get up and take a stretch, at least.

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cnn update:

We’re not quite done in court, as the lawyers and Judge Juan Merchan still have some other issues to discuss.

Trump attorney Emil Bove is now up to discuss potential upcoming testimony from a campaign finance expert. Bove is focusing on testimony about the “general definitions” and terms related directly to this case, such as “campaign contribution.”

Bove says he wants to make sure the testimony doesn’t overlap with any potential instructions the judge will give to the jury on federal election law. Judges will often provide juries with technical definitions of complex subjects to help guide them while making their decision.

Trump is sitting back, looking up at Bove. He stopped writing on his papers to look up at his lawyer.

Donald Trump is looking at a white sheet of paper with the word “QUOTES” in all caps at the top.

rc:

blanche appears to have landed one good punch with the harassment call. but then later in the afternoon the volume of calls that cohen had was brought in and that, to me, lessened the blow. it could have been any of the october calls.

msnbc update:

bove says they want to educate the jury about how the fec applies certain provisions.

rc: huh, that may not work out well for the defence.

msnbc update:

blanche says he will finish cross exam of cohen on monday.

merchan is working on getting the scheduling down to avoid disruptions.

blanche says we anticipate reaching a decision on witnesses very soon, today.

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per msnbc:

merchan: please be prepared to begin summations on tuesday.

rc: judge is trying to move this along. so end cross and redirect on cohen monday…

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And admits to a certain realistic assessment as to the number of defense witnesses, including whether or not Trump himself will take the stand.

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Merchan absolutely does not believe Trump is going to testify then :slight_smile:

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from cnn update:

Prosecutor Matthew Colangelo is raising concerns about the potential testimony from a campaign finance expert who could be called by the defense.

Addressing Judge Juan Merchan, Colangelo says nearly all of the testimony offered by the expert “flies directly in the face of your extremely clear (pre-trial order),” which says an expert cannot testify about the interpretation and application of federal campaign finance laws.

As the defense alluded to earlier, the judge will issue instructions to jurors about how to define certain aspects of the law relevant to the case, and it’s important that those are clear.

Colangelo says the two sides presenting dueling experts to testify about campaign finance concepts would confuse the jury.

“Then we’ve got three people telling the jury what the law is, when we should only have one,” Colangelo says.

The prosecutor says there’s a reason expert witnesses are typically not allowed to testify on legal matters, noting that only the judge presiding over a trial should instruct the jury as to the law relevant to a case.

Judge Juan Merchan is now reading from his original decision on the scope of the expert witness’ testimony.

Judge Juan Merchan acknowledges the prosecution’s concerns about potential testimony from a campaign finance expert called by the defense.

Merchan says it sounds like Trump’s lawyers are hoping their expert can help build out the understanding of the Federal Election Campaign Act and the law.

All sides agreed they could not get into a “battle of the experts,” as Trump attorney Emil Bove called it, with defense and prosecution witnesses presenting potentially conflicting views of the law.

“We are definitely not going to go there,” Merchan says.

The defense will be limited on what they can elicit from the expert, based on pretrial rulings.

Judge Juan Merchan says he wants to avoid big breaks between summations, the jury being instructed and charged and the deliberations.

“The deliberations should follow immediately after the jury charge,” Merchan says. "It’s not ideal for there to be a lapse in time between summation and jury charge.

Defense attorney Todd Blanche said he expects to finish his cross-examination of Michael Cohen before the morning break on Monday.

Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger said she will have under an hour of redirect.

Judge Juan Merchan said he will look into starting early some days, and added that he thinks they could definitely stay late.

Attorney Todd Blanche said there has been no decision on whether Trump will testify in his criminal hush money trial.

Judge Juan Merchan says parties should be prepared to give summations on Tuesday “if we do wrap up on Monday.”

He says if the testimony concludes Monday, a charge conference would take place the same day.

A charge conference is held to discuss the instructions to be given to the jury.

Trump attorney Todd Blanche said the defense could still call a rebuttal witnesses, but if they do, they won’t be long.

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I hope her gave her a big smile while scratching his eye with his middle finger. Death glare indeed.

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The defense witness would not be be rebuttal, The state could call a rebuttal witness, but only if the defense presented some testimony.

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So you can’t have a rebuttal without first having a buttal.

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I believe Cohen said he told Trump “it’s all taken care of”. That’s, what, 3 or 4 seconds, tops?

Because that focused “gotchaya” is all he has.

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How much “coaching” are prosecutors able to give a witness once the witness has started testifying? I’m not asking about when the witness is actually in the box, when the answer is “none”. But can they pull Cohen into a room during breaks and give him tips? Meet with him this weekend to rehearse the rest of cross and redirect?

Are there any restrictions, both from a legal and ethical standpoint?

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If that was literally all he said I wonder if the prosecution will clarify on rebuttal?

It may be worth to not dwell on it. The defense has helped them by sandwiching this genuinely important point between hours of pointless denial and obfuscation.

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Or just clarify what exactly did happen after that prank call “ok fuckwad you’ve shit the bed here. What exactly happened that night. Did you bullshit us or not?”. Then plan their rebuttal accordingly, if he convinces them he did really talk to Trump, then they can pretty effectively torpedo this defense point, otherwise just leave well alone and hope the defenses scattershot strategy torpedos themselves.

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Yes to both.

In standard jury instructions that I’m used to, the jury is told that it is entirely appropriate for a witness to talk to a lawyer about their testimony.

From CNN

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It’s probably a surprise to no one, but that answer varies by judge and jurisdiction. I had heard of no “rule” saying you couldn’t do that for the first 20 years of my practice. Then one day a federal judge said something like “of course, there will be no contact between the lawyers and the witness until the witness is excused.” They acted like this was a well known and universal rule. It isn’t. But I might be the rule in NY courts for all I know.

ETA: Unless some judge tells me otherwise, we routinely work on our witnesses over night and even during breaks.