Did Costello say “Jeez” or “Jesus”? It doesn’t really matter, I’m just curious.
according to the official transcript, “jeez”. on msnbc they have someone in the overflow that sends them play by play. that person typed “jesus”.
on the Talking Feds podcast from monday morning before court, toward the end of the podcast they were discussing costello as a possible witness. they all thought it would be a bad idea.
they called that correctly.
for today we have costello back on the stand with cross exam. attending with mr trump will be:
- Donald Trump, Jr.
- Former acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker
- Former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi
- Republican Sen. Eric Schmitt
- Republican Rep. Daniel Webster
- Republican Rep. Dan Meuser
- Republican Rep. Ronny Jackson
- Republican Rep. Troy Nehls
- Republican Rep. Dale Strong
- Republican Rep. Maria Salazar
- Sebastian Gorka
- Chuck Zito
- Joe Piscopo
- Bill White
Several of Trump’s allies have been flocking to the Manhattan court throughout the trial to display their support for the former president.
when the courtroom was cleared the ones left were the 2 tables, and trump’s support rows.
there are rows behind the defendant for family, friends, and supporters. for the beginning of the trial the rows were empty.
How many of them are wearing Trump cosplay of blue suits and red ties?
it looked like a mix of ties when trump arrived and went on a rant of how he doesn’t rest.
and off we go!
… Uh, what?
(quick google)
Huh. Well then. “Today I learned…”
strange bedfellows.
cnn updates:
Donald Trump is watching Costello’s testimony while leaning back in his chair with his arm draped over the back of it.
Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger asks Robert Costello whether he discussed with Michael Cohen how connected he was to Rudy Giuliani at their first meeting at the Regency Hotel.
“That’s not true,” Costello says.
Costello says that he did not say that at the first meeting, but mentioned Giuliani later.
Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger shows the jury an email from Robert Costello to Michael Cohen on April 19, 2018, indicating that Rudy Giuliani was joining Trump’s team.
“I am sure you saw the news that Rudy is joining the Trump legal team. I told you my relationship with Rudy which could be very very useful for you,” Costello emailed Cohen.
Hoffinger went on to show Costello another email he sent to Jeff Citron on April 19, 2018: “All the more reason for Cohen to hire me because of my connection to Giuliani, which I mentioned to him in our meeting.”
“That was your email, correct?” Hoffinger asks.
“Correct,” Costello says.
Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger has asked Robert Costello if he was pushing Michael Cohen to retain him because he could provide a backchannel to Trump. Costello again denied it.
Hoffinger then showed Costello and the jury an email he sent to Cohen mentioning a backchannel.
“That was your email to Michael Cohen?” she asks.
“Yes,” Costello says.
“The email speaks for itself, right sir?” Hoffinger says.
“No, not quite. There are circumstances about that email which I would be delighted to tell you,” Costello says.
“That’s alright, let’s move on to the next one,” Hoffinger says.
The comment elicited laughs in the courtroom.
Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger continues to walk through Robert Costello’s emails to Michael Cohen, including an email in which Cohen said he could rest easy because he had “friends in high places.”
Costello confirms that “definitely refers to President Trump, yes.”
The prosecution is now showing a May 15, 2018, email between Robert Costello and his partner about Michael Cohen.
“Our issue is to get Cohen on the right page without giving him the appearance that we are following instruction from Giuliani or the president. In my opinion, this is the clear correct strategy,” the email reads.
Asked about the email Costello says,“No, not to follow instructions but to get everybody on the same page b/c mc had been complaining incessantly that Rudy Giuliani was making statements in the press.”
Another portion of the email reads, “We must reverse the Avenatti effect and restore this to a far more simple investigation of things that while they might not look good politically and nevertheless legal.”
Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger then asked Costello, parroting what he said yesterday on the stand, “the emails speak for themselves.”
Costello responded, “sometimes.”
Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger turns to another email from Robert Costello on June 13, 2018, which we’ve seen previously:
“Since you jumped off the phone rather abruptly, I did not get a chance to tell you that my friend has communicated to me that he is meeting with his client this evening and he added that if there was anything you wanted to convey you should tell me and my friend will bring it up for discussion this evening.”
Costello says of that email: “I was encouraging Michael Cohen, as I just explained to you in my previous answer, to express any of his complaints, and he had several, so that I could bring them to (Rudy) Giuliani, and get them worked out, whatever they were.”
Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger asks Robert Costello to look at an email.
She asks, “in this email aren’t you encouraging him not to cooperate, yes or no?”
“No,” Costello says
She showed a June 14, 2018, email the jury has already seen.
“It seems clear to me that you are under the impression that Trump and Giuliani are trying to discredit you and throw you under the bus to use your phrase. I think you are wrong because you are believing the narrative promoted by the left wing media. They want you to believe what they writing. Many of them are already writing that you are cooperating,” the email began.
“If you really believe you are not being supported properly by your former boss, then you should make your position known. If you really want certain things to happen, you should make that known,” the email continues.
Hoffinger pressed Costello, saying: “You also were asked by Bove (Trump’s attorney), ‘did you care about President Trump’s interest while you were dealing with Cohen?’ Your answer was, ‘no my obligation was to Michael Cohen.’”
“Yes and that’s correct,” Costello said in response to that question.
Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger is asking Robert Costello if he has animosity toward Michael Cohen.
“I don’t have animosity. I don’t think Michael Cohen is telling the truth,” Costello says.
“Yes or no?” Hoffinger follows up.
“No,” Costello says.
Costello is also asked about his testimony before a House committee last week and if that was an effort to intimidate Cohen.
“Intimidate Michael Cohen?” Costello repeats back.
“Yes, that’s my question,” Hoffinger says.
“That’s ridiculous, no,” Costello responds.
cnn update:
Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger just wrapped up her cross-examination of Robert Costello and Trump attorney Emil Bove is back up at the podium again.
Trump attorney Emil Bove pulled up the August 2018 email to Robert Costello and his partner Jeff Citron in which Michael Cohen said:
“Please cease contacting me as you do not and have never represented me in this or any other matter.”
Bove asks Costello, “From your perspective, was that true or false?”
“False,” Costello says.
Trump attorney Emil Bove asks Robert Costello to explain what he meant when he wrote to Michael Cohen he thought they had been played in that June 13, 2018, email.
Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger objects, but Judge Juan Merchan allows him to explain.
Costello says that he was referring to Cohen not signing the retainer agreement that his partner Jeff Citron had given Cohen after their initial meeting.
“Every time Jeff asked him about the retainer, ‘Michael did you sign the retainer yet?’ he gave us an excuse,” Costello said.
Bove asks, “Were you concerned you were representing Michael Cohen when he wouldn’t sign the retainer agreement?”
“Yeah, sure," Costello said.
objection! sidebar, objection sustained, back to redirect.
The Defense has rested and no rebuttal from the Prosecution. Donny is too chicken to take the stand
cnn update:
In a June 13, 2018, email that Trump attorney Emil Bove is reviewing, Robert Costello wrote: “You have the ability to make that communication when you want to. Whether you exercise that ability is totally up to you.”
“Was that pressuring Michael Cohen to do anything?” Bove asks.
“No, not at all,” Costello says.
“Did you ever pressure Michael Cohen to do anything,” Bove asks.
“I did not,” Costello says.
“Did you ever have control over Michael Cohen?” Bove asks
“Clearly no,” Costello says.
Trump attorney Todd Blanche has rested the defense’s case.
“The defense rests,” Blanche said.
Prosecutors have no rebuttal witnesses.
“Nothing further judge,” Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass says.
rc. no trump on the stand.
merchan is speaking to the jury about the schedule of events. that he prefers to have things in a cohesive manner. the jury should have the case by weds. he emphasized his instructions to not talk about or research the case. no googling. the jury has left the courtroom.
Final arguments on Tuesday. Deliberations on Wednesday
cnn update:
The jury has left the courtroom, and Judge Juan Merchan is off the bench.
“Thank you, I’ll see you in a week,” Merchan tells the jury as they depart.
Merchan says they would be back at 2:15 p.m. to discuss the charging instructions.
I wonder if Costello was trying to show his ability to “manage a courtroom” and overpower a judge, in a bid to be granted a judgeship “when” Trump is re-elected?
The jury instructions will be subject to appeal. This part is very important (especially as it relates to the underlying federal crime - how does the jury determine that?)
Meanwhile, the defense has nothing. Not that it’s that surprising, but obviously people like bodyguard Schiller and Weisselberg weren’t able to refute the allegations.
I think the jury will have no problem believing that things were as described by the DA. The issue is whether they agree that it constitutes a crime. Again, that’s why the “charging instructions” are going to be so critical.
Do you have any insight into what the defense was attempting to achieve with Costello’s testimony? As a layperson it felt like they were trying to convince the jury Cohen is an unreliable, flaky sleazeball, but all they accomplished by putting that boorish yoyo on the stand was to establish that everyone around Trump is a scummy loose cannon. Is that about right?
Not a lot of insight required. Apparently Trump ordered it, despite the misgivings of the legal team.
The way they implemented it, it looks like rather than any direct defense, he was mostly called to bring Cohen’s testimony into further question. Unfortunately for them, he also seems to have said things contradicted by his own statements and emails and been generally poorly behaved.
“Take back Joe Piscopo.”
-Tom Petty
Also, what a shocker that Trump said he would testify, but did not. This is my shocked face.
from cnn:
Jury instructions are the last thing the jury hears before they go into the room to deliberate. In them, the judge outlines how they should reach their decision and what they need to do to reach a verdict.
The time before the charging instructions are given is an opportunity for the lawyers of both sides to argue about things that they think should be told to the jury before they go into deliberate, CNN’s senior legal analyst Elie Honig said.
This afternoon when the court reconvenes, the judge will go through with both the prosecution and defense what can be included in the charging instructions, and what the judge will tell the jury about issues raised throughout the case, the former federal and state prosecutor said.
“It’s going to be very legalistic, but very, very important,” he added.
here are some numbers from cnn:
A total of 22 witnesses testified in Donald Trump’s criminal hush money trial.
Prosecutors called 20 witnesses over 19 days in court, totaling over 50 hours of testimony.
Defense attorneys called two witnesses over two days, with less than two hours of testimony.
as to your question cervaise, also from cnn:
CNN chief legal analyst Laura Coates noted that Costello’s purpose was to go after Michael Cohen’s credibility by calling him a liar, but didn’t succeed.
rc: trump wanted someone to be him or roy cohn on the stand. costello was it as he had previously impressed trump.
this did not go well, the jury was very good at keeping neutral. they did not react to much. they did react to costello. they did not like how he treated the prosecutor. the most defiantly did not like how he treated the judge.
5-dimensional chess theory: the defense team called Costello not because he would be effective, but because he would be a disaster. They wanted Trump to see what would happen if he got on the stand and started mouthing off to the judge, how badly it would go for him. Trump, on seeing Costello have to eat crow, finally decided not to testify. The defense sacrificed a pawn to save the king.
I’d be very curious as to how the two lawyers on the jury reacted to his behavior.
Wow. Part of me thinks that this might actually be what happened.
Re Trump overriding his legal team on Costello testifying - looking for the source of that, all I could find was this:
REID: No, this is unbelievable and I know bob Costello quite well. I’ve talked to him for about a decade. The fact that he would allow this happen on the stand, it suggests in many ways that he is probably posturing for the defendant. Remember, it’s the defendant that overrode his own defense attorneys. They said this is not a good idea. Do not put Costello on the stand.
He overrode them because he loved Costello’s performance in Congress last week where he attacked not only Bob Costello, but also this case, and the judge.
Is this anything more than talking heads/hearsay? (In other words, anyone got a better cite?)
j