Killed joke post. I thought I was in another thread.
So I’m a bit skeptical this would be a good idea. The timeframe it’s not completely unbelievable but it’s tight. He would need to do all this in 90 seconds:
- Answer phone exchange pleasantries
- Explain what happened during prank call
- Explain how he tracked down caller, and how It was kid
- Ask for whatever action he wanted taken (not sure what that was?)
- Ask to speak to trump
- Get passed to Trump
- Pass on the update about Stormy Daniels payments to trump.
I am kinda surprised, if the prosecution is really convinced that Cohen is telling truth they didn’t confirm exactly how he passed on the update, like the exact words. If he says it’s just like four words something like “The matter is sorted” that makes it much more plausible IMO
“Hey John [don’t know his name], that kid is still pranking me, I’ll message you with his number and a screenshot of the messages for you to look into. Is the boss around?..Hey boss, it’s taken care of…yup, $130k”
You don’t have to exchange pleasantries or bring people up to speed if they already know what you’re calling about or will be able to figure it out easily enough. There’s plenty of times where I call someone and say little more than “Yup, Home Depot has one, I’ll be back in 20 minutes” or “I just talked to Sam, he said you need to call Sarah and ask her”.
Though I thought all that had happened the same day (the prank calls had happened previously but the kid accidentally not hiding his number and allowing Cohen to call him and find it was just a kid, had all just occurred). Explaining all that is not a 5 second conversation.
Again it’s not totally unbelievable but tight. I’m not sure why the prosecution, if they do really think it happened, didn’t clarify exactly the timing of what as said and how it happened in the time shown. And if they aren’t sure if Cohen is telling the truth, why bring up the matter? (and have all the fuss of getting the photo entered into evidence which would bring it to the front of the jury’s mind)
I take this to mean that if Trump testifies, he’s afraid that he’ll reveal even more unrelated criminal acts he committed in the past.
8 years down the road, testimony about exact wording of the conversation might seem a bit suspect.
Cohen already testified to what he said to Trump on that call. It’s maybe 1 or 2 seconds of discussion.
From CNN
Having done radio dramas for a number of years I can tell you that a script using 12 point font with double spacing and one inch margins takes about 60 seconds to read. So whatever you can type on a page and half in that format is what can be conveyed verbally. That, by the way, is more than enough time to conduct the information griffin1977 identifies. Mrs. Cardigan and I ad libbed dialogue conveying the exchange described and had over 20 seconds left over to exchange pleasantries.
As a fun exercise everyone should try it at home.
Looking through my phone logs. Most of my calls are under a minute. Usually, when I’m running errands, I’ll call my kids to ensure their cleaning is getting done, the dog is being taken outside, and the laundry is moving.
Laundry instructions usually includes minute details about how to run the same load they’ve done repeatedly for the last couple of years and has not changed in that time, but they’ve somehow forgotten.
Back in the late 90s when internet in the office was new-ish one of my coworkers was spied looking at a particularly explicit pornographic image for something like 30 seconds. Of course HR got involved and called in his manager (who related the story to me years later without divulging who it was).
They said to HR, “Maybe it was a mistake. It’s only 30 seconds”. The IT person in the meeting pulled up the image and said, “One Mississippi, two Mississippi….”. At eight or nine the manager said, “ok, that’s enough”.
90 seconds is a while.
it was one of the few things that i do that would have that measurement of time. and it is a long time.
i just looked at the time on the infamous recording that cohen did with trump. the one that has been played over and over and over. that recording runs around 15 seconds.
a phone call that happens after a text prompt doesn’t need a lot of pleasantries. cohen is a fast talking new yorker, he has worked with both of these people for quite some time. there would be a shorthand, and codes.
To be or not to be
…
And lose the name of action.
Properly delivered, without all the ponderous dragging out, Hamlet’s most famous soliloquy should take about 90 seconds. It might be a little difficult for a modern audience to follow, but 2 minutes to too long.
now that would make quite the statement in court.
Here’s the Gettysburg Address being read aloud. 1:50, so not much longer than the 90 seconds mentioned. And the person reading isn’t rushing, and includes at least a few pauses.
Playing this in court would be quite a “fuck you” to Trump.
Could the prosecution play several differently scripted versions of plausible conversations that show how much could be conveyed in the time available? I can see how that would be useful, but also prejudicial.
I cannot believe this would be allowed. For starters no new evidence can be introduced at this point right? So it would have to be the prosecutor reading the script during summation. Which doesn’t sound very compelling, even if it was allowed.
Introducing “plausible” conversations wouldn’t be allowed during trial either.
Is this infamous phone call the one and only time Trump was advised about the payoff? Is that why it’s such a big hairy deal?
I seem to remember a number of other times the payoff was discussed but I could be wrong.
I certainly was on Fox, they were doing a whole ‘Cohen torn to shreds’ bit after that.
I’m with you. I’m not sure how this trial got to point where things seemingly hinge on a single 90-second phone call.
Again, early in the trial, some commentators were acting like Cohen’s testimony wasn’t really needed to make the prosecution’s case – that Cohen’s testimony was a nice-to-have bonus, not a sine non qua. I guess that those takes can be chalked up to “eyeballs and clicks!”, though.