I caught a Seinfeld reference (though probably not deliberate).
Fantastic arguments from Steinglass here. I wonder if Trump is, chameleon-like, changing from orange to various apoplectic shades of red and gray. 
I’d just love to see him blow up in some way.
Yep. they have to lean into the “Cohen is a scumbag because they’re all scumbags” angle. If Cohen weren’t a scumbag, he’d have never been in the room with Trump.
per cnn:
Joshua Steinglass now walking through the Dino Sajudin story, showing the source agreement documents with the former Trump Tower doorman and noting that National Enquirer publisher David Pecker agreed to pay more than normal for the story.
The prosecutor notes that Pecker did say that the Sajudin story, if true, would have been bigger than the death of Elvis.
But Steinglass notes that Pecker said he would have waited to publish the story until after the election because that was the agreement he had reached with Michael Cohen and Donald Trump.
“They were willing to wait because that would help the defendant’s campaign. And that was the only reason,” Steinglass says. “That is catch and kill.”
Remember: The jury on April 23 saw an agreement AMI, the parent company of the National Enquirer, struck with Sajudin, the doorman selling a story about Trump allegedly fathering a son.
The deal was to purchase the rights to the story, and the document is dated November 15, 2015.
Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass shows the jury a transcript excerpt in which David Pecker testified about the Dino Sajudin story deal “if the story got out to another publication or another media outlet, it would have been very embarrassing to the campaign.”
Steinglass again says, “this is not a normal legitimate press function.”
Donald Trump just leaned over and said something to his attorney Emil Bove.
Jurors are paying attention to prosecutor Joshua Steinglass as he delivers his closing argument.
Many of their eyes are trained on him. Others are looking at the monitors, which right now are showing text messages that are put on a chart by prosecutors.
Joshua Steinglass says the catch-and-kill scheme to suppress the Dino Sajudin story was election interference.
“This was overt election fraud,” the prosecutor says, telling the jury it was an act in furtherance of the conspiracy to interfere with the election.
“An illegal corporate campaign contribution made by AMI to Mr. Trump’s campaign and it was made in collusion Mr. Trump.”
Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass is now moving on to the Karen McDougal story.
He’s walking jurors back through text messages between Michael Cohen and Trump bodyguard Keith Schiller after Cohen learned about the potential story.
Steinglass is also quickly showing text messages and call logs showing that National Enquirer editor Dylan Howard was in the loop when Howard went to California to interview McDougal in June 2016.
“Understand I’ve got this locked down for you. I won’t let it out of my grasp,” Howard texted Cohen in June 2016, the messages show.
Steinglass says Howard wasn’t shopping around for a story. “Howard is acting in cahoots with a candidate to kill the story,” he argues.
Probably not. If you painted a chameleon orange, it wouldn’t (appear to) change colors either.
He’s probably halfway to an aneurysm because he can’t scoff or mutter or throw his hands in the air. Nothing he hates more than not interrupting an opponent.
per cnn:
Joshua Steinglass turns back to the call that David Pecker said he had with Donald Trump during a conference in New Jersey.
According to Pecker, Trump said Michael Cohen told him about Karen McDougal’s story.
“That is testimony from Pecker that during the call from the defendant, the defendant told him that he found out about the Karen McDougal story from Cohen just as Cohen said that he did, keep the boss updated,” Steinglass said.
He reminds the jury that Pecker testified Trump called McDougal a “nice girl,” suggesting that Trump knew her and Pecker also said on the stand that he believed the story of the affair to be true.
"Unless you believe that Pecker was lying, this call means the defendant knew Karen McDougal enough to describe her as a nice girl. Trump was discussing purchasing her story to keep it from being published. Trump told Pecker Cohen was the intermediary.
“Trump is deputizing Cohen right in front of Pecker so that Pecker knows that any go ahead from Cohen is a go head from Trump. This call makes it impossible for the defense to claim that Cohen was acting on his own here.”
Steinglass calls Pecker’s testimony “powerful evidence of the defendant’s involvement wholly apart from Cohen.”
Joshua Steinglass: my new hero! He seems to have got a good night’s sleep last night, God bless 'im!
I’m still entertained by the mental image of Trump rising up out of his seat and trying to strangle him with his tiny hands! 
I imagine the Twuthing tonight will be ferocious!
RBF in spades.
Rainbow Trump? So he supports the LGBTQ cause?
Seriously, given Rocking Chair’s excellent reports (I’ve only just been able to tune into CNN’s coverage, so they have been very useful; many thanks, Rocking Chair), I’m thinking that he’s really having trouble “holding it in.” It’s not over though, and he’s still got time to blow up.
Just wondering what we’ll hear during the Daily Post-Court Rant today.
I just want to second the value of @rocking_chair’s reports. I appreciate the distilled information.
per cnn:
Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass is going over AMI’s non-prosecution agreement, noting that it was admitted to assess David Pecker’s credibility and help provide context for surrounding evidence.
Steinglass says that Trump attorney Todd Blanche suggested that AMI agreed to the agreement because the company was in a rush to get another deal done as he questions Blanche’s logic. Judge Juan Merchan overrules an objection to the comment.
“Because they’re trying to close some other deal they’re going to admit to campaign finance violations? C’mon,” Steinglass says.
“Pecker was willing to sacrifice AMI’s bottom line in order to benefit Mr Trump’s campaign. There’s just no way to get away from this devastating fact.”
Steinglass says the $150,000 paid to Karen McDougal in her agreement with AMI “is the antithesis of a normal legitimate press function.”
“That is the definition of an unlawful corporate campaign contribution.”
Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass is now turning to the September 2016 recording with Trump about Karen McDougal.
He’s accusing the defense of “going to laughable lengths in a feeble attempt to cast doubt” on the evidence on Michael Cohen’s phone.
“Here’s a newsflash. People have used their phones,” Steinglass says, asking jurors how many times they have gotten a new phone and done a factory reset.
Steinglass also pushes back on questions from Trump attorney Todd Blanche about why Rhona Graff, Trump’s longtime assistant who was heard on the call, wasn’t asked about it. “She wasn’t even there for the important part of the conversation,” he says.
Meanwhile, Manhattan DistrictAttorney Bragg is watching Steinglass try to explain Cohen’s cell phone and the voice recording.
rc: i have never done a factory reset. but i am a bit cdo on deleting.
Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass plays the recorded September 2016 conversation between Trump and Michael Cohen about buying the rights to Karen McDougal’s story about an alleged affair with Trump.
“This recording is nothing short of jaw dropping,” Steinglass says.
“The recording shows the defendant’s cavalier wiliness to hide this payoff. He knew how much AMI paid for the McDougal deal,” the prosecutor says.
“You should take this recording to the back. You can play this many times and as loudly as you want to hear Mr. Trump say 150 on this tape. It’s your decision what the tape says,” he said.
“He’s trying to do it in a way that’s not trying to leave a paper trial. That’s the whole point,” Steinglass says.
Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass says that the tape shows “a presidential candidate actively engaging in a scheme to influence the election by reimbursing AMI for killing the (Karen) McDougal story. And that’s why they’re so desperate to discredit it.”
The court is taking a short afternoon break. The prosecution’s closing argument will resume after the break.
As the afternoon break is about to begin, Judge Juan Merchan asks the prosecutor: “How’s it going, Mr. Steinglass?”
He responds that he’s “about a third of the way through.”
For context: Steinglass is using a timeline graphic to take the jury through what prosecutors believe are the key moments in the conspiratorial schemes.
We’re up to November 29 - December 7, 2016, when AMI modified Karen McDougal’s agreement to let her respond to general media inquiries.
Well he hasn’t directly threatened the jury yet. There’s still time. (If he has done that I’ve missed it.)
Also another thank you to @rocking_chair for the frequent reports. I’m not participating a great deal in this thread but I am reading every single word. Especially RCs reports.
I won’t lie. For the most part I’ve been following this historically significant trial through @rocking_chair.
That suggests to me that it’s not going to end today, and the prosecution (whether Steinglass or someone else) will continue tomorrow, unless tomorrow is off because of the usual Wednesday break – which makes it even more significant. Either way, it pushes the defense arguments even further into the past in the jurors’ memories.
Someone on CNN mentioned that court may go long today, though they stopped short of saying so definitively.
But it’s Judge Merchan’s courtroom, and he makes the rules. I guess we’ll see.
I thought they said they’d be in tomorrow in the interest of wrapping this up because they want to get to deliberations.
per cnn:
Judge Juan Merchan is back on the bench.
He tells the courtroom there will be another break at around 5:30 p.m.
Attorneys have now approached the bench.
A court security officer was just asked to approach the bench.
Some context: The courthouse usually closes at 5 p.m.
per rc: y’all are making me blush. i have work stuff lined up on trial dates so i am tied to the computer. makes it easy.
msnbc, the commentators are saying that judge merchan is going with the jury as far as timing goes. it looks like they want to go through the summations today. get the charges tomorrow morning, then go for deliberations. that could change up a bit. it looks like merchan is going for the jury getting the case tomorrow.
merchan wanted weds. free for his cases. the jury can decide on its own if they want to come in on weds.
The judge said that the jury gets to decide the timing. They agreed to work late today and to come in tomorrow.
There haven’t been very many if any defense objections. He should be able to finish in the four hours that he promised