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#KeithDavidson stressed that #KarenMcDougal did not want to go public in telling her story, & he said that the competing deal w/ABC would have forced her to tell it.
Her goals were to rejuvenate her career, make money, & avoid becoming “the scarlet letter,”.
“Was AMI attractive because she would not actually have to tell her story?” Steinglass asked.
Davidson said, “That was one of her stated goals.”
#Trump #TrumpTrial #criminal #law
Howard to Davison, "Talk 1st thing, I will get you more than ANYONE for it. You know why..."
Davidson said he didn't know if he had a "clear understanding at the time" of Howard's text.
"But I knew that Dylan’s boss #DavidPecker & Mr. #Trump were longtime friends & had a former business relationship," Davison continued.
"Mr. Pecker published Trump magazine, & at the time, AMI had announced, …that they had endorsed Mr. Trump’s candidacy," Davidson continued.
In texts between #DylanHoward, the editor of The #NationalEnquirer, & #KeithDavidson, Davidson tells Howard, that #KarenMcDougal’s story “should be told” & Howard responds “I agree.” The NE, as the jurors know, had no intention of telling the story — instead it sought to bury it. So not only does this evidence remind us of David Pecker’s testimony last week, it also helps prosecutors double down on the idea that The NE was involved in a secret plot to help #Trump.
The text messages are damning. Jurors already know the basics of #KarenMcDougal’s account of an affair w/ #Trump. But now they are seeing it corroborated in texts, right after they were reminded Trump was married to Melania at the time.
Prosecutors are stitching their case together w/lots of different types of evidence.
Prosecutors are walking #KeithDavidson through his text messages w/ #DylanHoward, who was editor of The #NationalEnquirer, in which Davidson tells Howard: “I have blockbuster #Trump story.” In his reply, Howard asked, "did he cheat" on Melania.
Davidson is testifying about his agreement w/ #KarenMcDougal, a fmr Playboy model.
Davidson’s contract w/McDougal consisted of an agreement to either make a claim against #Trump, negotiate a confidentiality agreement w/ Trump, sell her life rights as related to her story of an affair w/ Trump, promote herself in an “exclusive” press opportunity, or some or all of the above.
#Trump has been sitting w/his eyes closed for significant portions of testimony this morning. It is unclear how the jurors, who have to sit through this same testimony, will feel about a defendant closing their eyes so much.
Joshua Steinglass asks #KeithDavidson if he knows 2 key witnesses: #DavidPecker, who the jurors already have heard from, & #MichaelCohen, who they’ve heard a lot about. Steinglass is tying Davidson into the case, helping the courtroom understand where he’s situated. Davidson just said that he represented #StormyDaniels as her lawyer — Daniels, whose name has been dangled in front of jurors several times, is of course another key player & potential witness.
#Trump #TrumpTrial #law #criminal
Joshua Steinglass, the prosecutor, asks #KeithDavidson if he was given immunity from prosecution in this case. Davidson says, despite not having wanted to be here, that he did not seek immunity. This is a way for prosecutors to show that he is not simply cooperating to avoid prosecution himself.
#Trump #TrumpTrial #law #criminal
Prosecutors call #KeithDavidson, who negotiated 2 deals before the 2016 election that paid women from Trump’s past in exchange for their silence about sexual or romantic relationships w/him. He was a lawyer to #StormyDaniels during the #HushMoney transaction. He also represented #KarenMcDougal, a former Playboy model who was paid $150k by The #NationalEnquirer’s parent company for the rights to her story about a 10-month affair w/ #Trump starting in 2006.
Rebecca Mangold, one of the prosecutors, had Phillip Thompson walk through the validity of the transcript of Trump’s deposition in one of the #EJeanCarroll cases. We are now seeing video clips of #Trump in that deposition verifying that Truth Social is his social media site & what his handle is.
Asked to describe Truth Social, Trump answers, “It’s a platform that’s been opened by me as an alternative to Twitter.”
The third video shows #Trump at a news conference in 2017 during the presidential transition, saying, “#MichaelCohen is a very talented lawyer, he’s a good lawyer.”
Defense had no questions.
We've moved on to a new witness, someone named Phillip Thompson who works at a company supplying court reporters, interpreters that transcribed Trump's deposition in #EJeanCarroll trial. He was subpoenaed.
Next is video of a campaign event #Trump did in PA, in Oct 2016. He blasts media outlets & says, “Every woman lied when they came forward to hurt my campaign.” He later vows to sue, saying "the events never happened, never."
Merchan precluded prosecution from introducing direct evidence that many women, near the end of the 2016 campaign, accused Trump of #SexualAssault. They are getting some of that evidence into the trial w/these videos of Trump attacking the women on the campaign trail.
#law
Prosecutors played #CSPAN clips, starting w/one from an Oct 2016 #Trump campaign rally in NC, where he talks about 2 women who said Trump sexually assaulted them. “I have no idea who these women are,” Trump said at the time. “These are lies being pushed by the media & the Clinton campaign to try & keep their grip on our country. They’re all false, totally invented, fiction.”
Trump seems to be watching himself as the C-SPAN clip plays on the monitor in front of him.
Robert Browning explained that C-SPAN is a “public television network that telecasts events in their entirety.”
Browning is a custodial witness, or records custodian - witnesses certify the truth of records presented. In this trial, the defense did not agree on certain facts that the prosecution sought to stipulate were true. So, the prosecutors need these sorts of witnesses to help the jury understand the basic truth of the episodes they want to talk about at trial.
#Trump #TrumpTrial #law
The next witness is being called, & it’s not someone we’re familiar with. He is identified as Dr. Robert Browning.
Some laughter in the courtroom as Dr. Browning says he’s a “little bit” nervous about testifying for the first time.
#TrumpTrial #law #contempt #criminal #Trump
The judge returned to the bench but #Trump took some extra time to return to the courtroom, which is unusual in this case. Now Trump is back & #Merchan has warned Todd #Blanche, his lawyer: “Let’s try to keep the breaks short.”
Trump is joined by his son Eric again, although Susie Wiles & Dan Scavino, two of his aides, have not re-entered the courtroom.
During the break, the lawyers have continued to discuss the case with the judge. Now, a prosecutor, Matthew Colangelo, rises & says that if #Trump testifies, the prosecution would seek to cross-examine him about the judge’s ruling on the #GagOrder. This issue will be argued at length sometime later — & possibly not even today — but Colangelo raises it now.
After briefly consulting w/ his defense team & leaning down to whisper to #Trump, Todd #Blanche asked #GaryFarro directly if he ever had any communications w/ #MichaelCohen about Trump & if he ever spoke w/Trump himself. Farro said no.
Blanche has finished his cross-examination of Gary Farro, & Rebecca Mangold, a prosecutor, has returned for re-direct questioning.
#Gary Farro is reportedly a bit irritated w/ #Blanche, #Trump's lawyer. Blanche suggests that Farro opened up a shell corporation, & Farro bites back: “I don’t open up shell corporations. I open up LLC accounts.” Blanche is directing jurors' focus to what #MichaelCohen did -- that is, effectively start a shell corporation that was used to pay #StormyDaniels. It’s a way to attack Cohen through Farro, making the former fixer sound deceptive & potentially criminal.
#Blanche is trying to cast some doubt on #GaryFarro’s testimony & use him to criticize #MichaelCohen. He asks Farro to say again that Cohen was a “difficult client.” Farro agrees that he was.
Blanche is also trying to separate Cohen's actions from #Trump's, arguing that the account was never established as related to Trump. Basically it’s defense's entire argument: that Cohen was acting on his own.
#Trump's lawyer Todd #Blanche, will conduct cross. It’s Blanche’s 1st #CrossExamination this trial.
It’s also the 1st time we’ve seen Blanche since the hearing last week in which he sought to argue that Trump had not violated the judge’s #GagOrder. Blanche lost that hearing.
Gary Farro was asked by Blanche about speaking with “the people,” (the prosecutors) Trump shook his head pointedly when Farro talked about meeting w/ prosecutors he had in DC ahead of his testimony.
Mangold, one of the prosecutors, walked the banker Gary Farro through a wire transfer that occurred immediately after Essential Consultants LLC was created. The documents displayed show that on Oct. 27, 2016, #MichaelCohen & the LLC wired $130k to Keith Davidson, #StormyDaniels’ lawyer at the time. Cohen wrote that the purpose of the wire transfer was for a “retainer.”
#Trump #TrumpTrial #law
An email was shown from a FirstRepublic banker to #MichaelCohen, flagged as “high importance,” confirming his request to transfer $131k from his home equity line of credit acct to the Essential Consultants LLC acct.
Farro’s testimony is a reminder that moving money around always leaves an electronic footprint. There are wire transfers & paperwork inside the bank. It doesn’t always stop a fraud from happening but is helpful after the fact.
#Trump #TrumpTrial #law
First Republic did not do business w/the porn industry, as Farro testified last week. If the paperwork #MichaelCohen submitted had made allusions to its actual purpose, “there would be a determination made by the 2nd & 3rd line of defense” at the bank. The payment would have been flagged by bank auditors, as “it is an industry that we do not work with,” said Farro.
#Trump #TrumpTrial #law
#GaryFarro is testifying about LLCs & know-your-client forms. The prosecutor questioning him has asked him to spell out what LLCs are. Know-your-client forms are used by banks to verify who a client is.
“Everything was urgent w/ #MichaelCohen,” Gary Farro testifies about Cohen’s interest in opening his acct quickly. Cohen used the account to make the hush-money payment to #StormyDaniels.
He says Cohen did not make it clear that it would be used to pay a porn star.
#Trump #TrumpTrial #law
Justice #Merchan explicitly called #Trump’s claim that reposts don’t count as violations of the #GagOrder “counterintuitive and absurd.”
Justice Merchan rejected the defense’s claims that Trump had merely reposted the messages from others and that he had largely been acting in response to political attacks from two potential witnesses in the case: #MichaelCohen & #StormyDaniels.
Justice #Merchan wrote that he was “keenly aware of, and protective of, Defendant’s First Amendment rights.” But nonetheless, he wrote that he would not tolerate continued violations of his orders and that if necessary & appropriate, he would “impose an incarceratory sentence.” In plain language, he is warning #Trump that he will send him to #jail if necessary.
Already, prosecutors have alerted to the judge to 4 new potential violations. Those were not covered by Justice #Merchan’s order & will be discussed at another hearing, which will be held on Thurs morning.
In addition to fining #Trump after finding him in #contempt, Justice Merchan ordered him to remove the offending Truth Social posts today.
The judge, Juan M. #Merchan, fined him $9,000, punishing the former president for repeatedly violating a #GagOrder that bars him from attacking witnesses, prosecutors & jurors.
Merchan determined that #Trump had broken the #GagOrder by making several public statements on social media & on his campaign website in which he attacked #witnesses & the #jury.
The judge says the people have met their burden of proof on some violations & fines #Trump $2,000 to begin with. There are more fines coming.
#TrumpTrial 🧵
Testimony started w/a bang last week as David #Pecker, the fmr publisher of The #NationalEnquirer, said that he had entered into a secret plot w/ #Trump & #MichaelCohen to #CatchAndKill negative stories about Trump as he ran for president in 2016.
#GaryFarro, the 3rd to testify, started off w/dry details about banking transactions. But #Farro is leading us to the #HushMoney payment
#criminal #law
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/04/30/nyregion/trump-hush-money-trial?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare&sgrp=c-cb
During his testimony, #KeithDavidson had to explain another text he sent to #DylanHoward where, in reference to the deal The #NationalEnquirer was making w/the fmr #KarenMcDougal, Davidson wrote:
“Throw in an ambassadorship for me. I’m thinking Isle of Man.”
Davidson said the text was a joke that referenced #Trump's campaign. Pressed further by the prosecutor, Joshua Steinglass, he added that he understood that getting McDougal a deal would help Trump’s candidacy.
Finally a Law for Right to repair and hopefully therefore in the future more sustainable and better repairable Products. 😃
FairPhone and ShiftPhone as Producer of Smartphones are already having this repairability in their Products long ago before that was made by Politics into a Law.
😉