#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
It seems like #Blanche will seek to convince the jury that everything was appropriate & done by the book, not even worthy of notice. That #Cohen was #Trump's lawyer, & he was paid for #legal services. But he'll also seek to distance his client from the matter: "President Trump had nothing to do w/the invoice," he said.
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney
"I have a spoiler alert: There's nothing wrong w/trying to influence an election," #Blanche says. "It's called democracy." [not the charge. The charge is falsifying business records, the #MensRea is to influence. Besides which, influencing an election through illegal means is duh illegal]
"They put something sinsiter on this idea as if it were a crime," he continued. "You'll learn it's not."
#criminal #law #Trump #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney
#Blanche said that the prosecution told a “clean nice story," but that it is not as simple as they would have the #jury believe. He said that many of the docs in evidence are almost a decade old. The testimony, he suggests, is similarly old. He said, the story that #jurors heard "is not true."
#Trump largely avoided looking at the jury during prosecution's opening statement. He shifted his body in their direction during defense’s.
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #ElectionInterference
#Colangelo encourages #jurors to "tune out the noise" & "focus on the facts" during the course of the #TrumpTrial. He summarizes the evidence again, & says after all the evidence is in, Joshua Steinglass, another prosecutor, will do the closing argument.
He ends by saying there is "only one conclusion: Donald Trump is guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree."
#criminal #law #Trump #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney
#Colangelo depicted #MichaelCohen as a flawed man who has lied before, saying he lied about the payment to #StormyDaniels initially "to protect his boss."
"This case is about a #criminal #conspiracy & a #coverup," Colangelo says, st the start of his conclusion of his opening statement, adding that at the end of the case, jurors will have no #ReasonableDoubt about #Trump's #guilt.
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #ElectionInterference #HushMoney
#Colangelo insists that much of #Cohen's testimony will be #corroborated, incl’g by witnesses from The #NationalEnquirer & "an extensive paper trail."
Because the prosecution bears the burden of proving its case beyond a reasonable doubt, it gets to go first (& last) in a #criminal case. The advantage of that can be seen in action here, as Colangelo gives the jury his own frame through which to view #MichaelCohen.
#law #Trump #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #ElectionInterference #HushMoney
Finished w/describing the series of payoffs, #Colangelo details the part the #criminal charges stem from. He is describing the paperwork arrangement to reimburse #MichaelCohen for the #HushMoney payment he made to #StormyDaniels, & how #Trump & #AllenWeisselberg, sought to “disguise” the repayment.
There were chuckles in the courtroom as Colangelo says Trump was a "very frugal businessman" who watched all the spending at his empire.
Reportedly, #Trump pursed his lips at ↑ that & wrote a note which he passed to his atty Todd Blanche, then whispered to atty, Emil Bove.
#Colangelo described a communication from Keith Davidson, the lawyer for #KarenMcDougal, to Dylan Howard, a #NationalEnquirer editor, as it became clear Trump was winning the #election: "What have we done," he said.
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney
#Colangelo says #Pecker will testify that $150k was more than The #NationalEnquirer would typically have paid for such a deal, & that Pecker had trouble being reimbursed. Crucially, Colangelo says, Pecker will testify that he spoke to #Trump about it.
Colangelo mentions an audio #recording #Cohen made between himself & Trump discussing the #McDougal deal.
#criminal #law #Trump #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney
Colangelo is now describing the 2nd “#CatchAndKill” deal in question, relating to #KarenMcDougal, a fmr #PlayboyModel who said she had an affair w/ #Trump. #Colangelo says evidence will show that Trump “desperately” didn’t want that info public. “Before the meeting, during the meeting, after the meeting,” Colangelo says, #NationalEnquirer publisher was in touch w/ #MichaelCohen, putting this deal right at Trump’s doorstep.
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney
#Colangelo describes “#CatchAndKill scheme, in which #NationalEnquirer bought stories that were problems for #Trump & buried them.
NOT NORMAL #journalism
Colangelo describes some NE headlines that helped Trump's 2016 #campaign, embarrassing campaign opponents incl’g #TedCruz & #MarcoRubio.
Prosecutors are limited to the HEADLINES per #Sandoval. They go to Trump’s #intent: to #influence the election by promoting negative stories about others & suppressing those about himself.
As #Colangelo says that #Trump orchestrated a #criminal scheme to #corrupt the 2016 presidential election, Trump shook his head.
Trump has attacked Colangelo on Truth Social repeatedly. #StochasticTerrorism
Colangelo has outlined the #crime, & is on to the #GrandJury #indictment of Trump last year. His opening is expected to take >1 hr.
#law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney
#TrumpTrial #criminal #ElectionInterference opening statements have begun.
Matthew #Colangelo, one of the Manhattan DA’s prosecutors, up.
Per Jonah Bromwich:
“Colangelo is known for his writing, but he has very little experience in Manhattan criminal court — I’ve never heard him give an opening before. He begins by telling the jury that #Trump lied “over & over & over” again by disguising business records.”
Expected to be the first witness in the #TrumpTrial is #DavidPecker, the fmr publisher of the #NationalEnquirer, who bought & buried damaging stories about #Trump in a #CatchAndKill scheme to unlawfully #influence the 2016 presidential election.
#Blanche said #Trump put up "a wall" between himself & his company when he became president. We know from the civil #fraud ruling that isn’t true.
Trump always seems to get his lawyers to basically testify about how *successful* the #TrumpOrganization, has been. - Blanche went off on this success narrative for a while.
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney
