All Things Trump: the story continues...

[rasetsu]

It won't be long now before we find out if the hush money case is a dream (*ahhh*), or a dud (*ewww*).

[Tero]

Very exciting day! Defense attorney continues to pound Cohen to prove that he has lied to save his ass. Now...how does this translate to Trump lying to not save Trump's ass? Couldn't he just confess he paid Stormy out of his own pocket to impress his then boss?

TV commentator Conway:
This cross is remarkable today because it has not addressed at all Cohen's testimony in this case or any of the facts in this case.

It's an overlong and ineffective examination on everything *but* this case.

[Tero]

Comer has...no job. He continues to impeach Biden. Because..Trump told him.

House judiciary committee advances resolution to hold Merrick Garland in contempt over Biden interview recording
After hours of debate, the Republican-controlled House judiciary committee moved forward with a resolution to hold the attorney general, Merrick Garland, in contempt for not handing over a recording of Joe Biden’s interview with special counsel Robert Hur.

The vote was 18 in favor of advancement, and 15 against.

The White House today asserted executive privilege over the recording, which Hur made as part of his investigation into Biden’s possession of classified documents. The special counsel concluded that no charges should be filed against the president, but made remarks about his age and memory that drew outrage from Democrats. The justice department also objected to the audio’s release, saying a transcript had already been made public, but the committee’s chair, Jim Jordan, argued that the document could not be trusted to be accurate.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/liv ... st-updates

[Tero]

[Tero]

Wrapping up court part by next week. Jury may spend days more.

The indictment charged Trump with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in the first degree, in violation of New York Penal Law §175.10.[93] Each count is related to a specific business document, each having a date ranging from February 14 through December 5, 2017:

11 for invoices from Michael Cohen
9 for general ledger entries for Donald J. Trump
9 for checks from Donald J. Trump
3 for general ledger entries for the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust
2 for checks from the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prosecuti ... n_New_York

[Tero]

Trump outside court admitted he had a NDA with Stormy.

If you paid 130 000 I guess you want something for it.

[pErvinalia]

He's not the sharpest knife in the drawer.

[Tero]

"I had no idea the nine checks to Cohen were for the Stormy thing."

NEW YORK, April 19 (Reuters) - At Donald Trump's criminal trial, there is no dispute about a central underlying fact: the month before the 2016 presidential election, his personal lawyer and fixer paid a porn star for her silence about an alleged sexual encounter with Trump.
Legal experts say the outcome of the first-ever trial of a former U.S. president hinges on Trump's intent.
Can prosecutors prove that he knew that fixer Michael Cohen's $130,000 hush money payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels was meant to sway the election and that Trump fudged records to cover it up?

Falsifying a business record is a misdemeanor in New York. To get a jury to convict him on felony charges, prosecutors must prove that Trump knew Cohen's payment just before the 2016 election was illegal and that the former president was trying to conceal it.

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trumps ... 024-04-19/

[Tero]

Trump continues printing the Internet and reading it:
A feeble Trump reads through his handler-printed Fox News articles to give himself emotional support
https://www.threads.net/@bidenharrishq/ ... _3UpYXM6Aw

[Tero]

TV analysts: Cohen called Trump Oct 24th of 2016

No one can say how individual members of the jury will sift the evidence and competing testimony. But experienced trial lawyers immediately spotted a potential turning point. “I think it has to have raised some doubt,” criminal defense attorney Nikki Lotze said on CNN’s “The Situation Room” of Blanche’s clash with Cohen. “There was testimony previously that this phone call was about X and now there are texts that suggest it is about Y … and not a lot of time for there to be a conversation about both X and Y.“

Critical phone call was fake!

It was not the critical phone call, but Trump lawyer turned it into such. Cohen had already dealt with Stormy and told Trump.

Cohen replied calmly that he “always ran everything by the boss immediately, and in this case it could have been just saying, 'Everything’s been taken care of, it’s going to be resolved.'”

At that, Blanche lost his cool. “That. Was. A. Lie,” he said, his voice now rising to a shriek. “You can admit it."

“No, sir, I can’t,” Cohen said, repeating that in addition to the conversation with Schiller about the calls, “I believe that I also spoke to Mr. Trump and told him everything regarding Stormy Daniels was being worked on and it’s going to be resolved.”

“We are not asking for your belief,” Blanche said angrily. “This jury doesn’t want to hear what you think happened.”

[Tero]

I've always found the term "beyong reasonable doubt" confusing.

I understand that there is always some doubt that the charges are not sticking. Nobody is ever 100% sure, yet we convict peopel anyway.

What I would present, as Trump lawyer, is that ther is considerable doubt on Cohen. There is not, as Cohen taped Trump talking about the McDougal payoff. But the case can have enough confusing detail to produce enough doubt.

[Tero]

Is it OK for the prosecutor to ask:
Mr Cohen, can you summarize your work for Mr Trump?

Sure. I put in a lot of things like the Stormy Daniels payment so that you could not easily track down what Trump did. I made it difficult for you to get anything out of Trump's accountant or lawyer at the witness box. I just did not imagine that witness would be me.

[Sean Hayden]

It’s all pretty lame. You just aren’t going to sell the majority of Americans on the importance of charging a US president for paying to keep someone he slept with quiet during an election.

Where does that even fall on the spectrum of corruption for these guys?

I know, I know, that’s not the point. He broke the law, and that’s what this is really all about.

[JimC]

In virtually any other western democracy (certainly here) "paying to keep someone he slept with quiet during an election" would guarantee criminal charges, and would make that person unelectable...

[Sean Hayden]

That’s possible, but I’m skeptical. It’s probably more likely that these things are known to happen, but difficult to prosecute. He’s being prosecuted in this case because everyone involved said that’s what they were doing. He could have just been a fan of her work and invested in a business of hers, or paid her to speak at his university for example… buwahaha