Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Republicans: slavery is when you own me. freedom is when I own you.

Spilling the end game before they can coat it in frankl luntz-approved dogwhistles.

Every one of the “Roberts Six” lied to get on the court.

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

Everyone is in a bubble, but some bubbles model reality far better than others!

…and a burning sense of injustice to juice the soul.

It’s the corruption, stupid.

People really shouldn’t expect the government to help after they watched the GOP drown it in a bathtub.

This must be what justice looks like, not vengeful, just peaceful exuberance.

No Justins, No Peace

The republican speaker is a slippery little devil.

The current Supreme Court is a rogue court. Very dangerous.

Washington Post’s Catch and Kill, not noticeably better than the Enquirer’s.

Pelosi: “He either is stupid, or he thinks the rest of us are.” Why not both?

After dobbs, women are no longer free.

“Let’s not pretend [Trump] wants to engage in high-minded discourse.”

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

Never forget that he train is barreling down on Trump, even as he dances on the tracks.

Speaker Mike Johnson is a vile traitor to the House and the Constitution.

I’m just a talker, trying to find a channel!

Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.

“Why isn’t this Snickers bar only a nickel?”

The gop is a fucking disgrace.

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Trump’s NY Criminal Trial, Day 10

Trump’s NY Criminal Trial, Day 10

by | 89 Comments

This post is in: , , ,

.It’s Day 6 of the actual trial!  Day 910 10 if you include jury selection.

Best sources of live blogging that I have found.

Mark Sumner at Daily Kos – Live Blogging

Josh Kovensky at TPM – Live Blogging    (no live blogging on TPM so far today but he is on twitter)

.

Looks like Anna and Tyler will both be doing the live blogging today.

 

TRANSCRIPTS OF NY CASES AVAILABLE THE NEXT DAY   Link

Emotional support pup and kitty for the occasion.
I will look for a new image for next week.

Trump Trial: NY Election Interference Case, Day 1

I’m still interested in the trial, so I’ll put this up again today, but think of it as a general open thread, too.

Reader Interactions

89Comments

  5. 5.

    WaterGirl

    @smith:  Since neither Josh at TPM nor Mark Sumner at Kos seem to be live blogging today, I added Katie up top.

    @LAO: Thanks!  It doesn’t look like Andrew has made a thread, though, they seem to be all individual tweets.  If someone finds a link to a thread for Andrew, I will definitely add it.

  6. 6.

    kindness

    Yea, no…. I still haven’t incorporated blow by blow coverage of Trump’s trial into my existence.  I like my life too much to focus on it like that.  I do like what the late night comics are doing with it though.  Making fun of Donald is good.

  9. 9.

    Leto

    Today, he’s joined (again) by Boris Epshteyn

    Nothing but the best people with him. A virtual who’s who in criminality and dishonesty.

  10. 10.

    FastEdD

    CNN has a live blog going. Todd Blanche is arguing that the defendant should not be held to account for his attacks on witnesses. “He’s running for President” seems to be the excuse for everything. It bugs this retired Geometry (and logic) teacher when the defense complains that everybody does it and TFG has to respond. Everybody else is not under a gag order. The defendant is. I know defense counsel has to say something zealous, but STFU.

  11. 11.

    MomSense

    I am trying to wrap my head around the polling that shows people think the economy was better during trump maladministration.  Also trying to make sense of saying well the job losses were because of COVID as though his criminal negligence in the handling of COVID isn’t the reason for so much of the misery.

  13. 13.

    FastEdD

    Judge says TFG doesn’t have to talk to the press outside the courtroom. Good point. Blanche, “he can’t just say no comment.” He sure as hell can.

  15. 15.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @FastEdD: Of course he has to talk to the press outside the courtroom.  He can’t help  himself.

    Oh, that isn’t what the judge meant?

  20. 20.

    smith

    @WaterGirl: Josh is supposedly doing it in Xitter, but he’s fallen way behind, still on the contempt hearing, but we’re well into the first witness.

  21. 21.

    NutmegAgain

    Nice dog shirt … is that intended to be a pointed comment about the puppy-murderer, or just a general statement of, “I like dogs”.

  22. 22.

    eclare

    @smith:

    I think the prosecutors said that since these offenses were committed before the prior hearing where Judge Merchan wrote that incarceration could be possible in the future, they would not request jail at this time.

  24. 24.

    RSA

    This has probably been posted already, but it was news to me. Via Salon, with a link to Twitter:

    The former President can’t stop sleeping in court, per reporters at the trial. Lisa Rubin, a legal correspondent for MSNBC, told Chris Jansing that Trump’s lawyers have gone to great lengths trying to keep him from snoozing during arguments.

  25. 25.

    TBone

    @RSA: chemical sedation, doubtless.  It’ll catch up with him sooner or later when something unplanned for happens.  Happy six weeks, grandpa 😆

    Rip Von Stinkle

  27. 27.

    Scout211

    From the NBC live updates

    Keith Davidson texted Editor-in-Chief of the National Enquirer, Dylan Howard, around 3 a.m. ET on the night of the 2016 election.

    “What have we done?” Davidson texted.

    “Oh my god,” Howard texted him that night.

    Asked what he meant in his text, Davidson said, “This was sort of gallows humor.”

    “There was sort of surprise amongst the broadcasters and others that Donald Trump was leading in the polls, and there was a growing sense that folks were about ready to call the election,” he added.

    He said there was an understanding between the two of them that “our activities may have in some way assisted the presidential campaign of Donald Trump.”

     

    Davidson, Stormy Daniels’ lawyer, described a phone call he received from Cohen in December 2016, where he described Cohen as “depressed and despondent.”

    “He said something to the effect of, ‘Jesus Christ, can you f—ing believe I’m not going to Washington. After everything I’ve done for that f—ing guy. I can’t believe I’m not going to Washington. I’ve saved that guy’s a– so many times you don’t even know,'” Davidson told prosecutors.

    Davidson says that in the same phone call, Cohen mentioned that he had not been repaid the $130,000 that was given to Daniels.

  28. 28.

    Scout211

    @RSA: Trump’s lawyers have gone to great lengths trying to keep him from snoozing during arguments.

     

    I read somewhere that he typically drinks 12 diet cokes a day.  It wasn’t clear of that was fact or snark, though.

  29. 29.

    catclub

    @Scout211: My impression was that Davidson was a particularly bad lawyer for Daniels – he did not have her interests foremost.  Why is he buddy=buddy with the National Inquirer’s lawyer?

  30. 30.

    catclub

    @Scout211: After everything I’ve done for that f—ing guy. I can’t believe I’m not going to Washington. I’ve saved that guy’s a– so many times you don’t even know,’

     

    Cohen – Another slow learner in the Trump orbit.

  31. 31.

    smith

    @Scout211: I’m guessing they’ve cut way back on his Adderall, to avoid his being too hopped up in court to resist doing something that would land him in jail right away. Anybody who routinely throws food at the walls when he’s angry is not to be trusted on stimulants.

  32. 32.

    Scout211

    @smith:  Good point

    No diet cokes, lower dose of Adderall = tired old man who falls asleep when other people are talking.

  34. 34.

    Scout211

    NBC again.  Who is he protecting right now?

    We’ve reached the point where Davidson’s refusal to accept Steinglass’ characterization of the payment as “hush money” could be curious to the jury.

    Davidson won’t call it hush money, instead calling it “a consideration in a civil settlement” — a technical legal term non-lawyers on the jury won’t be familiar with. But, most importantly, Davidson has acknowledged that Trump was the beneficiary of this agreement to keep Daniels quiet.

  35. 35.

    West of the Rockies

    @Scout211:

    When will people notice?

    I bet some already have.  Once a narrative takes hold, it can be tenacious:  people will begin to think of Trump as a slurring, sleepy, frumpy grump…  They will see Trump and frown for reasons they can’t even fathom.

  36. 36.

    Redshift

    @MomSense: Yeah, it boggles my mind too. As far as I can figure, it’s that too many people think of COVID as something that “just happened” and shouldn’t count as part of his record (probably aided by pandemic trauma induced forgetting of a lot of the details, like with the Spanish Flu.) I’ve heard that from people who weren’t part of the MAGA cult – the assumption that since it was unprecedented, it would have been just as bad no matter who was in charge, instead of that handling unprecedented events is why it’s really important to have someone competent in charge.

  37. 37.

    Scout211

    I laughed at this statement by Davidson:

     “I don’t think that anyone had ever alleged that any interaction between she and Mr. Trump was romantic.”

  40. 40.

    Redshift

    @FastEdD:

    I know defense counsel has to say something zealous, but STFU.

    I suspect the compelling legal argument of “if you’re going to make me stop saying bad things about other people, you have to make other people stop saying bad things about me,  no fair!” was a demand from the client.

  41. 41.

    Scout211

    @Redshift: I suspect the compelling legal argument of “if you’re going to make me stop saying bad things about other people, you have to make other people stop saying bad things about me,  no fair!” was a demand from the client.

    Maybe the client could use a sit-down with the Central Park Five for a perspective on that.

  42. 42.

    Ken

    @Redshift: “The court encourages everyone to not say bad things about Mr. Trump that might hurt his fee-fees,” something like that?

    Perhaps followed by “The court recognizes it has no authority to compel such behavior from those persons. However, when it comes to Mr. Trump, a criminal defendant in a case before this court….”

    (I really don’t know why the DNC keeps returning my applications for a Supreme Court seat unopened.)

  45. 45.

    Jackie

    New information by TBogg on potentially damaging emails, suggesting Allen Weisselberg was much more involved with TIFG’s campaign than previously thought:

    Newly uncovered emails from jailed  Trump Organization executive Allen Weisselberg may provide a goldmine of information for prosecutors in Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office that could bolster the hush money trial of Donald Trump, which is now in its second week of testimony.

    Weisselberg is currently sitting in jail and is not expected to be a witness, although some notes he left behind are already in the hands of investigators. as the Daily Beast’s Roger Sollemnbereger is reporting, “he left behind a potentially priceless paper trail,” that may also lead to new charges.

    At issue are emails written back in 2016 introducing Trump’s financial wizard to the fledgling Trump presidential campaign that indicate he had more than a passing familiarity with FEC accounting that could come into play in the 34-count felony trial that includes financial fraud.

    As Sollenberger reported, “other documents obtained by The Daily Beast suggest that Weisselberg was in a unique position among the other witnesses — not only was he handling the Trump Org’s books, he was also apparently advising the campaign at the same time. Federal Election Commission records don’t show any campaign payments to Weisselberg, however, raising the prospect that Trump’s right-hand man may himself have made unreported contributionsin the form of services for his 2016 bid.”

    According to internal Trumpworld emails, Weisselberg was an ‘enormous help’ to the 2016 campaign — a fact that has not appeared in previous public reporting, despite prior coverage of these same documents.

    “Additionally, these records show that the hardened bookkeeper was apparently quite familiar with FEC filings. This cuts to the heart of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s case: that the hush-money payoff to adult film star Stormy Daniels just ahead of the election was a campaign finance crime, which Trump then went to great lengths to keep from the public — allegedly criminal lengths.”

    The report adds that the Trump Org exec and the Trump campaign may have more problems over his unpaid involvement.

    According to Jordan Libowitz, communications director for Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, “In-kind contributions are pretty simple. It’s right there in the name: in-kind. It’s something you give to a campaign or candidate that isn’t a monetary contribution,” before adding, “It’s definitely not a complicated matter for someone who spent decades working on the financial side of a corporation. It’s not hard for anyone to understand, let alone a controller for a multibillion-dollar corporation.”

    https://www.rawstory.com/trump-hush-money-2668129277/

  46. 46.

    Captain C

    @RSA:

    Trump’s lawyers have gone to great lengths trying to keep him from snoozing during arguments.

    The problem is, if they give him the Adderall necessary to keep him alert, he’ll just start mouthing off in court, probably during whatever witness testimony is being given at the time.

  47. 47.

    Scout211

    @WaterGirl: I thought this was the second set.

    eclare posted this:

     

    @eclare: I think the prosecutors said that since these offenses were committed before the prior hearing where Judge Merchan wrote that incarceration could be possible in the future, they would not request jail at this time.

  49. 49.

    Soprano2

    @MomSense: I think lots of people have blocked 2020 out of their memory. To them it was the year nothing happened because so many things were cancelled. They say everything bad that happened that year was because of Covid, not TFG. So they remember 2019’s prices and job market, and to them that seems pretty good, especially the cheaper prices. The economy was pretty good back then even though he was a nightmare. It was in spite of him, but that’s not how the normies remember it. Sad but true. It’s not wrong about the prices, either – a 12 pack of soda used to be less than $5 here, last weekend I paid almost $8 for it. I understand the complex reasons for that, but a lot of people don’t think that deeply about it.

  50. 50.

    wjca

    @FastEdD: Blanche, “he can’t just say no comment.” He sure as hell can.

    I think that’s  “can’t” as in “is psychologically absolutely incapable” — which might well be true.

    EDT in other words, what Omnes said

  52. 52.

    Eyeroller

    @MomSense: Several reasons. 1. People are stupid and have bad memories.  2. “The economy” often means “gas prices” which were low during the worst of Covid since nobody was traveling. 3. We haven’t had inflation for an unusually long time so people were lulled into thinking that was normal (it is not).  4. Housing prices rose.  Other prices rose but seemingly not as much.  5. Media narrative, which people absorb without realizing it.  6. See (1).

  54. 54.

    Scout211

    I get the feeling that Cohen’s testimony will be very interesting.

    Davidson, Stormy Daniels’ attorney, just testified that Cohen asked him to provide a statement to former CNN anchor Chris Cuomo stating that Cohen was the source of the funds.

    Steinglass, the prosecutor, asks why he drafted that statement despite knowing that Trump was or would be the ultimate source of the funds.

    Davidson says he was referring to the fact that at the time of the transaction, he knew Cohen had put up the money, telling Steinglass, “At the time of the transaction, Michael Cohen told me, ‘F— it, I’ll just do it myself.’”

  55. 55.

    smith

    @Scout211: This is what the prosecutor said, according to Adam Klasfeld:

    Conroy asks for a maximum fine, though explicitly NOT jail. Since “we prefer to minimize disruption to these proceedings, we are not yet seeking jail.”

    I find this a bit worrisome: When would jailing him not disrupt the proceedings?

  56. 56.

    smith

    @Soprano2: So how come TFG is excused for high unemployment because COVID, but Biden is not excused for high inflation because COVID?

  57. 57.

    eclare

    @Soprano2:

    Wow!  I don’t drink enough Coke ( where I live all soda is called Coke) to buy a 12 pack, but there have been incredible sales.  This week it’s buy 2 12 packs, get 2 free.

    At some point in the past few months it was buy 2 and get 3 free.  A woman asked me to confirm that she read the sign correctly.

  58. 58.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @smith: It wouldn’t because he would come to court from jail and go back after court.  How do you think it works for criminal defendants who couldn’t get bail?

  59. 59.

    scav

    @MomSense:

    It’s a lot easier when you remind yourself that the first, let alone the second, sapiens was an aspirational naming of the species in question.

  60. 60.

    Jinchi

    @Soprano2: They say everything bad that happened that year was because of Covid, not TFG.

    Republicans are given one free economic collapse per administration. So Trump is given credit for a growing stock market and low inflation, even though the inflation rate wasn’t really low until the economy collapsed and millions were out of work.

    The same memory hole happened with George W, whose record looks pretty good over the (seven) years of his presidency.

    Obama got the blame for the cratered economy he inherited.

  61. 61.

    bk

    I am following the CNN updates, and this made me go WHO CARES???? ”
    Trump…exhales heavily while leaving the courtroom

  63. 63.

    bk

    @WaterGirl: But where else can you get THIS important tidbit? “Boris Epshteyn, a former White House aide who remains one of Trump’s closest advisers, walked to the back of the courtroom and hugged and patted Andrew Giuliani, the son of former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, on the back. He is seated in the very last row of the courtroom.”

  66. 66.

    Soprano2

    @RSA: I’m serious, this could be a sign of dementia. My husband probably sleeps 12-16 hours a day now. I think it would be around 22 hours if I wasn’t there. That could be partly due to his low iron, but it’s also a marker of dementia. I would not be able to keep my husband awake for 8 hours straight every day.

  67. 67.

    Citizen Dave

    I view everything about Orange Man through the prism that his default is to spew bullshit.  He can’t do that in a court hearing, so the result has to be something else–napping being one activity.

    I support Soprano2’s dementia theory.  Continue to be amazed that the media doesn’t take notice of trump’s inabilty to read off teleprompter/pronouce a word/then attempt a recovery.  Plus his torso jerking yesterday at his rallies.

  68. 68.

    catclub

    Trump was in charge of the Government, and the Government response to COVID was the hijacking (and reselling?) of emergency medical equipment.
    The lost stockpiles of EME, and the fucking up of reporting epidemic numbers to CDC. Go read Michael Lewis’s book The Premonition .

    Not to mention all the unhelpful things Trump said.

  69. 69.

    Anoniminous

    I don’t “consume” US Infotainment Media so this is a real question:  are they showing what Trump is actually saying or do they edit his speeches to cover the fact the man is exhibiting cognitive dysfunction?

    I predict they are editing his speeches, but I’m willing to be proven wrong.

  70. 70.

    Martin

    I want to say that social media has gone a long way for reforming the stereotypes about lawyers. The Lawfare crew is wonderful, the Strict Scrutiny crew is wonderful, so many of the legal bloggers are smart and funny and resonate as genuinely good people.

  71. 71.

    Soprano2

    @smith: Because most people’s perception is that by the middle of 2021 the Covid emergency was over, so they don’t blame it for inflation even though they should. They look at the high unemployment in 2020 like it was inevitable – and it was. That’s unfair, but I think it explains what we’re seeing. Plus, for a lot of people inflation=gas/food prices, sometimes rent.

  72. 72.

    Soprano2

    @Jinchi: I think Bush and Obama share the blame for the 2008 collapse in people’s minds, even though it was mostly something Obama inherited.

    I still can’t get over the story I heard earlier this week with a woman who lamented that under TFG her 401K “went up and up” and how much she enjoyed watching that. The stock market has continued going up, up, up since Biden was elected – hasn’t she noticed that at all? It’s crazy how some people think about these things.

  73. 73.

    catclub

    @Jinchi: Obama got the blame for the cratered economy he inherited.

     

    No. If that were the case he would not have been re-elected.  The Democratic House  got  the blame in 2010. But surveys of ‘Who is responsible for the bad economy’  in 2011 still blamed Bush rather than Obama.  I was amazed, too.

  74. 74.

    JoyceH

    Question about Trump trials in general. We know the DC case is stalled out by the Supreme Court and the FL case is stalled out by Cannon fiddle-farting around, but … why is GA still not moving? The challenge to the prosecutors has been dealt with, so why no trial date?

  76. 76.

    catclub

    @Soprano2: I still can’t get over the story I heard earlier this week with a woman who lamented that under TFG her 401K “went up and up” and how much she enjoyed watching that.

     

    Because Trump made a point of telling her that every time he made a statement. Like he says, “you can say whatever and they will believe you.” Repetition is a thing.

  77. 77.

    lowtechcyclist

    @eclare: ​
     

    Wow! I don’t drink enough Coke ( where I live all soda is called Coke) to buy a 12 pack, but there have been incredible sales. This week it’s buy 2 12 packs, get 2 free.

    I drink almost no soda, but my wife and son do. Every couple of weeks, either Giant or Safeway has a buy 2, get 2 free sale on 12-packs of either Coca-Cola products, or on Dr Pepper/Canada Dry/etc. Those sales are reliable enough that I can wait and stock up when they’re having them. So I’ve been paying $5 per 12-pack of 12-ounce cans, since the list price is usually $9.99.

  81. 81.

    oldgold

    In cross, why didn’t he make the point that Davidson never communicated directly with Trump?

    That was the obvious line to pursue. Paint Cohen as a rogue actor.

  82. 82.

    LAO

    @oldgold: I think there was a couple of questions establishing that at the beginning of the cross. I think Bove was trying to paint him as non-credible sleaze ball to undercut his credibility. But I agree with you, it’s not how I would have approached the witness.

  83. 83.

    oldgold

     

    @LAO: Yes, he is a sleazeball.  You can’t expect a white shoe law firm to be trafficking in this muck.

    The prosecution can’t let the jury lose sight of who tracked the muck into the house.

  84. 84.

    LAO

    @oldgold: I saw some speculation on Twitter, Weissman I think, that Trump must have directed how the cross proceeded because of how different the Pecker cross was from Davidson’s cross. I mean Pecker is as sleazy, if not more than Davidson.

    Who knows.

  85. 85.

    MisterForkbeard

    @TBone: I’ve recommended that our IT team get one. It’s a great way to threaten executives to get better funding. And only costs as much as three expensive developer laptops :)

  86. 86.

    oldgold

    One thing of note in this trial is Trump’s attorneys refusal to stipulate as to the authenticity of tapes videos, etc.  This is far from the norm.  And, often,  earns the ire of the presiding judge when it occurs.

    Authenticating this stuff is not difficult, but chews up time.  That this is occurring, makes me believe one of Trump’s trial tactics is to slow this trial down and for the purpose of disrupting the narrative the prosecutors are trying to build.

  87. 87.

    WaterGirl

    @oldgold:

    That this is occurring, makes me believe one of Trump’s trial tactics is to slow this trial down and for the purpose of disrupting the narrative the prosecutors are trying to build.

    You could be right.  I hope it backfires on them – the defense can’t be making points with the jury.

    It may not technically be “evidence” that they are supposed to consider, but if you see someone being a dick every single day in court, I can’t imagine that would help you give that person the benefit of the doubt when things aren’t cut and dried.

  88. 88.

    Ruckus

    @Scout211:

    Maybe the client could use a sit-down with the Central Park Five for a perspective on that

    Would do absolutely no good whatsoever.

    SFB has long ago come to the conclusion that he is the greatest human in the world. And at his age, someone with a personality like he has, having a self opinion like that would be completely normal. His only thought about it is why not EVERYONE ELSE on planet earth has that same opinion.

    It would only amaze me if he didn’t.

  89. 89.

    Ruckus

    @Soprano2:

    I would never be one to say that SFB has dementia, but less is going on upstairs in that ugly POS noggin than used to. And what was going on upstairs in that ugly noggin is like a used roll of that paper we keep in a bathroom. That IS going on in that ugly noggin. IOW nothing good or worth knowing. Certainly not keeping around in public.

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