MERCHAN: I ordered that you were precluded from arguing this legal claim. There was no such thing. Just a way to get around having to turn over docs.
MERCHAN: Now it’s morphed into involvement of counsel. I understand why you want this instruction from the court. But my answer hasn't changed and I find it disingenuous.
11/ MERCHAN: It was concerning when the terms changed to "presence of counsel." I couldn't believe when i saw it again now calling it "involvement of counsel."
MERCHAN: My ruling is the jury will not hear that instruction from the bench nor are you permitted to make that argument. Period.
Plz remember to use NFL (Not For Laffy, no hashtag) so I can ignore those replies while live-posting. TY!
1/...Tyler McBrien:
Trey Gowdy again...
Per Trump's campaign, this is today's Greek chrous: Don Trump, Jr., Matt Whitaker, Pam Bondi, Sen. Eric Schmitt, Rep. Daniel Webster, Rep. Dan Meuser, Rep. Ronny Jackson, Rep. Troy Nehls, Rep. Dale Strong, Rep. Maria Salazar, Sebastian Gorka, Chuck Zito, Joe Piscopo, Bill White
While we continue to wait, Steinglass stands up and asks whether Justice Merchan would like to ask the jury their availability for next Wednesday. Merchan agrees.
More from just outside the courtroom a few minutes ago:
“We’ll be resting pretty quickly, meaning resting the case. I won’t be resting. I don’t rest. I’d like to rest sometimes, but I don’t get to rest.”
ADDED 😂 via
Brian Tyler Cohen: Dude’s spent 80% of his time in the courtroom fast asleep but okay.
@GottaLaff NFL: This is incredibly good and difficult lawyering. When an opposition witness wants to explain something, it's hard (but vital!) to stand in front of the jury and not let them seize the narrative by doing so.
Yesterday, Costello behaved so atrociously on the witness stand that Juan Merchan cleared the courtroom to admonish him & the defense attorneys. Costello is due back on the stand
@GottaLaff This is rich - the defense objects to the exhibit w/o a witness to authenticate it ,then complains when their objection may delay the trial by a day?
There are often sound reasons for not objecting to exhibits beyond just rolling over, and Trump's lawyers (permissible) insisting that the DA go by the book on this one will not hurt the People's case, but only hurt their own client by prolonging the trial, and running up legal fees. FAFO.
👉🏼MERCHAN: Mr Costello, I'd like to discuss proper decorum in my courtroom. As a witness on the stand, if you don't like my ruling, you don't say jeez, and you don't say strike it, bc I'm the only one who can do that.
👉🏼And if you don't like my ruling, you don't give me sideeye.
🔥Merchan, angrily: Are you staring me down right now?
#TrumpTrial started earlier than I did today. Grabbing coffee, starting THREAD HERE🧵1/… #Trump#legal
Here’s the list of Trump’s allies attending his trial today:
AG Alan Wilson
Rep. Eric Burlison
Rep. Andrew Clyde
Rep. Mary Miller
Rep. Keith Self
John Coale
Alan Dershowitz
Will Scharf
Steve Witkoff
Bernie Kerik
Kash Patel
Vernon Jones
Jerry Kassar
Chuck Zito
#Trump has a huge posse today, including #KashPatel; #GerryKassar, a #conservative party leader in NY; #BernieKerik, fmr NYPD commissioner who was imprisoned for tax fraud & false statements; #AlanDershowitz, lawyer who defended Trump during his first impeachment, & #BorisEpshteyn, legal adviser who was #indicted in AZ for attempts to keep Trump in power after the 2020 election.
#Hoffinger goes back to how #MichaelCohen was treated by the #Trump team. A complicating factor w/both Cohen & #StormyDaniels is they have multiple motives, & prosecutors have been telling the cleanest versions of their stories which makes it easy for the defense to pick at. However, the Trump team is essentially asking the #jury to believe everyone around Trump was acting shadily except for the shadiest of all – Trump.
#RobertCostello shakes his head in apparent frustration w/ Justice #Merchan after Merchan sustains several objections by prosecutors. (Not a good look for jurors)
When Justice Merchan sustains yet another objection, he gets visibly irritated.
#Trump also shakes his head when the lawyers approach the bench for another sidebar.
The system has failed to hold Trump, his GOP sycophants & MAGA mob accountable for their threats to witnesses, judges, prosecutors & their families.
If the jury finds Trump guilty, I'm worried about the #TrumpTrial jurors.
SNL satirized Trump mocking a juror's looks. He "joked" how his people will screenshot her face & dox her.
"Her life is over folks. Got to take the kids out of school sweetie."
This is a scarily accurate skit.
We can we do? @emptywheel@nicolesandler @GottaLaff #doxxing
![Donald Trump (James Austin Johnson) holds a press conference outside of the Manhattan courthouse and identifies a juror. Text from the skit. You see, they do a terrible thing when you testify, which is they write it down and we don't like that. That was a juror. Did you see her face? Everyone just saw her face, and now her life is over, folks. My people are going to screenshot her face and dox her to hell. We love to dox. Got to pull the kids out of school, sweetie. [ Laughter ] pull the kids out of school. They call her juror 9. But to me she's like a 6 maybe. [ Laughter ] oh, get over it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3N6Iqp8QIk&t=99s](https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/112/474/728/346/995/748/original/b337ec4f43e96f16.mp4)
I was last in the courtroom for opening statements -- the atmosphere among the security staff then was much more stressed and tense compared to today, as the final prosecution witness takes what is likely his final day on the stand. This many weeks into the trial, there is an art to it all, including the logistics and security. #TrumpTrial
After brashly declaring he wanted to #testify in his #criminal trial, it appears increasingly unlikely that #Trump will do so, as the #jury seems poised to hear #ClosingArguments next week.
Defendants rarely testify, because their #lawyers advise them that the risks of doing so, particularly when it comes to being questioned by prosecutors #UnderOath, are simply too great.
In Trump’s case, the judge’s discussions w/ #lawyers in recent days indicate that even if the defense calls a small number of witnesses, they do not expect #Trump to be one….
4 people close to Trump said next wk’s plan does not include him testifying, & they expect the #jury to start deliberating later in the wk. Trump is famously mercurial & could always demand to testify….
“It sounds like we might possibly be done w/ the presentation of evidence on Monday,” NY Supreme Court Justice Juan #Merchan said Thurs.
Blanche quickly added, “I was not speaking about President Trump, obviously. … That’s another decision that we need to think through.”
★ If #Trump were to take the stand, such testimony could take many days, which would significantly extend the trial.
At 2:08 p.m., Trump walks back in, his entourage in tow. Gaetz has stayed past lunch.
Three minutes later, Merchan returns.
The People had submitted instructions regarding the unsealing of the indictment, but Blanche says his intention is to rehabilitate the questions "right out of the box" after lunch, so Merchan takes a look.
BLANCHE: Who else did you secretly record, other than reporters?
COHEN: Jeff Zucker, Trump.
BLANCHE: You understand that it's not ethical to record your client? [Trump was Cohen's client at the time]
COHEN: Yes, except of course crime-fraud exception.
BLANCHE: So you surreptitiously recorded your client so that you could play a privileged recorded communication with a third party?
Bob Costello, a longtime Giuliani attorney and potential Trump defense witness, used yesterday's trial off-day to savage Michael Cohen in testimony to Congress.
Cross-examination of #MichaelCohen resumes, an opportunity for the defense to poke holes in his testimony & perhaps trip up or provoke the state’s key witness. The questioning of Cohen, #Trump’s fmr fixer, is the beginning of the end of Trump’s #criminal trial, which began April 15 & might conclude before Memorial Day weekend at this pace.
#Blanche's strategy seems to be repeating the word “lie” in every other sentence. If you’re a bored juror right now, you are hearing lie, lie, lie, lie. Even if you’re having trouble following the substance of Cohen's various lies, you are hearing an overall picture of dishonesty.
The risk for the defense here is that the jurors are reminded during closing arguments that #Trump hired this self-acknowledged liar & made him his lawyer, & hold Trump accountable for that.
#Blanche is trying to cast doubt on #MichaelCohen’s account, saying it was the first time he had mentioned the call.
Prosecutor #Hoffinger objects again, & asks to approach.
After the sidebar conversation w/the judge, Emil #Bove, one of Trump's lawyers, returns to the defense table, sits down & whispers something to #Trump who shakes his head & scowls.
Quite a quote from Eric Swalwell on the parade of GOP members attending #TrumpTrial this morning:
“I don’t think that anything could animate the phrase ‘do-nothing Congress’ more than missing votes and canceling hearings to go up and be a spectator at your cult leader’s trial.”