Nonilex
#TrumpTrial Thurs 9 May, 2024 🧵
The prosecution asks that the defense be precluded from asking #StormyDaniels whether she was arrested. Justice #Merchan agrees w/the prosecutors, saying that “anybody can be arrested” & that it “doesn’t prove anything.”
The people call Stormy Daniels back to the stand
#Trump atty #Necheles begins questioning by saying that in 2011, Daniels denied having had sex w/Trump.
#law #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney
Nonilex
#Trump leans forward & stares at the screen w/the exhibits of #StormyDaniels's merch, including T-shirts & comic books. He seems very interested in her efforts to make money off the liaison w/him.
Trump has sold merch w/his name on it for years - steaks, vodka, water & sneakers to name a few.
#Necheles brings up a "$40 Stormy Saint of Indictments Candle," w/Daniels draped in a Christ-like robe. Trump recently made news by hawking a Bible for $59.99.
Irony is dead.
Nonilex
Many of #StormyDaniels's retorts are versions of "so did Trump." He calls her “horseface," so why can't she call him an “orange turd"? He sells his merchandise, so why can't she sell hers?
As said, it's clear the defense is seeking to smear Daniels. But they’ve carefully avoided, her story of sex w/ #Trump.
That's what Trump is accused of covering up before the election thru a #HushMoney payment, & afterward thru disguised repayments to #MichaelCohen.
Nonilex
#StormyDaniels smiled as she looked at tweets she sent on 30 March, 2023, the day #Trump was criminally indicted for the first time. She posted about drinking champagne & selling "Team Stormy" merchandise.
A defense lawyer for Donald Trump, one of the world's great vendors of branded products, is trying to discredit Daniels for selling her "merch" in the wake of Trump's indictment.
#law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney #MobTactics
Nonilex
We saw #Trump's social media posts used against him repeatedly in this trial. The defense is focusing closely now on Daniels's past statements. Given #MichaelCohen's social media use, this is undoubtedly what we will see when he is cross-examined.
#Necheles noted that #StormyDaniels has "an online store where you sell merchandise," accusing her of "shilling" online.
Daniels: "Not unlike Mr. Trump."
#law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney #MobTactics
Nonilex
#StormyDaniels continues to avoid being caught in a contradiction, taking issue w/ #Necheles's word choices. When the defense showed the tweet in which Daniels called #Trump an "orange turd," Daniels, several times, refused to say that she was talking about Trump. Eventually, Necheles said, "You don't want to admit that you meant President Trump."
“Oh, I absolutely meant ... Mr. Trump," Daniels said, refusing to call the defendant
"president" as his lawyers do.
Nonilex
#StormyDaniels takes a page from the Trumpian playbook & says that she is allowed to punch back at social media jousts from her adversaries. She’s not under a #GagOrder.
If they want to make fun of me, then I can make fun of them, Daniels says as she explains why she responded to a tweet attacking her by calling #Trump an "orange turd."
Necheles is working hard to show the jury how much Daniels hates Trump & is prejudiced.
#law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference
Nonilex
The defense's playbook:
Portray #StormyDaniels as a money-grubbing, sleazy, dishonest operator who tried to use #Trump to get fame & riches from the anti-Trump resistance. Every aspect of her questioning hits at one of these themes.
This is similar to the arguments used by Trump’s lawyers in his trial over #EJeanCarroll's defamation suit: that people who opposed Trump had perverse financial incentives.
It didn’t work in the Carroll case.
Let’s hope it fails again.
Nonilex
#StormyDaniels, smartly, has taken issue w/ #Necheles’s word choices, including at the start that she had undergone "mock" cross-examination to prepare.
She's continued to do so, arguing about whether she accepted money to keep silent, while also insisting she wanted her story told.
Necheles has been relentless in painting Daniels as doing all of this - the NDA, the media appearances, her book, a strip club tour - to make money.
Ironic given that #Trump has always lauded the pursuit of money.
Nonilex
#Necheles put on screen an advertisement for an event from #StormyDaniels's strip club tour. The title: "Make America Horny Again." Daniels says that she "hated" that tagline.
#Trump’s goal seems less to make people think he's pure, but more to suggest his antagonists are all impure.
To that end, Necheles then went after Daniels for having a sexual relationship w/a camera operator on her documentary. Who cares?
#law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney
Nonilex
#Necheles asked #StormyDaniels how, by 2018, even though she had said she wouldn't discuss this (Necheles’s words) "supposed" story, she decided she wanted to "publicly" say she had sex w/ #Trump.
Daniels: "No. Nobody would ever want to" say that publicly.
Necheles gets Daniels to confirm that her book contract — to sell her story — was valued at $800k, as she continues to try to frame this as a story of financial exploitation.
#law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference
Nonilex
The defense showed a statement released in Jan 2018, in which #StormyDaniels said that she did not have an AFFAIR w/ #Trump. But #Necheles changed the wording to suggest she denied having SEX w/ Trump - & Daniels agreed, not splitting hairs about the wording here.
The Trump team has relied on this statement, which Daniels later rescinded
This is the statement Trump posted on social as having been "JUST FOUND," leading to a contempt ruling for violation of his #GagOrder.
Nonilex
The jurors heard an audio recording of #KeithDavidson, #StormyDaniels’s fmr lawyer, telling #MichaelCohen that she was desperate for the money & was panicked that her leverage to get it would disappear after the 2016 election because she expected #Trump to lose. Davidson describes hearing Daniels say this to him on the phone, but Daniels denied it to the court shortly after the tape was played.
Defense’s goal seems to be to establish that she was motivated by money.
Nonilex
#StormyDaniels is not on trial.
Her truthfulness about her motives may go to credibility, but it’s #Trump’s motives in seeking to silence her story are what matters re the charges, not her truthfulness.
Remember, Trump paid off the doorman & everyone knew that story was a fiction.
Whether her story is true or not is irrelevant.
What’s at issue is whether Trump falsified business records to hide paying her off to keep a damaging story from the public prior to the election.
Nonilex
#StormyDaniels is pushing back on #Necheles, asking for evidence when the lawyer claims that Daniels had called her lawyer weak-willed.
Daniels: “Show me where I said that,” - forcing the defense to produce exhibits to back up allegations.
Necheles pulls up the transcript & audio & Daniels’s voice is not on the tape; it is #MichaelCohen & #KeithDavidson, her lawyer at the time - so Daniels is correct, not the #Trump atty.
Nonilex
#Necheles: “You were threatening to try to hurt [Trump] if he didn’t give you money.”
#StormyDaniels: “False”
On Tues, Daniels said that she spoke w/ Slate reporter Jacob Weisberg during a period when her deal w/ #MichaelCohen seemed like it would not go through. Today, she made a similar but finer point, saying the interview w/ Weisberg was almost like an insurance policy to make certain her story would get out if the NDA collapsed.
Nonilex
#Necheles: “That was your choice, right?” she says, of Daniels accepting money for silence.
#StormyDaniels fights back, but says she “accepted an offer” because she was “running out of time.” referring to the fact that the 2016 presidential election was quickly approaching.
Necheles asks Daniels why she talked to a Slate reporter, & then stopped, implying that Daniels didn't do the interview because she wasn't going to be paid.
Nonilex
Defense says #StormyDaniels was in conversation w/multiple reporters about the possibility of selling her story before the election, seeking to use that info to show that Daniels was using her story to threaten #Trump.
Defense, as it did w/ #KeithDavidson, Daniels's fmr lawyer, is trying to paint Daniels as not only a liar, but as an extortionist, saying that she was telling Weisberg, that she either wanted money or she wanted to hurt Trump politically.
Nonilex
#Necheles presses #StormyDaniels, asking if she wanted money from #Trump.
Daniels: “No. I never asked for money from anyone in particular, I asked for money to tell my story”
Necheles: “That’s what you were asking in 2016, was for money, to be able to tell your story?”
Tues Daniels said that initially, she wasn’t interested in money.
#law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney #MobTactics
Nonilex
Prosecution objects & the judge instructs #StormyDaniels not to answer.
#Necheles moves on, saying that Daniels changed her account in 2016, when she was trying to sell her story.
Necheles may ask questions she knows will prompt objections. Just because something is stricken from the record, doesn’t mean the jury didn’t hear it. Sometimes jurors pay more attention then.
#law #Trump #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney #MobTactics
Crystal_Fish_Caves
@Nonilex Where can I get one of those candles?!! 😜
Nonilex
#Necheles now brings up something inevitable: #StormyDaniels's work as a medium. "You've made a show & a podcast claiming you can speak w/ dead people, right?"
So now Necheles is trying to make Daniels look crazy by bringing up her beliefs in the paranormal & communicating w/dead people.
Keeping score, Necheles has tried to discredit Daniels by suggesting she is
1. crazy,
2. dishonest,
3. money-grubbing,
4. desperate &
5. fame-hungry.
Nonilex
#Necheles, Trump's lawyer, gets another chance at cross & is once again drilling down on #StormyDaniels for responding to #Trump's attacks.
Not only does Necheles's client often claim he has to defend himself against others on social media, but he often does preemptive strikes that are disproportionate & seem to come out of nowhere.
A lawyer, for Trump, who loves assailing people on social media, is going after Daniels for fighting back against randos attacking her.
Nonilex
#StormyDaniels says she believed that #Trump's Aug 2023 all-caps tweet, "If you go after me, I'm coming after you!,' was about her, bc he had just filed a suit against her in Florida.
#Hoffinger asks Daniels about the impact that telling her story had on her life.
Daniels said she had to hire #security, move a couple of times & take extra precautions bc of her daughter.
Asked if publicly telling the truth has been a net positive or net negative, Daniels responds "negative."
Nonilex
Daniels's voice seems small & frail as she is shown nasty tweets people posted about her. They have called her a "prostitute" & a "harlot."
#Hoffinger shows that #StormyDaniels was assailed w/insults from various corners after her story about #Trump became public & that some of the language the defense has taken issue w/came in response to those attacks.
#law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney #MobTactics
Nonilex
#Hoffinger, the prosecutor, is doing a classic example of a redirect examination, calmly pointing to facts the defense left out in cross.
E.G. #Necheles spent a lot of time on discrepancies between #StormyDaniels's testimony & an interview she gave in 2011 to InTouch mag. But, Hoffinger drew Daniels's attention - & the jury's - to the fine print at the bottom of the article saying it had been lightly edited.
Implying that the story did not contain every detail of Daniels's account.
Nonilex
#Hoffinger asks #StormyDaniels if she tweeted in response to an attack by a stranger who called her "a disgusting degenerate prostitute" & wished her luck walking down the street.
Defense had asked her about responding to this tweet by saying she would "dance down the street" if #Trump found himself in #legal trouble. But Hoffinger is showing the full #context of that exchange, & it's different from what the jury had been led to understand by defense.
Nonilex
#Hoffinger, the prosecutor, is on redirect.
She asks #StormyDaniels whether the #legal language in her #NDA was difficult to understand.
Daniels says, w/some reluctance, that it was.
Throughout Daniels testimony she has shown she takes pride in her intelligence & her ability to be fast on her feet. She appeared unhappy to admit that there was something she had trouble understanding (many women feel this way as they are often dismissed).
Nonilex
Whatever jurors think about #StormyDaniels's testimony & Trump's lawyers' attempts to
discredit her, none of them were unfamiliar w/ #Trump before they were chosen. And Trump has spent decades boasting about sexual conquests & sitting on Howard Stern's couch for his radio show, saying lurid things about women.
#law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney #MobTactics
Nonilex
#Necheles returned to #StormyDaniels's account of the sex, seeking to draw a contrast between Daniels's testimony on Tues & a 2018 interview she gave to Vogue. But Daniels's story sounded consistent w/her testimony, w/a key detail repeated - that #Trump may have let her leave if she had wanted to.
Cross-examination concluded.
Necheles outright accused Stormy Daniels of lying about her story again. There was a sustained objection, & the lawyers discussed the issue w/the judge.
Nonilex
#StormyDaniels continued to insult #Trump up until the end of her cross-examination, at one point even questioning which #indictment of his #Necheles was referring to. She quipped: "There were a lot of indictments."
The defense moved it to strike that comment from the record, but the judge said no: he said Daniels's testimony had been responsive to the questioning.
#law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney #MobTactics
Nonilex
#Necheles has taken a risky tack in cross-examination. She accused #StormyDaniels of making up the sexual encounter w/ #Trump in part by pointing out the idea of a power imbalance. The imbalance is obvious to anyone.
It's worth noting, that the defense only need to convince one of the jurors to distrust Daniels, or to buy into the idea that her word affects the case. It doesn’t.
"You are trying to make me say it's changed, but it hasn't changed," Daniels says about her story.
Nonilex
After a break, Necheles continued her cross-examination. She introduced a story about #StormyDaniels being at a nightclub w/ #Trump & the football player Ben Roethlisberger.
#Necheles then asked about Daniels promoting her "Make America Horny Again" tour on her Instagram account.
She's still trying to catch Daniels in very small contradictions. Daniels is fighting back, but w/ less energy.
#law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney
Nonilex
#Necheles questions #StormyDaniels’s assertion that she felt a #power imbalance w/ #Trump before their sexual encounter. Necheles cuts Daniels off as she's talking, prompting prosecutors to ask the judge to permit the witness to answer.
Necheles insinuates that Daniels is making up her feeling that Trump was overpowering her. Daniels gives perhaps her strongest testimony of the morning:
“My own insecurities made me feel that way," she says, her voice never wavering.
Nonilex
#Necheles eventually cuts right to the point of her cross-examination about the sexual encounter: "You made all this up, right?" she asks.
#StormyDaniels responds forcefully: “No."
"There was no more conversation,"
Daniels says, about what happened after she left the bathroom, the moment at which she says the sexual encounter began.
#law #Trump #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney #MobTactics
Nonilex
#Necheles suggests there's an inconsistency here, because #StormyDaniels wrote about being aggressive w/ #Trump but then testified that she was intimidated when he approached her for sex. Necheles is in extremely dangerous territory here: She could convince jurors that Daniels was inconsistent. But these jurors may also understand how complex these types of situations - & memories of them - are.
#law #Trump #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney #MobTactics
Nonilex
#Necheles, harps on one inconsistency in #StormyDaniels's whether #Trump was watching TV when she arrived at the hotel suite.
Again none of this actually matters.
Necheles has reached the moment before the sexual encounter & is seeking to question Daniels's credibility about that account, mixing in descriptions of Daniels's previous work in porn. Necheles notes that in Daniels's book, she describes the early part of the encounter, writing that she made him her “bitch."
Nonilex
Part of the reason #Necheles is even able to do this sort of minor parsing of words in the first place is because #StormyDaniels has now told her story in many places many different times, & invariably there will be slight alterations in each recounting.
Defense lawyers love it when witnesses have given multiple accounts of the same event.
#law #Trump #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney #MobTactics
Nonilex
#Necheles concludes the discussion of dinner w/a blunt question: "Your words don't mean what they say, do they?" There's an objection, but the line already landed in the room.
Necheles spent many minutes drilling down on what #StormyDaniels meant when she said she & Trump had dinner but didn't eat. It's a pretty picayune distinction that the jurors can probably pick up on. It's starting to feel like Necheles is harping on this minor semantic choice just to bully.
Nonilex
It may seem minor but the defense is likely hoping to show the jurors that Daniels's memory cannot be trusted in this description of something that happened just before she says she & #Trump had sex.
#StormyDaniels, though, is still fighting back, describing the encounter as a "dinner" but saying no food was ever served - which is why she's always harped on the lack of food in interviews.
#law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney #MobTactics
Nonilex
This is mostly an attempt to confuse the jury about what #StormyDaniels has actually said.
The best witnesses have vivid recall of events & tell their stories consistently over time. #Necheles is homing in on any discrepancy she can find.
Necheles is addressing something that Daniels has long said, which is that she did not eat while in #Trump's hotel room in 2006 - presenting evidence that Daniels has at times described that episode as having been a "dinner."
Nonilex
#StormyDaniels’s is beginning to sound upset as #Necheles attacks her account of the story, saying she described it differently in her book & at trial.
Necheles continues to call it the "supposed" meeting at a hotel, but there was evidence that Daniels had not just #Trump's bodyguard, Keith Schiller, listed in her phone, but his gatekeeper, #RhonaGraff.
#law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney #MobTactics
Nonilex
#Trump appears to be dozing as #Necheles questions #StormyDaniels at length about the details of her meeting w/him.
Daniels, is quizzed extensively about whether she actually ate while in Trump's hotel room in 2006, prior to the alleged sexual encounter, smiles a bit. "It was dinner" she says, "but we never got food." She adds: "I'm very food-motivated."
#law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney #MobTactics
Nonilex
#Necheles continues to be derisive of #StormyDaniels's sex work. As she asks about the golf tournament where Daniels met #Trump, she refers to "you & the other porn stars who were there." Public perceptions around adult film & sex work have changed, & it's unclear how the jury will perceive her tack.
+ Necheles is making these arguments in defense of a man whose image as a sexual aggressor has come into this same trial thru things like the #AccessHollywood tape.
Nonilex
#Necheles, relying on #StormyDaniels's book, begins to question her about what the defense lawyer calls "the supposed sexual encounter" that she says "supposedly occurred 18 years ago."
Daniels is fighting back on every mischaracterization on Necheles's part - including where #Trump's bodyguard was at any given time - that she can. Now, Necheles begins to say that Daniels's story of the sex has changed.
#law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney #MobTactics
Nonilex
#StormyDaniels continues to hold her ground & seems utterly unashamed about her career in the sex trade (why should she be?)
#Trump's lawyer Todd #Blanche can't help but laugh when Daniels says she is “pretty sure we all know" how to have sex.
In a cable interview last year, #MichaelCohen predicted that Daniels would do well if she testified against Trump, saying, "She's very quick on her feet."
#law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney #MobTactics
Nonilex
#StormyDaniels responds quickly to this particular line of questioning & used a very memorable line.
When #Necheles implies directly that she made up her story of sex w/ #Trump, Daniels replies: [if it weren't true], "I would have written it to be a lot better.”
Trump is glowering, hunched over the defense table, as Daniels continues to insult him.
#law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney #MobTactics
Nonilex
In an important exchange, #Necheles asks #StormyDaniels about her experience making porn films.
Necheles: “You have a lot of experience in making phony stories about sex appear to be real’
Daniels: "That's not how I would put it."
She is momentarily taken aback, then adds, "The sex in the films is very much real, just like what happened to me in that room."
Necheles belittles Daniels's work & suggesting she is lying about having had sex w/ #Trump.
Nonilex
The jury is shown a very weird "close contacts list" for #Trump from early 2017. It includes Joe Scarborough, Tom Brady, Sean Hannity, Ari Emanuel, Bret Baier & Mark Burnett, the creator of "The Apprentice."
Also on the list: Bill Belichick, Bill O'Reilly, Jeanine Pirro, some business colleagues, family members & Serena Williams.
#law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney #MobTactics
Nonilex
#Westerhout testified that #Trump would dictate tweets to her & would sometimes ask to review her work & make changes. She recalls that he liked to capitalize certain words like "country," use exclamation points & was a fan of the Oxford comma.
Westerhout is talking about Trump wanting "the girls" to put together a list of people he normally spoke to. "The girls" were the assistants who worked under Graff at TrumpOrg, apparently Trump & his underlings- called them that for yrs.
Nonilex
Since #Westerhout resigned from the WH, she has talked about how warmly she feels towards #Trump, especially in her book. Trump has praised Westerhout & her book - signaling no bad blood.
Westerhout testifies about frequent interactions w/the #TrumpOrganization. She says she would pass their questions to Trump — who said he’d cut off his relationship w/his business.
Info traveled thru Westerhout & on the other side #RhonaGraff, his asst at the company, who already testified.
Nonilex
Expect her to testify that one person she saw him meet w/in person was #MichaelCohen. If she testifies as prosecutors are hoping, she will say that happened in Feb 2017.
#Trump smiles & nods when #Westerhout says he took "a lot" of calls during the day & late into the night.
Trump has always seen his extensive phone chats as evidence he's a hard worker. (Cuz it’s the only evidence)
#law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney #MobTactics
Nonilex
#Westerhout explains how #Trump started working in a small dining room off the Oval Office, where he had any number of people visit him over the yrs.
The morning's testimony was from a porn star who spoke about having had sex w/Trump, & the lead-up to the encounter. This is a dry description of the Oval Office & Trump's work habits — it is another example of how Trump has a public persona he presents as a leader, & a seamier one focused on gossip & women.
Nonilex
The prosecution has established that in 2017 Madeleine #Westerhout was part of #Trump's very small inner circle.
Westerhout has turned to describing Trump's work habits. Rebecca #Mangold, the prosecutor, asks if she developed an understanding of his preferences & Westerhout responds, "I hope so."
She then says that he preferred to either speak w/people on the phone or meet w/them in person.
#law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney #MobTactics
Nonilex
Prosecutors are using Westerhout to put into evidence a map of the first floor of the #WestWing of the White House. She's asked to identify the Oval Office.
This could become relevant when #MichaelCohen testifies. He is expected to say he met w/ #Trump in the #OvalOffice to discuss the arrangements that had been made to repay him for the #HushMoney sent to #StormyDaniels.
#law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #MobTactics
Nonilex
Madeleine #Westerhout is asked about the #AccessHollywood tape on which Trump said that women would let him grope them bc of his celebrity. She testifies that while at the #RNC, she was privy to conversations about whether to replace #Trump as the presidential nominee after the tape’s release.
Trump, who has never trusted the RNC & has always been suspicious of the old-guard #Republican establishment, watched Westerhout intensely as she described the org's internal conversations.
Nonilex
Rebecca #Mangold, the prosecutor, asks #Westerhout whether she had a nickname in the press, & Westerhout says that she was known as "the greeter girl."
Westerhout acknowledges she knew #MichaelCohen, who paid #HushMoney to #StormyDaniels. She talks about when she began to work in the #WhiteHouse. She says her boss asked her if she had any interest "in sitting outside the #OvalOffice." Westerhout says she responded: "Yes, I do, that sounds like it would be a very cool job."
Nonilex
#Westerhout abruptly left the #WhiteHouse in the summer of 2019 after #Trump learned that she had shared details about his family. She now works for Trump's former #NationalSecurity adviser Robert O'Brien, who runs a geopolitical consultancy.
#law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney #MobTactics
https://www.politico.com/story/2019/08/30/trumps-personal-assistant-fired-ivanka-tiffany-1479226
Nonilex
Madeleine #Westerhout was one of #Trump's most trusted aides in the early #WhiteHouse years. She sat at a desk right outside the Oval Office & coordinated many of his calls, meetings and communications. She was a conduit to people on the outside & she was at Trump's side through much of the day.
#law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/08/madeleine-westerhout-trump-ousted-assistant-tiffany.html
Nonilex
The people called #MadeleineWesterhout. #Westerhout was Trump's executive assistant in the #WhiteHouse. She was fired after she spoke out of turn about the Trump family at an off-the-record dinner.
Westerhout went on to write a book in which she extensively praised #Trump. Prior to his presidency, she worked for the RNC. Trump is watching her, pursing his lips at times. He smirks when she says she is nervous to be here today.
#law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference
Nonilex
The next excerpt also emphasizes Trump's love of revenge. "My motto is: always get even." And: "When you are wronged, go after those people because it's a good feeling."
This book earned #Trump royalties of $1.4M, acc/to tax records.
Prosecutors' direct examination ended quickly, & Todd #Blanche handled the brief cross-examination. He asked Menzies whether she was part of publishing this particular book.
#law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference
Nonilex
The witness is now reading a section in which #Trump describes valuing "loyalty" more than anything. "We reward loyalty & everybody knows this." In a potentially resonant excerpt, Trump writes: "This woman was very disloyal, & now I go out of my way to make her life miserable."
Another quote: "I used to say, go out & get the best people & trust them. Over the years, I have seen too many shenanigans, & now I say, get the best people & don't trust them."
Nonilex
This emphasizes the theme of #Trump as a micromanager, who wouldn't let his employees handle major transactions w/o closely supervising them.
However, Trump does say he might trust a loyal employee, such as #AllenWeisselberg, whom he name checks specifically & who prosecutors say helped orchestrate the continuing concealment of the #HushMoney payments, & who is currently in #jail for #crimes committed for Trump.
#law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference
Nonilex
The witness is asked about Bill Zanker, w/whom #Trump wrote the book. #Zanker is still in Trump's orbit, having a role in Trump's current sale of #NFTs. Trump had a dinner related to NFTs at Mar-a-Lago last night.
The prosecution is using an excerpt of the book to show that Trump is a micromanager in his business. In it, Trump says: "get the best people, & don't trust them," saying it's important to watch what they do closely.
#law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference
Nonilex
#Manochio’s testimony appears to be leading to showing the jury some of the checks that #Trump signed as he sought to reimburse #MichaelCohen in installments for the #HushMoney payment to #StormyDaniels.
The judge tells the jurors that the trial is proceeding on schedule, perhaps a little ahead of schedule, w/ prosecutors set to conclude their case in about 2 weeks.
Nonilex
Cross-examination of #Manochio was extremely brief.
Next witness, Tracey #Menzies, works at HarperCollins, a publishing company.
As happened on Tues, prosecution shows a book authored by #Trump, "Think Big: Make it Happen in Business and Life." The cover image shows Trump shouting. The witness, Tracey Menzies, says of the cover, "His name is quite large."
#NodFarter is snoozing through this testimony.
#law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney
Nonilex
#Manochio testifies that she sent the checks to #Trump via his 2 aides - #KeithSchiller & #JohnMcIntee - at their HOME ADDRESSES.
It isn’t yet clear why prosecutors are presenting this, but it seems sketchy as hell, a clear effort to keep the checks Manochio was sending Trump outside any ofcl record by the #WhiteHouse.
#Manochio testified that she handled Trump’s checks so frequently that she could recognize his signature.
#law #TrumpTrial #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #MobTactics
Nonilex
Prosecutors like to connect each witness to multiple other witnesses, to show that this cast of characters is an ensemble, & not just individuals who were randomly chosen to testify. Here, we're hearing about Rebecca #Manochio sending unsigned checks to #Trump through #KeithSchiller, his personal #bodyguard. #StormyDaniels just told a story in which Schiller was a character.
#law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney #MobTactics
Nonilex
#Manochio says that at some point the person she was sending checks to changed from Schiller to John McEntee.
Asked who that was, she said, "Couldn't tell ya." #McEntee was a #Trump adviser & ally who was brought back to the #WhiteHouse in early 2020 (at the end of his term), as Trump tried to restaff w/ loyalists who would assist his attempt to retain power illegally.
#law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney #MobTactics
Nonilex
#Manochio testifies about her involvement in the sending of checks between the #TrumpOrganization & the #Trump #WhiteHouse. This is important for prosecutors as they seek to tie Trump to the repayments to #MichaelCohen, which came in the form of checks, including many signed by Trump himself. The jury has heard a lot of testimony about how Trump was careful to keep an eye on his money.
#law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney #MobTactics
Nonilex
#Manochio testifies that #Trump & #AllenWeisselberg spoke "every day." This will be something prosecutors press to highlight the unlikelihood that Trump didn’t know he was signing off on reimbursements to #MichaelCohen.
Weisselberg, prosecutors said, worked out the details of the repayments to Cohen on Trump's behalf. We have already seen Weisselberg's handwritten notes on how exactly to repay Cohen for the #HushMoney.
#law #Trump #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference
Nonilex
A new witness, Rebecca #Manochio, has taken the stand. Manochio is a junior bookeeper at the #TrumpOrganization. She is being questioned by Rebecca #Mangold, a prosecutor.
Manochio is describing working for #JeffreyMcConney, the #TrumpOrg corporate controller who testified earlier in the trial, & #AllenWeisselberg, the fmr CFO who is currently in #jail.
#law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney #MobTactics
Nonilex
#Hoffinger, the prosecutor, returns to the lectern & asks that they do a split screen, of #StormyDaniels responding to an attack while #Trump attacks her as "horseface." She’s making the point that Trump himself was attacking Daniels & other attacks on Daniels followed his attack.
Daniels is finished after nearly 8 hours of intense testimony over 2 days.
#law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney #MobTactics
Nonilex
The prosecutor asks #Westerhout: "Was it your understanding that Mr. Trump & Mr. Cohen had a close relationship in 2017?"
Westerhout: “At that time, yes." She's now reading an email between herself & #MichaelCohen in which she's asking for his info in order to have him cleared to enter the #WhiteHouse. "Mr. Cohen was coming in to meet with the president," she adds.
#law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference#MobTactics
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