Laffy
97/ Pagliery:
On Tuesday, Daniels talked about what resulted from the WSJ first drawing attention to her.
"It blew my cover, I guess.. to everyone that I rode horses with, everyone in my neighborhood, everyone in my daughter's friends."
At that point, I turned to Habba. And guess what I saw.
Laffy
98/ Pagliery:
Habba was smiling, rocking back & forth as she quietly mouthed something to her left, where Trump adviser Boris Epshteyn was sitting.
This was as Daniels said, "We were ostracized from her play groups, from the riding stable, from horse shows—her dad lost his gig in his band."
Laffy
99/ McB:
Necheles is back up immediately.
We see the Intergalactic Gurl tweet again, and asks Daniels whether this kind of thing happens a lot on twitter.
We see another Daniels reply: "you sound even dumber than he does..."
Q: That's you being nasty also right?
A: Yes.
Q: Someone you don't even know, you're calling them names? You prided yourself in your witty answers? You were attacking them right back?
A: I was defending myself
Laffy
110/ Klasfeld:
Manochio said that Deborah Tarasoff would let her know if something was missing.
McB:
Manochio recounts how she would prepare and FedEx checks to DC for Trump to sign. She sent them unsigned, and received them back signed.
Recall that most of the Cohen payments came from Trump's account, of which he had the sole signatory authority.
Laffy
107/ McB:
Q: Do you know if Trump's personal expenses were processed by the Trump Org?
A: Yes
Q: Do you know how Trump paid his expenses?
A: By check.
Q: Did Trump get a new job in 2017?
A: What was that new job, and did he have to move for it?
Q: President of the United States, and to Washington, D.C.
McB: After the drama and strange turns of the morning and Tuesday, it's almost refreshing to be talking about checks and invoices
Laffy
108/ McB:
As Manochio began her testimony, one reporter packed up and headed for the door. For him, I guess the show was over.
Bower:
When Trump moved to WH, how did Trump get checks he needed to sign? I FedExed them. How often? Once a week.
Laffy
109/ Bower:
Deb Tarasoff, from accounts payable, gave Manochio checks to sign, she says. She never looked inside the envelopes she sent.
Usually sent 10-20 at a time, but she does recall sending a single check. The checks she sent were unsigned. When she received them back, Trump's signature was on them. She usually got them back in a few days.
Laffy
103/ McB:
NEWS: Stormy Daniels has finished her testimony.
"People, please call your next witness," says Justice Merchan.
"The People call Rebecca Manochio."
Klasfeld:
Next witness: Rebecca Manochio, the Trump Organization's former executive assistant and current junior bookkeeper.
"I was compelled to testify," she confirms.
Laffy
104/ Bower offers a little more:
Rebecca Manochio, who worked as an executive assistant for Allen Weisselberg at the Trump Organization.
Laffy
105/ Note from Weissmann:
KEY ADMISSION --on redirect the state elicits that Trump admitted in a CA legal case that he, Trump, reimbursed Cohen the $130,000 hush money.
McB:
She began at Trump Org August 2013 as an administrative assistant, then executive assistant., both for Allen Weisselberg and Jeff McConney.
Manochio began her testimony speaking softly, and Merchan asked her to speak a bit more loudly please.
Laffy
106/ McB:
As Weisselberg's assistant for 8 years, Manochio sat right outside his office, and Weisselberg would interact with Trump every day. Manochio had a role in processing expenses: she put checks with their backup together, and gave them to Weisselberg to sign.
Laffy
100/ McB:
As Necheles displays more tweets of public sparring between Daniels and strangers on the internet, I'm once again reminded of the great lesson in digital permanence that has continued to be prominent in this trial since jury selection.
Laffy
101/ Klasfeld:
Stormy Daniels' voice gets progressively softer during the exchange about the attacks on her — but she's still collected.
Press:
Trump's lawyer Necheles: You were called an aging harlot - nasty, right? And you jabbed back and said you made a million dollars and just paid for your new ranch
Stormy Daniels: Yes I defend myself on Twitter. And I pay my bills.
Laffy
102/ McB:
Back to "IF YOU GO AFTER ME, I'M COMING AFTER YOU"
Q: This doesn't say your name, does it?
A: No.
Q: Do you realize at the time there was a Republican PAC coming after him?
A: No.
No further questions, and Hoffinger is back at the lectern.
Hoffinger displays a splitscreen: People's 408A, Trump's Truth Social post calling Daniels "horseface" and "sleazebag" next to Exhibit J2, a tweet of Daniels.
Both within six days of each other.
Nothing further, and Daniels steps down.
Laffy
127/ Bower:
We'll resume with cross examination after lunch.
Before the jurors file out, Merchan addresses scheduling: We're on time or ahead of schedule, he tells the jurors.
NOTE: I'LL START A NEW THREAD WHEN THEY COME BACK.
Pseudo Nym
Said it before, will say it again.
Thank you!
I really don't want to watch the trial, but it's nice to be passingly informed of the important bits.
Is greatly appreciated
Laffy
124/ Pagliery cracks me up:
She says the directive would've come from "Rhona or Allen."
That's Rhona Graff (Trump's executive assistant) or Allen Weisselberg.
Prosecutor asks Manochio whether Trump usually received checks via "FEDEX Priority Overnight."
"Always," she says with a heavy dose of vocal fry.👈🏼
Laffy
125/ Phang:
EMAIL DATE: September 7, 2017 at 11am “Hi Rhona: Can you put me in contact with Rebecca that works for Mr. Weisselberg. With Keith leaving I will need the bosses personal checks mailed to me. Thank you John McEntee”
MANGOLD: Who is this from and to? MANOCHIO: From John McEntee to Rhona Graff, the subject is "CHECKS TO SIGN"
Laffy
126/ Klasfeld:
Q: Did you ever send anything to Keith Schiller other than checks for Mr. Trump to sign?
A: No.
This direct examination, conducted by prosecutor Rebecca Mangold, focuses largely on the witness's close readings of FedEx records which will be submitted into evidence and eventually made public.
Clerical stuff, but it builds the paper trail at the heart of the case.
Laffy
121/ McB:
She sends the FedEx, she receives the FedEx. The checks go to DC unsigned, and come back to New York signed.
Easy come, easy go.
There, I saved you from reading dozens of transcript pages.
Around Sept 2017, Manochio's point of contact changed to John McEntee (personal aide to the president). In an email he asked Rhona Graff to put him in touch with "Rebecca that works for Mr. Weisleberg [sic]," bc he "will need the bosses personal checks mailed to me."
Laffy
122/ Interesting note from Kristy Greenberg:
Trump’s ego needs to stroked by everyone around him, including his lawyers at his criminal trial. After confirming that celebrities like Aaron Rodgers, Charles Barkley, and Ben Roethlisberger were at the golf tournament where Trump met Stormy Daniels, Trump’s lawyer asked Daniels to confirm that Trump was the most famous celebrity there.
More...
Laffy
123/ Greenberg:
She then asked Daniels to confirm that Trump did very well at that golf tournament. Only Trump would be petty enough to try to get evidence of his fame and golf prowess admitted as evidence at his criminal trial.
Laffy
119/ Phang:
MANGOLD: Is that a white house address for schiller? MANOCIO: It’s a personal. MANGOLD: Do you know why you asked to send checks to Mr. Schiller’s home address in DC? MANOCIO: no MANGOLD: who told you to send checks to schiller MANOCIO: Rhona Graff
Laffy
120/ Pagliery:
Some amused gasps as the prosecutor asks her why the Trump Org—when Trump was in the White House—would deliver checks (like Cohen's reimbursement checks) to his bodyguard Keith Schiller's home address in DC.
Manochio doesn't know.
"No!" (said in a friendly way)
Laffy
116/ Pagliery is always colorful:
She worked for ex-CFO Allen Weisselberg & ex-controller Jeff McConney.
Manochio responds witha snappy "yes!" or "no!" to every one of the prosecutor's questions.
If she says more than a word, you can hear it dripping with that Millennial vocal fry.
Laffy
117/ Klasfeld:
Q: Did you ever send anything to Keith Schiller other than checks for Mr. Trump to sign?
A: No.
Laffy
118/ Phang:
Interesting tidbit here:
EXHIBIT: FEDEXS SENT THROUGH TRUMP ORG ACCOUNT Ship Date: May 23, 2017 Delivered: May 24 2017 08:57
Sender: Rebeccca Manochio The Trump Organization Recipient: Keith Schiller
MANGOLD: “Do you know what this is a fed ex for?” MANOCIO: “His checks” MANGOLD: These are unsigned checks you sent to dc for trump to sign MANOCIO: Correct
Laffy
114/ McB:
Mangold displays a FedEx invoice, dated 5/29/17, an example of the types of FedEx invoices Manochio would regularly see.
We're following the checks' journey from where we last left them off with Deb Tarasoff.
Laffy
115/ McB:
The 5/23/17 FedEx invoice, from Manochio to Keith Schiller (Trump's bodyguard), is for unsigned checks bound for Trump.
McB: I hope for everyone's sake we don't go through this process again for all 12 months of payments to Cohen.
Laffy
111/ McB:
Manochio says she would speak to Madeleine Westerhout, Trump's WH executive assistant at the beginning of his term, on the phone when checks were missing, or other confusion.
👉🏼Perhaps a clue as to the prosecution's next witness.
Laffy
112/ Klasfeld:
Asked if she understands that she's being called as a custodian of records, Manochio says: "Yes."
The prosecutor primes the witness to identify exhibits.
Laffy
113/ Bower:
Mangold walks through the process of eliciting testimony from Manochio in order to admit certain documents into evidence as Trump Organization business records. When she's done, she offers several exhibits into evidence.
GNU social JP is a social network, courtesy of GNU social JP管理人. It runs on GNU social, version 2.0.2-dev, available under the GNU Affero General Public License.
All GNU social JP content and data are available under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license.