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ICYMI #GiftArticle
At Justice #Alito’s House, a ‘Stop the Steal’ Symbol on Display
An #UpsideDownFlag, adopted by #Trump supporters contesting the #Biden victory, flew over the justice’s front lawn as #SCOTUS was considering a #2020election case.
#SupremeCourt #law #PartisanCourt #ActivistCourt #LifetimeAppointments #TermLimits #Recuse #JudicialEthics
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/16/us/justice-alito-upside-down-flag.html?unlocked_article_code=1.sk0.NM3b.9Gc8HUUYCZRs&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare&sgrp=c-cb
Worth emphasizing this, because most news outlets did not:
“Rep. Matt #Gaetz (R-Fla.) on Thursday ominously invoked Donald #Trump’s call to far-right violent extremists while joining the former president at his criminal trial in New York.
“Standing back and standing by, Mr. President,” Gaetz wrote on social media, along with a photo of himself positioned behind Trump at his trial.”
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/matt-gaetz-stand-back-stand-by-proud-boys_n_66462d52e4b0dd63cd2ba653 https://uk.news.yahoo.com/stand-back-stand-matt-gaetz-174110101.html
'Stand Back And Stand By': Matt Gaetz Parrots Trump's Call To Violent Extremists At His Trial
The House Republican, one of several who joined Trump at his criminal trial in New York, repeated a line hailed by the neo-fascist Proud Boys.Jennifer Bendery (HuffPost)
#Blanche shows that #MichaelCohen was less than candid when he said he didn’t want a job, as he goes thru all the people Cohen complained to about being left behind. But it also shows that #Trump went out of his way to abuse him.
Blanche asks about an embarrassing episode when Cohen used an AI program to generate legal citations for his previous lawyer. The cases listed by the software weren’t real.
It’s totally irrelevant & seems like it’s brought up just to humiliate him.
#Blanche seems to have gained some traction here, & notes that #MichaelCohen had said he wanted to be chief of staff. “That was for my ego, yes,” Cohen admitted. But now Cohen is reiterating that he wanted to be Trump's personal attorney.
Cohen, is 5 hours into his cross-examination, & is remaining calm, even as Blanche implies there was a series of slights & humiliations that Cohen suffered after #Trump’s election in 2016.
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #ElectionInterference
#MichaelCohen responds: “I wanted a hybrid position, one where I would have the access to President Trump but not be a White House employee.” It’s a helpful answer for prosecutors, underscoring, as they have said, that Cohen was bent on being close to Trump.
#Trump, who has had his eyes closed through much of this so far, is now glaring at Cohen.
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #Trump #CatchAndKill #ElectionInterference
None of the texts were definitive, but there were a lot of them, & they clearly show that #MichaelCohen was at least interested in the idea. When #ReincePriebus was finally named chief of staff, Cohen told his daughter he was disappointed, Blanche shows. Cohen admits here that he was disappointed.
Defense is showing Cohen was again rejected, this time for a job, & is seeking payback. It also shows he lied under oath.
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #Trump #CatchAndKill #ElectionInterference
#Blanche asks #MichaelCohen if he wanted a job in the #Trump WhiteHouse. Cohen testified to the House in 2019 that he didn’t want one. But other witnesses, like #KeithDavidson, #StormyDaniels's fmr lawyer, testified that Cohen was interested & sad he was being left behind.
Blanche: “You really wanted to work in the White House, correct?”
Cohen:“No sir.”
Blanche says that Cohen specifically wanted to be WH chief of staff, & Cohen again denies it.
It seems to be an attempt to show that #MichaelCohen didn’t have a cooperation agreement w/SDNY prosecutors when he pleaded guilty in 2018, because he was unwilling to disclose everything he knew about any possible wrongdoing. He would have had to do so in order to get the letter. #Blanche may have wanted to point out that Cohen wanted to keep some things hidden even as he pleaded guilty.
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #Trump
#Blanche tried another line of questioning that didn’t land, having to do w/whether #MichaelCohen sought a letter in 2018 requesting leniency from federal prosecutors. Cohen says he told his lawyer that he “wasn’t interested” in such a letter, so “let’s not even talk about it.” It didn’t seem as if Blanche got the answer he expected during that exchange.
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #Trump
#MichaelCohen is receiving nothing in return for his testimony, other than personal satisfaction if #Trump is #convicted.
Defense lawyers often attack cooperators by highlighting the benefits they are receiving from cooperating, suggesting that they are acting in their own self-interest & their testimony is tainted. But Cohen hasn't gotten anything.
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #Trump #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney #MobTactics
#Blanche adds a third set of prosecutors #MichaelCohen met: the Manhattan DA’s office (the prosecutors at this trial) the NY state prosecutors.
(Not sure the point—that Cohen cooperates w/the #law?)
Next Blanche questions Cohen about his efforts to have his sentence reduced based on his cooperation w/prosecutors working for the# Russia investigation special counsel, #Mueller.
What person in jail wouldn’t ask this? what matters is he didn’t get it & cooperated anyway.
#law #TrumpTrial #Trump
#Merchan decides that #Blanche can do it in his own questioning. But prosecutors, Matthew #Colangelo & Joshua #Steinglass, argue that it it should come from Merchan because the questions were so misleading.
Merchan tells prosecutors that they can draft a version of an order that the judge himself would give if Blanche’s corrections end up being insufficient.
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #Trump #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney #MobTactics
After the break, prosecutors are arguing that #Blanche, early in his questioning, asked questions that seemed to suggest that #Trump's #indictment was still sealed on March 30. The indictment was unsealed that evening, after NYT broke the news. The unsealing allowed the DA’s office to confirm that the news was true.
Prosecutors ask Justice #Merchan to explain this sequence to the jury. Merchan agrees that the jury should be advised.
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #conspiracy #ElectionInterference
During the #TrumpTrial morning break, POS #MattGaetz posted an obvious reference to #Trump's Sept 2020 command to the #ProudBoys by writing “Standing back & standing by Mr. President.” 🤬
#WhiteSupremacy #StochasticTerrorism #GagOrder #criminal #law
In earlier testimony, #MichaelCohen made #RobertCostello (#Giuliani ally & lawyer who offered services to Cohen in 2018 when he was under investigation) sound as if he were an intermediary for #Trump, trying to keep Cohen #loyal. #Blanche is trying to complicate the relationship, asking if Costello told Cohen he had the option to cooperate w/ #law enforcement.
Reporting is #Costello’s role was convoluted, but Cohen did accept some legal advice from him at that time.
Jurors will have to determine when — if ever — #MichaelCohen began telling the truth. #Blanche is demonstrating that Cohen told lies, big & small, over a long period of time & for various reasons.
At the same time, prosecutors have & will demonstrate in re-direct & closing arguments that #Trump has told lies, big & small, about a number of people & issues in this & other cases.
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney #MobTactics
#MichaelCohen tries to explain the disparity #Blanche has been harping on involving if he sought a pardon. Cohen says a pardon was dangled, & he asked his lawyers, “Is this really something that they’re talking about? Can you find out?” But Blanche continues to focus on what he says were Cohen’s lies about the episode.
Blanche may have successfully made Cohen come across as dishonest. But he has yet to succeed in the goal of getting under Cohen’s skin.
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #Trump
#MichaelCohen admits he asked his lawyers to explore the possibility, although he testified before a House panel that he would never have accepted one. Cohen points out — correctly, as NYT broke the story — that Trump was dangling pardons to people connected to the special counsel's investigation into the #Trump campaign's possible ties to #Russia.
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney #MobTactics
#Blanche says that #MichaelCohen has explained the distance between the 2 statements in different ways. At one point, under oath, he said that he had not explored a pardon, his lawyers had. At another point, also under oath, he said that that the seeming disparity stemmed from a semantic distinction between past & present tenses.
Blanche presses Cohen on whether he used semantics in his reply regarding whether he sought a pardon from #Trump or not.
The defense is trying to suggest that #MichaelCohen has a history of manipulating the types of phone records that prosecutors have used here to bolster their case.
Blanche seizes on another lie: Cohen had testified years ago that he had never asked for a pardon, but testifies here today - as he did in a deposition - that he did, in fact, direct his lawyers to explore the possibility of a pardon.
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #Trump #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #MobTactics
#Blanche asked #MichaelCohen about a number of different events, including an exchange of public statements w/ Michael #Avenatti, one of #StormyDaniels's lawyers, & conversations w/his wife. He ended by asking Cohen if he had deleted his communications w/his wife around that time, & Cohen seemed genuinely stumped. Then Blanche asks if Cohen, around this time, had taken to deleting his texts more generally.
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #Trump #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference
#Blanche is now going over the financial transactions that allowed #MichaelCohen to pay #HushMoney to #StormyDaniels, perhaps the closest he's gotten to the subject matter of the case.
He notes that Cohen hid those transactions from his wife, apparently seeking to call into question whether Cohen was really as concerned about his family - & his wife — as he suggested when explaining his federal guilty plea.
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #Trump #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference
#Blanche tries to connect #MichaelCohen having lied in his federal sentencing, when the outcome affected him personally, to his testimony here. “Do you have any doubt in your mind that the outcome of this trial affects you personally?” Blanche asks.
Throughout his cross-examination, Cohen has remained calm. He appeared mildly frustrated once but just shook his head after he answered one of Blanche’s questions.
#criminal #law #Trump #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference
#Blanche is showing #MichaelCohen’s lack of remorse. Cohen has talked publicly about wanting to right the wrongs he committed while working for #Trump. Blanche is getting him to say he doesn’t think he should have been charged.
Blanche asks Cohen about blaming a lot of people for the conduct for which he was convicted. Cohen freely acknowledges he has.
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney #MobTactics
So many #HouseRepublicans have gone to NY to support #Trump at his trial that it’s messing w/ #GOP *work* Capitol Hill, including their partisan fights.
With Reps #AndyBiggs of #Arizona & #AnnaPaulinaLuna & #MikeWaltz of #Florida all at the trial, the #House Oversight has been forced to postpone its planned vote to hold AG Merrick #Garland in #contempt of #Congress. Today’s vote has been pushed back from 11AM to 8PM for members to return to Washington 🙄.
#Blanche has already shown w/ #MichaelCohen's podcast clips that this case affects Cohen in a deeply personal way & he wants revenge against #Trump. This may cause jurors to wonder whether Cohen might be willing to stretch the truth to get it.
Blanche continues to harp on Cohen’s lies to a federal judge, a prosecutor objects several times. The judge sustains. The objections may have been made because Blanche had already asked a version of the same questions.
All #criminal trials involve #testimony from other #criminals.
That’s the thing about criminals, they work with other criminals.
Duh.
#Blanche is now demonstrating for the jury that #MichaelCohen lied under oath for different reasons. By his own admission, it wasn’t only to demonstrate his #loyalty to #Trump. He lied also, Cohen admits, because the stakes affected him personally.
#law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney #MobTactics
#Blanche is using #MichaelCohen’s claims of widespread corruption — in which Cohen has accused not just Manhattan federal prosecutors but the judge in his case of being out to get him — against him. He is also using his previous testimony that he didn’t commit the #crimes to which he pleaded against him.
Blanche finally arrives at the moment that prosecutors sought to prep the jury for: That Cohen said under oath at #Trump's civil #fraud trial he had lied to a federal judge.
This case largely rests on #MichaelCohen tying #Trump to knowledge of how the false business records at the center of the case were structured. #Blanche is portraying Cohen as an indiscriminate liar who changes his story situationally.
Blanche is trying to show that Cohen has not fully taken responsibility for his #crimes & blames others, for corruption. However, by showing that Cohen lashing out at the judge & prosecutors, Blanche is making him sound a lot like Trump.
#Blanche notes that #MichaelCohen said under oath that he accepted responsibility & then later undermined that outside of court. (Something #Trump constantly does)
A similar tack tripped Cohen up when he was questioned about his federal guilty pleas at Trump’s #civil #fraud trial. He was led into saying he had lied about one of the pleas itself. But earlier in the trial he clarified that he thought he had not been charged,but was not objecting to the underlying facts
#Blanche then asks if prosecutors pressured him to plead guilty, & #MichaelCohen says his lawyer conveyed that he had only 48 hrs to decide.
Blanche uses the language of the #law. When Cohen pleaded, he was asked whether anyone had “threatened or induced you to plead guilty.” Blanche links that to Cohen saying his lawyer told him his wife was under threat, & suggests that when Cohen said no to that question, he lied. Cohen agrees that he did.
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #Trump
This tangent is a strange & seems irrelevant. #Blanche asks #MichaelCohen to explain how the taxi medallion business works. Why is this a topic of questioning?
Blanche is hopefully building to some questions about the actual case at hand.
Apparently not, because Blanche moves on to Cohen’s guilty plea in Aug 2018, & gets Cohen to say that he “never denied the underlying facts” of the plea, & that he simply thought he shouldn’t have been charged.
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #Trump
#Blanche is now asking about the #FBI search of #MichaelCohen’s phones & his hotel room & office in April 2018, & the investigation into taxi medallions that Cohen had. Cohen walks through his partnership w/a man who cooperated w/the investigation, calmly & coherently. Jurors are paying close attention.
Cohen is knowledgeable & articulate about the ins & outs of the NYC taxi industry, even providing the exact number of the medallions allowing taxis to operate.
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #Trump
#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 has yet to ask #MichaelCohen about anything in connection to the actual case that's on trial.
Trump's lawyers have focused on impeaching the credibility of the prosecution's 2 biggest witnesses, #StormyDaniels & Cohen. Though while Susan #Necheles’s cross-examination of Daniels was largely focused & had an arc, Blanche’s cross-examination of Cohen has been all over the place.
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #Trump #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney #MobTactics
Over the years, #MichaelCohen has repeatedly admitted to lying to Congress & elsewhere.
#Blanche asks Cohen to recall the lies he told to Congress about how many times he spoke to #Trump about a possible Trump Tower project in #Russia. Blanche’s goal is to show the jury Cohen is opportunistic even under oath. However, these were lies that Cohen has said he told to protect Trump.
Blanche: “You knew you were lying, correct?”
Cohen: “Yes”
#MichaelCohen easily & calmly explains what happened. Vohen expected the lawyer to fact-check & edit before submitting the doc to court & the errors were quickly corrected. It was not intentional nor malicious.
#Blanche moves on & brings up a phone call that Cohen talked about during direct, when he spoke to #Trump over Trump’s bodyguard's cellphone. Cohen said that during the conversation, he told Trump that the payment to #StormyDaniels had been made.
#MichaelCohen is asked if he responded to a post on Truth Social in which #Trump attacked Cohen & #StormyDaniels. He responds: “I’m not on Truth Social, sir.” But when asked if he responded elsewhere by calling Trump “dumbass Donald,” he agrees that he did.
#Blanche, referring to Cohen’s many instances of testifying in the past, in courts & in Congress, asks him if he swore an oath when he testified. Trump’s lawyers have accused Cohen of lying under oath.