Tell me again Trump will not testify.
Isn’t the state’s case that Trump misrepresented what that $130,000 was for?
There is apparently a break in proceedings (or early adjournment? I came in late.). NBC is talking about the trial so far, and silently showing Trump talk to the camera, apparently live. Silenced. “Is our children learning?”
Tell me again why she isn’t on the defense team?
Trump still ranting, NBC still not covering it, but talking about what Trump is talking about. Not exactly a FoxNews moment.
SO SAY WE ALL!
"Anything you say can and will…”
In cross-examination? In a week or two? And the jury will decide who’s credible, and who isn’t. Does he understand what trials are for?
No, apparently he doesn’t know.
And the walls come tumbling down. As NBC pointed out, Trump could campaign on weekends and Wednesdays. This trial date wasn’t a surprise.
I think he did that.
He argued that Trump paid Cohen a total of $420,000, not just $130,000 that was paid to Stormy Daniels. He then said this shows that Trump was paying Cohen for legal services and not reimbursing his hush money payment.
That depends entirely on how it was recorded. Doesn’t the prosecution have the books? I know the judge told the jury that nothing the lawyers say is evidence. So, who’s putting on this evidence?
Blanche then told the jury, "There's nothing wrong with trying to influence the election. It's called democracy." He said that what Stormy Daniels did was "extortion," and that there was "nothing illegal about a non-disclosure agreement." He said that there were all kinds of "salacious allegations" being made about Trump at the time and he was just trying to protect "his brand" and his family.
And his chances for election?
He then noted that Cohen talks constantly about Trump and how he wants to see him go to prison, and told the jury that just last night Cohen said that Trump is a "despicable human being" and he was hoping to see him "in an orange jumpsuit" someday. He then tried to argue that Cohen perjured himself twice in Trump's civil fraud trial, which drew an objection from the prosecutor. The objection was sustained and the judge instructed the jury to disregard the statement.
Oddly enough, Trump lied in that trial, too. Which I’m sure came out in the Sandoval hearing.
Blanche also said Trump relied on advice of his attorneys, so he can’t be at fault. There are serious problems there. One: Trump hasn’t waived attorney-client privilege, which means he can’t raise that defense. Two: Trump alone can present evidence on that defense.
Tell me one more time Trump won’t testify. The minute he says something about it, he’s waived the privilege. If he doesn’t testify, he can’t raise the defense. (Who else will? His lawyer? Not unless Trump waives the privilege.)
There are
other problems with Blanche’s statement, not just who will testify to support his claims:
"Just based on what I'm hearing here, I am fearful that Todd Blanche may be sort of overselling his hand, going back to the psychology, and I think we've all made this point here that you want to create a rapport with the juror, and you want them to like you," Polisi said.
"The worst thing you can do is over-promise and under-deliver. It sounds like Blanche is over-promising here. There's a lot of reasons why him stating that Trump knew nothing about these payments or the purpose thereof is just flatly proven wrong by the documents."
There's also a recording of a phone call where Trump and Cohen are discussing the payments to Daniels to ensure her silence about an extramarital affair, prosecutors have said.
"There's a phone call of Trump saying, 'Let's pay her in cash,' Cohen saying, 'No, we're going to do it my way," Polisi said.
"Also, the way retainer agreements work with an attorney is that, yes, there is sort of an evergreen standard payment, in this case it was $35,000 a month or whatever to get up to that amount, but then the lawyer bills you or invoices you for services rendered, and here there is nothing.
"Michael Cohen did not — we all sort of live and die by the billable hours. We have to say what we do, how we do it, when we do it. The invoices here simply show Michael Cohen saying, 'I'd like that check now for my retainer agreement.' He's not done any legal services.
"I think it's not doing him any service, the defense, by trying to really state too much. They don't have to really necessarily deny knowledge, and I think they're making a mistake by doing that."
Pecker testified briefly, without getting to the details of the payments to McDougal and Daniels (probably why Trump didn’t shout about him today). The court adjourned early for Passover.
And speaking of transparency:
