Disgraced lawyer MichaelCohen, who takes the stand today in former President Donald J. Trump‘s Manhattan-based hush money trial, is not the ideal witness for District Attorney Alvin Bragg‘s prosecutors. Cohen has a sordid legal history and served a prison stint for fraud, tax evasion, and lying to Congress.
COHEN THE FRAUDSTER.
In late 2018, following what appears to have been a nearly year-long investigation into tax evasion campaign finance fraud allegations, Cohen surrendered himself to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). He pleaded guilty to eight federal charges, including tax evasion, making false statements to a financial institution, violating the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA) of 1971, and making an excessive contribution on behalf of a candidate. The last charge stems from the alleged $130,000 hush money payment to StormyDaniels.
After his conviction, Cohen began speaking to the press through his attorney, Lanny Davis, a long-time Clinton confidant. This, arguably, marked the start of the events that would culminate in the ongoing hush money trial brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. In what appeared to be a ploy to avoid any serious jail time, Cohen sat for over 50 hours of interviews with the MuellerInvestigation — with little coming of his testimony. In December 2018, a federal judge sentenced Cohen to three years in prison. The disgraced lawyer was also hit with a $50,000 fine, ordered to pay $1.4 million in restitution, and made to forfeit an additional $500,000.
‘PERVERSE’ AND A ‘SERIAL PERJUROR.’
At the same time, in November 2018, Cohen pleaded guilty to lying to Congress. The disgraced lawyer admitted he misled the Senate and HouseIntelligence Committee during his 2017 testimony. Cohen was ordered to serve a two-month prison sentence. In 2019, Cohen was disbarred as an attorney in the State of New York.
In March of this year, Cohen asked a federal judge to lift the conditions of his early release from prison, citing his ongoing testimony against former President Trump. The judge denied the request by Cohen, calling it the ethics of reasoning “perverse.” In addition, the judge noted that Cohen was a serial perjurer.
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Disgraced lawyer MichaelCohen, who takes the stand today in former President Donald J. Trump's Manhattan-based hush money trial, is not the ideal witness for District Attorney Alvin Bragg's prosecutors. Cohen has a sordid legal history and served a prison stint for fraud, tax evasion, and lying to Congress.
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Editor’s Notes
Behind-the-scenes political intrigue exclusively for Pulse+ subscribers.
Jury selection begins on Monday in the second federal corruptiontrial of New Jersey Democrat Senator Bob Menendez. Menendez and his wife, Nadine, are charged with accepting bribes from three affluent businessmen. The businessmen were charged alongside the Democrat, although one of them, Jose Uribe, had already pleaded guilty. He will testify against Menendez and the other two businessmen, Fred Daibes and Wael Hana.
Prosecutors say Menendez meddled in criminal investigations to benefit the governments of Egypt and Qatar. He is alleged to have used his influence to lobby the U.S. government and interfere in criminal investigations on behalf of Uribe, Daibes, Hana, and the foreign governments and interests tied to them.
Menendez was previously indicted for bribery, fraud, and other offenses in 2015, related to claims he used his position to lobby the Dominican government on behalf of a donor. Jurors failed to agree on any of the charges, resulting in a mistrial, though the Democrat was still found to have “violated Senate Rules, federal law, and applicable standards of conduct” by the United States Senate Select Committee on Ethics.
Nevertheless, the Democratic Party did not expel him, and he retained the chairmanship of the influential Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He lost this after the latest round of indictments but remains a committee member. He bragged in November that his intelligence clearance had not been revoked despite the fact he is being tried as a foreign agent.
Menendez has said he will not run for reelection as a Democrat in November — although he may run as an independent, endangering the party’s slim Senate majority.
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Jury selection begins on Monday in the second federal corruption trial of New Jersey Democrat Senator Bob Menendez. Menendez and his wife, Nadine, are charged with accepting bribes from three affluent businessmen. The businessmen were charged alongside the Democrat, although one of them, Jose Uribe, had already pleaded guilty. He will testify against Menendez and the other two businessmen, Fred Daibes and Wael Hana.
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The Wisconsin Supreme Court will today hear oral arguments on a crucial case involving the future of absentee ballot drop boxes in the state’s elections. The case presents the court’s liberal majority with a chance to reverse a ruling from less than two years ago, which significantly curtailed the number of such drop boxes.
If the court, with its current 4-3 liberal majority, reverses the earlier ruling, it could lead to a return of widespread use of absentee ballot drop boxes in time for the upcoming presidential election. Democrats and progressive groups have filed numerous briefs urging the court to reverse the 2022 decision. Conservative groups, along with the Wisconsin GOP, are pressing to uphold the current restrictions.
The Wisconsin GOP Chairman, Brian Schimming, warned about potential “hijinks” and concerns about the security of drop boxes. Moreover, he indicated that a change this close to the elections could fuel confusion.
The state high court ruled in 2022 that only the state Legislature—currently under Republican control—has the authority to make rules concerning absentee ballot drop boxes and not the Wisconsin Elections Commission. Priorities USA, a Democratic group, filed a lawsuit seeking to overturn this ruling. The current liberal majority on the court has agreed to review whether the prior ruling was wrongly decided.
Many of the ballot drop boxes in Wisconsin in 2020 were financed by Mark Zuckerberg’s Center for Tech and Civic Life (CTCL) and overwhelmingly favored Democrats. Last month, Wisconsinites voted to amend their constitution to prevent state election officials from using private grants to administer elections.
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The Wisconsin Supreme Court will today hear oral arguments on a crucial case involving the future of absentee ballot drop boxes in the state’s elections. The case presents the court's liberal majority with a chance to reverse a ruling from less than two years ago, which significantly curtailed the number of such drop boxes.
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Michael Cohen, the disbarred lawyer and convicted perjurer due to testify against Donald Trump in Manhattan on Monday, is viewed as dishonest by a plurality of Americans. Almost half, 48 percent, of people polled by POLITICO and Ipsos, say they believe he will be very or somewhat dishonest on the stand, against 47 percent who believe he will be very or somewhat honest.
Poll respondents were informed Cohen “was a long-time lawyer and ‘fixer’ for Trump who has since turned against Trump” and that he “pled guilty in 2018 in federal court to lying to U.S. congressional committees, financial fraud, and campaign-finance violations.”
They were further informed that Cohen “was sentenced to three years in prison as a result and lost his law license” and later “implied that he lied to the federal judge who accepted his guilty plea and that he is, in fact, innocent of some of those offenses.”
Nevertheless, 23 percent of Democrat respondents said they believed his testimony would be “very honest,” and 51 percent of Democrat respondents said he would be “somewhat honest,” suggesting a partisan bias.
HUNG JURY?
POLITICO notes in its report that the Manhattan jury pool is “bad for Trump” — although “not as bad as it is in Washington,” where Joe Biden’s Justice Department is prosecuting him. The news outlet adds an outright acquittal of the former president “seems highly unlikely” but that even a single juror could hang the jury and cause a mistrial.
Adding that Trump “will probably be convicted,” they warn it is still “quite plausible” Cohen’s credibility issues could result in a mistrial if jurors’ views of him “are ultimately in line” with its national poll.
Cohen has been grifting from anti-Trumpers on the China-controlled TikTok app in recent months. He is also a contributor to MeidasTouch, a far-left news organization pushing hoax stories against Trump with White House support, funded by billionaires linked to Jeffrey Epstein.
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Michael Cohen, the disbarred lawyer and convicted perjurer due to testify against Donald Trump in Manhattan on Monday, is viewed as dishonest by a plurality of Americans. Almost half, 48 percent, of people polled by POLITICO and Ipsos, say they believe he will be very or somewhat dishonest on the stand, against 47 percent who believe he will be very or somewhat honest.
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However, owing to campaign backlash, Kennedy pivoted, posting on social media that abortion legality should be upheld to a specific number of weeks, thereafter imposing restrictions.
Abortion has been a notoriously divisive issue in America, but actually I see an emerging consensus — abortion should be legal up until a certain number of weeks, and restricted thereafter. Even in the reddest of red states, voters reject total abortion bans. And on the other…
— Robert F. Kennedy Jr (@RobertKennedyJr) May 11, 2024
“Even in the reddest of red states, voters reject total abortion bans,” Kennedy tweeted, adding: “And on the other end, almost no one supports gruesome third-trimester abortions except to save the life of the mother.”
Kennedy’s shift came after Angela Stanton King, a campaign adviser, expressed shock at his backing for late-term abortions.
Even Kennedy’s running mate, Nicole Shanahan, shared that she wasn’t privy to his initial perspective. She insisted that Kennedy believed in imposing abortion limits.
The campaign subsequently issued a statement stating that Kennedy believed in the mother’s final decision-making right, creating yet another contradiction.
Kennedy’s tendency to alter his stance on abortion was observed previously when he initially supported a federal abortion ban after three months, only to retract this support mere hours later.
Russian forces persist in making headway across the northern region of Ukraine, according to Sunday morning reports. A series of smaller border settlements are now under Russian control, with Ukrainian soldiers abandoning long-held positions.
“Today, during heavy fighting, our defenders were forced to withdraw from a few more of their positions, and today, another settlement has come completely under Russian control,” said Hostri Kartuzy, a Ukrainian special forces unit. “The Russians are dying in droves. But they are pressing on regardless and succeeding in some areas.”
Russian troops are moving further into Ukraine, posing a threat to a few small towns on the periphery of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city.
The recent Russian offensive, launched unexpectedly on Friday, involves fighter jets, artillery units, infantry, and armor. These forces have been rapidly crossing the northeastern border between Russia and Ukraine.
Meanwhile, cross-border fire continues to escalate in the area. On Sunday, Russia accused Ukraine of hitting a multi-story building in the Russian city of Belgorod, located approximately 45 miles from Kharkiv. Russian state-run news outlet, TASS, reported a presumed casualty count of 17, though the number of deaths remains to be specified.
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Russian forces persist in making headway across the northern region of Ukraine, according to Sunday morning reports. A series of smaller border settlements are now under Russian control, with Ukrainian soldiers abandoning long-held positions.
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Denver Mayor Michael Johnston is facing a formal demand from local migrants. A list of 13 conditions was submitted earlier this week, pressing the city to accommodate their needs to vacate the overcrowded encampments and relocate to shelters. Among these demands were calls for free immigration lawyers, fresh ingredients for self-preparation of meals, unlimited access to showers, frequent medical checkups, and uniform housing support.
Additional demands by the migrants encompass an orderly and just process for their eviction, job support, ensured privacy, the eradication of abuse, school transportation, and family unity. The migrants also requested a meeting with Denver city officials and a helpline to report the instances of mistreatment, tying these conditions to their relocation to shelters.
The demands emerged in light of the recent implementation of the Asylum Seekers Program by Mayor Johnston. Under this policy, recent migrants lodged in city-funded shelters in Denver receive food and rental aid for six months, as well as free legal assistance. However, the time span for their stay in shelters, which used to range between two weeks and 42 days, has been sharply curtailed to 24 to 72 hours.
This change, in addition to Denver’s accommodation of over 40,000 migrants last year at an expense of $68 million, has sparked intense criticism. Republican Representative Lauren Boebert condemned the migrant proposal, describing it as utterly unreasonable, and articulated her disapproval of Denver’s invitation for residents to host migrants in their residences.
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Denver Mayor Michael Johnston is facing a formal demand from local migrants. A list of 13 conditions was submitted earlier this week, pressing the city to accommodate their needs to vacate the overcrowded encampments and relocate to shelters. Among these demands were calls for free immigration lawyers, fresh ingredients for self-preparation of meals, unlimited access to showers, frequent medical checkups, and uniform housing support.
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Even the historically ‘Never Trump’ publication National Review has come out against Trump’s trial in Manhattan, pushed by far-left District Attorney Alvin Bragg. The magazine, founded by William F. Buckley, splashed an op-ed by Andrew McCarthy on Saturday, beginning: “The simple fact is that DA Alvin Bragg can’t prove his case.”
Merchan should dismiss the case because it is already apparent that Bragg cannot prove criminal intent beyond a reasonable doubt. After three weeks of the prosecution’s case, I now believe the evidence would be insufficient even if Bragg had charged only New York’s misdemeanor business-records-falsification offense. As for the felony offense, as to which prosecutors must prove willfulness beyond a reasonable doubt (a heightened standard of scienter, i.e., criminal intent), Bragg’s evidence is woefully inadequate.
He adds:
To sum up, Bragg’s proof of falsity is paltry. His proof of fraud is non-existent. And if he had a scintilla of proof that Trump was even thinking about federal campaign law, let alone willfully flouting it, then he would have spelled it out in an indictment rather than playing his unconstitutional game of “guess what the other crime is.”
McCarthy concludes:
Wholly independent of the plethora of constitutional infirmities in the prosecution, it should be thrown out for the most basic of reasons: Bragg can’t prove his case.
The entire thing is worth reading, if you have the time, here.
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Even the historically 'Never Trump' publication National Review has come out against Trump's trial in Manhattan, pushed by far-left District Attorney Alvin Bragg. The magazine, founded by William F. Buckley, splashed an op-ed by Andrew McCarthy on Saturday, beginning: "The simple fact is that DA Alvin Bragg can’t prove his case."
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Donald Trump describesmigrant crime as a “new category of crime” that is “going to be worse than any other form of crime.” A National Pulse review of the past week finds illegal aliens have indeed been involved in the worst offenses on the books multiple times.
BABY BEATEN TO DEATH.
Twenty-six-year-old Melvin Jesus Aquino Enriquez has been arrested in Montgomery County, Texas, accused of inflicting a brutal month on a three-month-old baby. The infant was admitted to hospital but later died.
As of the time of publication, the authorities have released little information on Enriquez. His nationality and manner of entry have not been disclosed, and nor has his connection, if any, to the murdered child. He faces separate charges for strangling the baby’s mother, however.
While some media outlets have chosen to describe him as simply a “Montgomery County man,” other reports confirm he is an illegal alien subject to a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainer request.
RELEASED TO TARGET CHILDREN.
Marvin Dionel Perez Lopez, a 20-year-old Guatemalan illegal, has been arrested for kidnapping an 11-year-old girl from the street in Lake Worth, Florida, and sexually assaulting her. Lopez crossed the southern border illegally in January and presented himself to Border Patrol, but was soon released and given a date to appear before an immigration judge — in 2027.
He is accused of snatching his alleged victim near her home and forcing her into a van, where he began to assault her. Her fate may have been even worse had the girl’s mother not noticed what was going on and rushed over to the vehicle, with the migrant fleeing on foot when she began banging on the door.
“Here’s a Guatemalan, who came into the country illegally, was stopped by the border people, released, and made his way to South Florida. And now he commits a crime where he held an 11-year-old girl against her will and sexually assaulted her,” lamented Sheriff Ric Bradshaw.
A FAMILY AFFAIR.
Josefina Cardona-Cardona has been arrested and faces deportation for attempting to hire a hitman to murder two witnesses against her son, Manuel Marcos Cardona, who was imprisoned for stabbing a teenager to death at a five-year-old’s birthday party in February.
The Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office in Florida says Cardona-Cardona sought to “solicit someone to murder two cooperating witnesses in her son’s case.” However, the supposed assassins were undercover agents.
“Now, she faces two counts of Solicitation to Commit Murder and will be subject to deportation following the completion of her prosecution,” the office says.
She and Manuel Marcos Cardona’s father are said to have participated in a beating of the teenager he stabbed to death. She also attempted to flee the state with her son following the killing.
We have arrested a mother for attempting to solicit someone to murder two cooperating witnesses in her son’s case. In April, we learned that the mother of Manuel Marcos Cardona was planning a heinous act. Our detectives, along with undercover agents, conducted a thorough… pic.twitter.com/eXZXjX9Y9T
An unnamed Bangladeshi, aged 47, has been arrested by ICE in Litchfield, Connecticut. Connecticut State Police charged him with “multiple counts of commercial sex abuse, illegal sexual contact with a minor, fourth-degree sexual assault, risk of injury to child, and illegal sale of tobacco to a person under 21 years of age” in April, with ICE lodging an immigration detainer against him the same month.
“This unlawfully present individual allegedly brought harm to our Connecticut communities by sexually assaulting several children,” said a deportation officer.
‘SIGNIFICANT SAFETY THREAT.’
A 37-year-old Dominican was arrested by deportation officers in Providence, Rhode Island, after police charged him with two counts of first-degree child molestation, one count of second-degree child molestation, and one count of first-degree sexual assault.
The migrant “unlawfully entered the United States on [an] unknown date at an unknown location without being inspected, admitted or paroled by a U.S. immigration official,” making him a so-called “gotaway.”
“This unlawfully present Dominican national represents a significant safety threat, as he currently faces multiple felony child sexual assault charges,” said an ICE spokesman.
The charges were filed against the illegal in November 2023, but he was released and remained among the public until ICE took him into custody in April.
FUGITIVE RAPIST.
Jairo Arnoldo Matamoros Solorzano, a 47-year-old Costa Rican, has been removed to his native country, where he is wanted for sexual assault and rape.
He first fell foul of the authorities in March 2021, when the U.S. Coast Guard caught him with cocaine and marijuana at sea, resulting in his arrest for possession with intent to distribute. He was imprisoned by ICE and discovered to be wanted for sex crimes in Costa Rica after being transferred to ICE custody at the end of his sentence.
SHORT SENTENCE.
A 55-year-old Guatemalan illegal has been arrested by ICE in Providence, Rhode Island. He had been sentenced to 25 years in prison after being convicted locally of first-degree child sexual molestation/sexual assault in December 2022, but this was reduced to “six years with 19 years suspended.”
The illegal alien served nothing like six years in custody and was released in April, however, the Rhode Island Department of Corrections contacted ICE to facilitate his arrest by deportation officers. He has been in the U.S. since 2008.
‘NO MORE DISTURBING CRIME.’
Deportation officers have arrested another Guatemalan pedophile, aged 25, in Billerica, Massachusetts. He was arrested and arraigned on two counts of rape of a child and four counts of indecent assault and battery on a child under 14 years of age in 2021 and sentenced to just two years’ imprisonment in 2022.
“There is no more disturbing crime than sexual assault of a child,” said Todd M. Lyons, a field office director for ICE. “Those who are not lawfully present in this country and who are convicted of such disturbing crimes will be arrested and removed from our neighborhoods,” he claimed.
However, the sheer number of migrants convicted of crimes or facing criminal proceedings that ICE faces is overwhelming. Rep. Glenn Grothman, Chairman of the House National Security, Border, and Foreign Affairs Subcommittee, puts the number of illegal aliens known to ICE with criminal records or pending criminal charges at 617,000 — greater than the entire population of the State of Wyoming.
"We have a new category of crime. It's called migrant crime, and it's going to be worse than any other form of crime," @realDonaldTrump told Laura Ingraham. pic.twitter.com/FrdQLSFKPB
Read The National Pulse’s previous migrant crime round-up here.
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Donald Trump describes migrant crime as a "new category of crime" that is "going to be worse than any other form of crime." A National Pulse review of the past week finds illegal aliens have indeed been involved in the worst offenses on the books multiple times.
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The eleventh day of former President Donald J. Trump‘s Manhattan-based hush money trial was abbreviated, ending before 1PM. Defense attorneys for the former President finished their cross-examination of Madeleine Westerhout, a former White House aide. Despite being a witness called by the prosecution, Westerhout — like many of the prosecution’s witnesses — proved relatively damaging to its case under cross-examination by Trump’s defense team.
Following the conclusion of Westerhout’s testimony, jurors heard from a series of custodial witnesses used by the prosecution to enter new evidence into the court record. These witnesses, themselves, held little bearing on the course of the trial.
Democrat-aligned JudgeJuanMerchan, meanwhile, denied a defense motion to issue a gag order on MichaelCohen. The disgraced attorney has made frequent public statements on TikTok against former President Trump. Additionally, Cohen has used social media to profit directly from the trial.
WESTERHOUT SINKS CHECK THEORY.
The prosecution has tried to make much out of former President Trump’s attention to detail. Several of the witnesses brought by the District Attorney’s office have primarily served to establish the approval process for payments, statements, and other documents within the Trump Organization, the 2016 Trump campaign, and the Trump White House. The goal is to portray the former President as someone who pays careful attention to detail and would have either had pre-knowledge or inquired about the nature of the payments to disgraced lawyer MichaelCohen.
However, during her cross-examination, Trump‘s former personal assistant in the White House threw cold water on the prosecution’s strategy. While she did testify that the former President was very detail-oriented, she explained that the busy nature of running the country resulted in Trump often signing checks while he was engaged in other tasks, including phone calls or speaking with aides. This recollection appears to cast reasonable doubt on the prosecution’s assertion that Trump was aware of the purpose of the payments to Cohen.
In a separate moment, Westerhout again reinforced the Trump defense team’s assertion that the former President was motivated to protect his family, not the 2016 election. “My understanding was it would be hurtful to his family,” Westerhout said, noting that the Stormy Daniels affair allegations made Trump “very upset.”
PROSECUTORS GRASPING AT STRAWS.
The prosecution‘s next witness was Daniel Dixon, a lead compliance analyst with AT&T. He testified as a records custodian, specifically regarding cell phone data relating to calls made between Michael Cohen and others. On the stand, Dixon spent most of his testimony establishing the veracity of cell phone call records submitted into evidence by the prosecution. These records allegedly show calls between Cohen and Trump that prosecutors allege revolved around the hush money payments.
Dixon’s questioning by the prosecution was short, though not as short nor as damaging as his cross-examination by former President Trump‘s defense team. Attorney Emil Bove handled the cross, immediately diving into the technical specifications of cell phone SIM cards.
CALL RECORDS REVEAL LITTLE.
Bove asked Dixon if a SIM card “can be pulled out of one phone and put into another?” Dixon responded, “Yes.” He next shifted to the nature of call records, pressing Dixon: “These records don’t reflect the content of these calls?” The AT&T analyst replied, “Correct.”
“You can’t tell from the records themselves who actually spoke?” Bove asked, Dixon again answering, “Correct.”
Casting doubt on the nature of the calls, Bove next asked Dixon: “You’re familiar with the concept of a pocket dial?” The analyst acknowledged that he was familiar with a pocket dial.
The next witness for the prosecution was Jennie Tomalin, a senior analyst with Verizon. Again, the prosecution called the witness primarily to introduce phone call records into evidence. One of the records concerns a call made involving Allen Weisselberg. The prosecution likely intends to bring up these records in later testimony by other individuals.
EVIDENTIARY WIN FOR TRUMP.
Just before the court took a brief break, former President Trump‘s defense attorney Emil Bove objected to a pending evidentiary exhibit by the prosecution. The Manhattan District Attorney‘s office intended to submit into evidence a 1999 interview between Trump and Larry King in which the subject of campaign finance law was discussed.
“There was extensive revisions to campaign finance laws in intervening period both statutory and by the Supreme Court,” Bove argued before Judge Juan Merchan. The defense attorney noted that the former President’s view on campaign finance law dating back to 1999 had little bearing on his views in 2016 or 2017. Prosecutors countered that the specific segment involved Trump’s opinion on the corporate contribution ban, which has been established law since 1907.
After the brief break, Judge Merchan ruled against the prosecution and denied the exhibit entrance into evidence.
MORE CUSTODIAL WITNESSES.
The prosecution next moved to recall Georgia Longstreet to the witness stand. Longstreet is a paralegal with the Manhattan District Attorney’s office. While her direct testimony last week and today hasn’t been impactful on the direction of the trial, she — like the phone company analysts — has been used by prosecutors to enter additional evidence into the court record and, subsequently, juror review.
Longstreet testified about the process by which the District Attorney’s office preserved social media posts by former President Trump. Again, her testimony served as a vehicle for the prosecution to continue entering Trump tweets into the court record.
TRUMP’S TWEETS.
Prosecutors focused on a handful of Trump‘s social media posts, primarily from 2017 and 2018. Longstreet was asked to read a 2018 post from Trump regarding disgraced lawyer Michael Cohen shortly after the FBI raided the latter. “If anyone is looking for a good lawyer, I would strongly suggest that you don’t retain the services of Michael Cohen!” the former President wrote on Twitter. Another tweet entered into evidence regarded Paul Manafort — with Trump stating that he felt “very badly for Paul Manafort and his wonderful family.”
Another post entered into evidence as a tweet addressing Cohen‘s monthly retainer and nondisclosure agreement. “Mr. Cohen, an attorney, received a monthly retainer, not from the campaign and having nothing to do with the campaign, from which he entered into, through reimbursement, a private contract between two parties, known as a nondisclosure agreement, or NDA,” Trump posted on Twitter on May 3, 2018.
TEXTS WITH A TABLOID.
Next, prosecutors began showing Longstreet a series of texts between Stormy Daniels‘s then-publicist, Gina Rodriguez, and former National Enquirer editor Dylan Howard. The messages mostly revolved around whether Daniels would talk to the tabloid when she’d talk to the tabloid and if she’d go on the record regarding the alleged affair with Trump.
A series of texts prosecutors reviewed with Longstreet appear to reveal negotiations between Rodriguez and Howard over just how much the National Enquirer would pay Daniels. “I can get 100?” Howard asked Rodriguez. The publicist responded, “Lol,” but followed up with, “Okay, what about 150?” Howard countered, texting back the number “110.” Rodrigues replied to the counter with “125k.” Howard’s next response read, “lol,” though he followed up with “120.” Daniels’s then-publicist replied, “Sold.”
Additional text messages revolved around Rodriguez threatening to sell the story to the Daily Mail as Cohen dragged his feet in paying Daniels.
COHEN’S TIKTOK.
Trump’s defense attorney, Todd Blanche, likewise took advantage of the custodial witness as the prosecution opened the door to discussing and reviewing social media accounts. Blanche asked Longstreet if she’d continued her work reviewing social media posts by individuals involved with the trial. He specifically mentioned posts by disgraced attorney Michael Cohen‘s TikTok, where he raised money off of the trial and continued to disparage former President Trump. Longstreet said that she had not seen the posts.
Moving past the TikTok posts, Blanche pivoted to the context of the communications reviewed by Longstreet. “When Ms. Rodriguez talks about offers from the Daily Mail and the timing of those offers, you have no knowledge of whether she was telling the truth, do you?” Blanche asked Longstreet. She replied, “No.”
“You just read what was written in the exhibit, correct?” Blanche asked the paralegal, continuing: “And that was different … from when Mr. Pecker is asked the reasoning behind text messages, correct?” Longstreet acknowledged that Pecker‘s testimony did contradict what was read from the text messages.
MORE PHONE RECORDS.
The last witness of the day was another paralegal from District Attorney Alvin Bragg‘s office. Prosecutors asked Jaden Jarmel-Schneider about the process of a report he prepared on calls between Michael Cohen and former Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg. Again, Jarmel-Schneider was a custodial witness, which allowed the prosecution to introduce phone call records between Cohen and individuals like Dylan Howard, David Pecker, Gina Rodriguez, Keith Schiller, and Allen Weisselberg.
Jarmel-Schneider’s testimony culminated in prosecutors using the custodial witness to introduce a chart summarizing the 34 business records they allege were falsified. Trump’s defense team objected to this exhibit, but Judge Merchan overruled their objection.
Under cross-examination by Emil Bove, Jarmel-Schneider acknowledged that some of the call records and text messages between various individuals were, in fact, deleted. However, the paralegal did take issue with Bove’s assertion that the missing data was “significant.” On re-direct by the prosecution, Jarmel-Schneider claimed the missing data was still in evidence elsewhere.
MICHAEL COHEN TESTIFIES ON MONDAY.
The court adjourned early, wrapping up just before 1PM. Prosecutors and Trump‘s defense attorneys remained in the courtroom briefly to discuss some procedural matters ahead of Monday’s trial session, where it has been announced disgraced attorney Michael Cohen will testify.
Additionally, Democrat-aligned Judge Juan Merchan quashed a subpoena filed by Trump’s defense attorneys that would have compelled testimony from Mark Pomerantz, an attorney formerly with the Manhattan District Attorney’s office. Pomerantz, infamously, is one of the architects of the dubious legal theory being used by Alvin Bragg to prosecute Trump. Judge Merchan, in quashing the subpoena, called the request an “improper fishing expedition.”
National Pulse previously reported that Pomerantz refused to answer questions before a Congressional committee about his involvement in investigating former President Trump and whether he broke any laws in the course of that inquiry.
You can read The National Pulse’s Day Ten trial coverage here, and if you find our work worthwhile, consider joining up as a supporter.
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The eleventh day of former President Donald J. Trump's Manhattan-based hush money trial was abbreviated, ending before 1PM. Defense attorneys for the former President finished their cross-examination of Madeleine Westerhout, a former White House aide. Despite being a witness called by the prosecution, Westerhout — like many of the prosecution's witnesses — proved relatively damaging to its case under cross-examination by Trump's defense team.
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