Representative DanielGoldman (D-NY) admits helping prepare disgraced and disbarred attorney MichaelCohen for his cross-examination in the Manhattan-based hush money trial of former President Donald J. Trump. The New York Democrat, who served as lead counsel during the first Trump impeachment, is a client of Authentic Campaigns, where the daughter of the trial judge, Juan Merchan, works as a partner.
“I have deposed MichaelCohen. I have met with him a number of times to prepare him,” Rep. Goldman said during an appearance on MSNBC‘s Morning Joeearlier today. The New York Democrat intimated to hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski that he has actively crafted Cohen‘s strategy for handling the cross-examination by Trump‘s defense attorneys, which is expected to occur later today.
Attorneys for the former President have demanded Judge Merchanrecuse himself from the trial over numerous conflicts of interest related to his daughter LorenMerchan‘s campaign fundraising business and her potential profiting from the prosecution of Trump. Thus far, the Democrat-aligned judge has refused the recusal requests.
Instead, he issued a gagorder on the former President, which prohibits him from responding to attacks by prosecution witnesses — including serial perjurer Michael Cohen and porn star StormyDaniels. Additionally, Trump has been barred from mentioning the judge’s daughter and her ties to a bevy of national Democratic Party leaders who have urged on the lawfare campaign against Trump.
The National Pulse has reported extensively on Loren Merchan’s ties to top national Democratic Party leaders. Her firm, Authentic Campaigns, has a notable list of clients, including the Democratic Attorneys General Association and, by conjunction, Letitia James. Other clients named are Russia hoax propagator Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), the Brennan Center — which backed Democrats’ failed efforts to remove Trump from the 2024 ballot — and Democratic Vice President KamalaHarris.
WATCH:
LAWFARE: Democrat Rep @DanielsGoldman has admitted to meeting with Michael Cohen to prepare him for today’s cross examination. Did Goldman advise him to admit to crimes yesterday to distract the jury? Is this witness tampering?pic.twitter.com/upQUVug4N3
Representative DanielGoldman (D-NY) admits helping prepare disgraced and disbarred attorney MichaelCohen for his cross-examination in the Manhattan-based hush money trial of former President Donald J. Trump. The New York Democrat, who served as lead counsel during the first Trump impeachment, is a client of Authentic Campaigns, where the daughter of the trial judge, Juan Merchan, works as a partner.
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On the twelfth day of the Manhattan-based hush money trial of former PresidentDonald J. Trump, prosecutors under District Attorney Alvin Bragg brought their star witness, disbarred lawyer and serial perjurer Michael Cohen. For lack of a better description, Cohen’s testimony was underwhelming.
Billed as the man who would pin the still yet-to-be-defined crime on former President Trump — Cohen incriminated himself more than anything.
As he took the stand, Cohen appeared nervous and uneasy — a stark difference from the free-wheeling and, at times, angry StormyDaniels who testified last week. Throughout the day, it became readily apparent that Cohen was even more of an unreliable witness than previously thought. The disgraced former lawyer — and self-described ‘fixer’ — was unable to produce any convincing connection between Trump and the hush money payments, let alone a federal campaign finance violation.
SERIAL PERJURER TAKES THE STAND.
Susan Hoffinger, one of the prosecutors with Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office, handled Michael Cohen’s questing throughout the day. After dispensing with standard procedural questions, Hoffinger and Cohen dove into the start of Cohen’s relationship with Donald Trump. According to Cohen, the two became acquainted after he helped facilitate a co-op board takeover of Trump World Tower. The disbarred lawyer told Hoffinger that he was not paid for his early legal work on behalf of Trump.
Cohen recalled being hired by Trump after doing legal work for Trump Entertainment Resorts. According to Cohen, he was never actually paid the $100,000 in fees for his legal work on the resort project but was instead given a job as an executive vice president with the Trump Organization. “He asked me if I wanted to get fired on the first day if I asked about the bill,” Cohen recalled Trump saying at the end of their meeting. Hoffinger’s line of questioning was meant to specifically direct Cohen to recall this memory, as it served to underscore the terms — or lack thereof — of the repayment agreement regarding the Stormy Daniels money.
COHEN THE FIXER.
As the morning wore on, Cohen began to lean into the ‘fixer’ persona he projected to those on the 2016 presidential campaign and others outside the Trump Organization. He described how he could renegotiate unpaid bills with Trump University vendors. When Trump praised him for his work, Cohen said it felt “like I was on top of the world.”
“With press as an example, they said something that angered him, I would reach out to the press, and I would express to them their need to either redact or take the article down or we would file an action against them,” Cohen testified. He added that he was often aggressive when addressing the problems he believed could impact the former President.
It is important to note that Hope Hicks testified that Cohen’s ‘fixer’ persona was all in his head. The former Trump campaign aide said that Cohen “used to like to call himself Mr. Fix It, but it was only because he first broke it.” Hicks went on to note that Cohen was not supposed to be involved in 2016 campaign issues, but he was prone to going rogue.
When Hoffinger asked if it was fair to call him a “fixer,” Cohen replied: “Yes, some have described me as that.”
A USELESS RECORDING.
Just before the court broke for lunch, the jury listened to a secret recording made by Cohen of himself and allegedly DonaldTrump discussing a supposed payment related to the Karen McDougal story. However, as noted in previous witness testimony by David Pecker, the payment was never actually made to McDougal. She had agreed to appear on the cover of Men’s Health instead, which netted Pecker‘s American Media, Inc (AMI) a far better financial windfall. In short, no conceivable crime was committed involving a non-payment to McDougal.
It appears that Bragg‘s prosecutors hope to conflate the handling of Karen McDougal’s accusations with those of Stormy Daniels despite having no recordings of payment details or anything beyond Michael Cohen’s word on the latter. Even then, the recording of the McDougal meeting doesn’t shed much light on what Trump knew regarding the payments.
Cohen can be heard describing the need to set up a shell company while informing Trump he’s spoken with Weisselberg. Trump asked Cohen if they actually had to pay for all of this “stuff.” At no point did Trump say what he was paying for, and when Cohen mentioned “financing,” the former President can be heard asking, with a degree of confusion, what Cohen was talking about.
COHEN’S CREDIBILITY ISSUES.
The disbarred and disgraced lawyer’s credibility has been a top concern heading into his Monday testimony. While on the stand, Cohen contradicted the testimony of David Pecker and other fellow prosecution witnesses on several occasions.
One of the most damning incidents occurred when Cohen described to Trump that the AMI negations with the McDougal payment were going fine. Yet, at the start of the hush money trial, David Pecker testified that when he initially objected to not being reimbursed for a $150,000 payment on a call with Cohen, the attorney became irate and told Pecker that Trump was very angry with him—something directly contradicted by the evidence provided by Cohen himself.
Cohen has been convicted of lying to Congress — for which he served a two-month prison sentence. In addition, the disgraced lawyer was labeled as “perverse” and a “serial perjurer” by a federal judge in March this year.
THE TIMELINE MAKES NO SENSE.
Cohen’s and, subsequently, District Attorney Alvin Bragg‘s prosecution team’s timeline of events and payments is plagued with internal contradictions. The disgraced lawyer appeared to insinuate that Trump was aware of the Stormy Daniels story much earlier in the election process than any evidence indicates. Cohen testified that Trump only cared about the story’s impact on the campaign and didn’t give much worry about it being embarrassing for him or his family. This directly contradicts several sworn witness testimonies where it was attested that Trump was not preoccupied with the campaign but rather more concerned about the impact the Access Hollywood tape and the Stormy Daniels story would have on his wife and children.
Additionally, Cohen’s timeline of events causes a problem for prosecutors as they need to prove an underlying campaign finance crime. However, per Cohen, the reimbursement payments were not made until well after the 2016 election and were not made from campaign accounts. Cohen testified that Trump had suggested that if the story came out, he’d lose the election, yet Cohen’s alleged financial reimbursements all date to 2017.
COHEN TRIES TO FINGER TRUMP.
Continuing on Stormy Daniels, prosecutor Susan Hoffinger pressed Cohen on details about his conversations with Trump regarding the allegations. After the Daniels story became public just days before the 2016 election, Cohen claims he spoke with Trump, who he says was irate.
“I thought you had this under control. I thought you took care of this,” Cohen alleges Trump said to him. The disgraced lawyer continued, stating Trump told him, “Just take care of it.”
According to Cohen, Trump continued: “Women are going to hate me… Guys may think it’s cool, but this is going to be a disaster for the campaign.” Again, prior witnesses brought by the prosecution, including Hope Hicks and Madeleine Westerhout, have directly contradicted this claim. They contend the former President was far more concerned about the impact the Daniels story — like the Access Hollywood tape — would have on his family.
Cohen says Trump told him, “I want you to just push it out as long as you can just get past the election. Because if I win, it will have no relevance because I’m President. And if I lose, I don’t even care.” While Cohen certainly seemed preoccupied with the election, not a single recording, text message, or email presented by the prosecution — outside Cohen’s testimony — mentioned Trump’s concerns about the 2016 race.
NONE OF THIS IS ILLEGAL.
The timeline of events and payments and the 34 charges found in the indictment continue to be an overarching problem for the prosecution. The falsifying business records charges are only enhanced from minor misdemeanors to felonies by an underlying crime.
We’re now on the second-to-last prosecution witness, and District Attorney Avlin Bragg’s team has yet to concretely show what that underlying crime even is. In theory, and from the course of Cohen‘s testimony, it appears the prosecution believes the underlying crime is a conspiracy to violate Federal campaign finance laws. It is important to note that the nondisclosure agreements, the alleged “catch-and-kill” scheme hatched between Cohen and Keith Davidson, and even the alleged hush money payments are all legal — meaning none constitute an underlying crime for the prosecution.
BEING DONALD TRUMP.
Cohen’s testimony is reminiscent of the 1999 filmBeing John Malkovich, in which the actor’s life is told through the perspective of others who are literally inside his head. Much of Cohen’s testimony is a stand-in for what DonaldTrump may or may not have been thinking at various moments in the lead-up to, during, and just after the 2016 presidential campaign.
When the Access Hollywood tape broke, Cohen emailed campaign adviser Stephen K. Bannon, “It’s all over the place. Whose doing damage control here?” According to Cohen, he wanted to “ensure” that Trump was protected. However, at no point does Cohen offer evidence that he was directed by Trump to “ensure” his protection or oversee “damage control” efforts. Again, Hope Hicks testified that Cohen is an individual prone to going rogue and was told that he was not to have a role in the campaign.
A tremendous amount of the prosecution’s case rests on what Micahel Cohen believes, in his mind, he was directed to do by Donald Trump — even though he may not have ever been told directly to do it. In essence, we now know what this case boils down to: the word of a serial and perverse perjurer versus DonaldTrump.
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On the twelfth day of the Manhattan-based hush money trial of former PresidentDonald J. Trump, prosecutors under District Attorney Alvin Bragg brought their star witness, disbarred lawyer and serial perjurer Michael Cohen. For lack of a better description, Cohen's testimony was underwhelming.
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Editor’s Notes
Behind-the-scenes political intrigue exclusively for Pulse+ subscribers.
Aren’t these trial round-ups great? Make sure you share them with your friends, family, and colleagues who otherwise may be tempted to get their information from less reliable sources
Aren’t these trial round-ups great? Make sure you share them with your friends, family, and colleagues who otherwise may be tempted to get their information from less reliable sources show more
The Biden Department of Justice (DOJ)’s special counsel, Jack Smith, prosecuting former President Donald J. Trump in Florida and Washington, D.C., may have violated legal ethics in his pursuit of the Palm Beach-based classified documentscase. New court filings by attorneys for Trump‘s co-defendant, Walt Nauta, indicate that Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) search warrants may have been obtained through violations of attorney-client privilege.
“The affiants used attorney-client violations as the basis for evidentiary allegations, but the SCO [Special Counsel’s Office] cannot use information it gathers improperly to justify a search warrant or as evidence against a third party,” the filing reads. Nauta‘s attorneys argue that “from start to finish, the process leading to the searches at issue was vitiated by constitutional violations that warrant suppression.”
Nauta’s attorneys additionally assert that the FBI mischaracterized his statements to the grand jury in sworn warrant affidavits, allowing them to claim that he lied during their investigation.
Last week, U.S. District Court Judge Aileen Cannon, presiding over the documents case, vacated the May 20, 2024 trial start date. She cited numerous ongoing motions and concerns over the conduct of the Special Counsel’s Office during the investigation. Jack Smith admitted that some of the documents retrieved from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence are actually out of sequence, which could cause delays in the Classified Information Procedures Act (CIPA) review process.
The newest allegations, leveled by the attorneys for Walt Nauta, suggest that Smith‘s team used inadmissible evidence before the grand jury to intimidate Nauta into compliance and secure the indictments. Concerns over evidence tampering and ethical breaches by Smith will likely delay the trial until well after the 2024 presidential election.
Well this seems important.
From defense motion related to numerous search warrants against Trump aide Walt Nauta.
I've long suspected at least one govt informant/source involved in this case. This suggests that hunch is true.
The Biden Department of Justice (DOJ)'s special counsel, Jack Smith, prosecuting former President Donald J. Trump in Florida and Washington, D.C., may have violated legal ethics in his pursuit of the Palm Beach-based classified documents case. New court filings by attorneys for Trump's co-defendant, Walt Nauta, indicate that Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) search warrants may have been obtained through violations of attorney-client privilege.
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An Arizona grand jury that indicted 18 individuals, including major Republican figures and Trump allies, allegedly went rogue, aggressively charging individuals who even prosecutors said were not under investigation. A 58-page indictment was handed down by the panel in late April, listing charges against former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, constitutional law professor John Eastman, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, attorney Jenna Ellis, Trump campaign advisor Boris Epshteyn, and campaign attorney Christina Bobb. Former President Donald J. Trump was named as an unindicted co-conspirator.
Despite narrow instructions from prosecutors, the Arizona grand jury engaged in an aggressive level of independence, which could hamper the ability of the state’s Democrat Attorney General Kris Mayes to secure convictions. State prosecutors told Bobb and Ellis that neither was under investigation prior to the grand jury indictment. Additionally, at least one witness who testified before the panel said a group of jurors engaged in intense questioning that went far beyond the scope outlined by the prosecution.
“The State Grand Jury was given leeway to conduct an independent investigation, as it is entitled to do by law,” Richie Taylor, a spokesman for Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes, said in a statement. He added: “I cannot confirm or deny the specifics of grand jury proceedings, and I will note that the investigation remains open and ongoing. I will have to decline to comment further.”
While grand juries can act independently of prosecutors, even broadening the scope of an investigation, it is unusual for them to indict individuals who have been told by the State that they are not under investigation. “It’s bad form and something I would never do as a prosecutor,” former federal prosecutor Renato Mariotti told POLITICO in a recent interview.
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An Arizona grand jury that indicted 18 individuals, including major Republican figures and Trump allies, allegedly went rogue, aggressively charging individuals who even prosecutors said were not under investigation. A 58-page indictment was handed down by the panel in late April, listing charges against former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, constitutional law professor John Eastman, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, attorney Jenna Ellis, Trump campaign advisor Boris Epshteyn, and campaign attorney Christina Bobb. Former President Donald J. Trump was named as an unindicted co-conspirator.
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Authentic Campaigns, a Democrat-aligned digital media and fundraising firm where Judge Juan Merchan‘s daughter Loren serves as a partner, counts the Brennan Center for Justice among its clients. The Brennan Center is a group tied to the efforts to remove former President DonaldTrump from the 2024 election ballot in Colorado. The Democrat-aligned lawfare group’s connection to Loren Merchan presumably bolsters Trump’s attorneys’ accusations that the hush money judge, through his family, is conflicted and should recuse himself from the ongoing trial.
Earlier this year, the Brennan Center for Justice filed an amicus brief before the United States Supreme Court, asking it to rule against former President Trump’s appeal of a Colorado State Supreme Court decision that would have removed him from the state’s presidential ballot. On March 4, 2024, The National Pulse reported that the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously sided with Trump and threw out the state court decision.
Authentic Campaigns describes their work for the Brennan Center as being focused on converting those who read the group’s legal work and writing into donors. The company’s website reads: “Authentic embarked on a meticulously crafted journey to not only identify and acquire new subscribers but also to galvanize them into becoming active, contributing donors to the Brennan Center’s mission.”
Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) and New York’s Attorney General Letitia James (D) — who are integrally involved in the Biden government’s lawfare campaign against former President Trump — are tied to Authentic Campaigns. Additionally, the Brennan Center has a long history of using lawsuits to hamper Republican policy efforts, including filing at least 14 lawsuits against then-President Trump and his government over immigration and census policy changes.
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Authentic Campaigns, a Democrat-aligned digital media and fundraising firm where Judge Juan Merchan's daughter Loren serves as a partner, counts the Brennan Center for Justice among its clients. The Brennan Center is a group tied to the efforts to remove former President DonaldTrump from the 2024 election ballot in Colorado. The Democrat-aligned lawfare group's connection to Loren Merchan presumably bolsters Trump's attorneys' accusations that the hush money judge, through his family, is conflicted and should recuse himself from the ongoing trial.
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A recent collection of polls by The New York Times, Siena College, and The Philadelphia Inquirer revealed that Donald J. Trump leads over President Biden in five major battleground states. The shifting political landscape likely stems from concerns over economic conditions and the situation in Gaza among younger, Black, and Hispanic voters, potentially disrupting the Democratic coalition that bolstered Biden in 2020.
The polls indicate that in a head-to-head scenario, more voters in Michigan, Arizona, Nevada, Georgia, and Pennsylvania would vote for Trump, with Biden leading only in Wisconsin among the six states surveyed. However, Biden’s margin increases slightly among likely voters, where he manages a slim lead over Mr. Trump in Michigan while reducing his deficit in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.
Despite winning all six states in 2020, the surveys suggest a considerably tighter race for President Biden’s reelection campaign, emphasizing the importance of victories in Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin, alongside maintaining his 2020 map elsewhere.
The minor-party candidates and independent contender Robert F. Kennedy Jr. received an average of 10 percent of the votes across the six states, drawing relatively equally from both major-party candidates. This reveals another variable to consider in the upcoming presidential race, possibly influencing the final outcomes in these crucial states.
Younger and minority voters are increasingly abandoning their support of Biden. This exodus is primarily driven by Biden’s performance on the economy and previous strong support for Israel in its war against Hamas in Gaza. Although the Biden regime has lately reversed its position on Israel in an attempt to woo those voters, the recent polls suggest that the U-turn is not having its desired effect.
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A recent collection of polls by The New York Times, Siena College, and The Philadelphia Inquirer revealed that Donald J. Trump leads over President Biden in five major battleground states. The shifting political landscape likely stems from concerns over economic conditions and the situation in Gaza among younger, Black, and Hispanic voters, potentially disrupting the Democratic coalition that bolstered Biden in 2020.
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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.
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.
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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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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Former President Donald J. Trump recently spoke about his youngest son, Barron, and his budding interest in politics. In a radio interview with Philadelphia’s Talk Radio 1210 WPHT, Trump spoke of his son’s enthusiasm for politics and academic acumen and revealed that the former First Son sometimes advises him on politics.
“He’s a smart one… he’s a great guy,” Trumpsaid of his son Barron, who will graduate from high school next week. The former President continued: “And he’s really been a great student. And he does like politics.”
Trump said that Barron occasionally offers politicaladvice. “It’s sort of funny. He’ll tell me sometimes, ‘Dad, this is what you have to do,'” he told the Kayal and Company hosts.
Barron, who recently turned 18, graduated from high school on May 17. Despite Democrat-aligned JudgeJuanMerchan — who is presiding over the Mahnattan-based hush money trial — initially ruling that the former President would not be allowed to attend Barron’s graduation. However, the decision has since been revised, and the former President can now attend his son’s graduation ceremony.
The National Pulse reported on Thursday that Barron Trump will serve as a Republican National Convention delegate for Florida, casting a presidential nomination vote for his father. Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump, and Tiffany Trump Boulos will also serve as delegates to the Republican Party convention on July 15-18.
Barron Trump has been the target of repeated corporatemedia attacks. Last week, The National Pulse revealed that the left-wing Daily Beast website fabricated a story about the former President‘s youngest son after failing to confirm rumors alleged by the site’s new ‘Chief Content Officer’ Joanna Coles.
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Former President Donald J. Trump recently spoke about his youngest son, Barron, and his budding interest in politics. In a radio interview with Philadelphia’s Talk Radio 1210 WPHT, Trump spoke of his son's enthusiasm for politics and academic acumen and revealed that the former First Son sometimes advises him on politics.
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