Trump’s history-making hush-money trial begins ...

They understand. It’s more about whistling past the graveyard.

 

At least I get a good Tom Waits song out of it

 

WTH kind of question is that? When he says they’re attorneys fees and they’re not. That’s cooking the books.

 

Our legal system is so devoted to respecting and applying the rule of law that sometimes it hobbles itself with rules of evidence, but that’s better than the alternative.
In the end, they got Al Capone for fiddling his taxes since nailing him for the multiple murders he committed was not definitively provable in court, even though everyone knew it and he even bragged about it.

 

With pepper and spices.....pretty darn hot and spicy!

 

When Trump went on camera with his blabbering spew about "legal services" he conveniently forgot to mention that Cohen provided NO legal services throughout 2017 when he was receiving 35,000 a month from Trump and that there was NO retainer contract that the defense claims .

 

Trump trial in "hush money" case gets underway with opening statements and first witness


snip

'Jurors in former President Donald Trump's criminal trial in New York got their first glimpse Monday of the arguments both sides plan to make over the course of the historic proceedings, with the prosecution and defense teams presenting their opening statements as Trump looked on.

Prosecutors also called their first witness to the stand: David Pecker, the former CEO of American Media Inc., or AMI, the parent company of the National Enquirer. The state alleges Pecker helped Trump during the 2016 campaign by burying negative stories about him and attacking his rivals.

Pecker testified for less than a half hour before the court adjourned for the day. He will resume testimony on Tuesday, after a hearing over whether Trump should be held in contempt of court for defying a gag order imposed by the judge in the case.'


cont
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-hush-money-trial-opening-statements-witness-testimony/

 

Poor little dog.

 

defense's statement
'Todd Blanche, an attorney for Trump, delivered the defense's opening statement after Colangelo. He said the jury is "going to learn that this was not a payback."

"Think for a moment of what the People just told you. President Trump did not pay Mr. Cohen back $130,000. President Trump paid Michael Cohen $420,000," Blanche said, as Trump watched him. "Would a frugal businessman, would a man who 'pinches pennies,' repay a $130,000 debt to the tune of $420,000?"

He said the $35,000 that Cohen received each month was for his services as Trump's personal attorney, not as reimbursement for the Daniels payment. He argued that Trump "had nothing to do with the 34 pieces of paper….except that he signed them in the White House, while he was running the country." Each charge in the indictment refers to a record created to document a payment to Cohen.

"There's nothing wrong with trying to influence an election. It's called democracy. They've put something sinister on this idea, as if it was a crime," Blanche continued. "President Trump fought back like he always does, and like he's entitled to do. To protect his family, his reputation and his brand. And that is not a crime."



cont
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-hush-money-trial-opening-statements-witness-testimony/

 

And
Poor little Pecker.






link

TRUMP AND HIS PECKER

 

The shortest book ever written:

"The Honest Dealings of Donald J. Trump"

 

Yahoo News Singapore
Editorial: Let all read the Trump transcripts: Justice Juan Merchan must order them published daily

snip

'Shortly after Acting Manhattan state Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan gaveled out the final day of jury selection for the criminal prosecution of Donald Trump on Friday afternoon, the New York County Criminal Court Electronic Document Delivery System sent an email notification of receipt at 5:22 to lawyer Jim Walden that his application had been received.

So that means that Merchan has before him this weekend the formal request of the civic group Common Cause New York and the news website New York Focus to please order that each day’s court transcript from the Trump trial commencing tomorrow be posted on the website of the state Office of Court Administration.

The papers filed by Walden and Deanna Paul from the firm of Walden Macht & Haran LLP make the same argument that regular readers have seen in these columns for a year: That the tremendous public import of this case demands full transparency and since New York is basically alone among the states in barring cameras and microphones from trial courts, the complete availability of transcripts is a requirement.'

 

Of course it's short.
It contains the repetitious words in Trump's very very limited vocabulary.

 

Karen Friedman & Michael Popok go over today's trial.

 

yea. I agree. Stormy Daniels broke the NDA contract. She owes trump

the accusation is that trump claimed the money paid to Daniel’s was a business expense

 

Nope!
It had zilch to do with the NDA

Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, tried to sue Trump for defamation in 2018, specifically taking aim at a tweet attacking her account of being threatened by a stranger in 2011 to stay quiet on her Trump story. Trump attacked the account as a "con job, playing the Fake News Media."Apr 5, 2023

Judge orders Stormy Daniels to pay Donald Trump ... - NPR

NPR
https://www.npr.org › 2023/04/05 › trump-stormy-dani...

 

Trump denies having anything to do with both McDougal and Stormy Daniels yet both women claim they had contacts with Trump's old bodyguard Keith Schiller.
McDougal especially, she said during her 10 month affair with Trump it was Schiller who transported her etc.
She liked him a lot.
Why isn't he being mentioned as a witness?
Establishing a connection by a third party between both gals and Trump would be crucial for the prosecution.
Maybe he will be called and will testify truthfully.


Hope Hicks and Keith Schiller have been questioned in ...

Salon.com
https://www.salon.com › ... › Shira Tarlo's Articles

Apr 10, 2019 — Investigators reportedly asked the pair about their contacts with David Pecker, publisher of American Media Inc.

 

At the time Trump claimed to have had nothing to do with Stormy's NDA.
Stay tuned.


Feedback

Trump won't enforce Stormy Daniels nondisclosure agreement

ABC News - Breaking News, Latest News and Videos
https://abcnews.go.com › Politics › story

Sep 8, 2018 — President Donald Trump said he will not attempt to enforce a nondisclosure agreement blocking porn star Stormy Daniels from revealing ...

 

Keith Scheller has to be a freakin' gold mine of information but I suspect he's like Allen "fall guy" Weisselberg, he being paid to lie, to take the fall or to have a really bad memory.

 

You got it.





Emily Nussbaum
@emilynussbaum
Follow

P.S. Where is Keith Schiller these days? He has to know easily as much as Michael Cohen


4:02 PM · Apr 4, 2023
·
17K
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Prosecutors objecting during the defense's opening statement is very rare.
They had to do just that with Blanche a few times and the objections were sustained by Merchan.
Very interesting what took place.
@ 19:00 mins

 

LOL ok 34 counts is 34 pieces of paper as we heard today in court.

There is no federal campaign finance charge nor conviction and Bragg can't charge that. You can't tie a misdemeanor to a felony that doesn't exist. This isn't rocket science.

If you want to rant and rave about a ledger entry, go ahead but after all the promises of major felonies, crooked don, all the felonies, this baby is weak soup. NDA's are supposed to be private, NDA's protect from personal and company embarrassment and would have done both for Trump, so you can't say it was only to get elected.

 

I know nothing about the case and you're asking me what kind of question that? lol. The whole case is based on the ledger entries which the Trump association accountants entered the payments as legal services. Geeze man

 

Yep ...exactly.... the misdemeanor has run out the statute of limitation.... it can only be bumped up to a felony if a second crime has been committed.... they have not charged him with a second crime... a state prosecutor can not charge a federal crime..
reminds me when they claim he committed insurrection when he was never charged with insurrection..

 

And the FEC didn't even fine the campaign and the DOJ looked into and passed. Now this guy can claim Trump committed a crime that he didn't. Yea that's going to work.