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

6m ago / 3:39 PM EDT
Necheles highlights casting as reason for Trump to have Daniels' phone number

Lisa Rubin and Zoë Richards
Trump attorney Susan Necheles began to suggest that casting for the show "The Celebrity Apprentice" was why the former president had Stormy Daniels' phone number.

“He thought that she would be an interesting addition to 'The Apprentice,'" Necheles said during questioning this afternoon.

"That was the office chatter, yes," Rhona Graff said, noting that she vaguely recalled hearing at the office that Trump had referred to Stormy Daniels as a potentially appealing candidate for the show.

 

"You're getting Pecker as an expert defense witness to say, for over 17 years this was commonplace. Buying stories wasn't just because of an election, we did it all the time on behalf of Trump, but so did many celebrities. And it doesn't mean the stories were true," Eiglarsh said. "It's the cost of doing business when you're a celebrity, because people are constantly looking for cash grabs, or because you might have done something a little questionable and you got to buy that out because it'll hurt your brand or it'll affect your home life, or it might even affect an election."
https://www.foxnews.com/live-news/april-26-trump-new-york-trial

 

4 min ago
Prosecutor Rebecca Mangold is questioning Farro


Prosecutor Rebecca Mangold is questioning Gary Farro, a finance executive who is on the stand.

Farro is currently going over banking regulations under the Bank Secrecy Act.

He says there are certain types of transactions that require more review by the bank, including transactions involving wires. Farro also says that transactions involving political candidates also require more review.

3 min ago
Finance executive Gary Farro is the next witness
Gary Farro is the prosecution's next witness.

Farro is currently a private client adviser at Flagstar Bank and was previously a senior managing director at First Republic Bank, where he worked when Michael Cohen was trying to set up the payment to Stormy Daniels.

He is the third witness to testify in this case.

https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/trump-hush-money-trial-04-26-24/index.html

 

1 min ago
Farro was assigned Cohen because of his "ability to handle individuals that may be a little challenging"


Farro, after testifying about different types of banks and banking transactions, brings up his connection to this case.

"Michael Cohen was assigned to me after a colleague left in 2015," Farro testified. He was given Cohen based on his "ability to handle individuals that may be a little challenging."
"Frankly, I didn't find him that difficult," Farro says of Cohen.

Farro says he worked with Cohen from 2015 through 2018 or 2019.

https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/trump-hush-money-trial-04-26-24/index.html

 

7m ago / 3:51 PM EDT
Farro says there are other industries the bank won't do business with

Farro testified that there are lines of business that the bank decided it won't do business with, including gambling, adult entertainment and check cashing.

https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/trump-hush-money-trial-04-26-24/index.html

 

2 min ago
Trump attorneys are flipping through big binders as Mangold introduces documents into evidence


Trumps attorneys, Emil Bove and Todd Blanche, are flipping through big binders full of documents as Mangold begins introducing documents into evidence with Farro.

Trump is sitting between them, staring straight ahead with his eyes closed.

4 min ago
Farro says Cohen held personal bank accounts at First Republic
Farro is being asked about recording keeping at First Republic. Prosecutors will introduce evidence through him.

He says Cohen held personal accounts and entities there including some lending programs. Cohen opened bank accounts while working with Farro, he says.

"I didn’t open any accounts for the Trump Organization."

5 min ago
Farro says he was "very excited" to be working for Cohen
Farro says there was a branch nearby Michael Cohen's office in Trump Tower so he'd frequently go there in person.

Farro says he was "very excited to be working for him."


https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/trump-hush-money-trial-04-26-24/index.html

Last edited: 2 minutes ago

 

That may be. Trump is nothing like any other person on trial. Trump thought he was immune and he really isn't. So we wait and see what Trump does next.

 

39m ago / 1:00 PM EDT
Prosecutor sets up that arrangement during campaign wasn't routine

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass gets Pecker to admit that it was not standard for a presidential candidate’s fixer to suggest amendments to source agreements.

While it was standard for Pecker to suppress stories to help a friend or to use as leverage with a celebrity, he had never done it before primarily to help a campaign.

Pecker confirmed that while he coordinated hundreds of thousands of NDAs during his tenure at AMI, he indicated that "the only one" he did for a presidential candidate's campaign was for Trump.

54m ago / 12:45 PM EDT
Pecker confirms he bought McDougal story to influence 2016 election

Daniel Arkin

Pecker, facing questions from one of the prosecutors, confirmed under oath that he bought McDougal's story when he was running the Enquirer as part of a scheme to influence the 2016 presidential election.

Joshua Steinglass, one of the prosecutors, asked Pecker: “Is that true, Mr. Pecker, was that your purpose in locking up the Karen McDougal story, to influence the election?”

Pecker replied yes, then added that the "actual purpose was to acquire lifetime rights so [the story] was not published by any other news organization."

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/do...trial-hush-money-case-live-updates-rcna149466

Last edited: Today at 1:41 PM

 

3 min ago
Farro discusses email asking him to return Cohen's call about "an important matter"


The first document is being shown to the jury is an email from Farro's assistant informing him that Michael Cohen called on October 11, 2016.

Farro received another email two days later.

"Please return Michael Cohen's call when you are available today regarding an important matter," the email said.
The banker called Cohen who told him he wanted to open a new LLC account. Cohen said the account was for "capital real estate," Farro says.

"Need an account opened for Mike Cohen immediately. He wants no address on the checks. Calling you now to discuss," an October 13, 2016, email Farro wrote says.

Then banker says that it wasn't that unusual for an LLC not to have addresses on the checks.

Cohen called to set up an account for Resolution Consultants LLC.

The jury is now seeing pages of documents that show Resolution Consultants LLC was created by Michael Cohen as a Delaware entity.

For background: This was the LLC Cohen created for the Karen McDougal payment that never happened.

9 min ago
Farro is walking attorneys through the way his bank's email servers worked
Farro is being asked about email servers at First Republic and what information they recorded.

The emails include bank transactions and client communications, Farro testifies.

Now the first document from several binders full of them is being shown to the jury.


https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/trump-hush-money-trial-04-26-24/index.html

 

Thank you!
It's good to have an ongoing testimonies thread.
To actually keep somewhat updated and to use as reference.

I did get quite a few things done today at home too.
Up and down/back and forth. lol

 

8 min ago
Analysis: Farro's testimony shows what the trial is about


The testimony of Gary Farro, Michael Cohen's former banker, wasn't expected or anticipated, but it gets to what the trial is about, CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins says.

"This is why it matters because (Farro) is trying to arrange the payment to Stormy Daniels (from Michael Cohen), which is what all of this is about ... Maybe it's not as salacious but this is actually what the trial is about," Collins said.

https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/trump-hush-money-trial-04-26-24/index.html

 

He didn't do it for the campaign he did it for private citizen Trump who had numerous reasons to do so as he had in the past as he had with other celebrities and it was NOT ILLEGAL and Bragg can't prosecute and convict someone of a federal election crime even if one occurred.

 

3 min ago
Farro is walking lawyers through the specifics of his bank's arrangement with Cohen


Farro and the attorneys are getting into the finer details of his bank's arrangement with Cohen, testifying that Trump's former personal attorney was the only authorized signatory on the account and repeating the account was meant for real estate purposes.


https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/trump-hush-money-trial-04-26-24/index.html

 

Which was not illegal and even if it were would be a FEDERAL crime Bragg has no jurisdiction to try him let alone convict Trump of a federal election violation. What don't you guys get here? The payments are not in dispute here why is this guy even testifying?

 

I see.
So Pecker doesn't know what he's talking about but somehow you know what Pecker's/Trump's/Cohen's/Weisselberg's motives were.

 

1 min ago
Farro says Cohen "changed course" once before opening LLC that he used to make Stormy Daniels payment


Farro says the bank "did all of our work to establish" Cohen's original account, but it was never funded.

"A deposit was never made in the account, so the account never went live," Farro says.

Thirteen days later, on October 26, 2016, Farro received another email from his assistant to return Michael Cohen's call, according to the court exhibit.

"He stated he was changing course and no longer wanted to open Resolution Consultants, and wanted to open a new account," Farro says.

"Every time Michael Cohen spoke to me he gave a sense of urgency and this was one of those times."
The new LLC was Essential Consultants LLC, Farro says.

This is the LLC that Cohen used to pay Stormy Daniels the $130,000 payment.

On the form the bank prepared for Cohen to open the account, it stated under "business narrative" that Cohen was opening the account for a real estate consulting company to collect fees for consulting work on real estate deals.

Cohen again checked "No" on a form that asked if the entity is "associated with political fundraising/Political Action Committee (PAC)."

2 min ago
Cohen checked "No" on a form asking if his entity was associated with political fundraising
Cohen checked "No" on a form that asked if the entity, Resolution Consultants LLC, which was created by him as a Delaware entity, is "associated with political fundraising/Political Action Committee (PAC)."

Farro testified several times that his understanding was that Cohen was opening the account for "real estate."

Per the paperwork, Cohen described the entity's function to be "management consulting (including HR & marketing)."

Cohen was the only authorized signatory for the account.

Farro says that the bank "did all of our work to establish" Cohen's account, but it was never funded.

"A deposit was never made in the account so the account never went live," Farro says, confirming the account was not opened.

https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/trump-hush-money-trial-04-26-24/index.html

 

Phew!

1 min ago
Judge Merchan says he's calling it a week


Mangold says she's at a natural stopping point and Judge Merchan says, we will "call it a week."

He is now giving the jury instructions.

Trump hit his attorney Todd Blanche on the arm and leaned over to tell him something.

Merchan reminds jurors court is dark on Monday and we are back 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday.

Merchan says, "Have a good weekend, take care."

 

Whether Trump's lawyers succeed in deferring justice in this and the sexual abuser's other legal reckonings, his habitual squalid intrigues are being exposed by his erstwhile enablers, and the sleazy puffball, in contrast to the flame-capped Colossus strutting across the empyrean he portrays to thrill his cult, is shown to be a grumpy old geezer force-fed lurid accounts of his depravities and his sordid, furtive attempts to hide them.

The reality will not impact the blind faith of his enthralled groupies.

For them, the reality-tv performer could shoot everyone on 5th Avenue and evoke presidential immunity.

​

 

The reimbursement was not legal fees. It was reimbursement for a disbursement. Not the same thing. At all.

 

BTW:
Today is Melania's birthday.
What surprise does Donnie have for her? lol

These 4 gals all deserve each other.

'Melania Trump's former press secretary claims Hope Hicks and Sarah Sanders called to see how the first lady was 'dealing' with Karen McDougal affair rumors... but didn't share details of the National Enquirer 'deal'

Melania Trump's former spokesperson said Hope Hicks and Sarah Huckabee Sanders would check in with her to see how the first lady was 'dealing' with the Karen McDougal affair rumors - but didn't share the details of a 'deal' with the National Enquirer.

The revelation came as former National Enquirer CEO David Pecker testified in Donald Trump's case involving hush money paid to porn star Stormy Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford.

Pecker was speaking about a joint call with Hicks, who served as White House communications director, and Sanders, who was White House press secretary at the time and is now governor of Arkansas, about a 'catch-and-kill' contract given to McDougal.'

cont:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...icks-sarah-sanders-karen-mcdougal-affair.html

 

Oh, my.

'National Enquirer editor said Stormy Daniels' affair story was true: Texts shown to jury'

'This story is true:' Dylan Howard texted David Pecker about Stormy Daniels

Howard texted Pecker that a woman wanted $120,000 for her story, according to texts shown to the jury at Trump's hush money trial.

Pecker testified the woman he was referencing was Stormy Daniels.

"I know the denials were made in the past – but this story is true," Howard's texts shown to the jurors said, adding that the woman had other offers from "Mail" and "GMA."



https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...e-pecker-believed-stormy-daniels/73453870007/

 

It shows Cohen's consciousness of wrongdoing.

 

Parsing the Mueller report
‘They found substantial evidence of obstruction of justice’

"The only reason he didn’t make a call is because the Justice Department has a policy that a sitting president cannot be indicted. And it was solely out of respect to that policy that Mueller declined to make an ultimate call with respect to the obstruction charges."
https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/st...bstantial-evidence-of-obstruction-of-justice/

Which is exactly what I said.

I made no such assertion.

TRaitor tRump is not president now.

 

Karen McDougal's CNN interview.
Where is Trump's boy Keith Schiller?

'x-Playboy model says she kept journal of days she met with Trump'

snip:

She added that she was hurt because she wondered whether Trump thought she was in it for the money.

“I looked at him and said, that’s not me, I’m not that kind of girl. And he looked at me and said, ‘Oh,’ and he said, ‘You’re really special,’” McDougal said. “And I was, like, thank you. So I left, and I got into the car, Keith’s (bodyguard) taking me home, and started crying. I was really sad. It really hurt me, but I went back.


“I was crying in the backseat of the car like I said, I got home to my apartment and I was crying a lot. I felt terrible about myself, let alone what he felt.”



https://www.politico.com/story/2018...dougal-playboy-model-interview-journal-482163

 

@KatiePhang
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Rhona Graf was Trump's assistant. Keith Schiller was Trump's bodyguard. Trump called Pecker via Schiller's phone one time. Schiller would pass along to Pecker messages from Trump.


11:36 AM · Apr 23, 2024
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