Donald Trump’s hush money trial resumed yesterday, and news broke right away.
To no one’s surprise, Judge Juan Melchan ruled that President Trump had violated the gag order and fined him $9,000.
That’s just pocket change for him, but more importantly, Marchand has ruled against the former president on nine of the 10 charges, or $1,000 each. The order prohibited attacking witnesses, but President Trump said it would be unfair and unconstitutional to prevent him from speaking out or responding to attacks from Michael Cohen, Stormy Daniels and others as a presidential candidate. It has been repeatedly stated that.
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The judge accused President Trump of violating the gag order during oral arguments and scolded attorney Todd Blanche for “losing all credibility” in his client’s defense. Therefore, no fortune teller was needed to divine how he would rule.
Marchan ordered Trump to remove the offending posts and said he faces further fines and possible jail time for up to 30 days. Even if Trump punched a witness in the nose, I don’t think that would happen. That would increase public sympathy even among some Trump critics and give defendants ammunition to take to appeals courts, arguing that the judge was blatantly biased against them.
The first witness, Mr. Cohen’s former banker Gary Faro, gave testimony that was highly damaging to Mr. Trump’s fixer. Cohen, who was spared a prison sentence and has served time in prison, will no doubt cite this matter when he takes the stand.
But Michael Cohen is not on trial. It’s Donald Trump. And none of the testimony touched on the core of Manhattan prosecutor Alvin Bragg’s allegation, which he escalated to a felony, that Trump falsified expense records to pay Cohen.
Faro said there was no indication that the account Cohen had set up with $131,000 from his home equity line was connected to any political candidate. That may have required further scrutiny, he said.
Faro also did not know that the account was associated with anyone in the adult film industry. “This is not an industry we work with,” he said.
Michael Avenatti and Michael Cohen were often mentioned in court during former President Donald Trump’s hush money criminal trial in New York.
Cohen then created an account under Essential Consultants and transferred it to an account that attorney Keith Davidson was managing for Stormy Daniels. Mr. Cohen described it as a “retainer,” which he said was a patent lie.
Davidson said when he took the stage that he would not have approved it if he had known it was a shell company and not an operating business.
Davidson also represented Playboy Playmate Karen McDougall, and subsequent developments seemed to belie her declaration that she did not want to become “another Monica Lewinsky.” She said her 10-month relationship with Trump was “sexual in nature” (something Trump denies).
Ms. Davidson began shopping her stories.
In June 2016, he texted Enquirer editor Dylan Howard, saying, “I have a blockbuster article about Trump.”
Howard replied, “I’ll do more for you than anyone else.”
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and “Did he cheat on Melania?”
Davidson had pitched McDougall to ABC.
He arranged a meeting with David Pecker’s American Media, but the company declined, citing a lack of evidence.
But then Davidson offered McDougall an AMI contract that would pay for his fitness column. “She didn’t want to tell her story,” the lawyer testified. “She liked her contract with AMI. She wasn’t forced to do it.” Yes, I see why.
Mr. Davidson asked for an initial payment of $1 million. Howard warned that the number would be in the hundreds, not millions.
In the weeks before the election, several videos were released, one from E. Jean Carroll’s deposition and one from a rally in North Carolina, in which President Trump said, “I have been violently assaulted with lies and slander.” I’m being attacked. This is a fake deal. I have no idea who these women are.”
Former President Donald Trump leaves Trump Tower on his way to Manhattan criminal court on Monday, April 15, 2024 in New York. Former President Donald Trump’s hush money trial begins Monday with jury selection. This is a unique moment in American history, as it is the first criminal trial of a former commander-in-chief of the U.S. military. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
The contract with AMI gives McDougal the right to have “an affair with a married man,” Davidson testified with Trump.
They eventually got to Stormy Daniels, whose manager told Davidson, “Some dude called me up and was very, very aggressive.” It was Cohen.
Davidson said the call to Cohen was met with a “barrage of hostile insults, innuendos, allegations…he was just screaming.”
Interest in Stormy’s story reached a “peak point” when the “Access Hollywood” tape came out, Davidson said. His own view on presidential candidates: “Trump is crap.”
“The final nail in the coffin has been driven,” Howard said.
Davidson testified that Dylan Howard “washed his hands of the deal and was handed over again to Cohen.”
Former President Donald Trump attends the first day of his criminal trial at Manhattan Criminal Court on April 15, 2024 in New York City. (Angela Weiss/AFP via AP Pool)
“The moral of the story is that no one wanted to talk to Cohen,” Davidson said. But the $130,000 deal was finally done when Mr. Cohen said he would pay the money himself.
Still, it wasn’t a blockbuster day. One complaint I have is that we all rely on the reporter’s feed from inside the courtroom, so when the network goes down, you get a first look at what’s happening at that moment and what you missed. That means you will miss it. At one point, CNN got bored and switched to footage of police and protesters confronting each other at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, but nothing was happening other than a standoff. Fox switched to Colombia for the anti-Israel demonstrators who continue to occupy the building.
Technical witnesses such as the C-SPAN archive director and court reporters were also present at the trial. It was so boring that he almost fell asleep before Trump could close his eyes.
These are basic elements, to be sure, but Bragg prosecutors will want to maintain the momentum they gained last week from the damaging testimony of former Enquirer publisher David Pecker.
But again, Pecker (who has immunity) has not been tried. McDougal is not on trial. Stormy is not on trial.
This other element could make for exciting drama, and it would if there were cameras in the courtroom. But even in anti-Trump Manhattan, the case ultimately hinges on whether prosecutors can prove Trump committed a crime, and all he needs is one appellate jury.
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footnote: Some say they’re on trial, so to speak, with reports from high-profile clients Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan.
President Trump is “frustrated” that his lead lawyer, Todd Blanche, is “not aggressive enough” and has accused him of “attacking witnesses and allowing the former president to engage with a hostile jury.” “They want to attack people who they consider to be a criminal, and they want to attack judges.” He also complained about high legal fees.
they write new york times Mr. Trump considers himself a master legal strategist and is said to be shopping around for lawyers who can do what he wants, including contesting the 2020 election. He told his colleagues he needed a “Roy Cohn” who represented him early in his career, was repeatedly indicted and later disbarred.
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Trump campaign spokesman Jason Miller said the campaign is committed to combating the “ridiculous” incident and said “the anonymous comments from people who were not there are just that…I’m not aware of any gossip or hearsay surrounding this incident.” I’m very skeptical.” . ”
