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Post by Webster on Apr 23, 2024 11:39:30 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Trump enters court ahead of gag order hearingDonald Trump has walked into judge Juan Merchan’s courtroom; he sported a navy suit, white shirt, and red tie, and carried himself with an air of fatigue. Merchan will soon weigh whether to hold the ex-president in contempt over his apparent repeated violations of a gag order that bars him from publicly trashing witnesses in his hush-money trial. Prosecutors on 15 April requested a contempt hearing, saying Trump “willfully violated the 1 April [gag] order with three social media posts about known witnesses concerning their participation in this criminal proceeding.” On 18 April, they said that Trump had committed “seven additional violations of the Court’s Order dated April 1, 2024. The People request that the hearing on April 23, 2024 include these violations as well as the violations outlined in the filing on April 15, 2024.” It also appears that Trump might have violated the gag order yet again on Monday at court, by railing against Michael Cohen – his onetime attorney-turned-key prosecution witness. Trump told reporters: When are they going to look at all the lies that Cohen did in the last trial. He got caught lying. Pure lying. And when are they going to look at that.If found in contempt, the possible penalties against Trump include potential warnings, fines, or in the extreme, jail.
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Post by Webster on Apr 23, 2024 11:40:36 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Following the contempt hearing, David Pecker is expected to return to the witness stand. Pecker, the former publisher of the National Enquirer, is the first prosecution witness. Prosecutors contend that Donald Trump, Michael Cohen, and David Pecker plotted in 2015 to prevent damaging information about the then-GOP presidential hopeful from getting out. Prosecutors allege that Trump’s transfer of hush-money was illicit, arguing that it was falsely represented in business records as legal services to Cohen
Donald Trump is seated by himself looking fatigued and with his eyes closed while he waits for his lawyers to confer with the judge and prosecutors before the start of proceedings today. First on the agenda: whether Trump violated the gag order barring him from assailing witnesses in the case. Prosecutors allege Trump violated the order multiple times, with Trump seemingly ignoring the gag order altogether on Monday when he directly attacked his former lawyer Michael Cohen.
Donald Trump spoke to the media before heading inside the courtroom. He refused to answer questions about why he did not appeal his gag order, if he would continue to post about witnesses, and if he thinks Michael Cohen is a “sleaze bag”, per pool. The former president spoke abut the pro-Palestinian demonstrations in several US universities, describing them as a “disgrace to our country” and “all Biden’s fault”. He said people were wanting to “protest peacefully” at the Manhattan court but “we have more police presence here than anyone’s ever seen … you can’t get near this courthouse”, meanwhile “you have nobody up in a college, where you have very radical people wanting to rip the colleges down, the universities down.”
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Post by Webster on Apr 23, 2024 11:42:15 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Judge hears arguments on whether to hold Trump in contempt of gag orderThe prosecution is making its arguments as to whether judge Juan Merchan should hold Trump in contempt. Prosecutor Christopher Conroy handed Merchan documents with the 10 alleged violations. “Eight of the violative posts were on the defendant’s Truth Social account,” Conroy said. Two of the posts were on his official campaign website. He argued: Defendant has violated this order repeatedly and hasn’t stopped. “The defendant violated the order again – on camera. He did it right here in the hallway outside,” Conroy said, referring to his dig at Cohen yesterday. We will be filing another order to show cause for this violation later today. Prosecution argues Trump knew parameters of gag order but flouted them anywayRight now, the prosecutor is going over all of the evidence showing that Trump knew about the order. Remember: It’s on the prosecution to show that he’s violated the order and convince judge Juan Merchan to find him in contempt. Prosecutor Christopher Conroy pointed out, for example, that Trump’s complaints about the order – not to mention his litigation against it – prove that he knew the parameters but flouted them anyway. -- “He knows about the order, he knows what he’s not allowed to do, and he does it anyway,” Conroy said. His disobedience of the order is willful, it’s intentional.
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Post by Webster on Apr 23, 2024 11:45:03 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Prosecutor Christopher Conroy has just said that prosecutors are not seeking jail time for Trump’s violations of the gag order. -- We are not yet seeking incarceratory penalty. Defendant seems to be angling for that … We are asking the court to impose the maximum $1,000 fine for each violation.
Defense lawyer Todd Blanche is now making his argument against contempt. He said that Trump didn’t violate the gag order. Blanche said: There is no dispute that President Trump is facing a barrage of political attacks from all sides including from the two witnesses who are referenced in the early posts.But, Trump is within his rights to comment on such, he said, adding: That’s the political, he’s allowed to respond to political attacks, your honor.
Right now, judge Juan Merchan is questioning Trump lawyer Todd Blanche about his contention that Trump was just responding to political attacks, not sliming witnesses in violation of the gag order. Merchan is getting annoyed over the laborious pace of this process. When Blanche seems to take issue with Merchan trying to move things along, the judge says: I’m asking you questions, OK. I’m going to decide whether your client is in contempt or not, don’t turn it around.Merchan then said: I’m not getting an answer, it’s now almost 10:30, the jurors are going to be here at 11 o’clock. I don’t want to keep them waiting.“The people [got] to speak as long as they wanted to,” Blanche said. -- The people were answering my questions.
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Post by Webster on Apr 23, 2024 11:47:00 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Trump lawyer Todd Blanche is saying that seven of the alleged 10 gag order violations are not, because they’re just re-posts. “It’s not making a mockery of the gag order, your honor – it’s a close call,” Blanche said. -- Re-posting an article from a news site or a news program … we don’t believe are a violation of the gag order.Judge Juan Merchan asked whether there’s any case law on that. -- I don’t have any case laws, your honor, it’s just common sense.
Judge Merchan is clearly not buying that this is passive, he asks, “How does it get there, how does it get on to [your] client’s Truth Social account?” Trump lawyer Todd Blanche replies: There’s a group of folks that work with President Trump that when they see articles they believe President Trump’s audience should read.Blanche added that “there’s a mechanism” through which they get posted. -Merchan asked of re-posting: What is the mechanism?-Blanche said: I believe you click on it.-Merchan said shortly thereafter: Someone had to do something.
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Post by Webster on Apr 23, 2024 11:51:55 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Judge tells Trump lawyer he's 'losing all credibility with the court'Things are not going well for Donald Trump as his lawyer, Todd Blanche, continues to make the claim that re-posting doesn’t violate the gag order. Judge Merchan said: Mr Blanche you’re losing all credibility, I have to tell you right now … You’re losing all credibility with the court. Is there any other argument you want to make?Merchan is reserving decision on the prosecution’s contempt request. This means he is not making a decision right now
The court is taking a short break, after judge Juan Merchan said he would not immediately rule on whether Donald Trump had violated the gag order. Trump left the courtroom without speaking to reporters, per pool.
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Post by Webster on Apr 23, 2024 11:54:43 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Trump’s lead lawyer Todd Blanche had a rough streak with Judge Merchan earlier when he was desperately trying to defend Trump’s alleged gag order violations. Prosecutors had pulled 10 instances of Trump railing against witnesses and Merchan shot down Blanche’s explanations for essentially every one. --Merchan asked for caselaw to support Blanche’s point that reposts were not the same as Trump making his own content. Blanche did not have one. --Merchan asked why Trump, in one post, waited until after the appeals court denied Trump’s appeal of the gag order. Blanche struggled to respond. --Merchan then asked what Trump was responding to in some other instances, because the gag order permitted Trump to respond to political attacks. But Blanche did not have examples of what Trump was responding to, other than one post that referenced the possibility of a presidential pardon. --And Merchan clarified to Blanche that Trump’s “reposting” of remarks from Fox News host Jesse Watters was not quite that: Trump used some of Watters’ remark, made his own additions and misleadingly put it all in quote marks, Merchan said. Blanche conceded it was not a repost.
Donald Trump took the opportunity of a brief court break to go after judge Juan Merchan and the gag order he is under. The former president wrote in a Truth Social post published at 11am ET: HIGHLY CONFLICTED, TO PUT IT MILDLY, JUDGE JUAN MERCHAN, HAS TAKEN AWAY MY CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT TO FREE SPEECH. EVERYBODY IS ALLOWED TO TALK AND LIE ABOUT ME, BUT I AM NOT ALLOWED TO DEFEND MYSELF. THIS IS A KANGAROO COURT, AND THE JUDGE SHOULD RECUSE HIMSELF!
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Post by Webster on Apr 23, 2024 11:56:13 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Court resumes with David Pecker taking witness standDavid Pecker, Donald Trump’s longtime ally and former publisher of the National Enquirer, is returning to the witness stand. The judge reminds him that he’s still under oath. Pecker first took the stand on Monday and provided brief testimony of his work as a tabloid honcho. Who is David Pecker?David Pecker was a key Trump ally who served as the CEO of American Media Inc (AMI), the publisher of the National Enquirer. Pecker helped Trump by purchasing the rights to potentially damaging stories and then never publishing them, a practice known as “catch and kill”. In 2015, AMI paid $30,000 to Dino Sajudin, a former doorman at Trump Tower, who was trying to sell a story that Trump had allegedly fathered a child out of wedlock. In June of 2016, AMI paid Karen McDougal, a former Playboy model, $150,000 to suppress a story about an affair. AMI bought the story with the understanding that Trump would reimburse them, according to the indictment. Michael Cohen would later release a tape of him and Trump discussing repaying Pecker. In 2016, Dylan Howard, then the editor-in-chief of the National Enquirer, alerted Pecker that Daniels had potentially damaging information about Trump, according to the indictment. Pecker advised Howard to reach out to Cohen, and Cohen subsequently negotiated the deal with Stormy Daniels’ lawyer. Pecker has been granted immunity in exchange for his testimony and AMI signed a non-prosecution agreement with prosecutors.
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Post by Webster on Apr 23, 2024 11:58:09 GMT -5
(The Guardian) “Are you personally familiar with Donald J Trump?” prosecutor Joshua Steinglass asks David Pecker. Pecker responds in the affirmative. -How long have you known him? Since the late 1980s. -Could you point him out in the courtroom. Pecker says: He’s sitting here [wearing], I think it’s a dark blue suit.Trump appeared to smile.
David Pecker said he has had a “great relationship” with Donald Trump as he answered questions by the prosecution. Pecker said: I’ve had a great relationship with Mr Trump over the years, starting in ‘89 I had an idea of creating a magazine called Trump Style and I presented it to Mr. Trump and he liked that idea a lot. He just questioned me: who is going to pay for it?Trump style launched, on a quarterly basis. Over the years, they grew closer. Pecker said that he would eventually refer to Trump as “Donald”. They spoke more frequently as the 2016 campaign got into swing, he said.
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Post by Webster on Apr 23, 2024 12:15:38 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Pecker asked about Trump being in control of business practices and tells court he 'reviewed the invoice, looked at the check, and he would sign it'Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass asks David Pecker whether he had ever observed Trump’s business practices. It appears that Steinglass is trying hard to show that Donald Trump was fully in control of his business practices – including signing off on invoices and checks and well aware of records. This, of course, undermines any claim Trump might make that he was unaware of the questionable ledger entries. Per Pecker: While he was reviewing the accounts payable packages, we were talking at the same time, and I noticed that he reviewed the invoice, looked at the check, and he would sign it. Steinglass pressed: “Could you tell whether the check was stapled to the invoice?” Pecker replied: As I recollect, the entire package was stapled together.
Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass asks: “Did you visit Mr Trump at Trump Tower on multiple occasions?” “Over the years?” David Pecker asked. “Over the years,” Steinglass said. “Yes.” ”How would you describe him as a businessman?” Pecker replied: I would describe Mr. Trump as very knowledgable. I would describe him [as] very detail-oriented. I would describe him almost as a micromanager from what I saw, he looked at all the aspects, whatever the issue was.“How about his approach to money?” -- I thought that his approach to money, he was very cautious and very frugal.Are you familiar with someone named Michael Cohen?” “Yes, I am.” “Who’s Michael Cohen? “Michael Cohen was Donald Trump’s personal attorney,” Pecker said, explaining that: I met Michael Cohen at a barmitzvah in early 2000.
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Post by Webster on Apr 23, 2024 12:20:21 GMT -5
(The Guardian) David Pecker said that he and Michael Cohen were in touch over the years, when Pecker noticed something that he thought Trump should know about. It increased when Trump announced his candidacy. -- I would say at a minimum of every week and if there was an issue, [it] could be daily.In early 2015, did he and Trump ever talk about him running for President? -- As I mentioned a little earlier, when Mr Trump launched the Apprentice, and then launched The Celebrity Apprentice his, I would say, the interest in Mr Trump through my magazines basically, the National Enquirer, skyrocketed.Pecker said they had done internal polls to determine what readership wanted. -- All the time, every time we did this, Mr Trump would be the top celebrity.
David Pecker said Trump was “viewed as the boss” when the Enquirer conducted research on which cover subjects would sell best. He said: So I discussed with him, and we did a poll in the National Enquirer about Mr Trump running for president, how would the readership feel? Research showed that 80% of the readership of the National Enquirer would want Mr Trump to [run] for president. And I passed that information on to [Donald] Trump and shortly after, he was being interviewed on the Today show.
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Post by Webster on Apr 23, 2024 12:21:31 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Pecker testifies he told Trump he would be campaign's 'eyes and ears'Fast forward to August 2015. Did there come a time when you attended a meeting in Trump Tower? Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass asked. David Pecker responded in the affirmative. Who was present for that meeting? “Donald Trump, Michael Cohen, and Hope Hicks,” Pecker said, noting that Hicks was in and out. Pecker then ran through how this happened. -- I received a call from Michael Cohen telling me The Boss wanted to see me. When I spoke to Michael Cohen, that’s how he would refer to Donald Trump, as the boss.“Most of the time when I received a call from Michael Cohen, he wanted something,” Pecker reflected, saying he didn’t know what it was before he got there. -- At that meeting, Donald, Donald Trump, and Michael, they asked me what can I do – and what my magazines could do – to help the campaign. So, thinking about it, as I did previously, I said what I would do is I would run or publish positive stories about Mr Trump and I would publish negative stories about his opponents and I said that I would also be the eyes and ears because I know that the Trump organization had a very small staff. And then I said that anything I hear in the marketplace if I hear anything negative about yourself, or if I hear anything about women selling stories, I would notify Michael Cohen as I did over the last several years, I would notify Michael Cohen and then he would be able to [have them] killed in another magazine or have them not be published or somebody would have to purchase them.
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Post by Webster on Apr 23, 2024 12:22:44 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass asked specifically, why David Pecker said he told Trump he would notify Michael Cohen if he heard “anything women selling stories”. “In a presidential campaign, I was the person that thought that there would be a lot of women would come out to try to sell their stories because Mr Trump was well known as the most eligible bachelor and dated the most beautiful women,” Pecker said. -- And it was clear that based on my past experience that when someone is running for a public office like this, it is very common for these women to call up a magazine like the National Enquirer to try to sell their stories. Or, I would hear it in the marketplace, [through] other sources, that stories were being marketed.
Prosector Joshua Steinglass asked David Pecker about negative stories on Bill and Hillary Clinton. Pecker said: I was running the Hillary Clinton stories. I was running Hillary as an enabler for Bill Clinton in respect to all the womanizing, and [it] was easy for me to say I was gong to continue running those type of stories for the National Enquirer.Did he think it would help Trump’s campaign? -- I thought it was a mutual benefit – it would help his campaign, it would help me.
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Post by Webster on Apr 23, 2024 12:24:00 GMT -5
(The Guardian) David Pecker is now going through the machinations of how this all worked. He told his staffers: “I asked them to notify the West Coast bureau chief of the National Enquirer,” who was then instructed that “any stories that are out there that’s commenting about Donald Trump, commenting about his famiy, commenting about the election, whatever it might be, I want you to vet the stories, I want you to bring them to me, and then I said we’ll have to speak to Michael Cohen, you’ll call Michael Cohen, I’ll call him, we’ll tell him what the stories are.” Pecker said he wanted to keep this arrangement under wraps. Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass asked, why? Pecker said: I told him that we were going to try to help the campaign and to do that, I wanted to keep this as quiet as possible.“Because if it came out that you were helping the campaign, it would kind of undermine the point?” Steinglass asked, prompting an objection that was ultimately sustained.
The importance of this questioning cannot be overstated. Not only is the prosecutor, Joshua Steinglass, trying to establish the scheme itself – but by repeatedly asking David Pecker about his intent, and repeatedly prompting him to say the arrangement was to help Trump in the election, it bolsters their argument that the motive of the alleged hush-money scheme was to sway the 2016 race. While this is a case claiming falsified business records, the prosecution contends that the motive behind this purportedly illicit record-keeping was to change the course of the election.
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Post by Webster on Apr 23, 2024 12:25:38 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Pecker says Cohen would ask him to run negative stories on Trump's political opponentsDavid Pecker is saying that during the campaign, Michael Cohen would call him and said “we would like you to run a negative article” on a political opponent, such as Ted Cruz, or Ben Carson, or Marco Rubio. “Who did you understand ‘we’ to be referring to?” Steinglass pressed. -- Since Michael Cohen wasn’t part of the campaign ,when he said ‘we,’ I thought he was talking about himself and Mr Trump.Pecker recounted how Cohen repeatedly insisted he wasn’t part of the campaign, but “Michael was physically in every aspect of whatever the campaign was working on, at least at Trump organization, Trump Tower.”
Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass is now running through Enquirer articles which were in keeping with the alleged Trump-Cohen agreement. One headline about a political opponent, featuring a photo of a girl with an uneven mouth, stated, “Bungling Surgeon Ben Carson Left Sponge in Patient’s Brain.” Steinglass asked: Were these headlines run in accordance with your agreement you had struck at Trump Tower in August 2015 with Mr Trump and Michael Cohen?.“Yes,” David Pecker said. Steinglass pointed to another example. “Ted Cruz Shamed by Porn Star” with a photo of a buxom blonde. -- We would communicate what we were doing and the direction of the article with Michael Cohen and we would also send him the PDFs of the story before it was published so [they] could see the direction they were going and he would comment on them.
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