LIVE THREAD....Day 21: Closing Arguments And Verdict

[mystery-ak]

Secret Service has reportedly met with local jail officials in New York to make possible preparations for Donald Trump behind bars. 

https://x.com/CollinRugg/status/1795499217101951456

Yes..if found guilty he will be taken into custody...but it's up to the judge..

[mystery-ak]

Fox

38 min(s) ago
Andy McCarthy inside court: Judge allowing prosecution to reference non-admissible evidence

New York Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass just stressed that Michael Cohen pled guilty and the crime was committed at Trump’s direction.

Defense objection overruled.

Again: Cohen’s guilty plea is not admissible evidence against Trump. Judge Juan Merchan nevertheless allowing it to be used to establish that Trump has thus far escaped accountability for crimes that Cohen has been convicted of and committed at Trump’s direction.

-- Andrew McCarthy, former assistant U.S. attorney and Fox News Channel contributor
Posted by Brianna Herlihy

1 hour(s) ago
Andy McCarthy: Trump prosecutors are making up a crime as they go along

Andrew McCarthy, former assistant U.S. attorney and Fox News contributor, appeared on America's Newsroom Monday saying that in the case N.Y. v. Trump "we still don't have difinity about what the crime is."

"We have situation where the statute doesn't perscribe clearly what the state says Trump did that makes him guilty, the indictment doesn't put him on notice of the [crime], we've had a five-week trial, five weeks of testimony after opening statements, we're right on the verge of summations and it's still not clear what they say he did," McCarthy said.

"It's like they're making up a crime as they go along." McCarthy added.

Jonathan Turley, constitutional law attorney and FNC contributor, also joined the broadcasting, saying that the most likely outcome - in his view - is a hung jury.

"I still cannot believe that a jury can be unanimous on this evidence," Turley said.
Posted by Brianna Herlihy

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Andrew McCarthy in court: DA’s office is making up its own version of campaign law

 Steinglass is now going through the Dino Sajudin NDA for $30K. Says it was OVERT ELECTION FRAUD to promote Trump’s election by unlawful means. It was an illegal corporate campaign contribution.

The DA’s office is making up its own version of campaign law. And note: nothing in the indictment refers to anything about Sajudin. They are making up federal campaign law as they go along after giving the defense no notice in the indictment that this was part of the charges.

The claim is that Trump caused Pecker/AMI to make an illegal corporate contribution under federal law … under circumstances where the Justice Department, which has exclusive jurisdiction to enforce FECA criminally, did not prosecute anyone over the Sajudin NDA.

--Andrew McCarthy, former assistant U.S. attorney and FNC contributor
Posted by Emma Colton

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Andy McCarthy in court: Where prosecution team's closing arguments stand

Where we’re at so far:

1. The Manhattan district attorney has made up a property right supposedly vested in the “voting public” to politically damaging information about candidates. This is important on “intent to defraud” because there is no fraud unless there is a deceptive scheme to deprive someone of some property right.

2. Bragg has made up his own version of federal campaign finance law in which any expense which is intended to influence the outcome of the election — no matter whether the expense would have existed independent of the campaign — is a campaign expenditure that triggers FECA expenditure limits and reporting requirements. That is not the law, but Brad Smith was not permitted to testify and explain the law.

--Andy McCarthy, former assistant U.S. attorney and FNC contributor
Posted by Emma Colton

Jonathan Turley inside court: Prosecution team dismisses Cohen admitting he stole from Trump

Steinglass just dismissed Cohen's admitted to grand larceny and is justifying Cohen selling merchandise and making money on Trump. "You can't blame him" because he has only this connection to sell. He is portraying Cohen like he is selling goods on the street to support his struggling family in their multimillion dollar Trump condo. His "struggles" amounts to earning millions in attacking Trump.

Now ...Steinglass is belittling his past perjury. He says Cohen has a little problem with taking responsibility. That is what the prosecutors are offering to excuse lying to the courts, Congress, his family, this client, and virtually every creature that has walked or crawled on the face of the Earth. So Steinglass, a prosecutor, is dismissing grand larceny, serial perjury, and other offenses.

-- Jonathan Turley, constitutional law attorney and FNC contributor
Posted by Emma Colton

[mystery-ak]

https://twitter.com/AndrewHGiuliani/status/1795535621056045343

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Andrew H. Giuliani
@AndrewHGiuliani
·
1m
ADA Steinglass continuing to ramble through the calls that GLOAT Michael Cohen made between himself and Pecker, Davidson, Dylan Howard and others.

My note: still nothing in regard to Donald Trump’s direct connection.

[libertybele]

Yes..if found guilty he will be taken into custody...it's up to the judge..

IF found guilty .... God help us. Any conservative, anyone voting GOP or anyone speaking out against the establishment could wind up tangled in a similar scenario.

[mystery-ak]

Prosecution says there’s a ‘mountain of evidence’ to convict Trump

Prosector Joshua Steinglass says there is a "mountain of evidence" to convict former President Donald Trump in his closing arguments Monday.

Steinglass said that Trump's ex-lawer Michael Cohen had a day of reckoning, put his family first, came clean in describing facts of this case for 6 years. Steinglass said he testified before Congress in 2019, that he apologized to American people.

Steinglass added that the question for the jury is not whether they like Cohen, but if he has useful info for this case. “He was in the best position to know because he was the defendant’s right hand," Steinglass said.

He added that the defense wants to make the case about Cohen, but argued that it isn’t. That’s a deflection, Steinglass says, adding that the defense had Cohen on cross-examination for 3 days, but only asked 1 hour of question related to case.

This case is about Trump and if he made false business records to cover up election conspiracy, he continued.

Cohen is “like a tour guide through the physical evidence.” As insider, Cohen could connect dots, Steinglass argued.

Fox News' Maria Paronich contributed to this update.
Posted by Brianna Herlihy

3 min(s) ago
Andy McCarthy inside court: Prosecution 'harping' on 'not admissible' evidence in closing arguments

Steinglass is now making offensive use of David Pecker’s non-prosecution agreement. He is highlighting it, showing it on the screen, harping on it. Under these circumstances, how could Merchan’s bland instruction that the non-pros agreement is not admissible against Trump have any impact on the jury? The jury has to think that if this evidence wasn’t important, the judge wouldn’t have let us hear it again and again and again.

-- Andy McCarthy, former assistant U.S. attorney and FNC contributor
Posted by Brianna Herlihy

Trey Gowdy inside court: At what point could there be a due process violation
 At what point does it become a due process violation to not know the crime, the elements, etc of that other crime, the jurisdiction to prosecute that crime? At least with other "additional crime" statutes many of those "additional" crimes are serially listed.

--Trey Gowdy, “Sunday Night in America” host and former federal prosecutor
Posted by Emma Colton

8 min(s) ago
Andy McCarthy inside court: DA Bragg 'proving and arguing uncharged conduct'

Manhattan DA Bragg [is] proving and arguing “uncharged conduct.” But understand, Bragg claims it’s not uncharged because the business records felony statute calls for showing the defendant intended to conceal or commit “another crime.” So Bragg would say the Sajudin and McDougal NDAs are not uncharged conduct; they are part of the “conspiracy to influence the 2016 election by violating federal campaign law” which is the “other crime” referred to in the indictment.

-- Andy McCarthy, former assistant U.S. attorney and FNC contributor
Posted by Brianna Herlihy

 Pecker and Cohen are "helping Mr. Trump get elected by squelching the Karen McDougal story.” Again, it’s not illegal to help Trump get elected by persuading KM, including by paying her money, not to go public with her story. Why is that not illegal? Because the obligation to pay McDougal does not arise out of the campaign (the way, say, polling costs or get-out-the-vote costs arise out of the campaign). Paying KM is a private expenditure to prevent embarrassment to Trump; it happens to have come up during the campaign because that gave McDougal leverage. But she could have threatened to go public for reasons having nothing to do with the campaign, and Trump would have had an incentive to pay her even if he wasn’t a political candidate.

… But in this NY courtroom, the federal definition of what a campaign expenditure is makes no difference because Bragg is making up his own federal campaign law.

--Andrew McCarthy, former assistant U.S. attorney and FNC contributor
Posted by Emma Colton

[mystery-ak]

15 min(s) ago
Trey Gowdy inside court: Defense's 'conundrum' over what to object to in prosecution's closing args

Uncharged misconduct being argued to the jury with impunity.  But the conundrum is if you object and are overruled the jury pays more attention. You look like you are bothered or hurt by something.  Bad rulings prevent future objections.  But if the defense does object it should be a speaking objection so at least the jury knows what is going on.

Eg. Objection Your Honor, nowhere is any of this charged against our client, nowhere.

-- Trey Gowdy, “Sunday Night in America” host and former federal prosecutor
Posted by Brianna Herlihy

25 min(s) ago
Andy McCarthy inside court: Clinton campaign "catch-and-kill" scheme not treated as campaign expense

What is amazing about all this (among other things) is that Trump’s opponent in the 2016 election was Hillary Clinton. In the 1992, Hillary was a key participant in the Bill Clinton campaign’ catch-and-kill scheme — the Clinton campaign sought out women who claimed to have affairs with Bill Clinton so they could either buy them off or destroy their credibility … none of which was treated as campaign expenditures under federal law.

-- Andrew McCarthy, former assistant U.S. attorney and FNC contributor

What if you don't pay to "kill" the information?  What if you just do what most politicians do which is swap out favors with reporters?  "You sit on this story and I'll be a source for you"?  Happens daily on Capitol Hill. 

-- Trey Gowdy, “Sunday Night in America” host and former federal prosecutor
Posted by Brianna Herlihy

[mystery-ak]

NYP

3 minutes ago
Secret Michael Cohen, Trump recording ‘unequivocally shows’ hush money scheme: prosecutors
By Kyle Schnitzer

Manhattan prosecutor Joshua Steinglass said a secret recording of Michael Cohen and Donald Trump speaking about covering up the Karen McDougal story was "nothing short of jaw dropping"

"This recording is nothing short of jaw dropping," Steinglass said.

He said that Trump had a "cavalier wiliness" to hide the payoff with the former Playboy playmate.

"The recording shows the defendant’s cavalier wiliness to hide this payoff. He knew how much AMI paid for the McDougal deal," Steinglass said, urging the jury to play the recording at a louder volume during their deliberations.

"You can play this many times and as loudly as you want to hear Mr. Trump say 150 on this tape. It’s your decision what the tape says," Steinglass said, adding that it "unequivocally shows a presidential candidate" actively engaging in the scheme.

Trump could be heard asking for a Diet Coke during the recording.

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Prosecutors say they need 4 more hours....

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Andrew H. Giuliani
@AndrewHGiuliani
Merchan asks if now is a good time to take a break. ADA Steinglass agrees.

Jury is temporarily dismissed.

When asked, the ADA says he’s a third of the way through his summation.

By my math, we are looking at another 3.5-4 hours of Closing Arguements, for a total of 5-6 hours of Closing Arguements by the Soros funded Prosecution.

[catfish1957]

Wonder if the lawfaring dim slimes realize that Trump's poll numbers actually might go up, if convicted?

[mystery-ak]

5 min(s) ago
Jonathan Turley: Prosecutors only one-third of the way through closing args, 'yikes'

The prosecutors just said that they are only a third the way through. Yikes. It that is true we are looking at four more hours. The final judgment could be accomplished in half that time.

-- Jonathan Turley, constitutional law attorney and FNC contributor

The court took a 10-minute break late Monday afternoon.
Posted by Brianna Herlihy

[rustynail]

What's the point of going so long?

[240B]

What's the point of going so long?

Every day, every hour, and every minute, they keep Trump pinned down in that 'monkey circus' court is a win for them. It increases their ultimate payoff by Soros, Biden, and the DNC. Dragging this nonsense out for another week would be a huge win for them. And since Merchan is big part of the prosecution, they can probably do it.

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Two lawyers on jury could lead to acquittal or hung jury: Leo Terrell

Civil rights attorney and Fox News contributor Leo Terrell argued the prosecution team is trying to portray its star witness Michael Cohen as a "criminal Robin Hood," while noting the two lawyers on the jury could lead to an acquittal or hung jury.

"He's portraying Michael Cohen as a criminal Robin Hood," Terrell said on Fox News to host Sandra Smith of prosecutor Joshua Steinglass.

"All our legal experts, we have to address one key issue: There's two lawyers on that jury, Sandra, and they're going to neutralizes this unfairness exhibited by the judge, and this far range discretion by the prosecution. Those two lawyers not only have a ethical obligation to evaluate the facts, but they have an ethical obligation to make sure fairness takes place. And I'm telling you, unlike any other trial, you have two lawyers in there, and those two lawyers if they do the right thing, they'll see through this judge. They'll see through the politics, and they'll do the right thing. Those two lawyers are the key to a acquittal or a hung jury."

Terrell's comments come as the prosecution team continues its closing arguments Tuesday, which they said will last hours longer.
Posted by Emma Colton

[mystery-ak]

Andrew H. Giuliani
@AndrewHGiuliani
·
39s
ADA Steinglass mentions the former FLOTUS: “Locker room talk was a strategy that Melania Trump had recommended.”

Andrew H. Giuliani
@AndrewHGiuliani
ADA Steinglass now playing Trump’s apology video for the Access Hollywood tape. Trump relates his “locker room talk” to “Bill Clinton doing far worse, and Hillary covering up for it.”

Key point to remember: The ADA cannot actually play the Access Hollywood tape for the jury, so this is the closest thing they can do for the jury.

Andrew H. Giuliani
@AndrewHGiuliani
·
7m
ADA Steinglass: “Hope Hicks testified that Mr. Trump thought this was not a good development for the campaign, but that it could be spun as ‘Locker room talk’”.

Andrew H. Giuliani
@AndrewHGiuliani
·
8m
Steinglass starts immediately with the “grab them by the genitals” Access Hollywood moment in the Trump Campaign.

ADA siting a 10/7/16 email from the WaPo to Hope Hicks.

ADA says: “The video was vulgar.”

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Andrew H. Giuliani
@AndrewHGiuliani
·
47s
My note: Steinglass knows he’s lost the jury, and he’s trying to get them back not by trying to legally prove the case, but by trying to bring up the salacious Access Hollywood tape, which has NOTHING to do with any of the charges that the Soros funded prosecution has brought.

[libertybele]

Out of curiosity why is it that the defense had to present their closing arguments first and the prosecution presents their arguments lastly? Obviously the last words that the jurors hear will have a more lasting impression on their minds.

[mystery-ak]

39 seconds ago
Andy McCarthy inside court: Prosecution taking 'several minutes' to establish undisputed matters

We’ve already had several minutes on the Access Hollywood tape. The only relevance of the tape is to show that the NDA payment to Stormy Daniels a little over 2 weeks later. But there is no doubt about that. No one doubts that the Access Hollywood tape gave Trump and Cohen additional incentive to pay Daniels. Steinglass is thus taking several minutes to establish something that is not in dispute. That is why this is taking so long.

-- Andy McCarthy, former assistant U.S. attorney and FNC contributor
Posted by Brianna Herlihy

Jonathan Turley inside court: Prosecution turns to 'Access Hollywood' tape
 Steinglass is now getting into the Access Hollywood tape. Steinglass is using the issue to bring in statements from Chris Cuomo and others that Trump was finished politically. He is justifying the introduction as an example of why they had to do a catch and kill move on McDougal and Daniels. The problem with this line is that Trump had long been criticized for his extramarital relationship. After the Access Hollywood tape, that view was reinforced and fixed in the minds of many. Indeed, many were not surprised by the existence of an alleged affair. In this way, the tape cuts both ways. It blew up in the middle of the campaign and Trump weathered it. He did so because voters did not appear to view it as determinative on their votes.

--Jonathan Turley, constitutional law attorney and FNC contributor
Posted by Emma Colton

[mystery-ak]

Andrew H. Giuliani
@AndrewHGiuliani
·
1m
ADA Steinglass now talking about which business records GLOAT Michael Cohen violated. He says that what Cohen did in opening the account was a lie, because he couldn’t say that he was opening an account to pay off a pornstar.

Andrew H. Giuliani
@AndrewHGiuliani
·
5m
ADA Steinglass going through text messages between GLOAT Michael Cohen and Pecker, as well as Davidson.

It looks from my vantage point that two of the jurors may have temporarily dozed off in the last couple minutes.

[mystery-ak]

18 minutes ago
'Access Hollywood' tape was a  'Category 5 Hurricane' to Trump: prosecutors

The "Access Hollywood" tape was like a "Category 5 hurricane" to Trump and was "vulgar, to say the least," Manhattan prosecutor Joshua Steinglass said.

"Hope Hicks told you that the news was so explosive that it eclipsed the coverage of a Category 4 Hurricane," Steinglass said.

"So I guess it was a Category 5 hurricane."

Steinglass was referencing former Trump aide Hope Hicks' testimony when she claimed the infamous "Access Hollywood" tape dominated the news — making people forget about Hurricane Matthew, a Category 4 storm that hit Haiti and Cuba before making landfall in South Carolina on Oct. 8, 2016, the same date the "Access Hollywood" tape was made public.

[mystery-ak]

5 min(s) ago
Jonathan Turley inside court: Prosecution 'laboriously' going through 'mind-numbing' detail

 The prosecution is going through mind-numbing messages to show how the settlement was arranged. Again, it is proving, laboriously, something that is not much in debate. The NDA was cut. It was meant to kill a bad story. The problem is that Merchan has allowed the prosecutors to claim that all of this is unlawful under election laws, which it is not.

-- Jonathan Turley, constitutional law attorney and FNC contributor
Posted by Brianna Herlihy

[mystery-ak]

4 min(s) ago
Kerri Urbahn slams Trump’s NY trial: ‘Pretty disgraceful’

Fox News legal editor appeared on The Story from outside the Manhattan courtroom Monday, calling the N.Y. v Trump case "pretty disgraceful," as closing arguments were underway.

"We're finally finding out what the underlying crime is halfway through the closing argument. I mean, that's pretty disgraceful just as far as fundamental notions of due process," Urbahn said.

"In this country, the accused has the right to know what they're being accused of. These are fundamental concepts enshrined in the 5th and 6th amendment of our constitution. And yet here we are learning, basically on the fly, what exactly the prosecution has been doing for all of these weeks," she said.

"As far the election law violation is concerned, you know, keep in mind, it seems like they're really pointing to a federal election law crime. How they're doing that is unclear to all of us considering we're not in federal court," Urbahn added.

"This is not their jurisdiction," Urbahn said, noting that Justice Department declined to bring the case.

Trey Gowdy inside court: Long closing arguments risk being boring and condescending
The reason this closing is longer than "In Search of Lost Time" is because the prosecutor is the records custodian for ATT. This has to be tedious and boring for the jury. Do it as a narrative, not a line by line exercise.

Juries are fully capable of drawing the same inferences the rest of humanity draws. They do not need to be spoon fed minutiae. In fact, juries like making some steps and leaps themselves. Otherwise it risks being simultaneously boring and condescending.

--Trey Gowdy, “Sunday Night in America” host and former federal prosecutor
Posted by Emma Colton

Andy McCarthy inside court: Prosecution assumes Trump knew requirements for opening a bank account
 Steinglass just basically testified that Trump had to have known the requirements for opening a bank account and that Cohen would have to give a purpose for opening the account. The purpose of this argument is to attribute to Trump the fact that Cohen had opened the account through an LLC to avoid having his name attached to the NDA. I do not believe there is any evidence in the record about what Trump knew about the mechanics of bank accounts. Steinglass is asking jury to assume a level of knowledge there is no evidence he has about how Cohen opened the account. Steinglass basically said: Trump is a savvy businessman so he must have known.

--Andrew McCarthy, former assistant U.S. attorney and FNC contributor
Posted by Emma Colton