La Casa Blanca meets La Cosa Nostra: When Donald Trump and Rudy Giuliani Collided in the White House
Joshua Steinglass of the prosecution team knew that he was taking a risk by being short in his closing argument for Donald Trump’s trial in New York.
In the morning Trump’s lead attorney, Todd Blanche, again called Michael Cohen a liar for claiming he phoned Trump on Oct. 24, 2016, to talk to him about hush money for Stormy Daniels when text chains showed he wanted to ask Keith Schiller, Trump’s bodyguard, about a 14-year-old prank caller who was harassing him.
Steinglass apologized and said that he didn’t do a good job, but she proved that Cohen kept Trump informed about his progress in getting rid of the porn star.
The long faces in the Trump guest section reflected the sense in the courtroom that Trump’s story that the $420,000 he paid to Cohen was really a legal retainer will not fly. Steinglass showed that Trump himself admitted in court documents and other records that it was a reimbursement.
Steinglass showed that Trump and Rudy Giuliani treated Cohen the same as a rat in a cover-up. This was La Casa Blanca meets La Cosa Nostra.
The defense has a better shot at creating doubt that Trump intended to commit a crime, but even here, Steinglass had a heap of evidence to shovel in the jury’s direction.
The judge allowed it until the prosecutor told jurors not to let Trump get away with shooting someone on Fifth Avenue, like his famous line about what he could get away with.
Just after the objection to that was sustained by the judge, Steinglass finally stood down, and we all dragged off to bed. The jury will get to hear the case on Wednesday.
Tying this to the Daniels’ payment, Steinglass reminded jurors of the timing — how the deal to have Daniels sign a nondisclosure agreement came after the Access Hollywood tape became public.
Steinglass pointed out that tabloids often buy stories to cover up their intent to not run them, and then choose not to run them.
An interview with the prosecution during a campaign against alleged porn star, Donald Trump, and the Biden-Harris Co-chair, Lara Trump
The deal with the tabloid shows that the motivation for the settlement was the election, which he said was not Trump’s family concern.
The prosecutor said that it all started at that August 2015 meeting in Trump Tower with the National Enquirer publisher, Pecker. Steinglass said: “Once money starts changing hands, that’s a federal election law violation.”
Steinglass said Trump’s alleged affair with a porn star could hurt his 2016 presidential run and he was concerned about that. He argued that Trump himself told Pecker and Cohen to handle quashing negative media — specifically allegations from women about Trump in the leadup to 2016.
He said they blow out of the water the defense’s claims that they were for legal work.
There were handwritten notes from Trump’s CFO and Comptroller that clearly outlined the plan to cover taxes, an expense and a bonus for $420,000. Steinglass said that they were the smoking guns.
Re-reading paragraphs from the books, Steinglass doubled down on Trump’s “frugality” and reminded the jury of Pecker’s testimony, where Trump was also described as frugal.
Steinglass went through the specific checks and invoices that Deborah Tarasoff packaged together to send to Trump even after he went to the White House.
Current and former employees of Trump’s business and administration testified before Steinglass. He referred to people who worked for companies that published the books about Trump.
The first set of closing arguments for Trump lasted over two hours as is New York law. The credibility issues surrounding Cohen were brought up by Blanche.
A jury of 12 people will deliberate Wednesday, after listening to 22 witnesses and six hours of arguments. It could be hours or days or weeks before they have a decision. A unanimous jury is needed to either convict or acquit Trump.
Trump, who has pleaded not guilty, frequently called the trial “election interference” for preventing him from campaigning for president, falsely claiming a partisan conspiracy against him.
More family members were in the court on Tuesday. Children Donald Jr., Eric and Tiffany were present in the courtroom, as well as son-in-law Michael Boulos and daughter-in-law and RNC co-chair Lara Trump.
The Biden-Harris campaign held an event in New York featuring Robert DeNiro and others when the lawyer for the Trump campaign began his closing arguments.
Prosecutors spent 6 hours walking the jury through every part of their case and refuting claims made by the defense. The jury was walking through all the evidence, and Josh Steinglass said that Cohen had knowledge of what transpired in the hotel room. Steinglass told the jury that the defendants did not want the public to see Stormy Daniels testimony.
Blanche argues Trump’s sons signed two checks that constitute some of the felony counts. And he also told the jury that Cohen was the one who generated the 11 invoices that make up 11 of the felony counts on Trump.
He maintained that the allegedly false retainer was a legitimate retainer of services — especially because Cohen billed himself as Trump’s personal lawyer.
He questioned the authenticity of the secret Cohen recording made of a conversation with Trump in which he purportedly confirms knowledge of the payment and settlement to Karen McDougal.
Source: The last words: What each side said in closing arguments for Trump’s New York trial
Does it Matter if There Is a Cosmic Campaign to Attempt to Influence the 2016 Election? A Conversation with Jennifer Blanche
Blanche reiterated one of the points he made in openings: It doesn’t matter if there was a conspiracy to try to affect the election. She said every campaign was a conspiracy to promote a candidacy.
It is commonplace, Blanche said, for celebrities and candidates to work with media organizations, such as tabloids, to promote themselves and their campaigns.
Blanche argued that it “makes no sense” that Trump, Cohen and former publisher David Pecker genuinely believed they could influence the 2016 election through the use of the National Enquirer tabloid.
Starting with, “Hey, Keith, how’s it going?” Steinglass talked to Cohen on the phone, and then said, “Can I speak to the boss?” while pretending that he was talking to the boss. Steinglass discussed taking care of that thing and a small talk.