Josh Steinglass, David Cohen, and Donald Trump: Hiding Daniels, not hushing a teen in the sagging case
The prosecution team knew that Joshua Steinglass would be taking a risk in his closing argument as he was tired after an 11-hour day in the trial of Donald Trump.
Josh Steinglass used his own phone, set a timer, and reenacted the call that was at the center of Cohen’s cross and direct examination two weeks ago. Cohen testified that he had spoken to Trump about harassing a teen, and also about payment to Daniels, during a phone call. Lawyers for Trump argued that it would be difficult to broach both subjects in a short time.
Then Steinglass turned self-effacing — “Sorry if I didn’t do a good job” — before proving that was only one of about 20 times in October alone that Cohen updated Trump about his progress in hushing Daniels, thereby helping to save Trump’s sagging campaign.
There were long faces in the guest section of the court room which reflected the sense that the $420,000 Trump paid to Cohen was not a legal retainer. Steinglass showed that Trump himself admitted in court documents and other records that it was a reimbursement.
The defense presented just two witnesses, including Robert Costello, an attorney who wanted to represent Cohen after Cohen’s home and office were searched by the FBI in 2018. Cohen had claimed that Costello was trying to get him to stay on the team. Trump decided which of Cohen’s lawyers he wanted to pay, and that he was worried about what would happen if we did not follow the instructions from Giuliani or the president.
Steinglass had a lot of evidence to make the jury believe that Trump was not going to commit a crime.
The judge allowed most of it until the prosecutor overreached by urging jurors not to let Trump get away with shooting someone on Fifth Avenue, evoking 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 case finally goes to the jury on Wednesday.
The Daniels deal was put in place after the Access Hollywood tape came to light, Steinglass told jurors.
Steinglass said that buying a story so that no one else can print it is the way tabloids often choose not to run it.
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He said the alleged encounter was not Trump’s primary concern, but the election, and the deal with the tabloid shows that was the reason for the settlement.
The prosecutor said that it all started with the August 2015 meeting in Trump Tower. Steinglass said that federal election law is violated when money starts changing hands.
Steinglass focused on the concerns he said Trump had about how the story of the alleged mistress could hurt his presidential campaign. He said that Trump instructed Cohen and Pecker to quash negative media about him prior to the 2016 election.
He said that they blew out of the water the defense claim that the work was for legal retainer, and he was almost speechless.
There were two documents with handwritten notes from Trump’s CFO and comptroller, that clearly laid out their plan to cover taxes, an expense and a bonus for a total of $420,000. Steinglass said, “They are 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 once again went through the specific checks and invoices in question and how Deborah Tarasoff, the accounts payable supervisor at the Trump Organization, packaged them together to send to Trump even after he went to the White House.
Steinglass referenced various witnesses who came to testify, including current and former employees of Trump’s business and administration. He also mentioned the witnesses who worked for the companies that published Trump’s books.
The jurors heard from a number of witnesses. The jury will look at the evidence as they try to reach a decision. Trump has pleaded not guilty.
All 12 jurors — plus six alternates who were asked to stay in case they are needed — have listened to just over four weeks of testimony as the prosecution argued that Trump was involved in a scheme meant to conceal a hush money payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels to further another crime.
Trump lamented his inability to campaign as much as he would like, since he must attend the trial every day that the court is in session. The judge was accused of being biased by him.
On Tuesday, Trump was joined in court by more family members than usual. 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.
Biden-Harris campaign held an event outside the Manhattan courthouse with Robert DeNiro and Michael Fanone, as Trump Lawyer Todd Blanche was beginning his closing arguments.
The defense pointed out that the jury did not hear from Allen Weisselberg, Don Jr., Dylan Howard, Gina Rodriguez, or Trump’s bodyguard.
Blanche argues Trump’s sons signed two checks that constitute some of the felony counts. He also told the jury that Cohen was one of the people who created the 11 invoices that caused charges to be brought against Donald Trump.
He was able to show that the retainer was legit because Cohen claimed to be Trump’s personal lawyer.
He also spent time casting doubt on the secret recording Cohen made of a conversation with Trump that allegedly confirms knowledge of the payment and settlement to former Playboy model Karen McDougal.
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One of the points he made was that if a conspiracy was trying to affect the election, it doesn’t matter. According to Blanche, each campaign is a conspiracy to promote a candidacy.
She said that it’s common for celebrities to work with the media to promote their campaigns.
“There is nothing wrong with President Trump wanting to get positive news stories,” said Blanche. But he added: ”The idea that sophisticated people believed positive stories in the National Enquirer could influence the election is preposterous.“
Starting with, “Hey, Keith, how’s it going?” Steinglass talked to the boss during a fake phone call where he discussed the issue of a teen who had been harassing Cohen. Then Steinglass simulated a brief conversation about taking care of “that thing,” and a little small talk.
There is no disagreement about the fact of the payments. The prosecutors had to prove that Trump made them in order to cover up other crimes, such as violating campaign finance law and misrepresenting the payments for tax purposes.
The prosecution of Donald Trump’s alleged affair with Daniels and McDougal during a celebrity golf tournament sought a mistrial
The verdict must be unanimous. If the jury can’t agree, the judge will declare a mistrial. The district attorney prosecuting the case will have to decide whether to try the case again.
On Wednesday, New York Judge Juan Merchan reminded the jury of their promise to be impartial and leave their biases at the door. For an hour, he explained to jurors that some evidence used in the case was only used to establish the credibility of other witnesses and give context to the timing.
The intent to defraud and fabricate business records is part of the law that the jury should define. In this case, he said prosecutors argued that Trump was attempting to violate New York election law by changing his business records.
The jury can look at three of the prosecution’s theories, which are Federal Election Campaign Act violation, Falsification of other business records or violating tax laws.
In August 2015, two months after Trump announced his 2016 presidential bid, David Pecker, then the publisher of the National Enquirer tabloid, met with Trump and Cohen at Trump Tower, according to Pecker’s testimony.
The plan, as Pecker outlined it, was that he would suppress these stories, and at the same time publish negative stories about Trump’s opponents. Some of these stories were sent to Trump and Cohen before they were published.
He said he carried out this role over the course of a year. The testimony was backed up by an attorney who represented both Daniels and McDougal. In about June 2016, McDougal considered going public with her story of a year-long affair with Trump. The expectation was that he’d be reimbursed by Trump. That never happened.
In early October of last year, the Trump campaign was rattled by the release of the Access Hollywood tape, in which he bragged about being a star. You can do anything. You need to grab them by the pussy.
According to Davidson, Daniels threatened to go public with her accusations that Donald Trump had sex with her in a Lake Tahoe hotel suite during a celebrity golf tournament.
She testified that Trump had dangled a possible role on his TV show Celebrity Apprentice. This detail — that the sex wasn’t entirely wanted — caused the defense to request a mistrial, which was denied. It also provided a motive for Trump to suppress the story. According to prosecutors, Trump knew about what happened in the hotel room, but didn’t want it to come out. The adult film actor’s testimony also included intimate details of her alleged sexual encounter, some of which Judge Merchan agreed with the defense were not necessary.
Cohen ultimately wired the money himself to Daniels, with the understanding, he said, that he would be repaid. On the day he wired the payments, Cohen testified that he had conversations with Trump on the phone. The defense presented evidence that showed one of the calls Cohen had claimed was made through Trump’s bodyguard was actually with a 14-year-old prank caller.
This point, that Trump was making the payment to influence the election by keeping women voters on board, was corroborated by a number of other witnesses. Hicks, who said Trump, by then in the White House, told her that it was better the story came out in 2018, rather than 2016.
Still, the heart of the case rests on the testimony of what happened after the election, when the records were allegedly falsified, in particular the handwritten notes and documents from the Trump Organization’s former comptroller, Jeff McConney.
Payments would be referred to as a legal retainer. (Weisselberg, who is serving jail time for perjury in Trump’s civil fraud trial, did not testify.)
Cohen said he and Weisselberg met and discussed the agreement with Trump shortly before he left for Washington, on or about Jan. 17, 2020. The president approved the deal at the end of the meeting, when he said it would be one heck of a ride, according to Cohen. Cohen said he and Trump discussed the arrangement again, in early February, in the Oval Office. Photos and White House records corroborate that the two met in the Oval Office at the time.
Source: Jury begins deliberations in Trump’s hush money case
The New York jury selection process for Donald J. Trump’s trial in the New York City Courts of First Amendment Law and the Fourth Amendment Freedom Act
If Trump is found guilty, the sentence may or may not include prison time, but some legal experts believe imprisonment for a former president is unlikely. A conviction does not prevent Trump from being the GOP nominee, nor continuing his bid for president. It is likely his legal team would appeal the decision, as they have in past civil trials in New York.
The jurors range from all over Manhattan, including Harlem, Hell’s Kitchen, Murray Hill and the Upper West Side. They are litigators, teachers, physical therapists and investment bankers. Their hobbies range from wood and metal working, hiking, fly fishing and exploring New York City. There are seven men and five women.
According to safety concerns, Merchan has tried to ensure that the jury is anonymous. Lawyers have the ability to see the jurors’ names, but they can’t be photographed or recorded.