Not surprisingly, Trump throws his kids under a bus to try to save himself.
7 posts in a row by Limey. He’s off the rails once again. But when you don’t have a job, you have plenty of time to post lies and whine about Trump.
Blanche so far [abridged version]: everyone is lying.
Judge Cannon has denied this motion “without prejudice”, agreeing with Team Trump that Smith did not appropriately confer with the defense. I think the “without prejudice” part means that Smith can re-file, probably trying to head off an appeal.
What’s truly notable here is how she denied a prosecution motion “on the paper” with impressive alacrity, while every brain fart squeezed out by the defense has to be mulled like she’s Deep Thought trying to decide the answer to the life, the universe and everything.
Blanche went hard after Cohen for being a liar, and then did the same with Stormy Daniels. But now…
So much of the defense strategy is designed around the false narratives bouncing around in Trump’s head.
Blanche is nearing the end of his closing arguments. It is basically a filibuster version of a Trump tweet: “everyone is lying and I did nothing wrong”.
He’s not wrong.
Blanche builds to his denouement, and just described Michael Cohen as “the GLOAT: Greatest Liar of All Time.”
And he’s spent. Defense rests; lunch. The jury can now go and uncringe.
Whoops!
Steinglass is up for The People, and starts off with a more cultured version of the Gambini rebuttal.
Then he starts talking about how the Team Trump’s defense is built on everyone being out to get Trump and/or is a thief and a liar. Regarding Cohen inflating his payout to RedFinch from $20k to $50k, Steinglass lands a vicious cock-punch to the “Cohen is a thief” angle:
As to Cohen being a convicted liar:
I think he got 'em both with that one.
Laying out the stakes:
The other witness that Blanche spent notable time on was Stormy Daniels. Steinglass swats away all of Blanche’s huffing and puffing in a single paragraph.
Important, as the defense never went anywhere near any of this: you don’t need Cohen and/or Daniels to convict Trump.
Team Trump in closing argument tried to poo-poo the seriousness of the Access Hollywood tape. In addition to reminding the jury about Hope Hicks’ testimony that is was like a bomb going off in the campaign, this is happening:
Blanche tried to paint everyone as a liar, but Steinglass is busting Blanche for lie after lie after lie.
Another 9 posts in a row by the resident conspiracy theorist.
Trump telegraph’s his feelings on how closing arguments went for him yesterday.
Of course, he’s lying about being barred from offering an “advice of counsel” defense. He declined that option a while back - because taking it up evaporates any client-attorney privilege he may be exercising (because he has to show client-attorney communications to prove his defense) - and so was not allowed to change his mind at the last minute.
Courtwatch: The People wrapped up yesterday at almost exactly 8pm EDT. Team Trump said they’d need 2 1/2 hours and went for 3 while Team The People said they’d need 4 to 4 1/2 and went for 4h 40m. The judge was at pains to let the jury know that it was their choice to end for the day or push on; they were asked multiple times and all said they wanted to push on.
Today, court starts at 10am EDT with Judge Merchan’s jury instructions. That’s expected to take about an hour and then it’s off to the jury room they go to deliberate. The rule of thumb appears to be one day of deliberation for each week of testimony, and there have been 5 weeks of testimony here. So early next week for a verdict should be the expectation.
However, there have been some gaps in those weeks (and last week was absolutely nothing for the jury), so a shorter deliberation would not be a shock. There are 34 charges to be considered, but as each charged act is basically a rinse/repeat of the previous act, once the jury decides guilty or not guilty on one of the charges, they have a blueprint for the other 33.
Pundits seem to think that acquittal on all 34 charges is highly unlikely. A hung jury is entirely possible - it only needs one holdout - and it does seem that Team Trump’s closing argument was targeting that outcome, presumably thinking that outright acquittal is not achievable. A split verdict is also possible; for example, two of Cohen’s checks were signed by Trump spawn so the jury might decide to acquit on those.
Many are hoping for a verdict by the end of the week. That’s an artificial deadline, although many on the jury might just want this ordeal over with and not drag it into next week, so there’s that. Could they decide this in 2 1/2 days? Sure. But they do have a lot of evidence (from the prosecution) to sort through, so it would mean that the jury is moving with unanimity which, given the above, means guilty on many/all counts.
The case is now with the jury. The alternates are sequestered without cell phones in case they’re needed. Now they have brought back jurors 4 and 6 into the courtroom to show them how to use the laptop that has all the evidence loaded onto it.
I had completely forgotten all the fears during jury selection that they would lose a raft of jurors on this case and 6 alternates - which is a lot - might not have been enough. We haven’t lost a single juror; not to sickness, impropriety, nothing. Kudos to them and to the judge for this amazing effort.
Fun Fact: In NY, they do not elect the jury foreperson. It’s always Juror #1. No word on whether they get a giant foam finger designating their status.