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Cairn Horn88

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20 minutes ago, jw4381 said:

All this talk about Barron makes me think Melania has taken her Soviet style honeypottin to a whole nother level. Par for this simulation, I must say. 

It would be amazing if it came out that she was a sparrow, but alas, she's just a run of the mill whore.  

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15 hours ago, WhatTheBuck said:

Holy fuck! It doesn’t? What in the fuck does if that doesn’t?

I can’t believe anyone would say what you just said.

There's like 75 million people in this country wearing a red hat that would absolutely agree with Snacks on that one. 

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6 minutes ago, Sawbonz said:

Y'all are surprised that a black man in America is skeptical that a rich white man is going to face any real consequences for his behavior?

Bingo.  Snacks is a regular attendee at the Church of Ain't Nothin' Gonna Happen.  I would know, we share a pew.  

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1 hour ago, tx ind said:

Is he taking a page from Trump and watching with his eye closed?

 

1 hour ago, Shut up Lou Holtz said:

This is solid!

I can't take credit for this as I believe it's been posted before, but......

23c336e5a3a43664439e28a007002f29.jpg

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Keith Davidson still is the witness

As we prepare to take a short afternoon break, Keith Davidson provides one last telling quote about Michael Cohen’s finagling of the Stormy Daniels story: “I thought he was trying to kick the can down the road until after the election,” Davidson says. This drives home, again, prosecutors’ stated motivation for the hush-money payment: to silence Stormy and smooth Trump’s road to the White House.

Trump is slumped back in his chair after Davidson is led off the stand.

 

Joshua Steinglass gets Keith Davidson to recount how Michael Cohen told him “my guy” was in several different states, on the campaign trail, and that Cohen could not make decisions in his absence. Davidson says it meant to him that “Michael Cohen didn’t have the authority to actually spend money.”

Steinglass has made a habit of getting witnesses to explain who these coded references are describing. In this case, “my guy,” in another, “the boss.” It’s always Trump. But Steinglass emphasizing that point reinforces the notion that Trump is the hidden hand operating Cohen on the chessboard. It’s a refrain that may stick with the jury.

Keith Davidson is now reading an expletive-laden email from Cohen, and seems pained to be cursing this much.

 

The prosecution brings up an email in which Keith Davidson told Michael Cohen that unless he paid the $130,000 by the end of the day — he was already past deadline — Stormy Daniels would consider the hush-money deal canceled. Joshua Steinglass, the prosecutor, makes a point of getting Davidson to confirm that he sent the email to Michael Cohen’s Trump Organization email address — another way of reinforcing for the jury that Cohen was acting as Trump’s agent.

 

So much about this case is unusual, but we’re seeing one example right now: jurors look hyper-focused as Davidson goes over the details of the hush-money deal reached with Stormy Daniels. In most criminal cases as complex as this one, some jurors might have a hard time following what exactly is important. But here, in this case which the public has been familiar with for years, the name Stormy Daniels is an immediate tip-off that the most important deal of all is under discussion.

 

Davidson is now being asked about the settlement agreement with Daniels. A lot of evidence is mounting that cuts against the idea Trump would have been unaware of all this.


Emails and text messages are repeatedly being brought up as corroborating evidence. For decades, Trump didn’t want his lawyers taking notes and didn’t use email or text himself.

 

Keith Davidson, who was Stormy Daniels’s lawyer, just explained that he used pseudonyms for Daniels and Trump in the written deal he drew up, and that Trump’s pseudonym, as has been reported, was David Dennison. Joshua Steinglass, the prosecutor, asks Davidson if David Dennison was a real person and Davidson responds that he was, and that they were hockey teammates. “How’s he feel about you now?” Steinglass asks. “He’s very upset,” Davidson responds to general laughter.

 

Another bruising quote directed toward Michael Cohen, as Keith Davidson talks about how no one wanted to call him about the Stormy Daniels story. “The moral of the story is that no one wanted to talk to Cohen,” Davidson says.


Prosecutors seem to be betting that jurors are not going to believe that Cohen was operating on his own, that Trump wasn’t aware of what was happening.

Davidson, asked what Cohen’s interest in the Stormy Daniels story was, says, “I believe that Michael Cohen was the personal attorney or general counsel for Donald Trump and that this story involved his client, that that was his interest in the story.”


Davidson said he ultimately finalized the Stormy Daniels deal with Michael Cohen for $130,000.

 

“It could get a lot worse.”
Prosecutors are arguing in sum that the “Access Hollywood” tape put immense pressure on the Trump campaign, which was floundering after the tape was released. Thus, they say, Michael D. Cohen was pressured to pay hush money for the Stormy Daniels story. Davidson is a perfect witness for them right now, as he is testifying that he conveyed that things were bad for Trump but — if the Daniels story was public — could get worse.

After the "Access Hollywood" tape became public, Davidson texted Dylan Howard, the editor of The National Enquirer, that Trump's campaign was doomed, using an expletive. Howard responded: “Wave the white flag. It’s over people!”

Howard, by the way, is a witness everyone would love to hear from. He is a main player in almost every twist and turn of this trial. But it doesn’t look like he will ever take the stand. David Pecker testified he had heard Howard is in Australia and can’t travel because of a spinal condition.

Keith Davidson, speaking about the deal reached with Stormy Daniels, brings up another episode that has been raised multiple times and is key to the timeline here: The “Access Hollywood” tape on which Trump described assaulting women. Davidson calls the remarks, in a euphemism, “troublesome” — and then he says they had “tremendous influence” in raising interest in Daniels’s story.

Davidson, as expected, links the “Access Hollywood” tape directly to the Trump campaign’s heightened desire to purchase Stormy Daniels’s story. It wasn’t until the tape came out, Davidson testifies, that “interest reached a crescendo” in her story.

Keith Davidson says that when he talked to Cohen, he was met with a “hostile barrage” of “insults,” “insinuations” and “allegations” and that went on for quite a while.


Trump’s lead defense counsel, Todd Blanche, looks delighted as Davidson describes Michael Cohen screaming expletives at him. Blanche laughs and smiles at Trump, who is seated next to him. (Blanche has been very focused on destroying Cohen’s credibility with the jury).

 

As I mentioned a bit earlier, Michael Cohen has been insulted by three witnesses, and jurors are not getting a complimentary portrait of him. But Joshua Steinglass, the prosecutor, just leaned into the witness characterizations of Cohen: Davidson referred to a “jerk” without using his name and Steinglass asked, with some humor in his tone, “Who was that jerk?” Prosecutors were expecting to elicit this testimony and Steinglass playing into it signals that they’re somewhat comfortable with it.


Prosecutors are not shying away from Cohen's behavior, questioning witnesses about his hostile or intense interactions with them.


This definitely has the feeling of the prosecution fronting negative information about Cohen so as to take the sting out of it when the defense goes after him on the stand.

 

“Mr. Davidson, do you know someone named Stormy Daniels?” Joshua Steinglass, the prosecutor, asks. Trump, keeping his eyes closed, reaches inside his suit jacket's inner pocket as Davidson describes Daniels.

 

We have had several brief mentions of Stormy Daniels, Davidson’s client, for whom he helped negotiate the hush-money deal at the heart of the case. But I would be surprised if this is not, finally, our real introduction to her, and to that $130,000 deal, which prosecutors have accused Trump of seeking to cover up once he was elected.

 

The courtroom is not small, but it is uncharacteristically warm in here today, and there’s a bit of a sense of everyone being right on top of one another, prosecution and defense team included.

Keith Davidson’s testimony about the Karen McDougal deal backs up, in granular detail, David Pecker's testimony from last week: this was a deal to not publish a story, and that is what the $150,000 was paying for, despite the other perks McDougal was offered.

 

The jury this afternoon is hearing, over and over again, that Trump was married when the hush money deal with Karen McDougal was being negotiated. The judge has not permitted much of the potential evidence that would paint Trump in the most harshly negative light. But it is really difficult — given the context of the charges and the trio of hush-money deals in question — for the witnesses to avoid making him look dishonest, if not worse. No wonder it’s so rare to see a witness make eye contact with the former president while on the stand.

Keith Davidson says that as a professional courtesy, he called Michael Cohen and let him know that Karen McDougal’s deal had closed. Davidson said that Cohen was “pleased.”

Davidson testifies that at the time of the agreement, he did not believe American Media Inc., The Enquirer's parent company, was going to publish the story, because they stated they weren’t going to.

Today’s testimony and the text messages being shared on screens here in the courtroom provide a real-time look at the sleazy negotiations that were occurring behind the scenes in early August 2016, while Trump was the Republican nominee and only a few months out from being elected. Publicly, at this time, Trump was consolidating a skeptical G.O.P. establishment behind his candidacy. Privately, his fixer, Michael Cohen, was discussing the finer points of a hush-money deal that was closing with Karen McDougal and the owner of The National Enquirer.


Trump is posed exactly as he was for much of this morning: eyes closed, leaning back in his seat.

Davidson tells a long story about dealing with Cohen for the first time in 2011. The interaction he says, was “not pleasant or constructive, and I didn’t particularly like dealing with him, and that’s why I was trying like hell to avoid talking to him.”


This is the third witness, by my count, who has conveyed that Michael Cohen could be unpleasant to deal with him. Gary Farro, Cohen’s former banker, said that he had been assigned to work with Cohen because he was known for dealing with difficult clients, while David Pecker, the former publisher of The National Enquirer, made Cohen sound extremely anxious and exhausting. As the defense seeks to discredit Cohen at every turn, it is not unhelpful to them to hear so much dislike from these earlier witnesses. But the prosecution may eventually use this to draw a more complex portrait of the former fixer.

 

Keith Davidson is speaking directly to the jurors as he testifies, just like David Pecker did.

The jurors are looking back at him, quite attentively.

 

One of the things Trump likes to do is roll heavy with an entourage, as we're seeing today. It’s been striking how light his entourage was during the first two weeks of the trial, and how alone he looked at the defense table during sidebars.

Once again, nearly all of the jurors look away from Trump as they walk past the defense table, save for one who may have been looking toward the well of the court.

Court is resuming shortly. After being admonished for taking long breaks, Trump has come back in early, with his son Eric, adviser Susie Wiles, and the former Texas attorney general Ken Paxton in tow, among others.


Prosecutors are heading to their table, and Justice Merchan has returned to the bench.


Keith Davidson has been called back to the stand. The jurors are being brought in momentarily.

 

The Trump campaign has removed two posts from its campaign website that Justice Merchan determined were violations of a gag order preventing Trump from attacking potential witnesses. Both posts involved Michael Cohen, Trump’s former personal lawyer and fixer.


It appears that the seven social media posts that were also found to be violations of the gag order have been deleted as well. Justice Merchan ordered the posts' removal by this afternoon.

Edited by Francisco 2.0
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1 minute ago, Francisco 2.0 said:

Trump has come back in early, with his son Eric, adviser Susie Wiles, and the former Texas attorney general Ken Paxton in tow, among others.

Man....that's some wishcasting there.

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6 minutes ago, Francisco 2.0 said:

and the former Texas attorney general Ken Paxton in tow, among others.

UGH... there's who he wants as the AG.  Absolutely makes sense and is downright terrifying.

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2 minutes ago, Francisco 2.0 said:

Was there ever a doubt?  And if not AG, Ken will hold some cabinet position.

And this is truthcasting.  By late 2026, Paxton will either be the US Attorney General, or the newly elected junior Senator from the State of Texas.

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14 hours ago, Slacks said:

I didn't have the law in front of me, but I bet proving the intent to subvert / interfere with the election is not easy.

 

For a felony level charge, it's not; however, Trump has done some things already very early in this case that have made the prosecution's job much easier.

"You have the right to remain silent" is good advice if you're accused, and impossible for a character like Trump to ever do.

 

8 hours ago, locodos said:

I read something about that guy somewhere...

  Hide contents

RIP  Compleat Angler 

also nsfw

  Hide contents

2351706055_d0a759449b_b.jpg

 

 

 

i should get a boat

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Ken Davidson still the witness

And that's a wrap for the day.

Right before court adjourned, Justice Merchan gave us a reminder of the biggest news of the day: Trump being held in contempt and fined $9,000. The judge noted that a hearing about what prosecutors say are four more violations of Trump's gag order — which could cost him $4,000 more — should only take 30 minutes when we resume on Thursday. After that hearing, Davidson is expected to pick up in his testimony where he left off: On the verge of completing the hush money deal that silenced the story of his client Stormy Daniels.


Outside the courtroom, Trump once again called the gag order unconstitutional and repeated his claims that Justice Merchan was biased against him. And Trump, who will be back on the campaign trail tomorrow, complained that the trial was keeping him from campaigning.

We came out of a somewhat dull line of questioning, in which the prosecution appeared to meander quite a bit, and the conversation of the hush-money payment was back on track. We just saw an email from Michael Cohen that was forwarded from First Republic Bank — where we already know he had arranged the funds for the payment to Stormy Daniels. Keith Davidson, at this point in the narrative, hadn’t quite believed that the money would come. But we know from Gary Farro, an earlier witness, that Cohen had obtained the money.

Keith Davidson is now reading his texts with Dylan Howard aloud. One of them joked about hiring a Trump impersonator who had more money than Trump. Pressed on what that meant, Davidson, appearing deeply uncomfortable and choosing his words carefully, says he took it to mean that Trump was not as wealthy as he claimed.


This testimony is taking place in a courthouse around the corner from the one where, in a civil fraud trial a few months ago, the New York attorney general successfully argued that Trump had spent years inflating his worth and overvaluing his properties.

 

Joshua Steinglass, the prosecutor, is seeking to introduce…something. But Emil Bove, a defense lawyer, keeps objecting and succeeding in his objections, with a chorus of “sustained” from the judge keeping the court on its tiptoes in this moment of very high tension.

While much of the language the defense objected to is gone from the record, the jury heard it nonetheless. Steinglass is trying to establish that Trump was the beneficiary of the contract and would likely be paying.

Keith Davidson says that he understood the reason the deal may have been held up because of “frugality.” “Whose frugality?” Steinglass asked, prompting another objection and yet another sidebar.

 

We are back from the break. Keith Davidson is now having a discussion with Joshua Steinglass, the prosecutor, about his understanding “that Mr. Trump was frugal.” And that he “didn’t want to spend the money” to silence Stormy Daniels, who was shopping her story of an affair with Trump.

Steinglass asks Davidson whether Cohen was clear at the outset of their negotiations who he was working for. Davidson responds that while he doesn't remember if Cohen ever stated it explicitly, "it was part of his identity, and he let you know it, every opportunity he could, that he was working for Donald Trump.”

Edited by Francisco 2.0
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30 minutes ago, Francisco 2.0 said:

One of them joked about hiring a Trump impersonator who had more money than Trump. Pressed on what that meant, Davidson, appearing deeply uncomfortable and choosing his words carefully, says he took it to mean that Trump was not as wealthy as he claimed.

Ha Ha Ha Lol GIF

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22 hours ago, immamac said:

I’m curious to how they can even bring supporting character witnesses in.

Something like this?

 

hannibal-lecter-bound.gif

 

Oh, you mean their testimonies.

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5 minutes ago, DigglerontheHoof said:

I think this is some kind of shtick.  I don't know what he's trying to do but somehow the magats will love it and it will be bad for Biden. 

NYTimes pitchbot, is that you?

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Have they considered placing a gently used South Dakota shock collar (RIP Cricket) around his neck? Maybe slide a few pics of a gravel pit across the table to keep him engaged.
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4 hours ago, Brisketexan said:

And this is truthcasting.  By late 2026, Paxton will either be the US Attorney General, or the newly elected junior Senator from the State of Texas.

Supposedly Abbott is shortlisted for AG and team Paxton is gearing up to primary against Cornyn.  But the same person says the FIRST Texan on the list for a cabinet spot is Sid Miller for Ag Secretary.

Edited by Bozo_Casanova
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9 minutes ago, Bozo_Casanova said:

Supposedly Abbott is shortlisted for AG and team Paxton is gearing up to primary against Cornyn.  But the same person says the FIRST Texan on the list for a cabinet spot is Sid Miller for Ag Secretary.

All quite credible.  But Paxton would prefer AG, and he sucks Trump's dick harder than Abbott, and we know that's all that matters in Trumpland.

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17 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

All quite credible.  But Paxton would prefer AG, and he sucks Trump's dick harder than Abbott, and we know that's all that matters in Trumpland.

In fairness, abbott has trouble with the whole getting on his knees thing

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3 hours ago, atomheartbevo said:

 


Defense attorneys put a shock collar on him. Like a dog.

This is such low hanging fruit for the SNL cold open. Dotard is asleep. Defense attorneys concerned. Deliberate approach to wake him up. Reach down to red tie extending to floor and give it a tug. No reaction. Smelling salt. No reaction. Fart in a can. No reaction. Shock collar. No reaction. Picture of ivanka. Dotard pops awake alert and ready to get it on. Live from NY it’s saturday night. Fin.

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10 hours ago, locodos said:

Judge called his bluff.  Nobody is madder about this than Trump, except possibly Barron. (what a fucking stupid name)

It’s even funnier because we’ve heard recordings from back in the 80’s of Trump posing as “John Barron,” his imaginary spokesperson, speaking with members of the media trying to promote himself. Then he fucking named his kid Barron. 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/03/21/the-amazing-story-of-donald-trumps-old-spokesman-john-barron-who-was-actually-donald-trump-himself/

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2018/04/20/reporter-recalls-trumps-alter-ego-amazed-didnt-see-through-ruse/537312002/

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4 hours ago, Player said:

Have they considered placing a gently used South Dakota shock collar (RIP Cricket) around his neck? Maybe slide a few pics of a gravel pit across the table to keep him engaged.

Can’t help thinking about this scene:

 

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14 minutes ago, High Plains Drifter said:

 

Just let him sleep, then when court is adjourned, just leave his ass sitting there alone in the dark. 

With all his secret service guys.

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5 hours ago, Bozo_Casanova said:

Supposedly Abbott is shortlisted for AG and team Paxton is gearing up to primary against Cornyn.  But the same person says the FIRST Texan on the list for a cabinet spot is Sid Miller for Ag Secretary.

5 hours ago, Brisketexan said:

All quite credible.  But Paxton would prefer AG, and he sucks Trump's dick harder than Abbott, and we know that's all that matters in Trumpland.

Trump doesn’t want anybody in a wheelchair close to him - it’s a sign of weakness.

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