squistion

https://x.com/KatiePhang/status/1795537302782943581 STEINGLASS: The deal he sends over wasn't what they were expecting. AMI didn't give a hoot about the contract. They didn't give a hoot about the magazine covers. They were window dressing, there to disguise…. STEINGLASS: So that Karen McDougal couldn't take them somewhere else. It was so they could have have plausible deniability. STEINGLASS: Davidson tells Howard they he told Cohen that Howard was instrumental in getting deal done. “Another one done” the text reads. STEINGLASS: NDA with McDougal had effective date of August 5. 8/10/16 payment made to Karen McDougal.

Indeed, I have lost track of how many times I seen commentators compare this case to what happened in To Kill A Mockingbird.

https://x.com/KatiePhang/status/1795536508536906063 7/28/16 TEXT MESSAGES by and between Davidson and Howard: “I’m going to Make Australia Great Again” STEINGLASS: The joke is funny because it's a palpable recognition of what they’re doing. They’re helping trump get elected by squashing this story. Trump is looming behind everything they’re doing.

https://x.com/KatiePhang/status/1795535629289242750 STEINGLASS: “This call makes it impossible for the defense to claim that Cohen was acting on his own here”….this transaction was an unlawful corporate contribution to the Trump Campaign and not only did defendant know about it but he participated. It's powerful evidence of the defendant’s participation. STEINGLASS: Pecker testified Cohen said he’d get back to him with defendant's answer, told him to buy it and said "don’t worry the Boss will take care of it." Pecker understood this to mean Trump/Trump Org. would reimburse him for any money spent buying story STEINGLASS: Pecker knew and testified that authorization was coming. Because as he told you, Cohen was not authorized to buy lunch without Mr. Trump’s approval.

https://x.com/KatiePhang/status/1795535389278830929 STEINGLASS: Pecker advised Trump to buy the story anyways because it was too risky so close to the election - they should take the story off the market. They’re not talking about jumpstarting Karen McDougal’s career here; they’re trying to protect the Trump campaign.

https://x.com/KatiePhang/status/1795534298348466478 STEINGLASS: As Cohen told you, he was under strict orders to keep the defendant informed of these developments. [STEINGLASS is walking the jurors through the cell records] STEINGLASS: Cohen was also texting with Howard directly. Howard was giving real-time updates but Cohen wants to speak on the phone STEINGLASS: Cohen was pushing so hard he even got Pecker to reach out even though the meeting was still ongoing. Why? Because he needed to provide updates to the Boss. STEINGLASS: during a three-way call, Howard says explicitly I’ve got this locked down for you and won’t let it out of my grasp. STEINGLASS: There’s not a lot of room for debate here. Howard is not shopping for a story… he’s “acting in cahoots” with a candidate to kill a story. Pecker said Trump said Karen [McDougal] was a nice girl which suggested to Pecker that Trump knew her and Pecker believed the story to be true and Pecker told Trump he should buy the story but the defendant was reluctant because he felt the story always gets out.

https://x.com/KatiePhang/status/1795533233926582710 Now, the Karen McDougal catch and kill scheme: "Catch and Kill Volume 2" STEINGLASS: On June 6, Keith Davidson reached out to Dylan Howard and Davidson texted Howard that he had a blockbuster Trump story. He could get more than anyone for it.

https://x.com/KatiePhang/status/1795532838848336024 STEINGLASS: “This was overt election fraud,” an act in furtherance of a conspiracy to promote president Trump's candidacy.. STEINGLASS: “It was an illegal corporate campaign contribution made by AMI, and it was done in collusion with the candidate.”

https://x.com/KatiePhang/status/1795532710280040498 STEINGLASS: On December 15, someone at Trump Org. called Cohen on his cell and spoke for 6 mins. The following day Cohen called Dylan Howard, and day after that, AMI and Dino the Doorman signed the amendment to the source agreement. As I mentioned, this amendment called for immediate payment.

https://x.com/KatiePhang/status/1795531997458190844 What is interesting: even though the story was not true they still shelled out $30,000….they knew the story wasn't true and when asked why are you paying for an untrue story Pecker testified that if the story got out to another publication it would have been very embarrassing to the Trump Campaign…… STEINGLASS: “This was really catch and kill.”

https://x.com/KatiePhang/status/1795531293129871461 Re. the Dino the Doorman catch and kill: STEINGLASS: Pecker testified he was willing to pay “far more” for this story than they’d normally pay because of potential embarrassment to the Trump Campaign. Story turned out to not be true.

https://x.com/KatiePhang/status/1795530754119655524 STEINGLASS: Once AMI purchased stories on a candidate's behalf and in coordination with the campaign, those purchases became unlawful campaign contributions. I suggest to you that the value of this corrupt bargain at the Trump Tower meeting cannot be overstated. It turned out to be one of the most valuable contributions ever made…. “This scheme, cooked up by these men…could very well be what got President Trump elected…”

https://x.com/KatiePhang/status/1795529368309321988 STEINGLAS: At that Aug 2015 meeting at TT, the prism you should analyze the evidence in this case: three rich powerful men high up in TT trying to become even more powerful trying to control the flow of information to voters. The key components of that August 2015 agreement: to accentuate the positive. To promote campaign without endorsing Trump - by colluding with the campaign to manufacture favorable content - outside of its normal press function. They even gave advance copies to Trump. To publish stories attacking the defendant’s political opponents. Real game changer of this meeting was the catch and kill component. Prior to the August 2015 meeting and Mr. Pecker was very clear about this, he never agreed to publish hit pieces and he never ever paid for a Trump story for the purpose of killing it. No matter how many times the def says otherwise, this was not business as usual. STEINGLASS: You may say: Who cares if Trump slept with a porn star 10 years before the election?! Plenty of people feel that way. “But it's harder to say the American people don’t get the right to decide for themselves.”

https://x.com/KatiePhang/status/1795527902722953660 STEINGLASS: It is obvious they want to make this case about Michael Cohen, they had him on cross for three days and asked him only an hours' worth of questions that had anything to do with this case. “This case is not about Michael Cohen. This case is about Donald Trump.” STEINGLASS: Whether they falsified business records to cover up an election law violation, Michael Cohen provides context and color to the documents; he is a tour guide thru the physical evidence. “You don’t need Michael Cohen to connect these dots, but as the ultimate insider, he can help you do just that.”

https://x.com/KatiePhang/status/1795527562988515374 STEINGLASS: “As we discussed in jury selection, he question is not whether you like Cohen, or whether you want to go into business with him. The truth is, he was in the best position to know….” “He was in the best position to know because he was the defendant’s right hand”

https://x.com/KatiePhang/status/1795526908106493952 STEINGLASS: The judge will tell you that Cohen was an accomplice because of the crimes in this case. STEINGLASS: In this case there is literally a mountain of evidence, of corroborating testimony that tends to connect the defendant in this crime. STEINGLASS: From Pecker to Hicks, from his own tweets, and rallies…. STEINGLASS: “It’s difficult to conceive of a case with more corroboration.” STEINGLASS: Costello was actually a double agent...to discourage Cohen from cooperating and to keep the defendant informed and it became clear to Cohen they were setting him up to be the fall guy.

https://x.com/KatiePhang/status/1795526303631692032 Steinglass: Here the defense is trying to have it both ways: Cohen will say anything to get the defendant convicted and so if Cohen’s purpose was to come in here and lie, how easy would it have been for him to go further? If Mr. Cohen wanted to lie, he could have just said the defendant said “Yeah, I slept with her, it was the greatest night of his life, whatever.” STEINGLASS: We didn't choose Michael Cohen as a witness… “We didn't pick him up at the witness store…” “The defendant chose Michael Cohen. He was his fixer.” STEINGLASS: Trump chose Cohen for the same qualities that they want you to reject him for… [SHOWING PASSAGE FROM TRUMP’S THINK BIG BOOK]: “As a matter of fact, I value loyalty above everything else - more than brains, more than drive, and more than energy.”

https://x.com/KatiePhang/status/1795525882326454385 Katie's Sidebar: What Joshua Steinglass (the prosecutor) does here in Closing Arguments was impeccable (and something I've done before in jury trials when the timing of an event/incident has been at issue) [...] Regarding that 10/24/16 call from Cohen to Keith Schiller's cellphone: Steinglass, at a measured pace, "reenacts" how that conversation might have gone down. First: Cohen speaks to Schiller about the 14-year old teenager who was blowing up Cohen's phone and then, Cohen speaks to Trump about the Stormy Daniels' payment. In that non-rushed reenactment, the entire conversation with both Schiller and Trump only took 49 seconds, well within the time allotted per the cellphone records.

https://x.com/KatiePhang/status/1795524438361813097 STEINGLASS: The lies Cohen told to Congress had to do with the Mueller Investigation and the Russia Probe and what he lied about was the number of dealings Trump had with Russia and the only benefit was Cohen stayed in Trump's good graces and now those lies that Cohen told are being used by the same defendant to undermine his credibility and “that is what some people might call chutzpah”. STEINGLASS: That’s the “big lie,” echoing Trump's election denying conspiracies.

https://x.com/KatiePhang/status/1795522758941774324 Re. the Redfinch money: STEINGLASS: They say Cohen stole from the Trump Org when he and AW were working out the reimbursement. Redfinch was being used to rig a CNBC online poll to make the defendant seem more popular. Then CNBC pulled that poll, and Trump decided not to pay the bill, like he often does. STEINGLASS: That’s stealing and that was wrong, we agree. That didn’t come out in cross, though, Cohen admitted it readily. He’s also the one who brought it to everyone’s attention - he volunteered it. [ME: I LOVE this here:] STEINGLASS: In any event, none of this matters because Blanche said Cohen stole $60,000, but they are trying to have it both ways… They’re denying $420,000 was a reimbursement at all, but if that’s true, then there was no theft because Cohen was getting paid for legal services….. So "they can call him a thief, or claim this is not really a reimbursement, but not both.” “I am not asking you to feel bad for Michael Cohen. He made his bed. But you can hardly blame him for making a living off of the one thing he has left: his knowledge of Donald Trump and the Trump phenomenon." STEINGLASS: Defense also tells you should reject his testimony because he lied and took pleas in federal court. He has had some trouble accepting responsibility. For bank fraud conviction and his tax law violation, he said he admitted to you that he did the things. He plead guilty. He acknowledged info missing from tax and HELOC app. STEINGLASS: He feels like he was treated unfairly and as a first offender he should have been able to pay a fine and back taxes and he believes the Trump justice department did him dirty, whether that is true or not he accepted responsibility and went to prison for it…..

https://x.com/KatiePhang/status/1795520947228995840 STEINGLASS: “In the simplest of terms, Stormy Daniels is the motive.”

https://x.com/KatiePhang/status/1795519831263125542 Steinglass: You've got to use your common sense, here. Consider the utterly damning testimony of David Pecker, the defendant's friend for four decades. Keep in mind Mr. Pecker has no reason to lie, no bias towards the defendant and thinks Mr. Trump is still a friend and a mentor. "Hope Hicks, Graff, Westerhout, McConney, and Tarasoff: these people like the defendant, but each one provides critical pieces of the puzzle, building blocks…" STEINGLASS: “To be sure, other witnesses want to see the defendant held accountable. They’re angry with the defendant and want to see him convicted.” STEINGLASS: they have been attacked on social media STEINGLASS: It certainly is true you don't have to prove that the sex took place as that is not an element of the crime, but the defendant knew what happened and that just reinforces the incentive to buy her silence. STEINGLASS: If her testimony were so irrelevant, why did they work so hard to discredit her? STEINGLASS: Michael Cohen has baggage, he is a convicted felon. Cohen is interested in this and that’s a factor you should consider, but you’re not required to reject the testimony of an interested witness. Michael Cohen is understandably angry because he’s the only one who has paid a price. Steinglass: The defendant has escaped justice. Cohen was his right hand man, HIS CONSIGLIERE AND HE CUT HIM LOOSE LIKE A HOT POTATO. STEINGLASS: “Pecker got a non-prosecution agreement, [Dylan] Howard’s in Australia, and the defendant, up until now, has escaped justice.” STEINGLASS: All the while, the election law violations to which Cohen plead guilty were committed at the defendant’s direction. Anyone in Cohen's shoes would want the defendant held accountable. The defense urges you to reject Cohen’s testimony because he was seeking a benefit but he never got his sentence reduced and he's still here providing information about what went down.

https://x.com/KatiePhang/status/1795518018727883108 STEINGLASS: Another false notion is that Stormy Daniels was trying to extort Trump and trying to go public but that is not reality. [Gina] Rodriguez reached out to Dylan Howard first; she did not reach out to Michael Cohen….Howard tells Davidson that Gina is trying to hawk the Stormy Daniels story. STEINGLASS: In the end it doesn't really matter because you don't get to commit election fraud or falsify your business records because you think you’ve been victimized. "Extortion is not a defense to falsifying business records."

https://x.com/KatiePhang/status/1795518369480777881 Steinglass: The defense is questioning our integrity and is suggesting call summaries were trimmed down but the phone records themselves are all evidence STEINGLASS: “Don’t fall for the suggestion that these call summaries were trimmed down to mislead you.” STEINGLASS: The defense can point to any call they want you to look at. They were given all of the records and in fact, what they did was double count half the calls on the summary of phone calls [during Costello's examination]. STEINGLASS: the absence of a phone record doesn’t prove a call never happened.

https://x.com/KatiePhang/status/1795517572923953267 Joshua Steinglass is up for the Prosecution to do Closing: "In his opening Mr. Colangelo told you this case is a conspiracy to corrupt the 2016 election and to hide that conspiracy by hiding records to pay off Ms. Daniels for her silence…" Steinglass: You should focus on the facts and the logical inferences and the hard evidence, the notes, the voice recordings, we asked you to remember to tune out the noise and if you did that you will see the People have presented powerful evidence.