Two former presidents who led criminal conspiracies were in the Manhattan courtroom, the 19th day of Donald Trump’s criminal election interference hush money trial included the typical media circus with Trump’s clown show including on Monday the former president of the New York chapter of the Hell’s Angels. Oh, and there was another criminal in the cast: disgraced New York Police Commissioner Bernie Kerik. … ‘cause the best character witnesses are the ones with criminal records. And that doesn’t include the fireworks inside the courtroom.
- Among the other clowns: Kash Patel, rich dude Steve Witkoff, co-conspirator Boris Epshteyn, disgraced The Hill contributor Alan Dershowitz, South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson, and Congress members Andrew Clyde of Georgia, Mary Miller of Illinois, Eric Burlison of Missouri, and Keith Self of Texas.
- Cohen admits that he improperly gained $30,000 from the Trump Org via improper billing. He claimed a vendor, Red Finch, who billed $20,000 was owned $50,000, which the Trump Org paid to Cohen; Cohen kept the difference.
- Cohen said he paid the vendor by putting $20,000 in cash in a brown paper bag.
- Asked by prosecutors on re-direct if he would have paid Stormy Daniels $130,000 if “Trump had not signed off,” Cohen responded, “No, ma’am.”
- In re-direct, prosecutors were able to replay the audio tape Cohen recorded talking to Trump about the payment to Karen McDougal.
- With Cohen finishing testimony, the prosecution rested its case after calling 20 witnesses.
- Prosecutors wanted to present video from C-Span showing Donald Trump with his “body man” Keith Shiller on the date Cohen says he spoke with Trump. This will establish the credibility of Cohen’s claim that he spoke with Shiller for a short time and then spoke with Trump for a short period during a minute-and-a-half phone call in late October when, Cohen claims, he updated Trump on the Stormy Daniels NDA.
- The defense objected to the tape being admitted. They wanted the C-Span expert to return to court, from Indiana, to testify, but ultimately stipulated to the authenticity. The judge also limited what was submitted: prosecutors wanted the entire video showing the time five minutes prior to the time of the call Cohen described, demonstrating Shilling might have passed his phone to Trump, as Cohen testified. An aide from the DA’s office testified to the authenticity of the image, allowing it to be admitted.
- After Robert Costello was called to the stand, Costello started giving (literal) side-eye to the judge and making disparaging comments under his breath. At one point, Costello told the court reporter to “strike it”–meaning a statement from prosecutors–from the witness box. This prompts Merchan to clear the courtroom and presumably chide the witness.
- While the gallery was out of the courtroom, per the transcript, Merchan told Costello he was acting contemptuously, threatening to remove him and strike his testimony if his behavior continued.
- Costello was brought on to testify about how untrustworthy Cohen was, however, prosecutors showed that Costello was using Cohen to get into Trump’s sphere of influence, bragging to his son in an email that if Costello could land Cohen as a client, it would put him closer to Trump.
- Merchan said he expects closing arguments next Tuesday, after a four-day Memorial Day weekend; the court would have typically met on Friday, but a juror had a pre-scheduled trip so no session was scheduled.