#TrumpTrial 🧵starts HERE. #Trump #legal 1/…
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#TrumpTrial 🧵starts HERE. #Trump #legal 1/…
Bower:
Justice Merchan starts off will the prosecution motion for contempt.
He tells Trump he's about to issue his ruling, in which he will again find Trump in contempt of court.
The last thing I want to do is put you in jail, Justice Merchan says to Trump. You are the former President of the United States and possibly the next President as well.
But "going forward," he continues, "this court will have to consider jail sanctions" if necessary.
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2/ Klasfeld:
Merchan:
"The magnitude of such a decision is not lost on me, but at the end of the day, I have a job to do."
Trump's defiance of the gag order threatens the integrity of the proceedings and constitute "direct attack on the rule of law," he says.
"I cannot allow that to continue."
After that warning, Merchan hands physical copies of his decision to the parties.
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3/ Klasfeld:
The judge finds Trump in contempt for a 10th time.
"Going forward, this court will have to consider a jail sanction."
Note:
Prosecutors explicitly did not seek Trump's incarceration on this contempt motion, which predated the judge's last warning.
Merchan's ruling from the bench puts an exclamation mark on his previously unspoken and written warning.
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4/ McBrien:
…another $1,000 fine.
There are many reasons why incarceration is truly the last resort. It will obstruct the proceedings, Merchan adds, which is the last thing that Trump wants.
But at the end of the day I have a job to do. Your continued willful violations constitute a direct attack on the rule of law. I cannot allow that to continue. As much as I've wanted to avoid a jail sentence, I will as necessary and if approp.
https://www.nycourts.gov/LegacyPDFS/press/PDFs/DOcontempt_5-6-24FINAL.pdf
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5/ McB:
Today's witness will be JEFFREY MCCONNEY
Bove is up now, and he wants to address some objections to exhibits that will be introduced outside the presence of the jury. If the court is willing to go through them one by one beforehand.
There are 20+ exhibits Colangelo says, and we're arguing about the evidence that the prosecution wants to introduce during McConney's testimony today.
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6/ McB:
McConney was the Trump Organization's controller in the statement of facts.
It's very hard for me to [object to the exhibits] that on the fly—I still don't know what the exhibits are, Bove protests, but Merchan doesn't know what that has to do with the presence of the jury or not.
We'll do it at the sidebar, you'll have an opportunity, Merchan says.
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7/ Phang on contempt:
Merchan addresses Trump directly regarding his continued violations of #GagOrder
“It appears that the 1,000 fines are not serving as a deterrent.”
“The last thing I want to do is to put you in jail. You are the former president of the United States, and possibly the next president as well.”
“There are many reasons why incarceration is truly a last resort for you.”
“To take that step would be disruptive to the proceedings”
“But at the end of the day, I have a job to do.” -
8/ Andrea Bernstein:
I've now watched 3 different judges threaten Trump with jail time. Judge Merchan seems to really mean it, if Trump defies his gag order again.
"So as much as I do not want to impose a jail sanction & have done everything I can to avoid doing so, I want you to know I will."
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9/ McB:
Wouldn't it be more orderly to take these one-by-one, Bove asks, but Merchan doesn't want to keep jury waiting. Also, defense could have given Merchan a heads up yesterday when they found out about McConney.
In the indictment's statement of facts, Cohen allegedly sent the first invoice to McConney ~Feb 14, 2017, and McConney allegedly forwarded the invoice to Deborah Tarasoff TO Accounts Payable Supervisor) writing: “...legal expenses. Put ‘retainer for the months of Jan and Feb 2017
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10/ McB:
Merchan welcomes back jurors and offers an instruction: Exhibits have been admitted into evidence with redactions, made to remove PII, and insure only relevant admissable evidence has been put before you. Do not draw any inference at these redactions.
The People call Jeffrey McConney.
He has a mop of white hair, a white goatee, and he wears a dark suit with blue patterned tie.
Asisstant DA Colangelo steps up for the prosecution and asks about McConney's education.
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11/ Inner City Press (aka Press):
Prosecutor: Mr. McConney, please describe your education
McConney: Baruch College; hired by the Trump Org in 1987. Now I'm retired.
Prosecutor: Did you sign a separation agreement?
McConney: Yes. The payments are now complete. I did tax prep for 50 yrs
Prosecutor: Are you here under subpoena?
McConney: Yes.
Prosecutor: Who is paying for your lawyer?
McConney: Trump Org.
Prosecutor: Who ran it?
McConney: Pres Trump. He was the brains behind it. He was my boss. -
12/ McB:
When asked his def of Trump Org, McConney says: To me there's 2 definitions—there are 2 legal entities, Trump Org, Inc. & Trump Org, LLC. Most people refer to Trump Org as Pres Trump's global holdings and assets, IP, whatever. Trump ran the org, he was the brains.[Me: debatable]
Any convos w/ Trump since he retired last Feb? No, McConney says.
Before he retired, over 500 entities comprised the Trump Org, he says.
For those 500 or so entities, what kind of businesses are they in?
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13/ McB:
Golf courses, real estate, licensing deals—that's the bulk of it, McConney says.
trumporg [dot] com was the domain for McConney's email pre-retirement, he says.
JM says Trump Org itself doesn't hold assets (e.g., Trump Tower)—the way we've set everything up is each asset was owned by a separate entity, sometimes multiple entities. Ultimate owner is the trust, with Trump as beneficiary, JM says.
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14/ [I love] McB:
Buckle up for documents—lots, and lots of documents.
Folks, it could be a "slog," to borrow Susan Hoffinger's phrase from voir dire.
First up is a "summarized structure chart" of the Trump trust, visible currently only to the parties and the witness.
I fear that the only tears we see this morning will be tears of boredom.
Please prove me wrong Mr. McConney!
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15/ Pagliery:
What was different this time was that Justice Merchan finally addressed the elephant in the room.
No, not Trump.
I'm talking about the potential for destabilizing the nation & directing the fury of MAGA on NYC.
Merchan understands the stakes. And they are unbelievably high.
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16/ Pagliery cont’d:
Let me differentiate this from the warnings he got in DC from Judge Tanya Chutkan & just down the street from Judge Lewis Kaplan & Justice Arthur F. Engoron.
Chutkan mostly stuck to court orders. Kaplan threatened to eject him from the room. Engoron mentioned jail in passing.
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17/ Sidebar.
Aaron Rupar on pre-trial Trump rant:
Trump this morning on his way into court was very confused about how gag orders work (they don't prevent him from answering questions about testifying or the trial), and then shouted out Greg Jarrett, Andrew McCarthy, Jonathan Turley, and Mark Levin.
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18/ McB:
Finally, we see an org chart titled "Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust Dated April 7, 2014"
It's various holding companies that own different entities that make up the Trump Org, and they all roll up to the trust.
Page two is a Schedule, showing relationships btwn entities
McConney believes the trust may have been created 4/7/14 but he's "not a lawyer," so can't be exactly sure.
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19/ McB:
Trump and Allen Weisselberg were the trustees of the trust.
McConney was promoted to controller when Weisselberg was promoted to CFO, and was his boss for more than three decades.
A lesson to the bosses of the world: be nice to your direct reports. You never know when they'll have to testify against you under oath.
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20/ Back to Pagliery (see above):
By contrast, Merchan has drawn a bright, thick, red line. He might as well have used Trump's preferred sharpie marker.
Merchan has tried to avoid cornering himself this way.
He always speaks in generalities. He addresses lawyers, not Trump. Unaggressive tone & passive diction.
But now he's given Trump an ultimatum. Trump knows that all he has to do is press that big, shiny button.