Thread by @KlasfeldReports

Good morning from New York.

After a false start yesterday, we are expected against to her from the only accusing witness against Ghislaine Maxwell testifying under her real name: Annie Farmer.

Pre-trial discussions today have not yet addressed the attorney's illness yesterday.

I am working on a story on popular conceptions about the Maxwell trial that experts tell me are rooted in lack of familiarity about the criminal process—and what these proceedings are and are not meant to accomplish.

Look out for that story, @LawCrimeNews.

"All rise."

The jury is entering.

How Judge Nathan reports the update to the jury on yesterday's attorney illness.

"I'm very pleased to report that all of the attorneys are here. Everyone is doing well."

The prosecution reads a stipulation into the record attesting to the authenticity of certain exhibits.

First witness of the day: William Brown, who works at the DMV's division of field investigations.

Next witness:

AUSA: "The government calls Annie Farmer."

Judge Nathan: "Annie Farmer may come forward."

The witness states and spells her name.

The judge gives a limiting instruction to the jury, saying that her allegations about "physical contact" between Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein in New Mexico were not illegal.

She was 16 at the time there.

Prosecutor: “Can you see anyone in this courtroom who has ever given you a massage?”

Farmer identifies Maxwell in the courtroom.

Asked about her career, Farmer replies.

Describing her family's financial situation growing up, she says: "Money was tight. It had often been a stressor since my parents were divorced."

She describes her siblings, including Maria Farmer.

Their profile in the New York Times: "The Sisters Who First Tried to Take Down Jeffrey Epstein." nytimes.com/2019/08/26/us/…

Annie Farmer says Jeffrey Epstein purchased a ticket for her to go to New York.

She says that she was excited to see her sister, and as she moves onto Epstein, defense makes a hearsay objection.

Sustained.

Annie Farmer says she met Epstein in New York but not Maxwell.

(Note: Corrected a typo.)

The government introduces a photograph of herself from around the time she met Jeffrey Epstein.

She says she was 16 years old in the photograph.

Q: Where did you meet Epstein?
A: At his home.

"It was a very grand home. I was staying with my sister in her apartment."

Flashback to Ghislaine Maxwell's bail hearing in July 2020:

https://twitter.com/NinaPullano/status/1469318667993329665?s=20

Asked how she felt meeting Epstein, Annie Farmer replied: “I was excited. He was again very friendly with me. He seemed down to earth[…] He seemed very nice when I met him.”

She says she was excited that Epstein said he could help her.

She says Epstein took her to "Phantom of the Opera" and then a movie, where she sat next to Epstein.

He first "caressed" her hand and then her leg.

Annie Farmer: “I felt sick to my stomach. It wasn’t something that I was at all expecting.”

Annie Farmer reads from her diary: "The best night was when Maria and I saw 'The Phantom of the Night.'"

Her review at the timing: "I bawled. It was fantastic."

She reads from another entry from the journal on Jan. 25, 1996.

"A couple of quick details about New York that I didn't mention earlier."

The journal entry goes into what happened at the movie theater.

"It was a little weird. One of those things that was hard to explain."

At one point, she wrote: "Then he sort of caressed, rubbed my arm, shoe and foot."

The journal entry stated that it "weirded me out" that Epstein let go of her hand when he spoke to her sister, Maria.

But she she wrote about not wanting to bring it up: "She worships him [Epstein] and it would just create problems."

She wrote that she knew it sounded like she was "trying to justify him doing something weird, but it isn't."

Reflecting on what she wrote now, Annie Farmer said: "I was trying to come up with excuses or justification to make it try to feel okay."

Annie Farmer's testimony turns to New Mexico.

Asked how she got to New Mexico, Annie Farmer says: "I flew commercially."

She says it was in the spring of 1996.

"I believe it was April," she said.

Annie Farmer describes her first meeting with Maxwell:

"She was a trim, attractive woman. Well dressed." Dark hair.

Q: What did Ms. Maxwell sound like?
A: She had a British accent.

She was also "well spoken" and "articulate," Farmer said.

Annie Farmer said the presence of Maxwell made her feel comfortable, given what happened in the movie theater.

Annie Farmer's impression of Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein:

"I thought that they were romantic partners."

She says that they appeared "intimate" with each other.

She describes being bought cowboy boots on the ranch.

Q: Who bought the boots for you?
She answers Epstein.

Q: Who was present with you when the boots were being purchased?
She answers Maxwell.

Annie Farmer says that she went to the movies with Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell.

She says she didn't want to go because of her last experience at the movies but she says she thought it would be different this time because Maxwell was there.

They saw the movie "Primal Fear," she says.

"He right away tried to hold my hand and caress and hold my foot and my arm," Annie Farmer says, referring to Epstein.

Annie Farmer says Ghislaine Maxwell "sat and held one of [Epstein's] feet" and instructed her to massage the other.

"I just watched what she was doing and she instructed me."

"And so I did what she told me."

"I felt very uncomfortable," Annie Farmer says of the massage. "I wanted to stop, and I was hoping it’d be over quickly."

Q: Did Maxwell give you a massage?
A: Yes, she did.

Annie Farmer says she set up a table in the room where she was staying.

Q: What were you wearing during the massage?
A: Nothing.

Asked why, she responds: "She told me to get undressed."

Asked to clarify who, Farmer says Maxwell.

Q: What happened once you were laying on your back?

Annie Farmer says Maxwell "pulled the sheet down," "exposed her breasts," and touched her breasts.

Annie Farmer recalled having a "sense" that Epstein might be able to see her during the massage.

She recalled Epstein coming into the room and saying that he wanted to cuddle.

Q: Did you want to cuddle with Epstein?
A: No.

Annie Farmer describes moving home to Phoenix.

Asked if she wrote in her journal about her trip to New Mexico, Annie Farmer says no.

She says she didn't want to think about it.

Asked why she kept the boots, Annie Farmer says at first she shoved them in the back of her closet.

Agents then asked if she had them, she says.

Then, she says she found them and she wore the boots.

Asked what she told her mother after the trip, Annie Farmer said: "I told my mom I was not raped and I didn't want to talk about it."

Late summer of 1996.

Q: Did you tell the FBI that Maxwell had given you a massage?
A: Yes.

Asked why Annie Farmer said she wanted to "reclaim" the boots by wearing them again, she says: "It was a dark memory and I had felt so taken advantage of by them both."

Annie Farmer said she struggled to step forward because it was a "shameful" memory but she found that she wanted "accountability" and "these people being stopped."

Asked if she has any financial stake in the outcome of this trial, the witness replies: "I do not."

Cross examination will begin.

We just finished a morning recess. Here's a quick write-up of what happened during the early morning sessions. This is a DEVELOPING story, @LawCrimeNews lawandcrime.com/live-trials/gh…

Maxwell's attorney Laura Menninger establishes that there was no sexual activity in Epstein's New York home alleged.

Q: No one showed you any vibrators, massagers or anything like that in that home?
A: No.

Also, Maxwell wasn't present.

(Note: The allegations are about the New York movie theater and the New Mexico ranch and movie theater.)

Menninger questions Annie Farmer about her journal entries:

Q: You called the "Phantom of the Opera" the best night of your trip?
A: Yes.

Menninger asks whether the journal entries helped her remember details and emotions that she may have otherwise forgotten.

Annie Farmer generally agrees.

Menninger points out that Farmer's journal entry described Epstein's actions in the New York movie theater as "weird" and also "not weird."

Asked how she feels about it now, she says: "I still find it weird."

Q: Your memories today are colored by hindsight, right?
A: Of course.

Q: Without a journal entry from the New Mexico trip, we can't confirm who invited you there with a piece of paper?
A: With a piece of paper, no.

Menninger says that without a journal there's no piece of paper confirming what happened in New Mexico and how she felt about it.

Farmer agrees, as qualifying it with a "piece of paper" confirmation.

Menninger says that Farmer recalled the date of the trip by researching when the film "Primal Fear" came out and working backwards.

Farmer: "I don't think I would say it that way."

Lunch recess.

Service advisory: I will be in court for the afternoon session and so will not be tweeting then.

But I will continue to cover the case, as will dozens of reporters from around the world.

Back soon.

Out of court after proceedings adjourn.

The government rests.

The defense’s motion for a judgment of acquittal on all counts is DENIED.

Defense case begins next week on Thursday.