Thread by @innercitypress

OK - in US v. #GhislaineMaxwell now defense closing by Laura Menninger. Inner City Press covered US' closing, with all slides withheld (UNdocketed challenge here documentcloud.org/documents/2116…, and will live tweet this, thread below

https://twitter.com/innercitypress/status/1472603595510108167

Maxwell's lawyer Menninger: I am not here to defend Jeffrey Epstein. He is not my client. The US presented evidence like a sensational tabloid. Private island, photos. These were things that Epstein did, perhaps, his crimes. But Ghislaine Maxwell is not Epstein

Menninger: Where are the other 37,000 photographs? Who was in them? You don't know. They didn't bring you those photos. There were folders and binders. But they brought you the most innocuous photos of a couple that was once together.

Menninger: This is straight up sensationalism, your Honor, I mean, ladies and gentlemen. There's the lack of evidence. Jane hired Robert Glassman two weeks before she spoke to the FBI in 2019. The lawyers like Boies Schiller helped set up the Epstein victims fund

Menninger: Then there's the manipulation piece. We'll go through the stories of each witness. The stories have changed. Carolyn had a lawyer in 2008, a story about Epstein and Sarah Kellen who she also sued without mentioning Ghislaine Maxwell.

Menninger: Where are your boots that you say they bought you? We had to ask those questions. The truth was manipulated over time. They've made Ghislaine Maxwell to be Cruela DeVille and the Devil Wears Prada all rolled up in to one.

Menninger: The pilot told you Jane was a fully growth, mature woman. Ghislaine didn't entire her to travel. The US said she was "sometimes in the room when it happened." But Jane said she wasn't sure.

Menninger: Jane said she went to Epstein's house every week. But no one took the stand to say she spent time with Ghislaine. Who are these relatives? Annie's mom came; she said she never spoke to Maxwell.

Menninger: Larry the pilot said Jane was fully mature. No pilot testified he saw Carolyn, or Kate, or Annie. There was not culture of silence, you just got the sound of silence. One got a two time burglar with an ax to grind.

Menninger: They said you'd learn Ghislaine was in the room. But Jane can't remember. And there's no motive. They say a happy, educated woman in her 30s would end her career as a facilitator of sexual abuse - but where's the evidence? Epstein was a manipulator

Menninger: Do you know Ghislaine's life style before Epstein, and after? Maybe it was Jeffrey who needed Ghislaine and her connection, and not the other way around.

Menninger: I want to talk about Jane's age. Her father died at 13 - tragic. But she's applying to go to an arts camp that cost $4000 per person. They didn't even apply for financial aid.

Menninger: We see her travel records, this person who says he was indigent - she traveled to Italy. There's a flight I'll show you [slides withheld from press and public] that shows Jane flew at earliest at 16.

Menninger: Jane got her dates wrong, in a case that's about dates, and about travel. This homeless Jane, traveling all over. She says she sang for Mike Wallace's 80th birthday. But she was 17 by then. She got it wrong.

Menninger: The government just said, We'll assume your first time to New York wasn't the Lion King data. Doctor Loftus said this is unlikely, this unremembering.

Menninger: She talked about group sexualized massages. You have a right to evidence. She gave names - none of these women called the police. They said "Sophie," blonde and pretty, married a race car driving. She said Eva joined in with Sophie

Menninger: She walks about Emmy and Michelle. They now say it could be any old Michelle. Jane said it's the Michelle who hung out with Emmy. Michelle said, I'm a housewife. This is a pattern of Jane picking names out of people she met in Epstein's world

Menninger: She told you she met Donald Trump. But she has her time frame wrong. She's trying to insert Ghislaine into the story after the fact. Her lawyer Glassman told her it would help get money.

Menninger: She says she was in a movie called Five Monkeys. But there is no movie called 5 Monkeys. There is a movie called 12 Monkeys. And she claimed that hand holding was sexual abuse. She went to New York mostly to see her sister. Ghislaine was nowhere around

Menninger: There is no mention of Ghislaine Maxwell in Annie's diaries. Epstein was not in the room when she got the massage. She told the compensation fund that her breasts were gropes. She got $1.5 million. What is the evidence of what Ghislaine Maxwell knew?

Menninger: If we had Annie's journals we might know. But we don't, so we don't. Maybe she just got it wrong. By a year. Meaning she's 17, when she went there. When did she got to Thailand? The records say she was 18, through Dusseldorf. Her mother was there.

Menninger: Now let's talk about the boots. She said the government didn't ask for them in 2006. You'll have the boots with you back in the deliberation room, you'll see how worn they are.

Menninger: Where is the chef from the ranch? Where are her diaries? What you got is a photograph of the front and back of a diary, and few pages. But not the rest. Ms. Farmer told you she met Boies Schiller when she was going to be a witness in Roberts' case

Menninger: Kate filled out a U visa application for exceptional people. She said she is exceptional - she's a music therapist. She says she's using a pseudonym because of her child. But she used her own name in court after Epstein's death.

Menninger: Kate claims she met Ghislaine Maxwell in London, when she was younger than 17. The said "the house with the red door," look at it, across from the Nag's Head Pub. [Slide withheld from Press and public]

Menninger: Let's talk about Carolyn. She says she saw a photograph of Ghislaine Maxwell pregnant. But no one else saw this. Money. The first time Maxwell is accused of anything by Carolyn was during the compensation process.

Menninger: Let's talk about Shawn, her ex boyfriend, with his felony convictions. Carolyn tried to minimize her drug abuse. But Shawn told you they were abusing marijuana, cocaine, ecstasy and other drugs. They shared a phone, calls from Kellen and Epstein

Menninger: Let's talk about Dr Rocchio, the ultimate victim apologist. She's not trained to question accusers accounts. There was no evidence Ghislaine Maxwell groomed anyone. Kate was dating a man Maxwell's age.

Menninger: The government has no basis to say that Ghislaine Maxwell wrote the document about her relationship with Epstein, told in the third person. There's no proof.

Menninger: And why didn't Virginia Roberts testify? If she could corroborate what Carolyn told you, don't you think she would have? Why would a proper Oxford educated woman do this?

Menninger: Larry the pilot said sure he signed a Non Disclosure Agreement, people don't want talk about famous people flying on the plane, like Bill Clinton and John Glenn...

Menninger: Epstein put his helicopter in the name of Air Ghislaine. That would correspond to the $7 million. Rich people do that. Epstein was generous. He was building a lodge at Interlochen that was handicapped accessible.

Menninger: Certainly no one from JP Morgan told you what the money was for...
Judge Nathan: Ms. Menninger, we're just going to take a real quick stretch break.
[Ghislaine Maxwell stands up, stretches, sits down]

Menninger: Mr. Alessi told you when women other than Ghislaine visited, he would take her photo down --
Oops, I got ahead of myself [Menninger say] Check out the flight logs for yourself.
[Press and public can't, and challenge not docketed documentcloud.org/documents/2116…

Menninger: Mr. Alessi was not doing a good job. Does being a tough boss make you an enforcer of a code of silence? He doesn't really authenticate the black address book. Where are the other staff?

Menninger: Mr. Alessi told you a story that was not true. That he broke in to help someone. But it was to steal a gun. He broke in twice. You can't trust this man's word.

Menninger: Memory doesn't work like a tape recorder, that you could rewind and just hit play. None of these interviews were recorded. They all had a plan to get money.

Menninger: The government would ask again and again, are you sure there was no sexual abuse in New Mexico? Doctor Dubin was solid on what she did not have the group sex alleged.

Menninger: Counts 2 and 4 rely on Jane entirely. If you don't believe her, drop the counts Count 6 relies on Carolyn. If you don't believe her, drop the count.

Menninger: Ghislaine is being tried here for being with Jeffrey Epstein. Maybe it was the bigger mistake of her life. But it is not a crime. Acquit her.
Judge Nathan: Let's take a break.
Soon: podcast & stories on InnerCityPress.com & patreon.com/MatthewRussell…

AUSA: We want a curative instruction. Ms. Menninger read from an email that was precluded.
Judge Nathan: The curative instruction you are asking for is in the charge.

Also note: While Judge Nathan denied Inner City Press' request for a public call in line, right now (2d Cir / SDNY) Judge Richard J. Sullivan is holding an in-person criminal proceeding... with a public call-in line.

Here is the 2d podcast: anchor.fm/innercity-pres…

Now AUSA Maurene Comey has started her 35 minutes rebuttal. Inner City Press, which filed opposition to her letter withholding slides and demonstratives, is putting it in a new thread, here:

https://twitter.com/innercitypress/status/1473014702280253449