Thread by @carriecalista

A 🧵on why I think the thirty-one minute call is the smoking gun of this case.

🎣 "Did you watch the trial?" Why, yes I did. Even that interminable afternoon when the manager of the ECB entered elevator footage. If you missed that, don't worry. Like most trials, some days held more weight. In fact, I think you can solve this case in just thirty-one minutes.

🎣 If you've read Malcolm Gladwell's Blink, you will be familiar with the theory of intuitive thinking. He posits that good judgments can be made from a frugality of information. When I read this book, I thought it was nonsense. After sitting through this trial, though...

🎣 ... I think there may be some merit to it. Don't get me wrong. Snap judgments without information can be deadly. Let's examine. Imagine you know nothing about these two people. What conclusions might you draw about them?

🎣 You might assume this is a young couple in love, newly engaged, enviable in their good looks and bright future.

So, careful with snap judgments. There is a lot we don't know at first glance.

However, INFORMED judgments are a different matter. On to the phone call...

🎣 Sometime the week of June 12th 2016, Johnny and Amber talked on the phone. They were in the midst of divorce mediation. They both say "on Friday" in the call, referencing a court date on June 17 2016. We can assume they both knew about this cover story which was out on Monday.

🎣 So the call is contemporaneous to the events of May 21, 2016. It is also contemporaneous to their emotional state at the time before lawyers began crafting the narrative to sell the idea that Amber created a "hoax."

🎣 The call begins with some mundane back-and-forth about filing divorce papers. Amber has a source who has told her that Laura Wasser made the story public via TMZ whereas Amber's team was able to keep her filing private. youtube.com/clip/Ugkxf8X7g…

🎣 This sets the tone of the call: Laura Wasser is making aggressive moves to control the media narrative. And Johnny starts urging Amber not to go to court.

youtube.com/clip/Ugkx-SVD_…

🎣 After he meets Adam Waldman, Johnny becomes lawsuit-happy. So it's notable that in June 2016 he knew how devastating family court proceedings can be. Perhaps the memory of family court with Vanessa was guiding him then.

🎣 Because of negative publicity calling Amber a "liar" and a "gold-digger" Johnny knows that Amber wants to defend herself. Here he talks about a "video about me beating you."
youtube.com/clip/UgkxHm75C…

🎣 This may be a reference to the Sweetzer video. Amber's lawyers may have told Johnny's team that she had a violent video. What is notable, though, is how casually Johnny mentions this. A man who never struck his wife is unfazed that such documentation exists.

🎣 There is more discussion about hardball tactics. Amber has been threatened with a 21-day eviction notice. Johnny says she can stay "two, three months." His lawyers are not taking his direction, apparently.

🎣 Despite what he's hearing about Wasser's hardball moves, Johnny wants to convince her to avoid court. He is at his emo best here. But he's not hearing her about the slander coming from his team.
youtube.com/clip/Ugkx0VJZp…

🎣 He tells her this is the last chance. If this goes to court, he is done playing nice-nice. youtube.com/clip/Ugkx2f99T…

🎣 TMZ has been 24/7 with anti-Amber stories. This one from May makes her look blithely unconcerned on the eve of her TRO. The photo was actually taken a month earlier during her birthday week.

🎣 Johnny keeps going back to the love. He still sounds pretty besieged. But if she agrees to take it private, she can't clear her name from Wasser's attack dogs. This is the core conflict. youtube.com/clip/UgkxOYT3C…

🎣 After being interrupted by a phone call, Johnny talks again about how horrible court will be. He suggests writing a mutual letter about their desire to keep their split private.youtube.com/clip/Ugkxz74dH…

🎣 This is the turning point in the conversation: Amber details the evidence her team has. Documented, corroborated evidence over three years. It's all downhill from here.
youtube.com/clip/UgkxSJjgJ…

🎣 Amber is standing up for herself. She talks about two possible ways his team might discredit her: a story that she is in a Fight Club or a "hoax" theory. I think her lawyers have assessed her evidence and come up with these ideas. youtube.com/clip/Ugkxs2sZu…

🎣 This is one of the saddest moments. Amber thinks people will see how absurd these ideas -- the fight club or the hoax-- are. Who would believe such nonsense? These are desperate moves only lawyers pull. She overestimated people.

🎣 She details the strength of her evidence: it is cross corroborated through contemporary texts and pictures. Again, I think she is quoting her lawyers' assessment. Lay people often don't know such things.youtube.com/clip/UgkxVnSa0…

🎣 Amber had a lot to learn about lawyers, hearsay, misogyny, and chicanery. Her assessment was on the strength of her position in standard legal cases. She had no way of knowing what was coming. Her evidence was strong, but her case was not typical.

🎣 Trigger warning: the saddest moment is when she recounts a text she sent her publicist after the December 15 incident. It's hard to listen to her break down.
youtube.com/clip/UgkxMwzjs…

🎣 There is a reason Amber hasn't gone public with this, even as her name is being tarnished. The DA will file criminal charges. She is still protecting him.youtube.com/clip/UgkxXLuSd…

🎣 He seems remarkably unaffected by all this. He is an A-list actor who has been arrested multiple times in the past without punishment. He knows something she doesn't: criminal charges won't affect him. His response here is chilling.youtube.com/clip/UgkxLr6Wv…

🎣 It should be noted, fifteen minutes into a call in which his ex cites evidence of physical abuse, he never once denies it. His only clarifying question ("A what?") is about the FC reference. He doesn't protest his innocence even once.

🎣 Johnny tries to cajole Amber by minimizing his role in the smear campaign. He takes no responsibility for his team's tactics other than a promise to talk to them.youtube.com/clip/UgkxGwPiR…

🎣 Think of that last exchange in contrast to Johnny's VA stand performance. He spoke in a mannered, vaguely British accent always calling her "Ms. Heard." In this recording he sounds like a love besieged outlaw. Also no hint of a British accent.

🎣 Amber challenges Johnny on his feigned ignorance about his team being behind the media hit job. He makes a second promise to talk to his team.youtube.com/clip/Ugkx3s5h4…

🎣 Johnny returns to his mutual letter plan. He's still hoping to avoid court. It should be noted that in VA he disavowed the eventual statement they released which sounded similar.youtube.com/clip/Ugkx-z5hF…

🎣 We're entering into circular territory. She's back to why she has to clear her name. The letter won't do that. Listen to what he does here, blaming her for the publicity around it.youtube.com/clip/UgkxtsjQZ…

🎣 Buckle up. The argument begins over who put the story out. It may be a miscommunication: she may be thinking of the recent People magazine cover she did to counterbalance TMZ. She labels it defense. But he's blaming her for the 911 call instead.youtube.com/clip/UgkxJiFGy…

🎣 They argue over Io calling the cops on May 21. "When it was happening?" she asks. "Yeah," he replies. Again, no denial of violence. He doesn't say anything about a hoax. It's not about what didn't happen, it's about her exposing him.youtube.com/clip/Ugkxf8Sbt…

🎣 She tells him that she feared for her life in their last violent fight. He doesn't deny it but instead pivots back to Australia ("finger") and Christmas ("mineral spirits"). No denial of their last fight. He's about to decide he's an abused man.youtube.com/clip/UgkxVDseE…

🎣 She thinks they should let a judge and jury decide. She is confident that her evidence will show he is the aggressor. This may be the very moment Johnny decides he's an abused man. ("Yeah.")
youtube.com/clip/UgkxhokxB…

🎣 They argue about whether they are equal combatants. Johnny rejects the fair fight notion. ("It doesn't matter.") He confirms he beat her but seems to think they are physical equals.youtube.com/clip/UgkxJKL1E…

🎣 Flashforward to VA April 2022:

Rebecca Meyers, under direct: "Have you ever assaulted Ms. Heard?"

Johnny Depp: "No."

🎣 Amber again states that she feared for her life (the fight prior to May 21) and rejects the idea that whatever happened in Aus is a counterpoint to near death. On May 21 he had his hands on her and threw a phone in her face. That's why Io called 911.youtube.com/clip/UgkxdaGBe…

To be continued...

🎣 Amber explains that she hit her breaking point on May 21. She had feared for her life in the past and had had enough. She had never seen herself as a victim.youtube.com/clip/UgkxkFaJ9…

🎣 This breaking point may have been strengthened when lawyers assessed her evidence, giving her the first real support she had ever received. Her parents, in an abusive relationship themselves, enabled Johnny. She and her sister had been estranged in 2015 but reconciled.

🎣 Sometimes it takes an objective opinion to shift the ground under foot. It can come with a cost, too. In this case lawyers may not have had her best interests at heart. Or they may have been limited in what they could do.

🎣 They shift back to media manipulation. Johnny again claims ignorance about the Wasser/TMZ link. Here Amber lists the ways they slandered her without proper retractions.
youtube.com/clip/Ugkx_YVzc…

🎣Johnny says he'll talk to his team but concludes that court is inevitable. She protests that she just wants to clear her name. "You can't clear up your name now."youtube.com/clip/UgkxKXQ0L…

🎣 They are now entering a battle over their reputations. They both have their integrity on the line. Johnny frames this as her choice and her mistake, like a disciplinarian father, with no acknowledgement of the role he has played in it.youtube.com/clip/UgkxJpOIu…

🎣 But with the exception of May 21, Johnny has always been in control. When Amber said "Call 911" it changed everything. He was no longer Steve. She was no longer Slim. They were briefly equals in power. And this was unacceptable to him.

🎣 Johnny's security team have told Amber she was in danger. She claims to have an audio of Jerry Judge impeaching his public statement that he saw no abuse. youtube.com/clip/Ugkx6uWbZ…

🎣 Johnny counters that Travis has had to come upstairs and "pull me off you." If he's the victim, though, shouldn't it be the other way around?
youtube.com/clip/UgkxXuPHu…

🎣 Johnny has a strange, king-like moment where he seems to be above the law. Listen as he gaslights her. He is in full control because he knows he has the power.youtube.com/clip/UgkxkHYB2…

🎣 Still on his throne, he gaslights her. She names May, December, April. The UK judge will believe those claims. He is denying her reality. Then he turns on her, "Are you an abuser?" She says, "no."
youtube.com/clip/UgkxTrbI3…

🎣 He continues with no fear. She is the real abuser because "you started these things." He dismisses the weight class issue. He fought back and beat the sh out of her. He feels justified beating on a 115 lb woman.youtube.com/clip/UgkxlFYQM…

🎣 Pause and consider that last clip. It is a signed confession that he beat her. He shows no remorse. She is agitated and desperate while he is perfectly calm. He knows he will get away with it.

🎣 "Why did you try?" This is a confession.

She is certain a judge and jury will see through it. She is half right.youtube.com/clip/Ugkx9JieF…

🎣 She has faith in the justice system. They will see his lies and his team's lies.

Justice Nicol did. The VA jury didn't.youtube.com/clip/UgkxvOE-D…

🎣 His crown drops. He loses it telling what this has done to his son. Her team is killing him too.youtube.com/clip/UgkxlvKLi…

🎣 She counters with her best point: why is his attorney doing this if he really wants to keep it private? Why feed TMZ or have security deny abuse? She has called Johnny out. He is lying to her.youtube.com/clip/UgkxgT6jr…

🎣 She challenges him again: can she expect TMZ to hear about the rumors she was a stripper? (We know that answer now.) He erupts. "That's it."

Slim is gone forever. She has outgrown him.

youtube.com/clip/UgkxnGJyo…

🎣 This is their final moment. He realizes that Slim, his fantasy, has been replaced by a woman who won't keep his secrets. They are done.youtube.com/clip/Ugkx015-g…

#DARVODepp
#GiveAmberHerVoiceBack
#JohnnyDeppIsAWifeBeater