Thread by @innercitypress

OK - US v. Milton trial Day 2, cross examination of Lackey who quoted Milton that "I don't give a sh*t about the environment." Inner City Press is covering the trial innercitypress.com/sdnytrial5niko… & inside view patreon.com/posts/71966059 and will live tweet, thread below

https://twitter.com/innercitypress/status/1569768176568647680

Jury entering!
Judge Ramos: Mr. Lackey, I remind you that you are under oath. Mr. Caruso?
Milton's lawyer Ken Caruso: You tried to you your knowledge to make money, right?
Lackey: No, that's not why I did it.
Caruso: You were a whistleblower to the SEC, right?

Lackey: Yes, I filed.
Caruso: And you stand to make more than the $600,000 you already made, right?
Lackey: I might.
Caruso: You have a lawyer representing you, who was in the courtroom yesterday, right?
Lackey: Yes, he's here.

Caruso: Did he speak to you about your testimony?
Lackey: I don't want to get into my talks with my lawyer.
Caruso: But you were speaking --
AUSA: Objection!
Judge Ramos: Sustained.

Caruso: Look at this email, from your lawyer to the US Attorney's Office.
Lackey: This is the 1st time I'm seeing this.
Caruso: How much did Hildenburg [Research] make?
Lackey: I don't know.
Caruso: But you obtained a portion by buying it, right?
Lackey: I suppose

Caruso: The $600,000 you got is a lot of money, right?
Lackey: I'm not sure it's a lot of money in this room. But it was a blessing to me.
Caruso: You worked for EVdrive in 2015, right, as a contractor for Nikola. right?
Lackey: Yes.

Caruso: Later you set up an anonymous Twitter account, right?
Lackey: It was anonymous at first.
Caruso: You tweeted up a storm, didn't you?
Lackey: I tweeted.
Caruso: Two thousand, right?
Lackey: I guess.
Caruso: But you were really a Nikola OUTSIDER, right?

Caruso: You used a hashtag #NKLA, right?
Lackey: I did.
Caruso: Also NKLAQ?
Lackey: People use that to have skepticism for a company, is my understanding.
[See, twitter.com/search?q=%23NK…

Caruso: Yesterday you said Trevor Milton said, "I don't give a sh*t about the environment," only about money. The vulgarity shocked you, right?
Lackey: It was more than the profanity. It was shocking.
[Now there is a whispered sidebar]

Caruso: There's an exhibit we want to put in.
Judge Ramos: Show the government and we'll go from there.
Caruso returned with video of Milton bragging about Nikola 2, a truck without a sleeper

Caruso: The footage of the truck rolling down the hill, it was a Phillips commercial right?
Lackey: No, it was different.
Caruso: We'd like to play the Phillips commercial.
AUSA: May we be heard at sidebar?
Whispered sidebar starts.

Phillips commercial is played, with the money lines: What kinds of parts do you use? Phillips.
Well at least that hasn't changed.
[Caruso walks over to confer with Mukasey. Then:]
Caruso: I have no further questions.

Judge Ramos: Re-direct.
AUSA: Have you ever said, I don't give a sh*t about the environment?
Lackey: Never. I do care about the environment. But Mr. Milton said it to me the first day I met him. I had assumed we were doing this stuff to help climate change.

After a break, re-cross:
Caruso: Mr. Lackey, before you set up NikolaInsider, you have been on Twitter since 2011 and knew a lot about the platform, right?
Lackey: I'd been on it.
[Now more videos - thread will continue.]

Next witness: Elizabeth Fretheim, "Global Head of Sustainability & Social Responsibility · Nikola Motor Company."
Judge Ramos: Let's take a quick break.
Jury leaves.
Judge: One juror appeared to have a physical issues. We'll try to have a report as soon as we can

AUSA Ms. Jordan Estes: Did Mr. Milton have the highest position in the company?
Milton's lawyer: Objection!
Judge Ramos: Overruled.
Fretheim: Yes.
AUSA: Were you concerned about his public statements?
Fretheim: Yes. Some were unprofessional, others inaccurate.

AUSA: After the SPAC merger, what happened?
Fretheim: We had gone public, on the NASDAQ.
AUSA: And this July 19, 2020 email?
Fretheim: It's between me and Mark Russell, about Trevor's podcast, on Tesla Charts.
[Here: reddit.com/r/RealTesla/co…

On podcast Milton said, That's why we produce all of our hydrogen on the highways.
AUSA: Ms. Fretheim, did Nikola produce hydrogen on the highway?
Fretheim: No.
[Predicted this in VLOG on way into court this morning

AUSA Estes: Do you know if this podcast was ever taken down from Nikola's social media?
Fretheim: I don't believe it was.

Cross examination of Fratheim is by Milton's counsel - who yesterday said Press questions should not be asked on the public street outside the courthouse

https://twitter.com/innercitypress/status/1569768176568647680

Fratheim is asked, since she expressed concern about Milton's claims on the Tesla Charts podcast to Mark Russell, then it remained available on Nikola's webcast, is she saying Russell engaged in misconduct?
[Wag: Well, he is on the way out...]

Judge Ramos lets jury go for the day, tells Team Milton to be back in courtroom later about the (non) claw back of a potentially privileged Nikola email, DX 1229; Judge said he hope Milton will be present, "unless he waves" (presence). Will he? Watch this feed

Update: during the break, Trevor Milton glad-handed out on Foley Square with those sitting behind him in the courtroom - then took over walking fast on Centre Street. Now back in court, Bondy for Milton, Fretheim's email at issue.

Milton's Cahill lawyer Bondi (seems it's with an "i") - we don't know if we have all the documents we need for our defense. We need documents about the Badger's skateboard

Now Brad Bondi says grandly that Trevor Milton is happy to pay for photocopying the records he's subpoena-ing. As to the Badger, we want our expert to be able to inspect, to be ready for cross-examination.
Judge Ramos: I haven't heard anything about the Badget yet

Judge Ramos: OK, I'm going to ask that it be done, at Mr. Bondi's expense.
A request is made the Bondi pay in advance. Denied.
Bondi: For the record, at my client's expense... We were ready to fly out that, then Mr. Allen canceled it.

Judge Ramos concludes by suggesting Bondi and expert could examine the Badger virtually, by video. Says, see you tomorrow - don't be late.
Inner City Press will continue to cover the trial patreon.com/posts/71966059?