Thread by @Jose_Pagliery

It's a bitter cold morning in NYC, where the Trump Org is reaching what's likely its final day on trial for criminal tax fraud.

Prosecutors & defense lawyers are bickering before the jury walks in.

The topic at hand: Mr. Donald J Trump himself.

Justice Juan Merchan, a cool-headed judge, is throwing his hands in the air.

He's losing his patience with the Trump Org lawyers over the way they keep bringing up ex-President Trump.

DJT isn't charged with a crime in this case. And yet defense lawyers keep name-dropping.

Judge: "Much of the discussion during jury selection resolved around, 'we have to make sure the jury understands Donald Trump isn’t at the defense table.' When we met with the jurors in the back we tried to make that clear..."

"Yet during the course of the trial, the name Donald Trump was brought up repeatedly by the defense in an attempt… to distance Mr Trump from the defense table and these proceedings."

He points out just how wrong that truly is.

The judge is calling out Trump Org defense lawyers for starting the trial by vehemently arguing DJT isn't a party here—and yet now ending the case by making DJT a victim.

"The defense has attempted to demonstrate [ accountant Jeff McConney & CFO Allen Weisselberg] went rogue."

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass jumps in.

"They can't use this as a sword & a shield. They can't exonerate someone who hasn't been charged. Their entire of the case is a fraud—based on the idea Allen Weisselberg did this on his own!"

@thedailybeast story: thedailybeast.com/trump-organiza…

@thedailybeast Steinglass is now talking to the the jury again. (He was interrupted yesterday.)

He points out how the Trump exec payroll scheme saved the company money.

He says Weisselberg didn't just get a raise, because getting untaxed company benefits was cheaper for everybody.

@thedailybeast Steinglass: Let's say you want to ask for a raise to buy a $25k car. $25k won’t cut it, because of tax. Trump Org would have had to give Weisselberg a raise that was double that. A $25k car would cost them $50k in raises.

(He's a man of analogies. Yesterday it was baseball.)

@thedailybeast Trump Corp lawyer Susan Necheles keeps interrupting prosecutors by objecting to all kinds of things—and getting overruled by judge.

Merchan has had enough. He folded his arms and called the lawyers to the bench. He sternly warned Necheles to stop doing that.

@thedailybeast Quick sidenote:

The Trump Organization defense strategy has been to give jurors a jingle.

O.J. Simpson had: “If it doesn’t fit, you must acquit.” The Trump Organization has: “Weisselberg did it for Weisselberg.”

thedailybeast.com/trump-organiza…

@thedailybeast Prosecutors are pushing back on that, pointing out how the company *did* indeed benefit.

Execs showered with untaxed benefits decided to reduce their on-the-books salary by the same amount.

“Allen Weisselberg’s decision to pay back the company blows that out of the water."

@thedailybeast “Money they hadn’t even asked for!" Steinglass said. “So much for ‘solely for his own benefit.’"

“The corporation is paying him less out of pocket, and… that was a benefit to them."

@thedailybeast I've covered my fair share of trials. This one is a bit more rude than usual.

The judge just had to stop—yet again—because the Trump Org lawyers keep interrupting prosecutors with baseless objections.

@thedailybeast Trump Org lawyers are trying to antagonize Merchan & make this level-headed judge lose his cool.

13 seconds into Steinglass' presentation, Necheles stands up. "Objection."

"Overruled," says Merchan, leaning back in his chair with his clenched right fist in front of mouth.

@thedailybeast Prosecutors now tearing apart their own star witness.

Steinglass says the Trump Org CFO had to tell the truth as part of his plea deal, but that he was overly friendly to the company

👏that 👏 still 👏 pays 👏 him.

@thedailybeast Steinglass: "He has an incentive to thread that needle, to keep the defendants, his employer, happy. The truth is the truth. But he has half a million reasons to shave the truth toward his side. And that’s just his bonus."

@thedailybeast (Just a reminder that daily transcripts at this trial cost upwards of $7,500 a day and here I am, thanks to @thedailybeast, giving y'all a play by play.)

Subscribe to The Daily Beast. Its journalists are smart, funny, and fear no one.

thedailybeast.com/membership

@thedailybeast Back to trial, prosecutor Joshua Steinglass is now poking holes in the Trump Org defense: that the outside accountants at Mazars USA should have caught this hanky-panky.

Steinglass: “Yes, Mazars had access to everything they need.. but Mazars never audited the Trump Corporation’s books. They were never retained to… and they never had any reason… to examine the general ledgers line by line."

What jurors won't hear:

thedailybeast.com/accounting-fir…

The legal profession will disagree with me. That's fine

But to me, cases like these really highlight the problem with keeping jurors in the dark. They don't have the full story.

If we trust them enough to properly administer justice, we should trust them to fairly weigh context

Earlier, Trump Org tried to blame Mazars accountant Donald Bender.

Prosecutors push back.

Steinglass: "His failure to intervene is not a defense of their fraud."

He uses another analogy: What if cops see a robbery & do nothing? Does it make the robbers any less guilty?

And *finally* we get to the former American president.

Steinglass: "Donald Trump is not on trial. We don't have to prove a thing about what he knew or what he didn't know."

"The involvement or lack of involvement of the owners is irrelevant."

Prosecutor blasts the idea "all this was going on right under Donald Trump’s nose & he was ignorant about everything."

"That whole betrayal narrative is completely false. Start with the point everyone has acknowledge..." Donald Trump decided exec's pay, raises, Christmas bonuses

Steinglass casting doubt on the idea DJT had to authorize Weisselberg's Mercedes company discount.

"As a [govt] employee, I get a 9% discount on my Verizon bill—"

Judge cuts him off.

Credit where credit is due. We finally have a reasonable objection from Trump Org lawyers.

On a more serious note, the prosecutor just upped the ante.

“Mr. Trump explicitly sanctioned tax fraud, that's what this document shows!"

This courtroom is getting hot, and it's not just the malfunctioning radiators in the wall.

Up on the screen: the damning memo where COO Matt Calamari tells company controller Jeff McConney to reduce his salary by $72,000 to pay for the tax-free rent.

DJT's signed his initials in his fat, black marker.

I knew this would come back!

Steinglass: "This whole narrative that Donald Trump was blissfully ignorant is just not real."

Folks, here it is.

I'm now sorting through the courtroom exhibits, so I can share them with you all here.

Just look at this. Trump Org's full-time executives deciding to pay themselves as independent contractors. You can't just... do that.

Steinglass is wrapping up.

"No one, no person, and no corporation is above the law... putting aside the elephant that’s *not* in the room, this case is not about politics. It’s just two corporations helping its executives cheat on their taxes."

Steinglass: "The executives net more and the company pays less. A win-win or everyone except the tax man. In the end that’s all this is."

"The evidence is literally overwhelming."

"In the interest of justice… I ask you to find these defendants guilty, and I thank you."

Justice Merchan tells jurors they'll be back Monday morning to start deliberating. They're stepping out of the courtroom.

Hit the brakes.

Even though we just wrapped up A SIX WEEK TRIAL, the Trump Corp lawyer Susan Necheles has asked the judge to "re-open the case," because they have evidence that Donald Bender opened an email he said he didn't open.

Um, okay.

The Trump Org lawyers are clearly stating issues they plan to raise on appeal to make this trial seem unfair.

Judge: "Your application to reopen the case is denied."

I would rather live inside a Gustave Doré print than go through this trial again.

https://twitter.com/artistdore/status/1598717676293132288

Trump Org lawyers want to once again explore whether DJT's tuition checks were a gift—and a host of other issues.

Steinglass: "This is an effort to confuse the jury."

Trump Payroll Corp lawyer van der Veen: "The evidence is clearly that it is a gift. Mr Trump paid out of his post-tax dollars, which means he was giving nearly double the amount that he was giving. The loss is greater to Mr Trump personally than any.. payback to the corporation."

Steinglass: "Does Mr. van der Veen have any evidence he paid a gift tax?"

Okay, this suddenly took a turn. Michael van der Veen now says he's going to move to declare this a mistrial. Explanation coming.

van der Veen: "In his closing he said that Donald Trump was sanctioning tax fraud. He made him a coconspirator in this. That is not what they said this case was about."

van der Veen: "There was no evidence of that in any way. It is totally improper. It's a bias he put on the jury that can't be undone."

Lawyers keep bickering about how the tax laws apply to DJT's checks to Columbia Grammar prep school.

Judge is shooting down any chance of a mistrial. Merchan is shaking his head.

“That’s not even really a thought.”

It's over for the day. See y'all Monday.