Next week, Trump’s civil fraud trial will be off Monday, and his deposition in the Cohen matter is now canceled too, thanks to his purported “temporary” withdrawal of the case. But the Trump legal calendar is still jam-packed. 1/
On 10/9, Trump’s pre-trial motions are due in the DC election interference case. That would include any motion to dismiss or motion to limit the evidence at trial. Trump’s team has asked to move this deadline by a couple of months, but Judge Chutkan has not yet ruled. 2/
On 10/12, Florida federal judge Aileen Cannon will hold two hearings on the alleged conflicts of interest for two of Trump’s co-defendants’ counsel: Stan Woodward, Walt Nauta’s lawyer, and John Irving, who represents Carlos DeOliveira. 3/
And look to Trump’s lawyers or Cannon to potentially address Trump’s request to push discovery and pretrial motion deadlines — or his renewed ask that she postpone the trial itself until after the election. 4/
And, of course, sandwiched in between? Assuming a New York appeals court does not stay the ongoing trial per a request Trump is expected to file this morning, expect to see former Trump CFO (and now convicted felon) Allen Weisselberg sometime late next week. 5/
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NEW: Jeff McConney’s not only done with his direct testimony; the various Trump lawyers say they don’t plan to cross him now but could call him in their own case. And that means Tuesday at 10 am, Allen Weisselberg will enter the chat.
I want to clarify: By not crossing him, that doesn’t mean Trump’s lawyers are done with McConney. But they don’t see him as a witness friendly to the government, nor should they. At times, he was reticent or evasive. 2/
In fact, he initially denied knowing that his putting Weisselberg’s wife on the Trump Org. payroll so she could qualify for Social Security benefits was illegal. Amer was ready, however, with a transcript from the Trump Org. criminal trial where McConney admitted that he did it and knew it was not lawful. 3/
The cameras have largely left. The crowd control fences have come down; there is no magnetometer outside the courtroom (on top of the usual courthouse security). But make no mistake: What is happening to Trump in a New York courtroom still matters. A lot. 1/
Yesterday, the AG’s office began their direct examination of now-retired former Trump Org. controller — and defendant — Jeff McConney. For years, McConney was the principal provider of information that was plugged into the statements of financial condition. 2/
And some of the admissions they elicited were shocking. McConney wrote, for example, in a spreadsheet shared with Trump’s accountants that the basis for valuing a downtown commercial building was a telephone conversation he had with a specific appraiser. 3/
TRUMP TRIAL, day 3, continued: Though Donald Bender is still on cross, the parties have agreed to interrupt his testimony to accommodate witness 2, Cameron Harris. 1/
As we await Harris’s arrival in the courtroom, Engoron took a moment to celebrate “a very important day,” the birthday of assistant AG Kevin Wallace. 2/
(And while I always welcome a judge with levity, calling Wallace’s birthday “important” was maybe not the best choice of words for a judge already accused of favoritism.)
TRUMP TRIAL, DAY 3: The defendants in the Trump Org. trial are Trump, his grown sons, Allen Weisselberg, Jeff McConney, and a host of companies. But you would not know that from sitting in the courtroom today. 1/
Instead, you might think Donald Bender, Trump's former lead accountant at Mazars, was on trial. That's clearly what Team Trump's *trying* to do: prove that Bender, the sole CPA involved in preparing Trump's financial statements, never objected to the values or valuation methods. 2/
Yes, Bender was obliged, under accounting industry guidelines, to familiarize himself with the bases for asset valuations; to object to any failures to disclose those methods; and to point out any dispute with the overall presentation of his financial statements. 3/
Good morning from downtown Manhattan, where I will be watching day 3 of the Trump civil trial with Trump himself expected to attend again. With his former accountant Donald Bender still on cross-examination, why is 45 still here? 1/
One possibility is that he told a Florida court last week that he could not honor an October 3 date for his deposition in a case he brought against Michael Cohen because he intended to be in court for the trial. Skipping out, therefore, could cost him with that judge. 2/
But the more likely explanation, I think, is that Trump can achieve a number of his short-term goals simply by showing up. He can physically show his contempt for — and potentially rattle — witnesses, the judge, prosecutors, and the AG herself just by being there. 3/
The issue is not whether Donald Bender was an exemplary accountant or even whether he was beholden to the Trump Org. for his livelihood. (He wasn’t and he was.) 1/
It was whether the Trump Org. and Trump specifically was entitled to rely on Mazars, notwithstanding engagement letters and representation letters that clearly delineated the limits of Mazars’s work in compiling the statements of financial condition. 2/
Trump’s team are trying to pin the blame on Mazars and insinuate that its failure to identify a major change in the square footage of the Trump Tower triplex was a violation of Mazars’s promise to point out material errors to Trump. 3/