Good morning from Manhattan and the so-called hush money trial of Donald Trump, in which the ex-president is accused of falsifying documents to cover up $130,000 paid to porn star Stormy Daniels to keep her quiet about an affair, in order to avert damage Trump’s 2016 campaign. 
@frankrunyeon and I are back again wrangling this thing for @Law360, and to start things off today, we’re expecting to hear more testimony from a banker about accounts the Manhattan DA says were used to pay said hush money. Unclear at the moment who's up after that.
@frankrunyeon @Law360 Btw, did you know that NY criminal courts’ system for filing court docs is like a 19th century thing where there is a single paper file that may or may not be publicly accessible on any given day? Yeah well, it’s that.
@frankrunyeon @Law360 Not to worry, we at @Law360, and by we I mean Frank, have been compiling every available doc in this case and adding it to our own digital docket, which is accessible here: law360.com/newyork-vs-tru…
In other Trump legal news today, right wing news outfit One America News Network has retracted an article claiming that former Trump attorney Michael Cohen, a key witness in this trial, was having an affair with Stormy Daniels, and trying to extort Trump.
"NO PERSON SHOULD RELY ON THE MARCH 27 ARTICLE OR THE ALLEGATIONS CONTAINED THEREIN," OAN said. (all caps theirs)
oann.com/newsroom/oan-r…
oann.com/newsroom/oan-r…
And down the street in federal court, @PeteBrush is covering openings today in the criminal trial of a venture capitalist accused of insider trading on confidential plans to take Trump company Truth Social public, a scheme prosecutors say netted nearly $23 million.
And Trump has been found in contempt of court.
Trump was fined $9,000 for 9 different violations of the judge's gag order in this case, which bars Trump from pillorying witnesses, prosecutors, jurors and court staff, as well as their family members.
That's 9 out of 10 incidents for which the DA had sought sanctions.
"This court rejects defendant's arguments and finds that the People have established the elements of criminal contempt beyond a reasonable doubt as to Exhibits 2-10," Judged Merchan said in a written order.
Ok, we’re hearing testimony from Gary Farro, formerly of First Republic bank, who helped Michael Cohen set up bank accounts that prosecutors say were used in the alleged scheme. Namely, an account that Cohen is said to have used to pay Stormy Daniels $130,000.
Farro says Cohen claimed the account would be used for real estate business.
To sum up, Farro says if he had known the account was going to be used for a political donation, buying a media story or paying a porn star, the bank would have asked Cohen some additional questions before setting it up.
"Defendant is hereby warned that the court will not tolerate continued willful violations of its lawful orders and that if necessary and appropriate under the circumstances, it will impose an incarceratory punishment," Justice Merchan's contempt order says.
New York's criminal contempt law allows Justice Merchan to fine Trump up to $1,000 per violation of the gag order or put the former president in jail, or both.
Ok, now an appeals court just denied Trump's bid to stay this trial pending his appeal of Justice's Merchan's refusal to recuse himself, as well as his ruling barring Trump from relying on the presidential immunity doctrine when objecting to evidence at trial.
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
