Thread by @AnnaBower

Good morning from 100 Centre Street, where Donald Trump’s criminal trial is set to resume.

Stormy Daniels wrapped up her testimony yesterday, but it’s a cloudy—some might even say stormy—day in Manhattan.

Follow along as I live tweet for @lawfare 👇 ⬇️:

While we wait for things to get started at 9:30 am ET, why not catch up on what happened yesterday?

@TylerMcBrien and I discussed Daniels’ testimony, Trump’s motion for a mistrial, and what happened when two former Trump assistants took the stand:

@TylerMcBrien I'm in the overflow room today, where it's especially chilly.

To make matters worse, a court officer announces a new rule: No one is allowed to eat snacks in the hallway during breaks.

Audible groans of frustration from food-motivated members of the press corps (me).

@TylerMcBrien Trump arrives in court, wearing a red tie today.

Joining Trump in court again today is Boris Epshteyn, wearing a snazzy three-piece navy suit.

After a court officer calls the case, the parties immediately confer in front of the bench for a sidebar with Justice Merchan.

@TylerMcBrien The jurors file in, and so does the witness.

It's Madeline Westerhout, Trump's former executive assistant at the White House.

When we left court yesterday, Necheles had just started her cross examination.

https://x.com/AnnaBower/status/1788657566181978464

@TylerMcBrien Necheles pulls up a list of contacts for Trump prior to his time at the White House. Trump's executive assistant, Rhona Graff, sent that list to Westerhout when Trump transitioned to the White House.

@TylerMcBrien That list of contacts was for people Trump spoke to a lot before he was in office? Yes.
Many of those people are people Trump never called while he was in the Oval Office? Correct.

@TylerMcBrien Now Necheles displays the newspaper clipping that Trump had Westerhout send to Allen Weisselberg.
He sent newspaper clippings to lots of people? Yes.
And you don't recall any other time that Trump sent a clipping to Weisselberg? Yes.

@TylerMcBrien And you don't have any specific recollection of Trump and Weisselberg speaking about a check? No.
In fact you don't recall any specific phone calls between Trump and Weisselberg during his time in the White House? No, he spoke to lots of people.

@TylerMcBrien There's an objection by thew prosecution and the parties approach the bench. Sidebar.

While we wait, peruse Trump's pre-White House frequent contact list here:

It includes, among others, Serena Williams, Lorne Michaels, Jerry Falwell, Sean Hannity...pdfs.nycourts.gov/PeopleVs.DTrum…

@TylerMcBrien Sidebar over.

Necheles displays a travel schedule of Trump's travel during the campaign, which was shared with the RNC. Westerhout worked at the RNC at the time.

Necheles starts walking through questions to establish that the documents are business records.

@TylerMcBrien Necheles offers the documents consisting of Trump's travel schedules into evidence. Mangold objects.

Justice Merchan tells the parties to approach the bench. An out-of-earshot sidebar conference ensues.

@TylerMcBrien When the parties return, Justice Merchan announces that the motion to introduce the documents into evidence is DENIED.

@TylerMcBrien Now Necheles asks Westerhout about the process of getting the checks to Trump.

Sending things to the White House were slow, right? Yes.
There was lots of security? Yes.
You found out that some of his personal items sent to the White House were never received? Yes.

@TylerMcBrien With this line of questioning, Necheles is trying to tell the jurors that there are other reasons why Trump's personal mail--the checks--would be sent to Keith Schiller or John McEntee instead of the White House.

@TylerMcBrien So it was a way to get items quickly to Trump? Yes.
Was it your understanding that getting items promptly to the president of the United States was a problem for previous administrations? I don't have knowledge of that, but I can't imagine it would be any different.

@TylerMcBrien If Trump had time, he would sign the checks? Yes if he had time and if he was in the office.
And he had a tremendous amount of things to sign? Yes.
Would you see him signing things without reviewing them? Yes.
You saw him sign checks without reviewing? Yes.

@TylerMcBrien Now we're on the series of emails in which Graff and Westerhout discussed whether to purchase a "pricey" frame from Tiffany's for photographs Trump wanted framed.

When Trump was in the White House, you understood he was too busy for this sort of thing? That's right.

@TylerMcBrien After Stormy Daniels story came out, you had a conversation with Trump about it? Yes.

He was very upset by it, Westerhout says. He knew it would be hurtful to his family. He didn't specifically say that but I could tell it was unpleasant. Objection, sustained. Answer stricken.

@TylerMcBrien Not a great note for Necheles to end on, but she's done with cross.

Mangold pops up for re-direct.

You've met Ms. Necheles before? Yes.
When is the last time you spoke to her? Two nights ago.

@TylerMcBrien Mangold moves on to the checks.

Your testimony is that you are the chief of staff for the chairman of a consulting firm? Yes.
And the chairman is? Robert O'Brien
And he was Trump's national security adviser? Yes.

@TylerMcBrien During a brief re-cross, Necheles establishes that Westerhout previously met with prosecutors three times before testifying today.

And now Westerhout is done.

The People call their next witness: Daniel Dixon.

@TylerMcBrien Dixon works at AT&T. He's a compliance analyst, meaning he assists the company w/ responding to subpoenas.

He's almost certainly a "documents witness"--one the prosecution needs to elicit testimony from in order to get certain phone records into evidence.

@TylerMcBrien After proceeding through the necessary questions to establish that the records are business records, the prosecution moves to admit the phone records--subscriber information and call detail logs--into evidence.

No objection. The records are admitted.

@TylerMcBrien Conroy walks through a few basics about the call logs with the witness. He displays a Michael Cohen account report. We talk about times zones and technical terms on the reports. Basically, the call detail records show calls Cohen made from his phone to other phones.

@TylerMcBrien We don't get much information about the specific content in the call logs. And portions of the logs are redacted.

@TylerMcBrien On cross examination, Emil Bove focuses on the fact that the call detail logs do not show the content of the calls -- just the fact that a call was made. And he suggests there could be other explanations for a call being made.

You've heard of a pocket dial, right? Correct.

@TylerMcBrien Dixon is done.

Next up, the People call Jennie Tomalin. She's with Verizon. Another documents witness who is here to help the prosecution get phone records into evidence.

Fun!

@TylerMcBrien Conroy admits the phone records from Verizon into evidence without objection.

He displays an exhibit of the call log just admitted into evidence. At the top, it reads: "Detail for Allen Weisselberg."

@TylerMcBrien Tomalin explains what each column on the call log reflects. It shows, for example, the date and time of the call. It also shows the city and state where the call originated and approximate duration of the call.

@TylerMcBrien Conroy is done, and Bove is up for cross examination.

Verizon rounds up in the "duration" field of the call log? Yes, she replies.
So if a call lasts 15 seconds, that rounds up to 1 minute? Yes.

And then Bove is done. We're taking a morning break.

@TylerMcBrien Or rather, the jurors are taking a morning break. Once they're out, the parties say they have objections to raise.

Bove explains that one objection relates to a clip the prosecution intends to admit into evidence. It's apparently a clip of Trump on Larry King in 1999, talking about campaign finance law. The defense doesn't think a video from 1999 can speak to Trump's state of mind related to campaign finance laws nearly 20 years later.

@TylerMcBrien Mangold, for the prosecution, says that the prosecution disagrees. She says that the relevant corporate contribution limits pertinent to this case were enacted in 1907. So Trump saying to King that "nobody knows more about campaign finance than I do.." in 1999 is relevant.

@TylerMcBrien Justice Merchan, for his part, says he'll rule on the matter after the morning break.

@TylerMcBrien Good news for the reporters who are shivering in the overflow room: The prosecution says it only has two more witnesses today, and they will be relatively brief. So we expect to wrap up with today's witness testimony by lunchtime (around 1 pm).

@TylerMcBrien The next witness is Georgia Longstreet, America's favorite paralegal, who is back to provide testimony on Donald Trump's social media usage.

@TylerMcBrien We see a Trump post on Twitter form April 21, 2018, in which he says that a "third rate reporter named Maggie Haberman, known as a Crooked H flunky who don't speak to," is going out of her way to destroy Michael Cohen in the hopes that he will "flip."

@TylerMcBrien Another Trump tweet from August 22, 2018 (after Cohen pleaded guilty to federal charges):

"If anyone is looking for a good lawyer, I strongly suggest that you don't retain the services of Michael Cohen!"

(Not bad advice, actually!)

@TylerMcBrien More Trump tweets about Cohen. This one is from May 3, 2018, and it's the tweet in which Trump specifically concedes that Cohen was "reimbursed" for the Daniels payment.

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/991992302267785216

@TylerMcBrien The prosecution now instructs Longstreet to read a series of text messages into the record. They are messages between Stormy Daniels' manager, Gina Rodriguez, and the National Enquirer's Dylan Howard.

The texts were previously admitted into evidence: pdfs.nycourts.gov/PeopleVs.DTrum…

@TylerMcBrien Todd Blanche is up for cross examination on behalf of Trump.

You testified that you review thousands of tweets during your social media review? Yes.
Have you done any additional review recently? No.
So you're reviewing Michael Cohen's TikTok? I am not.

@TylerMcBrien He moves to the Howard-Rodriguez texts.

You don't know if what they said is true? No.
You just read what was written on the exhibit? Yes.

Longstreet, a 20-something paralegal, frowns disapprovingly at the former President's lawyer as she responds to his questions.

@TylerMcBrien Blanche is done with his cross examination.

The next witness: Another paralegal!

The competition heats up for the title of America's Favorite Paralegal.

Will David Jarmel-Schneider outshine Georgia Longstreet on the witness stand? Stay tuned.

@TylerMcBrien Jarmel-Schneider is a 20-something guy with a mop of curly brown hair. He wears a suit and striped tie.

And he's here to talk about reports and summaries he created using the phone records obtained by the DA's office.

@TylerMcBrien Schneider talks about excel spreadsheets. And time zones. And how prepared his summaries of the cell records.

As he testifies, Trump sits at the defense table, reading documents, which he occasionally marks with yellow highlighter.

@TylerMcBrien Now the prosecution pulls up one of the summaries created by Schneider. It's calls between Cohen and Weisselberg. It shows a series of call between the two, including calls on Oct. 23, 2016, and Oct. 25, 2016. (The full exhibit will be released sometime later today).

@TylerMcBrien Now Blanche is up for cross examination.

Your work is kinda tedious, right?

Schneider smiles at the former President's defense lawyer: "Honestly, I kind of enjoyed it."

As @TFrampton would say: This guy is gonna write a killer law school application essay one day.

@TylerMcBrien @TFrampton [Sorry, I meant Bove, not Blanche!]

https://x.com/AnnaBower/status/1788969485031866831

@TylerMcBrien @TFrampton Bove questions Schneider about his summaries and the underlying data. He asks if Schneider recalls the "IMEI number" of a particular phone.

Schneider smiles again, but this time his expression seems to say "Are you kidding me?"

"It's like a 20-digit code..." he replies.

@TylerMcBrien @TFrampton There are no calls between Hope Hicks and David Pecker reflected in these records, right?

I'm don't think that's correct, but I would need to look at the logs.

@TylerMcBrien @TFrampton At one point, Bove pulls up an exhibit showing a series of IMEI numbers of various phones.

IMEI numbers are associated with a physical phone, right?

I think you're displaying the wrong column, Schneider says. But yes, that's right.

Laughs in the overflow room.

@TylerMcBrien @TFrampton Schneider is done. He basically went toe-to-toe with Bove on cross. And he was very endearing.

My editor weighs in on the America's Favorite Paralegal battle: "I love these kids and want to hire them all."

@TylerMcBrien @TFrampton The jurors are done for the day.

Once they're gone, Justice Merchan checks in with the prosecution on scheduling.

Steinglass says that they estimate that they will call two more witnesses and think it's possible they could rest by the end of next week.

@TylerMcBrien @TFrampton Bove raises the issue of Weisselberg's absence from the trial.

Specifically, he has an objection regarding evidence that the prosecution intends to admit into evidence at some point. It's the separation agreement between the Trump Org and Weisselberg.

The prosecution wants to use it to explain Weisselberg's absence as a witness at this trial.

Bove says it's irrelevant and unduly prejudicial. He says it's being used to impeach a witness who won't testify. And he says that the reason why Weisselberg isn't going to testify for either side doesn't have to do with the separation agreement. It has to do w/ the fact that the DA's office initiated a perjury case against him.

@TylerMcBrien @TFrampton Conroy says that the DA's office would be happy to stipulate to the fact that Weisselberg won't be a witness in this case because he's in prison for perjury.

I think that's one way to handle it, Merchan agrees.

But Bove doesn't seemed thrilled about that idea.

@TylerMcBrien @TFrampton Justice Merchan: Another way to deal with it would be to try to take some efforts to compel Weisselberg's appearance.

Steinglass: His separation agreement seems to prohibit him from talking to us at the risk of losing 700K severance pay...

@TylerMcBrien @TFrampton Merchan: We could do this out of the presence of the jury. He could have counsel here, but we could put him on the stand and see if he's going to talk or take the Fifth. That will allow me to find that he's unwilling to testify.

@TylerMcBrien @TFrampton Bove says that Weisselberg has never been on the DA's witness list. He seems to be arguing that it wouldn't be fair for Weisselberg to suddenly testify when the defense never expected him to do so.

Unclear how Merchan will resolve this, but we move on to the next matter.

@TylerMcBrien @TFrampton Blanche steps up to the lectern. He tells Merchan that Cohen has continued to make public statements about the case/about Trump. He wants Merchan to issue an order to restricting Cohen's speech about the case.

@TylerMcBrien @TFrampton Merchan declines this request. Instead, he directs the prosecution to tell Cohen to knock it off, basically.

Trump, hearing this, grimaces in apparent anger.

Moments later, Justice Merchan sweeps out of the room.

We're done for the day.