At pretrial evidentiary in Manhattan criminal court, the DA's office is previewing financial records illustrating how Steve Bannon's nonprofit Citizens of the American Republic (COAR) funneled money from the We Build the Wall fundraiser to Air Force veteran Brian Kolfage. Kolfage specifically had pledged that he would take no compensation, but he and venture capitalist Andrew Badolato secretly agreed with Bannon that Kolfage would covertly be paid $100,000 up front, and then receive $20,000 in monthly kickback payments from donor funds.

E. Jean Carroll Trump defamation trial day 3 resumes with continued cross-examination of Carroll by Trump's attorney Alina Habba, who has already been scolded by Judge Kaplan over procedure.
"Evidence 101," the judge chided her Thursday morning.

Trump lawyer Alina Habba launches into slut-shaming portion of the defense questions, reciting Carroll's old Tweets with feigned bewilderment.
She reads a tweet: “What CAN be done about the penis? It gets large when you wanted it small, and stays small when you want it large.”

Packed courtroom in noon hearing today at Manhattan federal court, where SDNY judge Castel is expected to excoriate a lawyer who use ChatGPT to draft up fabricated decisions in an underlying personal injury lawsuit.
Spectators are being sent to an overflow courtroom. "How do YOU do legal research," the judge asks attorney Peter LoDuca.

Flashback April 2018, I’m eating Scarr’s pizza, drunk on a weeknight from the 169 Bar/Metrograph combo date, check my work email and find out there will be hearing the next morning about the recent FBI raid of the sitting president’s personal lawyer’s office and hotel room. April 16, 2018: Stormy Daniels makes her first SDNY public appearance, with attorney Michael Avenatti; photographers knock over the metal crowd-control barrier, clamoring for shots of her. I’d never that happen here before.

Stormy Daniels is expected to return to SDNY on Thursday to testify as the prosecution’s star witness against her former lawyer, Michael Avenatti. (The two of them, then-allies, pictured together outside of the Manhattan courthouse in April 2018) Avenatti SDNY trial #2, day four now underway, Avenatti resumes cross-examination of gregarious prosecution witness Sean Macias, immediately grilling him about reading social posts related to the trial.