NEW YORK — There are a few kinds of witnesses we’ve met in the Trump trial.
Continue reading “A Former Trump Assistant Gives a Glimpse of What Loyalty Means to the Former POTUS”Judge Strafes Trump’s Legal Team After Stormy Daniels Testimony Ends
A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo. Sign up for the email version.
Ooof …
After Stormy Daniels completed her testimony and the jury had left the courtroom late yesterday, Judge Juan Merchan heard arguments on another Trump motion for a mistrial in the hush money case.
Trump lost the motion, but the hearing was notable for the way in which Merchan raked Trump’s attorneys for not having done more to keep some of Daniels’ testimony out and prevent the jury from hearing it.
Merchan’s point to the Trump legal team was two-fold: (i) when you raised objections, I usually sustained them; and (ii) you should have objected a whole lot more. Merchan raised again the fact that he himself had sua sponte objected to the some of the Daniels testimony when he didn’t hear one from Trump. Add it all together, Merchan ruled, and Trump offered no basis for a mistrial. Motion dismissed.
One can only imagine the thrashing Trump gave his lawyers after hearing Merchan question their approach to such a key witness who had so much embarrassing testimony to offer.
Quote Of The Day
“Why on earth she wouldn’t object to the mention of a condom, I don’t understand.”
Judge Juan Merchan, on Trump attorney Susan Necheles’ handling of Stormy Daniels’ testimony
TPM’s Coverage
Josh Kovensky liveblogged all of Stormy Daniels testimony here and offered his closing thoughts here:
At times, Necheles strategy seemed to approach an attempt at jury nullification — when members of a jury disregard the case mounted and the evidence of crimes charged and instead acquit because they disagree with the law or the way in which prosecutors applied it. The defense implicitly asked the panel to find that Daniels had acted so outrageously as to compel Trump to do anything to defend himself. It also left the former president in his favored rhetorical pose: that of a victim.
How Did Stormy Daniels Do?
Joyce Vance recaps:
The jury doesn’t have to believe Stormy Daniels to convict Donald Trump. Even if her story was just that—a made up story, as the defense claims—the crime happened when Trump paid her off and concealed the payments with false business records. But Daniels came off as believable. At one point, under pressure from Necheles to concede she’d never had sex with Trump, Daniels fired back that if she was going to tell a story that wasn’t true, she “would’ve written it to be a lot better.”
Trump’s lawyers staked their case on Stormy Daniels’ story being a lie. They promised the jury in their opening statement that none of it was true. But they didn’t deliver. Stormy Daniels did. That means the defense’s credibility with the jury is low as they head into the critical stage of the trial where the government must prove that Trump knew about the whole deal. Because with the motive for the crime established, it’s about time for the People to call Michael Cohen to the witness stand.
Michael Cohen Expected To Testify Next Week
As trial resumes this morning, it’s not clear who prosecutors will call to the stand next. But it doesn’t look likely to be Michael Cohen, who himself said yesterday he doesn’t expect to testify until next week.
A Gag Order Workaround?
Nothing about the gag order against Trump would prevent allies and surrogates from coming to his defense, but I will be curious if Trump plays any role in organizing and coordinating their responses, because that seems to get awfully close to crossing the line into another gag order violation that could lead to his incarceration.
What’s Paul Manafort Been Up To Since Trump Pardon?
The WaPo goes deep on prodigal son Paul Manafort as he returns to the Trump campaign fold.
Returning To The Scene Of The Crime
TPM’s Hunter Walker: How Republicans Went From The Tea Party To ‘Stop The Steal’ To The Next Big Election Conspiracy
Give This A Read
No one is more adept at describing the dynamics of the politics-and-media information economy that my old colleague Brian Beutler, and he’s got a good one today.
Ballot Problem For Biden In Ohio Still Unresolved
The Ohio legislature adjourned without passing a fix to allow President Biden on the November ballot even though the Democratic convention isn’t scheduled to formally nominate him until after the state’s deadline to get on the ballot. Meanwhile, Alabama quietly fixed the same problem last week.
Two Plea Deals Already In The Books In Cuellar Case
WaPo:
Two political operatives close to Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Tex.) agreed to plead guilty this year and cooperate with the Justice Department’s bribery case against the lawmaker, according to newly unsealed court documents.
The records show that Colin Strother and Florencio “Lencho” Rendon struck the plea agreements in March, admitting to their roles in an alleged bribery scheme in which they funneled more than $200,000 to the congressman and his wife, Imelda Cuellar, on behalf of a Mexican bank. Strother and Rendon were each charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering.
Fascinating
Kevin Williams: I Went To China And Drove A Dozen Electric Cars. Western Automakers Are Cooked
Speaking Of Cooked …
The Guardian: “The largest ever recorded leap in the amount of carbon dioxide laden in the world’s atmosphere has just occurred, according to researchers who monitor the relentless accumulation of the primary gas that is heating the planet.”
Solar Storm Incoming
A coronal mass ejection is expected to trigger a severe geomagnetic storm today and overnight into tomorrow, which may make the aurora borealis visible at much more southerly latitudes than normal:
Raskin Goes Schoolhouse Rock On Grothman
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Trump’s Play For Jury Nullification Becomes Clear During Cross-Exam Of Stormy Daniels
NEW YORK — Attorneys for Donald Trump sought during hours of cross examination of Stormy Daniels on Tuesday and Thursday to portray her as a fabricator and extortionist, a woman with no regard for the truth who preyed on a rich man for a quick buck.
Continue reading “Trump’s Play For Jury Nullification Becomes Clear During Cross-Exam Of Stormy Daniels”Trump Accountability Scuttled By Judges’ Manipulation, Prosecutors’ Self-Inflicted Wounds
Only an extraordinary cocktail of strategic delay, judicial scale-thumbing and good old fashioned bungling could leave just one of four Donald Trump felony indictment cases likely to conclude (and quite possibly even to start) before Election Day.
That future, long looming, became even more concrete this week.
Continue reading “Trump Accountability Scuttled By Judges’ Manipulation, Prosecutors’ Self-Inflicted Wounds”Facts On the Dining Hall? Sabra Hummus was the Main Get For UCR Protestors
Earlier this month, University of California at Riverside, a campus in the UC system, reached a negotiated settlement with the encampment organizers on the campus which will allow the peaceful deconstruction of the university encampment. Initial reports suggested that UCR had in the agreement opened the door to possible disinvestment. But it’s more complicated than that. The individual UC schools don’t control their endowments. They are controlled by an investment office for the whole system. They agreed to create a task force to “explore the removal of UCR’s endowment” from that central office and if that can happen to invest “in a manner that will be financially and ethically sound,” with a particular emphasis on arms manufacturers.
Continue reading “Facts On the Dining Hall? Sabra Hummus was the Main Get For UCR Protestors”Listen To This: Cricket’s Revenge
A new episode of The Josh Marshall Podcast is live! This week, Kate and Josh discuss Kristi Noem’s epic self-immolation, presidential polling and the latest in Trump’s many trials.
You can listen to the new episode of The Josh Marshall Podcast here.
San Francisco Sees Unusually Large Number Of Sea Lions At Pier 39
Tourists and locals know San Francisco’s Pier 39 as THE place to catch a glimpse of sea lions sunbathing on the docks. Earlier this month visitors got quite the show as unexpectedly large groups of sea lions hauled themselves onto the floating platforms. According to local officials, the sight and sound of the over 1,000 member group was the biggest showing of sea lions in the last 15 years. So what is drawing such large groups of the blubbering animals? It’s the large numbers of anchovies and herring present in the San Francisco bay ahead of the sea lion mating season.
Visitors gather to see the the surge in sea lions in San Francisco
Sea lions lounge on the docks at Pier 39
The surge in number of sea lions in the area is due to large schools of anchovies and herring
Over 1,000 sea lions hang out on the docks
California sea lions playing on the dock
Sea lions rest on the docks after eating their fill of fish from the bay
California sea lions draw visitors to San Francisco’s Fisherman’s Wharf
Sea lions nap on San Francisco docks
Docks packed with California sea lions
Full and sleepy seals find space on the crowded docks
The most sea lions to visit Pier 39 in 15 years
San Francisco’s sea lion center draws tourists ahead of mating season
The surge in sea lions is due to large schools of anchovies and herring in the bay
Stormy Daniels Concludes Her Two Days Of Testimony
After one day of testimony that was by turns seamy and grim, Stormy Daniels returned to the stand Thursday to be cross-examined by Trump’s lawyers.
Follow along with us below.
How Republicans Went From The Tea Party, To ‘Stop The Steal,’ To The Next Big Election Conspiracy
The Republicans are getting the “Stop The Steal” band back together ahead of this year’s presidential race.
Continue reading “How Republicans Went From The Tea Party, To ‘Stop The Steal,’ To The Next Big Election Conspiracy”Trump Attacks the Jews as Biden Puts His Foot Down
“If any Jewish person voted for Joe Biden, they should be ashamed of themselves.” That’s ex-President Trump this morning as he headed into the courtroom in New York City. This is worth everyone taking a close look at. When Trump feels cornered and scared one of his go-tos is to lash out at American Jews. The overwhelming percentage of American Jews voted for President Biden in 2020. And there’s no pollster or political prognosticator who doesn’t think the same will happen this year. So this isn’t some hypothetical — if that happened they should be ashamed. It did happen and will again. While the precise percentage of American Jews voting for each party can shift a bit cycle to cycle, Jews are, along with African-Americans, the most consistent Democratic voting block in the country and have been so for the last century. And for this they should be ashamed of themselves, according to the Republican nominee.
Continue reading “Trump Attacks the Jews as Biden Puts His Foot Down”