Also there’s #Exhibit36, in which #JeffMcConney describes in McConney’s own handwritten notes based on a conversation he had w/ #AllenWeisselberg. He testified #Exhibit35 contains on the left-hand side, Allen Weisselberg’s handwriting. McConney said, I know it’s his handwriting because I’ve worked w/him for 35 yrs.

#Steinglass says that defense is arguing that #AllenWeisselberg & #MichaelCohen assumed authority over large amounts of #Trump’s money. “That’s crazy,” Steinglass says. “Neither one had anywhere near that kind of authority.”

Steinglass attacks defense’s “false narrative” about #Trump not attending to his finances after he became president. He notes an assistant in the #WhiteHouse, #MadeleineWesterhout, testified Trump paid extremely close attention to his personal finances.

#Steinglass refers to exhibits that #JeffreyMcConney, a longtime loyal #Trump employee, testified about: #AllenWeisselberg’s notes setting up the repayments.

Steinglass refers to these exhibits as “the smoking guns” of the prosecution’s argument, saying they “completely blow out of the water the claim the money paid to Cohen” was for legal services.

(see above exhibit 35)
link:
https://ww2.nycourts.gov/press/index.shtml
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference

#Steinglass highlights #MichaelCohen’s testimony implicating #Trump in the charged #crimes. He shows jurors, using highlighted transcript pages, Cohen’s testimony that Trump not only approved the arrangement but was aware that the reimbursements would be classified as payments for #legal services.

Steinglass reminds jurors of the key role #AllenWeisselberg played for Trump. Weisselberg worked for Trump's father, #FredTrump, at the original #TrumpOrganization.

#Steinglass discusses Jan 2017, the month #Trump was inaugurated. He describes a meeting between #MichaelCohen & #AllenWeisselberg who Cohen testified had made the arrangements to reimburse Cohen for the #HushMoney. “Right on the bank statement, Weisselberg & Cohen calculated all the money that was owed to Cohen,” Steinglass says.

[this IS literal. The notes are written by hand on the wire transfer statement, #exhibit35]
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference

Evidence including notes made by #AllenWeisselberg about how #MichaelCohen would be repaid for the #HushMoney, & an email that the defense just highlighted in its own closing referring back to the agreement.

#Blanche depicts #Trump as too distracted to focus on the matters of the checks & the payments. Cutting against a long-acknowledged #Trump trait: his proclivity for attention to minutiae in times of stress.

#Blanche manipulates the phrase “retainer agreement.” He has insisted loudly that #MichaelCohen testified there was no retainer, multiple times. Then he gestures toward an email from #AllenWeisselberg, #TrumpOrganization’s CFO, referencing an “agreement.” But that email says nothing about a “retainer agreement” specifically, & in fact, per Cohen’s testimony, refers back to his agreement w/ Weisselberg & #Trump to disguise reimbursements for the #HushMoney payment.

A NYT examination, based on court records & interviews w/a dozen people close to the case, explains #AllenWeisselberg’s absence & reveals a portrait of him as a company man who had a hand in some of #Trump’s shadiest dealings. He could have traded his knowledge for his freedom, but kept his mouth shut, choosing loyalty & lucre — he signed a multimillion-dollar severance deal — over liberty.

#Blanche moves on to the documents that prosecutors say were falsified. He suggests that everyone BUT #Trump — #AllenWeisselberg, #EricTrump, #DonaldTrumpJr & #MichaelCohen himself — may have falsified the docs, disguising them as repayments for #legal services. But not Trump himself, Blanche signals to the jury, w/o saying it outright.

The #SODDI (Some Other Dude Did It) defense.

#Blanche, predictably, is blaming #AllenWeisselberg, fmr CFO of the #TrumpOrganization, for designing #MichaelCohen's reimbursements for the #HushMoney payment. Cohen had said that #Trump signed off on their payment scheme in a Jan 2017 meeting at #TrumpTower. Blanche got close to discussing that key testimony, but moved on.

There’s a lot about Weisselberg this morning. He’s currently in #jail for #perjury, & is one of a few people mentioned repeatedly who won’t testify.

Back in the courtroom, jurors are seeing the documents that prosecutors say are false. Yesterday #MichaelCohen described the Jan meeting w/ #AllenWeisselberg, when #Trump heard Weisselberg say that the monthly payments would be a retainer for *legal services* It is that single line from a witness— the word “yes” —that most directly attaches Trump to the alleged #crimes. And the signatures on the checks from his personal bank account.

#MichaelCohen is going through check stubs for the first 2 checks & saying the descriptions of them were “false.” Cohen says both #EricTrump, who is sitting in the courtroom, & #AllenWeisselberg signed the first 2, from Trump’s revocable trust account. At some point, it switched to #Trump’s personal account.

Cohen is now testifying about checks Trump started signing himself, from his personal account.

#MichaelCohen describes meeting w/ #Trump in the #OvalOffice in Feb 2017. He says that Trump asked him if he needed money, & that he said no, he didn’t need any extra. He said Trump asked him to “deal w/ Allen,” meaning #AllenWeisselberg, who arranged the repayment plan for the #HushMoney. Trump also said, Cohen testified, that he’d receive a check for both Jan & Feb.
Prosecutors display a picture of Cohen visiting the #WhiteHouse at the time.

Here is People's exhibit 35 — The First Republic Bank Statement w/ #AllenWeisselberg & #MichaelCohen handwritten notes

We are finished for the day. #MichaelCohen has testified that #Trump directed him to make the #HushMoney payment & signed off on #AllenWeisselberg's plan to repay Cohen. Cohen will return to the stand on Tues, so prosecutors can conclude direct examination.

After that, it will be the defense's turn to cross-examine him.

#MichaelCohen says that #AllenWeisselberg said in front of #Trump that Cohen would be reimbursed completely. Cohen testifies that Trump approved the repayments & then said, “This is going to be one heck of a ride in DC.”

Cohen testifies that Trump, as president-elect, was busy w/meetings around this time. Yet he & Allen Weisselberg went into Trump's 26th floor office to discuss the reimbursement plan, he says.

Add to this sum, Cohen was also given a $60k bonus, bringing the total he was to be paid to $420k. That amount was split — as shown in #AllenWeisselberg’s notes — into 12 months' of payments.

This #MichaelCohen testimony is crucial to the case. They allege that the repayments to Cohen were not, in fact, #legal expenses as indicated on the records & instead they were the #HushMoney payment "grossed up"

#AllenWeisselberg then doubled the $180k to $360k. Weisselberg, #MichaelCohen says, expected that he would lose half because it would be taxed as income, & was making him whole.

This goes to #motive, toward how badly #Trump wanted this hidden, it actually cost Trump 2X what it would have otherwise.

Also, legitimate legal expenses aren't "grossed up."

We saw #AllenWeisselberg’s notes during Jeffrey McConney’s testimony, he worked under Weisselberg. But now, #MichaelCohen is testifying that he was in the room as Weisselberg made these notations on how to repay him for the #HushMoney, + his shrunken bonus. This document goes straight to the repayments to Cohen, & the false documents.

#Trump is charged w/ 34 #felony counts of falsifying business records: 11 checks, 11 invoices & 12 ledger entries.