May03

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Trump Legal News: The Trial (Day 10)

Should we really be writing an item every day Donald Trump's trial is in session? This week, Jon Stewart mocked all of the various outlets that are giving daily attention to the subject. But the fact is, it's unprecedented for a former president/current major-party candidate to face criminal charges. Further, it is not only a certainty that the trial will affect the campaign in some way, regardless of the outcome, it is entirely plausible that the impact will be significantly affected by specific elements of the trial. For example, a fairly detailed knowledge of the trial will be needed to evaluate Trump's current and future claims of unfair treatment. Similarly, if he is acquitted, then it matters if it's more on the "clear acquittal" end of the spectrum, or more on the "got off on a technicality" end. We don't particularly enjoy writing about this story, but for these reasons, we give it close attention, Stewart's criticism notwithstanding. Here are the big stories from yesterday, a day that was particularly... tabloidesque:

• Contemptible?: Yesterday, Judge Juan Merchan once again began the day by listening to arguments about whether or not Trump has violated his gag order. He did not make a ruling, but putting all the pieces together, including what Merchan said in court, here's a pretty safe prediction: Trump will be fined $3,000 for the second group of violations, and will be warned that further violations will result in jail time.
  
  
• A Rock and a Hard Place: Todd Blanche is a good enough attorney to know that you want to keep both the judge happy and the client happy. The problem is that with this particular client, that is none too easy. During the gag order discussion, Blanche had to concede a number of points that were raised by the judge and that were critical of Trump's behavior. This was necessary, since Blanche has already pushed his luck in terms of credibility with the Judge. But admitting to Trump's bad behavior in open court visibly angered the former president.
  
  
• Character Assassination: Keith Davidson was the lawyer who represented Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal in their negotiations with the Trump campaign. The defense spent much time yesterday tearing him to shreds, and making the case that he's a sleazeball who serves as "lawyer to the porn stars" and who shakes down wealthy adulterers for money. All of this appears to be 100% true. However, none of it would seem to counter the claim that Trump paid Daniels off for political reasons. So, seems like a distraction to us.
  
  
• Trump Speaks: No, he did not take the stand, nor did he have a temper tantrum in open court. It was a tape recording in which Trump and Michael Cohen can be heard discussing the $150,000 payoff to Stormy Daniels. This may make the payment, and Trump's involvement therein, more real to the jurors.
  
  
• Character Assassination, Part II: Cohen has not yet taken the stand (possibly next week), but the defense is already working to set him up as an unreliable witness with an ax to grind. Team Trump got Davidson to testify that Cohen was deeply disappointed that he did not get a job in the Trump Administration, and that he was maybe even expecting to be made Attorney General. The obvious implication here is that maybe Cohen's version of events, vis-à-vis Stormy Daniels, has been exaggerated, or even fabricated, as a means of getting revenge against his former boss.
  
  
• Will He Live This Down?: As Blanche endeavored to paint Cohen as a nasty, mean-spirited person with a chip on his shoulder, he read some social media posts that Cohen wrote. And in one of those posts, Cohen referred to Trump as... VonShitzinPants. We presume that everyone understands the reference, but just in case, there is a long-standing rumor that Trump lost effective control of his bowels many years ago, and that he compensates for that by wearing Depends undergarments. We do not have any opinion as to whether or not that is true, but we do know that this nickname is the kind of thing that is likely to linger for a good, long while. In fact, #VonShitzinPants was trending on eX-Twitter all day yesterday.

And that's the news out of New York. Lord knows what today will bring. (Z)