Tornado Alley (PROG)

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The Trump Trials: Hope against Hope

"Ex-prosecutor highlights 'breathtaking' trial testimony that 'undercuts' Trump's defense
[...] "What Keith Davidson testified to is that he was engaged in this hush money payment and covering these things up and then, when it looked like Donald Trump is going to win the election, Keith Davidson said, 'Oh my god, what did we do?' And the import of that is twofold: One, they recognized the potentially dramatic damage they had done to the country by engaging in conduct that may have actually facilitated Donald Trump getting elected."
P - The second important piece, according to the former prosecutor, is that "it's clear that Keith Davidson and the others involved in this scheme knew that these hush money payments were being made to impact the election, not to try to conceal information from Melania or Donald Trump's family." [color=red][/color] "

The latest news in Donald Trump’s four criminal cases, including Hope Hicks’s emotional testimony in New York, and what to watch for this week

By Perry Stein and Devlin Barrett
May 5, 2024 at 4:32 p.m. EDT


Former president Donald Trump at Manhattan criminal court on Tuesday during the third week of his trial for allegedly falsifying documents related to hush money payments. (Victor J. Blue for The Washington Post)

Welcome back to the regular Sunday evening edition of The Trump Trials newsletter, where we are still waiting on key rulings that will determine when and if three of Donald Trump’s criminal cases will go to trial. In the meantime, we’re busy in Manhattan, where the trial of Trump’s fourth criminal case is ongoing — and in the midst of some pretty gripping testimony.

Follow live updates from Donald Trump’s hush money trial and
sign up for The Trump Trials newsletters for daily recaps of the trial.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/newsletters/the-trump-trials/?itid=cb_box_HEAQUPARNJC3BKII5V5KAPXRJI_2

Okay, let’s get started.

What’s ahead

The state of New York’s criminal case against Trump continues on Monday — the 12th day of trial. Prosecutors are not revealing who they will call next to the stand, and so far the witnesses have alternated between obscure figures — like the young paralegal whose job at the Manhattan district attorney’s office includes cataloguing Trump’s social media posts — and high-profile players .. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/05/03/hope-hicks-testimony-trump-hush-money-trial/?itid=lk_inline_manual_8 .. talking about their conversations with Trump in the White House.

The remaining expected witnesses include Stormy Daniels, the adult-film actress who was paid to keep quiet about an alleged tryst with Trump; and Michael Cohen, Trump’s former attorney, who says he coordinated the payment to Daniels and whose reimbursement is at the center of the criminal charges.

New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan, who is overseeing the Manhattan trial, could rule any day now on whether Trump has continued to violate his court-imposed gag order. Merchan held a hearing Thursday on four recent alleged breaches. (More on that below.)

A thousand miles away in South Florida, we’re keeping an eye on the docket of Trump’s classified documents case .. https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2023/06/08/trump-classified-documents-mar-a-lago/?itid=lk_inline_manual_14 . Both sides have until Thursday to submit key filings — a deadline that Trump’s lawyers said will be hard for them to meet while they are busy with the New York trial. U.S. District Judge Aileen M. Cannon has not yet said whether she will push it back or keep it as is.

Now, a recap of last week’s action.


A courtroom sketch shows Hope Hicks, a former top aide to Donald Trump, being cross examined during Trump's criminal trial in New York on Friday. (Jane Rosenberg/Reuters)

New York: State hush money case

The details: 34 charges connected to a 2016 hush money payment ..
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2023/03/30/trump-ny-indictment/?itid=lk_inline_manual_18&itid=lk_inline_manual_54&itid=lk_inline_manual_19 .

Trial date: Week 4 of the trial starts Monday.

Last week: Testimony ranged from the shady world of tabloid gossip to the inner workings of the White House. Daniels’s lawyer, Keith Davidson, took the stand and explained how the National Enquirer outbid ABC for the rights to her story of a claimed affair with Trump. A key moment for prosecutors came when Davidson said he realized that Daniels’s story was most valuable after Trump’s lewd “Access Hollywood” tape became public in October 2016, weeks before the presidential election.

* That’s key because prosecutors want to show Trump falsified his records when categorizing the reimbursement of the hush money payment to Daniels in an attempt to conceal election-related crimes. This testimony helps establish a motive, highlighting that those involved reportedly knew Trump thought any reports about the alleged tryst could hurt him with female voters.

* Defense attorneys emphasized Daniels was paid by Trump’s then-attorney, Cohen — a figure no one seems to like. When the defense questioned Davidson, they attempted to portray Trump as a victim of a shakedown, targeted because he was a rich celebrity who could be blackmailed.

The week ended with testimony from Hope Hicks .. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/05/03/trump-hush-money-trial-hope-hicks-testimony/?itid=lk_inline_manual_27 , a former top Trump aide who handled the campaign’s response to the “Access Hollywood” tape and alleged affairs. Hicks seemed torn about providing testimony against her former boss, and broke down briefly on the witness stand. Her account highlighted to the jury just how worried the 2016 Trump campaign was about negative stories about him and women, and how those issues dogged Trump even after he entered the Oval Office.

Check out The Washington Post’s new podcast on video .. https://www.washingtonpost.com/video/politics/no-cameras-in-court-the-trump-trials-sidebar/2024/04/15/0a1a2e6f-8277-4e28-a3f3-5eae88628833_video.html?itid=lk_inline_manual_22&itid=lk_inline_manual_30 or audio .. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-trump-trials-sidebar/id1198238095?i=1000652544455 , recapping and analyzing the latest in Trump’s New York trial. Our latest episode is below.

Hope on the horizon | The Trump Trials: Sidebar 41:48
The crew discusses the latest in Trump's New York trial, the $9,000 in fines he owes,
and what we're hearing from witnesses so far. (Video: The Washington Post)

Nerd word of the week

Stipulation: An agreement made at trial between opposing sides, often about a basic fact such as the address of a business. Stipulations are a standard part of the court process, to save the time and hassle of calling witnesses to testify about incontrovertible facts. In the first weeks of the New York trial, however, Trump’s lawyers took a no-holds-barred approach and refused to agree to any stipulations. But on Friday they relented and stipulated that an October 2016 Washington Post story .. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-recorded-having-extremely-lewd-conversation-about-women-in-2005/2016/10/07/3b9ce776-8cb4-11e6-bf8a-3d26847eeed4_story.html?itid=lk_inline_manual_33 .. revealed the existence of an “Access Hollywood” tape in which Trump made offensive remarks about grabbing women’s genitalia.

Gag-tracker

Merchan ruled Tuesday that Trump violated the gag order nine times around the first week of trial. The order bars him from commenting on witnesses, jurors, prosecutors, or family members of the judge or Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.

The judge found that instances of Trump reposting someone else’s social media statements count as violations of his order — though he noted this is a largely untested area of law.

Merchan held another hearing Thursday on four more alleged gag violations. One of Trump’s attorneys later asked if simply posting a link to an article could violate the order. “I think the best advice to give your client is when in doubt, steer clear .. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/05/02/trump-trial-takeaways-gag-order/?itid=lk_inline_manual_39 ,” Merchan replied. The judge also emphasized to Trump that nothing about the gag order prevented him from testifying in his defense, should he choose to do so.
(Illustration by The Washington Post)

D.C.: Federal case on 2020 election

The details: Four counts related to conspiring to obstruct the 2020 election results ..
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2023/08/01/trump-indicted-jan-6-overturn-2020-election-results/?itid=lk_inline_manual_42 .

Planned trial date: Unclear

Last week: We’re waiting on the Supreme Court to rule on Trump’s claim that presidential immunity from criminal prosecutions extends to his alleged actions around Jan. 6, 2021. The case is frozen until that decision is delivered — which is expected by the end of the court term, late June or early July.


Boxes of records stored in a bathroom and shower at Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla. (Justice Department/AP)

Florida: Federal classified documents case

The details: Trump faces 40 federal charges over accusations that he kept top-secret government documents ..https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2023/07/27/trump-carlos-deoliveira-classified-indictment/?itid=lk_inline_manual_16&itid=lk_inline_manual_38&itid=lk_inline_manual_48 .. at Mar-a-Lago — his home and private club — and thwarted government demands to return them.

Planned trial date: Undecided

Last week: Prosecutors and defense attorneys met a May 2 deadline for filing motions and exhibits of evidence that may be relevant for trial. Much of this was under seal — meaning the public gets notice they were filed, but don’t yet know the contents — so we didn’t learn a whole lot of new information.

* An unsealed version of Trump’s motion to dismiss the case claiming vindictive or selective prosecution by prosecutors is now available on the court docket. The 178-page filing says Trump is being treated differently than other politicians like President Biden and former vice president Mike Pence, who were not prosecuted after classified documents were found in their homes. Trump filed this motion in February, but it was just made public Friday. Cannon has not yet ruled on the request.

[Insert: Remember Biden cooperated with investigators, Trump
obstructed - tried to destroy video evidence, hide docs. etc.]

Georgia: State case on 2020 election

The details: Trump faces 10 state charges for allegedly trying to undo the election results .. https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2023/08/14/trump-indictment-georgia-election-2020/?itid=lk_inline_manual_56 .. in that state. Four of his 18 co-defendants have pleaded guilty.

Planned trial date: None yet

Last week: Another quiet week in the Peach State.


New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan in his chambers in New York on March 14. Merchan is presiding over Donald Trump's New York trial. (Seth Wenig/AP)

Question Time

Q. Why is Judge Merchan, who is presiding over the New York trial,
referred to as a Supreme Court justice? Isn’t this just a regular trial?

A. You may notice that whenever we first mention Merchan in an article we refer to him as “New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan.” That may seem a bit strange, since we typically think of Supreme Court justices as sitting in either the nation’s highest court or states’ highest courts.

But in New York, the State Supreme Court is actually the trial court. That’s the court with the biggest jurisdiction in criminal and civil matters that hears most major cases. If a New York Supreme Court decision is appealed, the appeal goes to one of the state’s four appellate divisions. And the highest court in the state — the court of last resort — is known simply as the Court of Appeals. Confusing, we know.

Thanks for catching up with us. You can find past issues here.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2024/05/05/trump-trials-tracker-latest-news-hope-hicks/