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☆ Opinion: In Trump Trial, Stormy Daniels testimony was revealing — about America
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-16 | by ( Opinion Danielle Campoamor | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

For two days in Manhattan, Stephanie Gregory Clifford — better known as Stormy Daniels — detailed her connection to former President Donald Trump and alleged sexual encounter with him in 2006. But it matters that the media decided to erroneously describe a grown woman openly discussing an alleged sexual encounter with a grown man as obscene. The words used to characterize Daniels’ testimony evoke a feeling of inherent wrongness or dirtiness — and not on the part of the accused but of the woman who dared to speak up. While the Manhattan criminal case is not directly tied to Trump’s alleged encounter with Daniels, the details of their brief alleged tryst are crucial to the prosecution’s case. In a 2018 interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper, she described her alleged sexual encounter with Trump as consensual.

Persons: Danielle Campoamor, Stephanie Gregory Clifford —, Stormy Daniels, Donald Trump, Danielle Campoamor Ashley Batz, Daniels, “, tawdry, Trump’s, Trump, Jean Carroll, —, Eric, ”, CNN’s Anderson Cooper, I’ve Organizations: NBC, CNN, Republican, Trump, Twitter, Facebook Locations: Manhattan, Nevada, ”

☆ Opinion: Stormy Daniels turned the tables on the Trump team’s strategy
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-09 | by ( Opinion Norman Eisen | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

Trump denies having a sexual encounter with Daniels and has pleaded not guilty. It was expected that the cross would be even tougher today and, indeed, Necheles furiously attacked Daniels from the get-go. In the most pointed back-and-forth of the day, Necheles attacked Daniels’ recollection of the circumstances surrounding her alleged sexual encounter with Trump in 2006. It also reinforced Daniels’ Tuesday testimony that she felt a power imbalance with Trump at the time of the encounter. I interviewed him on these identical facts for the first Trump impeachment and I expect he, like Daniels, will exceed expectations.

Persons: Norman Eisen, “, Donald Trump, Stormy Daniels, Daniels, Susan Necheles capably, Norm Eisen, Necheles, Trump, ” Daniels, I’m, unclothed, ”, Michael Cohen Organizations: CNN, Manhattan, Trump, Prosecutors, Twitter, Facebook

☆ Jailing Trump on contempt would likely mean locking him up for an hour or two behind the courtroom, experts predict
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-09 | by ( Laura Italiano | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Could Trump's next courtroom outburst or gag-violating Truth Social post really be the final straw that gets him locked up on contempt of court? "You get more due process" when you commit an act of contempt outside the courtroom, Levine said. "It's when the judge calls the court officers and tells them to surround the defendant so that he doesn't try to walk out of the courtroom." AdvertisementBut Trump already has at least two court officers standing behind him at all times in Merchan's courtroom, for his own protection. Reality will instead set in when the judge gives what's usually the final instruction to the court officers, "Take charge," Galluzzo said.

Persons: Trump, —, audibly, Stormy Daniels, Donald Trump, misbehaving, Trump's, Juan Merchan, Arthur Aidala, Harvey Weinstein, Weinstein, Aidala, Arnold Levine, Levine, heckles Daniels, Matthew Galluzzo, Galluzzo, Daniel Scott, who's, Scott, Joe Schmoe, Daniels Organizations: Service, , New, Trump, Legal Aid Society of New York, Defense Task Force, Secret Service Locations: ,, Manhattan, Merchan's, Merchan, Trump

☆ Opinion: Harvey Weinstein’s prosecutors made a huge mistake. Trump’s prosecutors risk repeating it
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-29 | by ( Opinion Jim Walden | Deanna Paul | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

Jim Walden Courtesy of Jim WaldenA few days later, New York’s highest court overturned the sex crimes conviction of Hollywood movie mogul Harvey Weinstein. And the recent dramatic developments in the Weinstein case demonstrate why the presiding judge in the Trump trial, Judge Juan Merchan, needs to reverse his ruling allowing Trump to be questioned about proven misconduct from other cases. If he doesn’t, Trump could have an easy path to having a conviction in the case tossed out. This is essentially what happened in the Weinstein case. If he does not, Trump could get a conviction overturned while the ink hasn’t yet dried on the jury’s verdict.

Persons: Jim Walden, Deanna Paul, Walden, Donald Trump’s Manhattan, Harvey Weinstein, Weinstein, Trump, Juan Merchan, Deanna Paul Meredith Eves Flynn Trump, —, Karen McDougal, Stormy Daniels, David Pecker, Michael Cohen, Cohen, Daniels, Maggie Haberman, Merchan, Letitia James, E, Jean Carroll, Merchan’s, James Burke, Burke’s Organizations: New, CNN, Republican, Hollywood, Trump, Prosecutors, National Enquirer, New York Times, New York, Manhattan, Appeals Locations: New York

☆ Too busy for hush money? Trump debuts longshot 'multi-tasking' defense during testimony by longtime assistant Rhona Graff
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-27 | by ( Laura Italiano | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

The now-retired assistant, Rhona Graff, told jurors that Trump was prone to "multi-tasking" and sometimes would be on the phone at the same time he signed checks. The testimony was elicited during Graff's cross-examination by Trump attorney Susan Necheles. Related storiesThe nine checks are the only records bearing Trump's signature out of 34 checks, invoices, and business-ledger records he allegedly falsified. After Trump signed each check, it would be FedExed back to the Trump Organization's Trump Tower headquarters, scanned into the company records, and then cut and mailed to Cohen. — respectful boss to me," Graff told jurors of working alongside Trump in the Trump Organization headquarters on the 25th-floor of Trump Tower.

Persons: —, Donald Trump, Rhona Graff, Trump, Trump's, Michael Cohen, Stormy Daniels, Susan Necheles, Necheles, Graff, Susan Hoffinger, Juan Merchan, Cohen, Alvin Bragg, Bragg, Daniels, Karen McDougal, McDougal, Playboy Bunny Organizations: Service, Business, GOP, Manhattan, Trump, Court, Trump Organization, White, Prosecutors, Trump Tower Locations: New York, Trump

☆ Trump thought hush money was risky because 'It always gets out,' National Enquirer exec testifies. In this case, Trump was right.
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-23 | by ( Laura Italiano | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

"It always gets out," Pecker testified Trump told him. "It always gets out," Trump explained of his hesitancy, according to the trial's first witness, former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker. Advertisement"I think the story should be purchased and you should buy it," Pecker told jurors, describing what he told Trump about McDougal's accusations during a June, 2016 phone call. But Trump wanted nothing to do with the McDougal payoff, Pecker said Tuesday, his second day on the witness stand. But Trump is now on trial for a second hush-money payment that prosecutors say has Trump's fingerprints all over it — the payment to Daniels.

Persons: Donald Trump's Manhattan, David Pecker, Pecker, Trump, —, Donald Trump, Model Karen McDougal, Stormy Daniels, Alvin Bragg's, Daniels, Bragg, McDougal, Michael Cohen —, Cohen, Melania Trump, Barron, Pecker's Organizations: Service, National Enquirer, Trump Organization, Trump Org

☆ Judge bench-slaps Trump lawyer 5 times on day 1 of hush money trial
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-16 | by ( Laura Italiano | Jacob Shamsian | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

Merchan didn't hit Blanche as hard as a federal judge in Manhattan has hit Trump lawyer Alina Habba for her lawyering. During the E. Jean Carroll defamation trial in January, Judge Lewis Kaplan bench-slapped Habba 14 times during a single day of testimony. "Please direct me to the portion of the original gag order, or the subsequent gag order, where it makes any exception if Mr. Trump feels he is under attack. The judge told Blanche to file a response, in writing, explaining why Trump should not be held in contempt for violating the gag order. The judge paused, then added, with some sarcasm, "I don't recall inserting that anywhere in either gag order."

Persons: —, Juan Merchan, Donald Trump's, — Trump's, Todd Blanche, Merchan didn't, Blanche, Alina Habba, Jean Carroll, Lewis Kaplan, Joshua Steinglass, blanch, I've, Merchan, Blanche's, Trump, Donald Trump, Susan Necheles, Timothy A, Clary, — Michael Cohen, Stormy Daniels, Daniels, Cohen, Chris Conroy, Conroy, Trump's, snarked, — Merchan, meekly, Emil Bove, Jabin, — Blanche, Jack Smith, didn't, Steinglass, incredulously Organizations: Service, Business, Reuters, Former U.S, Manhattan Criminal, Justice Locations: New, Manhattan, Trump's, balking, New York City, New York, New York County

☆ Trump's stock free fall has lost him $3.3 billion
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-16 | by ( Geoff Weiss | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

At its height, Donald Trump's stake in Trump Media was worth a staggering $5.11 billion. As of Tuesday, the former president's shares have lost roughly $3.33 billion in value. AdvertisementAs Trump Media & Technology's stock has tumbled, so has Donald Trump's wealth. That meant the former president, who owns a roughly 57% stake in the media startup, had shares worth a whopping $5.11 billion. On Tuesday, Trump Media closed with a market capitalization of about $3.12 billion — a 65% drop from its peak.

Persons: Donald Trump's, —, Trump, Trump's, Stormy Daniels — Organizations: Trump Media, Trump, Service, Truth

☆ Trump loses late bid to delay New York hush money trial
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-03 | by ( Dan Mangan | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

A judge on Wednesday rejected a last-ditch effort by former president Donald Trump to delay his hush money trial scheduled to begin in New York on April 15. Merchan, in shooting down that request, said Trump had "myriad opportunities" to make an argument that he was immune in the hush money case before March 7, when his attorneys first raised that claim. "Defendant's motion is DENIED as untimely," Merchan wrote in his decision issued in Manhattan Supreme Court, which is a trial-level court. Trump is charged in the case with falsifying business records related to a hush money payment to Daniels shortly before the 2016 presidential election. in his ruling, Merchan wrote that Trump's lawyers "fail to explain why Defendant waited long past" a statutory deadline of 45 days before trial to make a pre-trial motion seeking a delay.

Persons: Donald Trump, Jonathan Diller, Trump, Judge Juan Merchan, Joe Biden's, Merchan, Michael Cohen, Stormy Daniels, Cohen, Daniel, Daniels, Trump's Organizations: U.S, New York City Police Department, NYPD, Supreme, Manhattan, Attorney's Office, White Locations: New, Rockaway, Queens, Massapequa Park , New York, U.S, New York, Washington ,, Manhattan

☆ Trump loses big in NY hush-money hearing, as judge rejects all efforts to dodge or delay March 25 trial
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-15 | by ( Laura Italiano | Jacob Shamsian | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Trump appeared in his Manhattan felony hush-money case, and learned his trial date remains March 25. Trump had asked to delay the March 25 trial, insisting through his lawyer that he was too busy campaigning and fighting his three other felony cases. Judge Juan Manuel Merchan is expected to rule whether the trial will begin as scheduled on March 25. Cohen sent his own $130,000, borrowed on a home equity line of credit, to Daniels to ensure she would not go public with her claim of an affair with Trump, prosecutors allege. Read Manhattan prosecutors' 99-page rebuttal to Trump's dismissal motion here.

Persons: Trump, he's, —, Donald Trump, Todd Blanche, Trump's, Blanche, Juan Merchan, Merchan, Stormy Daniels, Judge Juan Manuel Merchan, Brendan McDermid, Attorney Alvin Bragg, Daniels, Michael Cohen — Trump's, Cohen, he'd Organizations: Service, Republican, Manhattan Criminal, Court, Attorney, Prosecutors, Trump Organization, Read Manhattan Locations: Manhattan, Florida, New York City

☆ 'Stop interrupting me': Judge loses patience with Trump lawyer who tries to move back 'hush-money' trial because ex-president is too busy
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-15 | by ( Jacob Shamsian | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

At a hearing, they repeatedly pushed to move the criminal trial, scheduled for March. So is the judge who will oversee his first criminal trial. Apart from the Manhattan case, Trump faces two other criminal trials over his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election, in Georgia and Washington, DC. He also has a pending criminal case in Florida, over his taking government records with him when he left the office of the presidency. Donald Trump inside Manhattan Criminal Court for a hearing on his felony hush money case on Feb. 15, 2024.

Persons: Donald Trump's, —, Donald Trump, Juan Merchan, Todd Blanche, Blanche groused, Trump, Merchan, Blanche, Attorney Alvin Bragg, Stormy Daniels, Merchan —, Allen Weisselberg —, Blanche griped, Tanya Chutkan, didn't, Joshua Steinglass, dizzying, Mr, Jean Carroll, skeptically Organizations: Trump, Service, New, Manhattan, Attorney, Trump Organization, DC Locations: Manhattan, Georgia, Washington, DC, Florida

A 30-year veteran of the DA's office told Insider that Bragg will lay the specifics out in a so-called "bill of particulars" down the road. "When you have an indictment, anything you put in the indictment, you must prove it," Florence, who ran against Bragg for DA in 2021, told Insider in an interview. Bragg laid out 4 alleged underlying crimes in post-arraignment presserThough Bragg didn't include the specifics of Trump's alleged underlying crimes in the charging documents, he laid them out in his post-arraignment news conference. Bragg elaborated on that alleged underlying falsehood in a statement of facts included as an addendum to the indictment. "The prosecution is boxed in at this stage of the game," Ty Cobb, who served as White House special counsel during the Trump administration, told Insider.

☆ Texas will play an outsized role in selecting the next GOP presidential nominee. So Trump isn't leaving anything to chance.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-01 | by ( John L. Dorman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Trump has previously indicated that he wouldn't leave the 2024 presidential race if he was indicted. Among the bold-named Texas figures who have signed on to Trump's 2024 campaign are Lt. Gov. Greg Abbott, who has been floated as a potential 2024 presidential candidate, was also not on the list. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas won his home state in the 2016 Republican presidential primary. Cruz took home the lion's share of Texas' GOP delegates in what is a winner-takes-most system.

☆ Donald Trump is launching a preemptive attack on prosecutor Alvin Bragg in the run-up to a possible criminal indictment in New York
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-17 | by ( Cheryl Teh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Donald Trump has launched a preemptive attack on Alvin Bragg ahead of a possible indictment. Bragg is the prosecutor overseeing the Stormy Daniels hush money payments case. In his post on Thursday, Trump also appealed to his supporters to sympathize with him, writing: "If the Democrats can do this to President Trump, they can do it to you." Cohen pleaded guilty to campaign finance charges related to the hush money payments scheme. He also denied that he paid her $130,000 worth of hush money to keep quiet about the relationship before the 2016 election.

With the term “personal taxes,” however, Mr. Garten appears to be conflating income taxes with other federal taxes Mr. Trump has paid — Social Security, Medicare and taxes for his household employees. Fragments of Mr. Trump’s tax returns have leaked out before. Mr. Agalarov’s father, Aras, a billionaire who boasts of close ties to Mr. Putin, was Mr. Trump’s partner in the event. Mr. Trump’s avoidance of income taxes is one of the most striking discoveries in his tax returns, especially given the vast wash of income itemized elsewhere in those filings. When they got to line 56, the one for income taxes due, the amount was the same each year: $750.

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