Cases in the NewsPeople v Allen WeisselbergPeople v Donald J. Trump (Civil)People v Donald J. Trump (Criminal):Latest Correspondence, Decisions, Orders & Media Access
ww2.nycourts.gov
There’s some good news for people who want to follow the Trump trial in detail, but can’t make it to the courthouse. The New York state court system has just agreed to publish a transcript of each day’s proceeding by the end of the following day on its website.
You can find the daily transcripts here.
Gotta love how open democracy works.
tribulation: distress or suffering resulting from oppression or persecution. also : a trying experience. the trials and tribulations of starting a new business.
Trump's Tribulations: The New York state court system has just agreed to publish a transcript of each day’s proceeding
meanwhile:
Jonah BromwichReporting from the courthouse
David Pecker is now describing a post-election meeting he had with Michael Cohen at Trump Tower. Pecker said Cohen told him he had not been reimbursed for his payment to Stormy Daniels. Cohen, who also wanted to be paid a holiday bonus, asked Pecker “if I would talk to the boss on his behalf.”
Maggie HabermanReporting from the courthouse
Pecker says that after Cohen asked him to intercede with Trump on his behalf, he spoke privately with Trump about the bonus. “He’s been working very hard, from my perspective, and I believe that he would throw himself under a bus for you,” Pecker says he told Trump. Trump said Cohen already owned 50 taxi medallions and multiple apartments in Trump buildings, but he would take care of it.
Jonah BromwichReporting from the courthouse
Pecker has just given us a very detailed description of Jared Kushner walking him into Trump Tower, and then into Trump’s office, shortly before Trump's inauguration as president. In the office were four noteworthy people: James Comey, Sean Spicer, Reince Priebus and Mike Pompeo. Three were Republicans who would go on to work in the Trump administration, while the fourth, Comey, would eventually become one of Trump’s chief adversaries. Into that tableau walks Pecker, to be asked about Karen McDougal by the president-elect.
Maggie HabermanReporting from the courthouse
One of Trump's hallmarks, as he became president, was his tendency to treat all aspects of his world as flat and the same. He did not differentiate between the F.B.I. director and the head of a supermarket tabloid in terms of their obligations to him.
Jonah BromwichReporting from the courthouse
Pecker says that in front of Comey, the head of the F.B.I., Trump thanked him for purchasing the stories — and likely committing at least one crime in the process, as Pecker well knew. It's of course not clear what Comey heard. But this is a wild, wild scene we are hearing about.
Jesse McKinleyReporting from the courthouse
Seemingly important question here, as prosecutors ask David Pecker whether Trump was concerned about his wife or family finding out about his alleged affairs when he was campaigning for office. Pecker responds no. This suggests that Trump’s worries were electoral, not personal.
Matthew Haag
To catch you up during the lunch break, David Pecker, the former publisher of The National Enquirer, has been testifying all day — it's his third day on the stand. He disclosed for the first time in the trial how he learned that the porn star Stormy Daniels was trying to sell her account of a sexual affair with Trump for $120,000. The hush money she was paid is at the heart of the criminal case against Trump.
It began with an urgent call in October 2016 — the month before Trump was elected president — in which The Enquirer’s editor told Pecker about Daniels's claim. The tabloid had already made two catch-and-kill deals to quash potentially negative stories about Trump, and Pecker did not want to enter into a third. He suggested to Michael Cohen, Trump's fixer, that he make a deal with Daniels instead. Cohen did so, and later complained to Pecker that Trump had not reimbursed him.
Asked about Trump’s motivations to quash stories about his alleged affairs, Pecker said that his concerns were electoral, not personal. He also said that Trump thanked him for orchestrating catch-and-kill deals in front of James Comey, then the F.B.I. director.
