Live coverage: Trump's first criminal trial continues with testimony and gag order hearing
On Monday, the first criminal trial of Donald Trump began with both prosecution and defense delivering their opening statements, followed by the first witness in the case, former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker, taking the stand. Prosecutor Matthew Colangelo gave the opening statement for prosecution. "This case is about a criminal conspiracy,” said Colangelo. “Trump orchestrated a criminal scheme to corrupt the 2016 presidential election. Then he covered up that criminal conspiracy by lying in his NY business records over and over and over again." Colangelo spoke for about 45 minutes, explaining how the prosecution would show multiple instances in which Trump had used Pecker’s tabloid as part of a “catch and kill” scheme, but emphasizing how the business records at the heart of this case were allegedly falsified when Trump was desperate to keep his connections with adult film actress Stormy Daniels hidden in the final days before the 2016 election. “It was election fraud, pure and simple,” said Colangelo. UPDATE: Tuesday, Apr 23, 2024 · 2:39:13 PM +00:00 · Mark Sumner Honestly, this whole hearing is a lot more fun than expected. At this point, an image of fish in barrels comes to mind. Now, Merchan asks Blanche about what Jesse Watters, in fact, said. Blanche: No. Merchan: "So your client manipulated what was said and put it in quotes? Blanche: I wouldn't say it was a manipulation. Merchan: This isn't a repost at all. Your client had to type it out. Use…— Katie Phang (@KatiePhang) April 23, 2024 UPDATE: Tuesday, Apr 23, 2024 · 2:36:44 PM +00:00 · Mark Sumner Keep in mind that this is the guy arguing for Trump. Blanche: "It's not making a mockery of the gag order, your honor. It's a close call."— Adam Klasfeld (@KlasfeldReports) April 23, 2024 UPDATE: Tuesday, Apr 23, 2024 · 2:35:22 PM +00:00 · Mark Sumner How @$@#’d is Trump? This @$@#’d. Merchan: What is your caselaw that supports your position that your client can repost and that doesn't violate the gag order? Blanche: I don't have any cases. It's just common sense. Katie's Sidebar: DON'T do this in court.— Katie Phang (@KatiePhang) April 23, 2024 UPDATE: Tuesday, Apr 23, 2024 · 2:33:17 PM +00:00 · Mark Sumner And whoo boy, Blanche decides to just … Go There. This is not, not, not going to fly in any court anywhere. Blanche positions Trump's attacks against Cohen as a broader swipe at the justice system: "It's attacking the People, and the system, for not prosecuting Mr. Cohen for lying." He says Trump's criticizing the "two systems of justice in this courtroom."— Adam Klasfeld (@KlasfeldReports) April 23, 2024 UPDATE: Tuesday, Apr 23, 2024 · 2:32:07 PM +00:00 · Mark Sumner Blanche starts to ask Merchan if he’s watched a particular documentary about Stormy Daniels. This does not make the judge happy. Blanche angers the judge with this question: "Your honor says the timing matters. Why?" Merchan snaps: "I'm asking the questions," telling Blanche he shouldn't "turn it around."— Adam Klasfeld (@KlasfeldReports) April 23, 2024 UPDATE: Tuesday, Apr 23, 2024 · 2:29:12 PM +00:00 · Mark Sumner Yes, it is possible to have Too Much Information on what Trump is doing in the courtroom. via @benfeuerherd: As Conroy offered gag order violation arguments, Trump was seated at his counsel table and appeared to have closed his eyes for large swaths of the argument. Trump put something in his mouth — what appears to be a mint or gum — at the start of the proceeding.— erica orden (@eorden) April 23, 2024 UPDATE: Tuesday, Apr 23, 2024 · 2:27:32 PM +00:00 · Mark Sumner Merchan takes a machette to Blanche’s argument. MERCHAN: “Have you spoken with Mr. Avenatti about what he means [in his tweet]?” BLANCHE: “No, of course not.” MERCHAN: Then how can you interpret what he believes?— Katie Phang (@KatiePhang) April 23, 2024 Blanche has no ready answer. Trump reportedly doesn’t look happy. UPDATE: Tuesday, Apr 23, 2024 · 2:25:21 PM +00:00 · Mark Sumner Jonah Bromwich at the New York Times tries to decipher Blanche’s defense of Trump’s attacks on witnesses. He says that a post from Michael Avenatti, which caused Trump to launch into an attack on Stormy Daniels and Michael Cohen, was a political argument, about speech not in the
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On Monday, the first criminal trial of Donald Trump began with both prosecution and defense delivering their opening statements, followed by the first witness in the case, former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker, taking the stand.
Prosecutor Matthew Colangelo gave the opening statement for prosecution.
"This case is about a criminal conspiracy,” said Colangelo. “Trump orchestrated a criminal scheme to corrupt the 2016 presidential election. Then he covered up that criminal conspiracy by lying in his NY business records over and over and over again."
Colangelo spoke for about 45 minutes, explaining how the prosecution would show multiple instances in which Trump had used Pecker’s tabloid as part of a “catch and kill” scheme, but emphasizing how the business records at the heart of this case were allegedly falsified when Trump was desperate to keep his connections with adult film actress Stormy Daniels hidden in the final days before the 2016 election.
“It was election fraud, pure and simple,” said Colangelo.
Honestly, this whole hearing is a lot more fun than expected. At this point, an image of fish in barrels comes to mind.
Keep in mind that this is the guy arguing for Trump.
How @$@#’d is Trump? This @$@#’d.
And whoo boy, Blanche decides to just … Go There. This is not, not, not going to fly in any court anywhere.
Blanche starts to ask Merchan if he’s watched a particular documentary about Stormy Daniels. This does not make the judge happy.
Yes, it is possible to have Too Much Information on what Trump is doing in the courtroom.
Merchan takes a machette to Blanche’s argument.
Blanche has no ready answer. Trump reportedly doesn’t look happy.
Jonah Bromwich at the New York Times tries to decipher Blanche’s defense of Trump’s attacks on witnesses.
He says that a post from Michael Avenatti, which caused Trump to launch into an attack on Stormy Daniels and Michael Cohen, was a political argument, about speech not in the case but on social media and in interviews. Thus, Blanche is saying, Trump’s response is not in fact an attack on witnesses but a continuation of that political discussion. This is a hard pill for Justice Merchan to swallow, clearly.
Since anything could be justified this way, it’s probably best that no one swallow.
Merchan seems bemused by this defense.
Maggie Haberman at the New York Times: “Blanche is arguing that nothing can be seen devoid of political context when it comes to Trump.”
That’s a handy state to be in. Does that mean Trump is free to perjure, lie, and threaten all he wants? (Yes, would probably be Blanche’s reply.)
Blanche insists that Trump replying to witnesses in the trial isn’t about the trial.
Conroy predicted this is what Blanche would say. During the prosecution’s time, he said that slapping “MAGA” on a post “doesn’t make it political.”
Blanche is up to defend Trump. As expected, he starts by saying that there has been no violation of the gag order.
Prosecutors are asked what they are looking for as punishment and suggest Trump wants them to jail him.
Trump did it. He did it to intimidate jurors. And he knew what he was doing when he did it.
Merchan certainly knows this answer. This is more in the nature of prompting than it is questioning the prosecution’s statements.
X seems to be Xing again. Phew.
Conroy finishes by talking about the incident with Trump reposting Fox News’ Jesse Waters insisting that there were liberal activists attempting to infiltrate the jury pool. That seems like the biggest violation of all, since it was already directly connected to the departure of a juror and may have affected the answers of others.
Conroy: “[Trump] has violated this order repeatedly and hasn’t stopped.” … “He did it right here in the hallway outside.”
That Trump will keep on doing it if nothing is done seems like a given. And really, $1,000 a violation won’t be enough to make Trump stop.
Conroy says he’ll be filing another motion about Trump’s posts later today.
Right now, prosecutors seem to be going for just a $1,000 fine for each violation of the gag order.
Conroy has been going through Trump’s posts on Truth Social, showing that Trump repeatedly called out potential witnesses as well as family members of Judge Merchan and others.
Note: X (Twitter) appears to be dead for the moment. I’m drawing on updates at the Washington Post, New York Times, and NBC, but this is definitely limiting the amount of content. Hopefully, Elon will decide to rehire an engineer soon.
Washington Post’s live coverage reports that Trump is just staring into space rather than look at the prosecutors or judge. Or maybe they just propped his eyelids open.
Everyone is back in court and attorneys are starting to lay out their positions on the gag order.
Prosecutor Chris Conroy says that 10 Trump posts on Truth Social violated the gag order.
Whatever is being discussed in chambers appears to be unconnected to the gag order hearing. And yeah, everyone finds it interesting to watch Trump try to be operate on his own for a few minutes.
Almost instantly, Trump is left to twiddle his fingers as the attorneys head for Merchan’s chambers.
Merchan comes in, sits down, and things are underway.
This is the hearing requested by the prosecution to discuss whether Trump’s social media posts, especially those that included potential witnesses, violated the existing gag order and require that Trump be held in contempt.
If you’ve wondered where the Trump in court photos come from each day, the press is allowed to take photos in the courtroom before Judge Juan Merchan gavels in the start of the day. That’s why Trump appears relatively alert in the images you see — they’re all taken in the first few minutes.
Maggie Haberman just now: “Trump enters the courtroom, licking his lips.” I assume that’s not a metaphor, but I don’t know what it means.
Trump’s lead attorney, Todd Blanche, gave the opening statement for the defense. Blanche didn’t try to deny the existence of the catch-and-kill scheme, but passed it off as something that celebrities are forced to do in dealing with extortion attempts. Blanche largely focused on the documents central to the 34 charges against Trump, denying that there was anything criminal in Trump’s accounting of his payments and insisting that former Trump attorney Michael Cohen can’t be trusted.
Pecker took the stand briefly on Monday, but his testimony was just beginning when the abbreviated court day was brought to a close. Pecker is expected to return to the stand at 11:00 AM ET, when the trial resumes.
However, before the trial gets underway on Tuesday, Judge Juan Merchan will conduct a hearing on whether Trump violated his gag order with a series of social media posts. That hearing begins at 9:30 AM ET. Campaign Action
