Israel bombed Iranian Embassy

[RedCowboy]

Whatever gets you through your day, but prepare yourself, Trump will most likely be sworn back in come Jan 2025 and you alone will have to deal with your TDS ( Trump derangement syndrome )....... that is unless you get professional help...... maybe up your meds.

 

[paul1598419]

Whatever gets you through your day, but prepare yourself, Trump will most likely be sworn back in come Jan 2025 and you alone will have to deal with your TDS ( Trump derangement syndrome )....... that is unless you get professional help...... maybe up your meds.

Believe me there are many that refuse to allow Trump to ever become president again. I am far from alone. You might want to think about how your gonna deal with that pain.

 

[RedCowboy]

Refuse to allow ? Care to expand on that ?

 

[paul1598419]

Refuse to allow ? Care to expand on that ?

Sure. registered voters will not allow Trump to become president again. There are many voters who vote often that will vote against Trump in the 2024 election. There are many of us!

 

[Ears and Eggs]

Rofl:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1787424451606225313

 

[paul1598419]

Well, I over slept this morning so I have some catching up to do on the trial. They are out to lunch right now.

Judge Mechan ruled that Trump violated the gag order again and said he may jail him irrespective of the prosecution asking for it.

So, right now a former Trump Organization executive, Jeffery McConney, has been testifying that these checks that Trump signed to Michael Cohen was to reimburse him for the $130,000 he paid to Stormy Daniels. This witness quit Trump after 35 years as he was concerned about this being illegal.

The next witness is Deborah Tarasoff from the Trump Organization. Judge Merchan ruled against Defense objections that a check that they disputed can go into into evidence. She has testified that she knew Cohen, McConney and Weisselberg. Said Weisselberg "had his hands in everything." She has agreed with the prosecution that Weisselberg went to Trump often to get approval of checks going out. She said that the $ amount of checks would determine who had to approve it. For high amounts either Don Jr, Eric or Donald Trump had to approve. Ms. Tarasoff has now testified that only Donald Trump could sign checks from his personal account, known as the DJT account.

She has testified that she processed many checks for Michael Cohen. After 2017 she said that checks were sent to the White house for him to sign. When checks were returned signed she would pull them apart, mail them and make the adjustments to the record. She said that Michael Cohen got $35,000 per month for all of 2017. After that Trump no longer paid Cohen. She has been shown a check for $70,000 for January and February of 2017 and asked if she recognizes it. She said, "yes." The prosecution is now going over every check that was sent to Cohen during 2017. Tarasoff has been shown four checks signed by Trump to Michael Cohen for $35,000 labeled "retainer".

The jury has been excused for the day after cross-examination by the Defense.

 

[paul1598419]

There's a new article from the Atlantic about how the U.S. is losing the propaganda war. It is worth a look.

The Atlantic’s June Cover Story: Anne Applebaum on How “Democracy Is Losing the Propaganda War”

Applebaum reports that autocratic regimes are making common cause with MAGA Republicans to undermine liberalism and freedom around the world.

www.theatlantic.com

 

[paul1598419]

The transcript of today's trial is out and Allen Weisselberg's own handwritten note of the $130,000 plus $50,000 for tech services and an additional $60,000 was to be paid to Michael Cohen. The first $180,000 was doubled to take care of Cohen's tax liability to $360,000 then $60,000 was added as a bonus for a total of $420,000. This works out to exactly $35,000 a month.

 

[paul1598419]

Today Stormy Daniels has been on the stand. She has been testifying about a one night stand with Donald Trump. She is a witness because Trump made her one. She was paid to be silent about him. The jury was dismissed for lunch.

The jury is back and Stormy Daniels is being examined by the prosecution again. They are asking about NDA that she signed and she says she had to sign another days later as Stephanie Clifford. She testified to receiving approximately $96,000 after Keith Davidson and Gina Rodriguez took fees also. She has now testified that Michael Avanatti was hired to be her lawyer to "speak up" for her as the NDA didn't allow her to do so, but Cohen was speaking out about her.

Daniels has now testified that she was paid $100,000 to go on Cohen's podcast. Prosecutors have now shown Daniels called "horseface" by Trump on his truth social media outlet. Prosecutors asked if Trump had called her "sleazebag" and "horseface" before. She said that was true. She is now under cross-examination.

Daniels is asked if she was "rehearsed" by the prosecution, but all witnesses are prepared by prosecutors of defense lawyers. The "rehearsed" line is trying to make this sound like a fiction. This seems not to the point of Trump's culpability. On cross-examination Daniels said she would rather go to jail than to pay Trump money she owed. She admits to calling Trump an "orange turd," but added "he made fun of me first." The defense tried to show a screen shot of something that was precluded and Judge Merchan said, "Take it down please. Take it down. Take it down."

The defense is asking Daniels if she told Gloria Allred that you did not have sex with Trump. Daniels: "No I did not say that. I told her I did." Daniels as said that she made a denial of sex with Trump when she was threatened in a Las Vegas parking lot. This seems to be not at all what the prosecution has alleged. It really doesn't matter whether or not Daniels had sex with Trump. He paid to keep her story from coming out and falsified business records to hide it from the public.

The jury has been sent home for the day. Trump came out and offered statements that inflation is like Germany before WW II. At 3.5% our inflation is nowhere near the 500% to 700% that Germany suffered. He continues to make statements that make no sense at all.

 

[paul1598419]

The transcript of the trial is now out. Daniels said specific things about Trump being in his boxer shorts after she came back from the bathroom, taking her back. He was spanked by her with a magazine with his picture on it. You can't make this stuff up!

 

[paul1598419]

Aileen Cannon, Trump's favorite judge that he appointed, has made a ruling today that Jack Smith's prosecution will be delayed indefinitely.

 

[paul1598419]

Today is the Trump hush money trial again and the defense has done the same as they had been. The prosecution is now on redirect. They asked Daniels if she was afraid of being hurt by Trump. She said that as long as as she was being looked at by the public she wasn't worried. The prosecution then asked asked about the Anderson Cooper interview and the defense objected. They are in a sidebar now.

The prosecution has asked if she said she had sex with Trump and the defense has objected again. Sidebar again. Prosecutions asked if she felt safe going into public. She said no. Then she is shown a tweet by Trump, "IF YOU GO AFTER ME I'M COMING AFTER YOU" Asked if telling the truth about Trump has been a positive for her. She said it had been a negative. The prosecution stopped redirect.

The defense now asked, "You prided yourself on what you considered witty answers." She said she defended herself. This is how this went for a bit. Now Stormy Daniels has gone off the stand after spending 7+ hours on the stand. The next witness will be coming up. Rebecca Manochio, Allen Wedisselberg's assistant, is being examined by the prosecution. Weisselberg is serving time in Rikers again.

The prosecutions asked about checks sent to Trump at the White House and coming back. She says, if she didn't get a check back she reached out to Madeleine Westerhout about them. She said that when checks came back they were sent to Deb Tarasoff. Now the jury is shown a FedEx receipt Keith Schiller in 2017, confirms checks were sent back. She says that she doesn't know why she was told to send checks to Keith Schiller's D.C. office. After they were, they were returned signed by Trump in 2017.

Prosecution, "Did you ever send anything to Keith Schiller other than checks?" She answers, "NO." The bookkeeper was told to mail to new contact McEntee. Prosecutor: "Who's John McEntee?" Response, "I don't know." She was told Schiller was leaving in Sept. 2017. She said she then only mailed checks to McEntee.

The jury is now at lunch.

There is a new article in the Washington Post today about Trump asking for a billion dollars from oil company executives last moth in Mar-a-Lago. He said he would reverse all of Biden's policies that have hindered especially LNG producers from exporting the gas. He called climate change a "hoax" and said "on day one" he would make things much easier for all of these executives. He also said he would reverse the ability for car manufactures to produce electric vehicles...something no president could do. The Post noted that many EU countries have policies similar to Biden's.

Now Manochio is being cross-examined by the defense. The defense has asked her if she paid personal bills and business expenses for Trump. "Yes." Susan Necheles is cross-examining. Manochio said that she had no interaction with Trump after he went to the White House. That's the end of the cross. Next witness should be coming soon.

Tracy Menzies from Harper Collins book publishing company is on the stand. She has no stated that she has been compelled to testify. Now a book by Trump, "Think Big: making it happen in business and life" is being explored. Bill Zanker ghost wrote this, but the book shows in the print who said what in this book. Many passages are attributed to Trump directly with serif font versus sans serif. Trump said, "I value loyalty above everything else. When anyone is disloyal you get even." Defense is now cross-examining. She was asked if she was part of the publishing of this book. She answered that she was not.

Now Madeleine Westerhout is being called back to the stand. Prosecution asked how the Access Hollywood tape impacted the campaign. "I recall it rattling the RNC leadership." This is Trump's ex-aide testifying. "My boss at the time came to me and said do you have any interest in sitting outside the Oval Office? I said yes, I don't care what my title is." She said that she was taken there after Trump was inaugurated. She said she had no particular training in doing this job outside the Oval Office. Trump cared about having hard copy documents, said Westerhout. She said the dinning room was really his working office. "He preferred signing things himself," she testified. She said he used a black sharpie to sign with. She said Trump liked to read things before he signed them. She said she would quickly scribble things down, then type them out for him to read. She said Rhona Graff was her point person at Trump tower. She said she and Graff spoke often about Trump's schedule and what he was given to read at the White House.

Prosecutors are now showing her emails between her and Graff. "Could you put together a list for me of people that [Trump] frequently spoke with?" She said Michael Cohen, Weisselberg and David Pecker was among those people as well as media contacts. She was asked if Michael Cohen ever visited the White House and she said she believed he did. An email shows that Cohen was to be there at 4:30 on a Wednesday. "hey, the president wants to know if you called David Pecker," reads another email. Westerhout has now said that Weisselberg also stayed in close contact with Trump in 2017. She said that checks would come in by FedEx and she would bring them to Trump to sign. She would then return them in preaddressed envelopes provided to her. She said Trump sometimes had questions about a check and would call Weisselberg or someone else in the Trump org. for clarification.

She has now said that Trump employees called Trump about his personal expenses. She has looked at an email with Graff about Trump making a payment for a golf club, saying "PAY" and "ASAP, OK." Westerhout has said that she lost her job by saying things she should not have. Then started crying. Prosecution has concluded their time and cross-examination has begun.

Defense has asked if Trump freaked out about Access Hollywood tape. She said he had not. She said that some people thought she was unqualified to be the "greeter girl." Now, she has said that working in the White House closely with Trump was "amazing." The defense is now asking if Trump had a good relationship with his family and she said yes. The court has adjourned the jury for the day.

 

[paul1598419]

In motions after the trial, Judge Merchan said Trump has the opportunity to testify in his own defense and he will not amend the gag order for that reason. Trump's lawyers are arguing for a mistrial again referring to Daniels' testimony specifically. "There was no evidence that had anything to do with a motive in this case." However motive is not the only issue in this case. The prosecution argued that "if they want to offer testimony that sex never happened, that's their prerogative." The prosecution has now argued that upon Daniels' testimony was salacious, "they want their cake and eat it too." The prosecution has offered a list of even more salacious details that didn't get into testimony. They are saying that only the details that show Trump actually did the act was used.

Judge Merchan has denied Trump's motion for mistrial. He said that under cross-examination they spent a great deal of time attacking her and that was enough to become appropriate for the jury to decide.

 

[paul1598419]

Today is day 15 of the Trump hush money trial. Right now Jaden Jarmel-Schneider, a paralegal, is testifying. He said he verified all calls showing Cohen with Hicks, Howard, Pecker, Rodriguez, Weisselberg and Trump. It is expected that Michael Cohen will testify today. Prosecutors have said that a call between Cohen and Trump was interrupted by an incoming call on 9/6/16. There is an exhibit of Trump signed checks that the defense objected to and the lawyers at the sidebar. The direct examination is over and cross-examination will begin.

Bove is asking about the tedious work Jaden Jarmel-Schneider did. Bove asked if there were calls that were left off the chart. He said there had been. Bove asked if they all passed muster from your perspective. Paralegal: I like to think they all did. Bove: some were cut? Paralegal: Yes. Defense: you were here earlier this morning to read text messages. Paralegal: Yes. Defense Do you recall Michael Cohen's phone IEMI code? Paralegal: It was like about 20 digits. Defense is pushing the witness about the 2016 call between Trump and Cohen. Redirect is under way.

Chis Conroy is asking why the summary charts were shortened. The Paralegal said that it was his understanding that only the parts that pertained to the trial would be used. He said these rest of these calls are still in evidence elsewhere. He is clarifying why this is the case. Paralegal has now left the stand.

The trial is over for the day. It was a shorter day as today is Friday.

 

[paul1598419]

Today the Trump hush money trials are back on and Michael Cohen is testifying for the prosecution. Right now he's testifying about working with David Pecker. Now the prosecution is moving to the false Trump doorman story that Pecker paid $30,000 for. Cohen said he was in contact with Trump and Howard about it. Cohen has testified that is was his idea to add the million dollar fine if doorman ever told about this story. He is testifying about the Karen McDougal story about getting the story. Trump said, "She way really beautiful." The prosecution is showing about a phone call Cohen had with Trump about the Karen McDougal story.

Trump asked "How are things going on the matter." Cohen said, "We have this under control." Cohen said it would cost Pecker $150,000 to get the McDougal story. Trump said he would pay Pecker back. Cohen said he first worked with Stormy Daniels' lawyer about getting the story taken down. Pecker said he was worried he wouldn't get reimbursed by Trump for the Karen McDougal story. The prosecution has played a recording with Trump about getting the story about Karen McDougal. The jury also heard this recording earlier when Douglas Dous testified about this recording being actually corroborated. Cohen has now testified about speaking to Allen Weisselberg about getting the the payment back from Karen McDougal repayment. Cohen testified why he payed cash for a story to keep it from having a paper trail. The court is now taking a morning break.

Cohen has testified "it was typical for for Weisselberg to approve everything." Allen handled all the finances coming in and coming out." Cohen said he has 10 to 12 conversations with Weisselberg concerning payment to McDougal. Cohen is now detailing how he created the LLC after talking with Trump about this to make payment about stories they want to conceal. The jury is shown the certificate of the LLC. Cohen said he had no reason to own the life rights to McDougals' story. He said he told Trump this was all being taken care of. Cohen was asked how many conversations he had with Trump about the McDougal story. He said he had many. Cohen said he learned about Access Hollywood tape for Hope Hicks and an email from Bannon. Now shown a query about an urgent Washington Post about the Access Hollywood tape. Cohen emailed Bannon about "who's doing damage control on this." He said that the locker "room talk" was recommended by Melania. Said this would have a significant impact on women voters.

Prosecutor: Was there also a call about Stormy Daniels wanted to get her story out? Cohen: Yes that came up. Cohen said he viewed the Daniels' story an "catastrophic...horrible for the campaign." Cohen said he told Trump these stories were killed. Cohen said that the Stormy Daniels' story was about to come out and Trump was very angry about it. Trump said to take care of it. It was going to be a disaster. Trump said delay this past the election. Trump said it would be a disaster for his campaign. The court has been dismissed for lunch.

 

[paul1598419]

Court has resumed and Michael Cohen has testified that Stormy Daniels lawyer had contacted him saying that if they didn't receive payment by 5 P.M. that day the deal was off and she would tell her story. Cohen testified that that she was going to the Daily Mail with her story. He said he contacted Trump about this, telling him they couldn't delay this any longer. Text from Melania to Cohen about contacting Donald Trump is being shown. Trump contacted Cohen saying to get with Allen Weisselberg and just figure it out. He expressed to Chen, "just do it." Cohen testified that he would front the money to Daniels as long as he got paid back. He said Trump was appreciative, to which Weisselberg said, "good, good." Cohen said he called Schiller with "sufficient urgency" that he needed to speak with Trump because he knew Schiller was with him.

Cohen: "If this matter wasn't resolved it was going to be catastrophic to Mr. Trump and the campaign." Cohen: "I was hoping AMI would make the payment." Prosecution: But at the end of the day you knew they would not. Cohen: Correct. On October 26th Cohen said he had a phone call with Trump. "Everything required Mr. Trump's signoff." Cohen said he would not have made this payment to Daniels without Trump's signoff. Cohen testified that the forms for the LLC were "false" to "hide intent." Cohen testified that he didn't tell Trump about the LLC to protect and to isolate him from the transaction. Cohen testified that he wired the $130,000 to Daniels' attorney mislabeled as a retainer. "The whole purpose of this transaction was to keep it confidential." Cohen said he called Trump on October 28, 2016 telling him the Daniels' deal was completely under control. He said he got an NDA so the issue was "locked down."

Cohen testified that he called Keith Davidson about a Wall Street Journal article that was to be released about the Stormy Daniels' payoff and said Trump was very angry and hoped Davidson wasn't at the bottom of this. He said he called Trump on 11/4/16 and told him he would get to the bottom of this. Jurors are now on an afternoon break.

Cohen resumes his testimony. Cohen confirms he was texting Hope Hicks about the WSJ article that day. Hicks texted: "Only seeing 6 stories on this." " Keep praying." Cohen: We were hoping our denials were enough to suppress this story. After the election my services were no longer necessary as Trump was the president elect and I was his special counsel. He said he was disappointed that he wasn't included in the White House. He said this was more about his ego as he felt he wanted at least to be included in the process. Cohen said he got his bonus at the end of the year, but the 2016 bonus was cut by 2/3rds. I was "angry, beyond angry." Cohen said he also talked with David Pecker about his disappointment. Cohen testified that Trump called him while he was on vacation with his family. Trump told him he would get reimbursed in 2017 for his payment to Daniels. Cohen said he was in the room when Weisselberg wrote down how the $420,000 would be paid back to him.

"I was following directions," said Cohen. This is all laying the foundation for the prosecution's case against Trump. Weisselberg told him he would "gross it up" so that Cohen would walk away with $180,000 concerning his payment of $130,000 to Daniels. Cohen is now detailing the falsification of the business records. Cohen has admitted he told the Trump Org the he had paid, or would pay, a vendor the $50,000 that Trump had not given him in his bonus. Prosecution: Did Weisselberg tell you in front of Trump that you would be paid $420,000? Cohen: Yes.

The Jury has been excused for the day. Just watched Trump, very angry, call Judge Merchan a Democratic judge who is prejudiced against him. That doesn't seem to be the case as he has ruled in favor of the defense as often as he ruled against them.