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lite.cnn.com - on gopher - inofficial | |
ARTICLE VIEW: | |
Opinion: Even if Trump can’t stay awake this week, the jury will have | |
reason to | |
Opinion by Norman Eisen | |
Updated: | |
4:51 AM EDT, Tue April 30, 2024 | |
Source: CNN | |
Welcome to week two of the Trump 2016 election interference trial. | |
Last week was dominated by the drama of David Pecker, the former | |
National Enquirer publisher who for the jury the “catch-and-kill” | |
schemes that prosecutors say were intended to benefit Trump’s | |
campaign. But after he Friday afternoon, what is likely to be the next | |
phase of the case: getting all the evidence in. That means some less | |
dramatic intervals are ahead. But because the narrative and the stakes | |
were made so clear in week one, week two is likely to sustain the | |
interest of the jury and all of us – even if it may not stop the | |
defendant’s penchant for . | |
Those of us who spend time in courtrooms know trials can’t always be� | |
“Law & Order,” in which prosecutors elicit damning testimony – | |
and sometimes even outright confessions – from witnesses every time | |
one takes the stand. In the real world, lawyers also have to prove | |
every element of their case. And the case Manhattan District Attorney | |
Alvin Bragg brought is, at heart, a documents case – Trump has been | |
charged with of felony record falsification, actions allegedly taken | |
to cover up hush money payoffs connected to the 2016 election. So the | |
prosecutors will need to take the time to present all the documentation | |
to prove that the allegedly illicit payments were made and that the | |
allegedly criminal false documentation was filed. | |
But as demonstrated by longtime Trump assistant Rhona Graff’s | |
afternoon, the methodical nature of the testimony and evidence | |
doesn’t mean it will be dull for the jury. Juries adapt to the ebb | |
and flow of a trial, and this jury was attentive to Graff’s words | |
about maintaining contact information for two of Trump’s alleged | |
paramours who prosecutors say received secret payoffs to benefit the | |
Trump campaign: Karen McDougal and Stormy Daniels. Some jurors took | |
copious notes and others listened closely. | |
Pecker had to a starry world of celebrities and sex scandals, and an | |
alleged backroom deal with a presidency in the balance. Now we are | |
building the details out, piece by piece. So if last week evoked | |
primetime soaps such as “Dallas” and “Dynasty,” this week | |
promises to be “Columbo”– a police procedural putting together | |
all the clues needed to solve the mystery. | |
This type of testimony, though technical, is essential: Prosecutors | |
can’t just stand up and assert certain payments were made, or present | |
to the jury a document that has not been authenticated and introduced | |
as evidence. The DA has to establish every factual element, and they | |
will do that through the reams of documents that will be introduced | |
into evidence this week. That proof will also help corroborate the | |
testimony of future witnesses, like former Trump attorney Michael | |
Cohen, who arranged hush money payments, and payoff recipient Daniels.� | |
And any omissions or misrepresentations in documents also help show | |
the the payment scheme to benefit the campaign. | |
The testimony of , Cohen’s onetime banker, is emblematic of what we | |
are likely to hear from other witnesses this week. Farro began | |
testifying on Friday after Graff, and the prosecution had him various | |
bank records related to the formation of the limited liability | |
companies that Cohen created as part of the alleged scheme to bury | |
damaging stories during the presidential campaign. | |
For example, Assistant District Attorney Rebecca Mangold had Farro � | |
one record in which Cohen offered a detailed description of the purpose | |
of the limited liability company that he had created to facilitate | |
payments to , one of those who claimed to have had an affair with Trump | |
– but Cohen omitted any mention about acquiring the rights to her | |
potentially damaging story. Mangold also had Farro verify a bank record | |
for the LLC that Cohen had created to facilitate the payments to | |
Daniels on which Cohen affirmed that the entity was political | |
fundraising. Prosecutors allege the entity was formed to do the exact | |
opposite: make a payoff to influence an election. | |
Something that separates good lawyers from great ones is how they | |
handle the less juicy bits of a trial. The Manhattan prosecutors trying | |
this case have their mettle – and I expect they will march through | |
these documentation witnesses thoroughly but expeditiously, keeping | |
things moving so that the jury’s attention does not wander too far. | |
Trump’s lawyers are also competent, so expect them to get what they | |
can from the witnesses. When defense counsel from Graff on | |
cross-examination that Trump was a good boss, she became a free | |
character witness. And while it’s true that, after her testimony | |
concluded, Graff Trump’s attempt to shake her hand, that alone | |
won’t undermine her positive character testimony (even if it might | |
strike jurors as odd). | |
Sometimes the defense will stipulate – that is, simply agree with the | |
prosecution – to much of this evidentiary work in an effort to get | |
it over with. It’s coming in to evidence anyhow if prosecutors are | |
competent (which these certainly are). But that doesn’t seem to be | |
happening here. Trump and his counsel are the masters of delay – | |
trying to squeeze every moment of postponement out of the process that | |
they can. After all, the longer this case goes, the further away they | |
can push the scheduling of against him. Accordingly, Team Trump appears | |
to be forcing the DA team to go step by step. | |
So the jury may be dealing with a relatively more mundane set of topics | |
on and off over the next few days – but they seem up for seeing it | |
through and . And while the odds that Trump may fall asleep again | |
remain high, he would be wiser to remain alert as prosecutors build | |
their case piece by piece. | |
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