Another Court Gags Trump

[GMDino]

I don't think there is just one thread for this trial so I'll leave this here:



https://abc7chicago.com/trump-hush-money-trial-day-7-national-enquirers-david-pecker-to-resume-testimony-in-donald-trumps-criminal/14732307/

Quote:Trump hush money trial Day 7: National Enquirer's David Pecker to resume testimony
Pecker told jurors that he became Trump's "eyes and ears" during the election.
ByPeter Charalambous, John Santucci, Aaron Katersky, Olivia Rubin, Katherine Faulders, and Lucien Bruggeman 
Thursday, April 25, 2024 7:18AM



Phil Taitt has details from Midtown.

NEW YORK -- Former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker is set to return to the witness stand in Manhattan on Thursday to continue his testimony about an alleged conspiracy with Donald Trump to identify and kill negative stories about the then-presidential candidate ahead of the 2016 election.


Earlier this week, Pecker told jurors that he became Trump's "eyes and ears" during the election, allegedly transforming a supermarket tabloid into an extension of Trump's presidential campaign by spending thousands of dollars to kill negative stories about Trump.

"I made the decision to buy the story because of the potential embarrassment it would have to the campaign," Pecker testified on Tuesday about a $30,000 payment for a disproven story that Trump had an illegitimate child.

His testimony on Thursday is expected to touch on his involvement with a $130,000 alleged hush money payment to Stormy Daniels by Trump's former lawyer Michael Cohen; the documents related to Trump's reimbursement to Cohen became the basis for the Manhattan district attorney's 34-count criminal indictment against the former president. Trump had pleaded not guilty and denied all wrongdoing.

RELATED: Top 4 takeaways from Day 5 of Donald Trump's hush money trial

Thursday marks the third day of Pecker's direct examination by prosecutors and comes as members of Trump's legal team head to the Supreme Court to argue in favor of the former president's claim of presidential immunity. Judge Juan Merchan previously denied a request from defense lawyers to permit Trump to attend the oral arguments in Washington, D.C.

"Your client is a criminal defendant in New York County Supreme Court. He is required to be here. He is not required to be in the Supreme Court," Merchan said last Monday.

Pecker, who testified that he has a "great relationship" with Trump, said that the former president summoned him to Trump Tower in August 2015 for a meeting that became the genesis of the so-called "catch-and-kill" scheme alleged by prosecutors.

"At that meeting, Donald Trump and Michael, they asked me what can I do and what my magazines could do to help the campaign," said Pecker, who agreed to run positive stories about Trump, put out negative stories about his opponents, and identify potentially damaging information about Trump.
According to Pecker, that agreement resulted in frequent negative articles in the National Enquirer about Trump's opponents that were largely hatched by Cohen.

RELATED: Key players in Donald Trump's hush money trial

"(Cohen) would send me information about Ted Cruz or about Ben Carson or about Marco Rubio that was the basis of our story, and then we would embellish it from there," Pecker said.

Positive stories about Trump included headlines like "Donald Trump: The Man Behind the Legend" and "John F. Kennedy's Secret Son Endorses Donald Trump," and false stories on Trump's opponents featured stories like "Senator Marco Rubio's Cocaine Collection" and "Leaked DNC Documents: Ted Cruz's Father with JFK Assassin."

"What was he doing with Lee Harvey Oswald shortly before the death? Before the shooting? It's horrible," Trump told "Fox and Friends" about the fabricated story in 2016.
Pecker's testimony has so far focused on two alleged hush-money payments -- the first to a doorman who falsely alleged that Trump had a child out of wedlock with a housekeeper and the second to a former Playboy model Karen McDougal who is alleged to have had a months-long affair with Trump, which he has denied.

"If the story got out to another publication or another media outlet, it would have been very embarrassing to the campaign," Pecker said about the decision to buy the rights to the doorman story for $30,000 despite determining it was false.

Pecker appeared to distance Trump from some of the alleged conduct during his testimony on Tuesday, suggesting he mainly dealt with Cohen when arranging the two payments and producing negative stories about Trump's opponents.

"I would only work with Michael, so I don't know who else he spoke to," Pecker said. "He wasn't part of the campaign, but I think he may have heard things informally, or he injected himself into."

According to Pecker, Cohen grew anxious during the process of negotiating the McDougal payoff, which he attributed to pressure from Trump himself.


"He kept on calling; and each time he called, he seemed more anxious," Pecker said. "I assumed that he had the conversation with Mr. Trump and ... Mr. Trump was asking Michael Cohen, 'Did we hear anything yet?' This is only a theory on my part. I did not speak to Mr. Trump."

Pecker detailed a phone call with Trump related to the McDougal story when he encouraged Trump to "take this story off the market."


"Mr. Trump said to me, he said ... 'I don't buy any stories,'" Pecker said. "He said that, 'Any time you do anything like this, it always gets out.'"

[Mike M (the other one)]

(04-24-2024, 01:57 PM)Dill Wrote: I think the question is whether he broke campaign finance laws about transparency.  I'll go back and take another look to make sure.

You'll grant that at least in this case, the timing is due to Trump himself weaponizing the DOJ, right?

Some "they" didn't "wait." Trump and Barr stopped the investigation.

As far as Trump and gag orders--that's just more evidence of his contempt for rule of law.

Imagine a guy who can't control himself back in the presidency, and what if his court gave him the total immunity he wants?

I can very well feel it via immigration. 

It's almost the end of the month, still waiting to see what Biden will do there.

[GMDino]

(04-25-2024, 12:59 PM)Mike M (the other one) Wrote: I can very well feel it via immigration. 

It's almost the end of the month, still waiting to see what Biden will do there.

Last I heard he suggested republicans should have passed the border bill they had since they passed the funding part anyway.


https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-mike-johnson-ukraine-israel-b72aed9b195818735d24363f2bc34ea4

Quote:Biden lamented that the package did not include money to bolster U.S. border security. The White House had proposed including in the package provisions it said would have helped stem the tide of migrants and asylum seekers coming to the U.S. Republicans, however, rejected the proposal at the urging of Trump, who did not want to give Biden the win on an issue that’s been an albatross for the Democratic administration.

And Democrats are pushing for more to be done.

https://www.axios.com/2024/04/24/house-democrats-border-security-ukraine-israel

Quote:Centrist Democrats want to refocus on border security

• [color=rgba(51,51,53,var(--tw-text-opacity))]Andrew Solender[/color]
  

[img=1041x1080]https://images.axios.com/dR_Ovcf8mLrByVHmAPSpZhbp4m8=/0x392:6927x4289/1920x1080/2024/04/24/1713995436583.jpg?w=1920[/img]
Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Pérez. Photo: Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images.

A group of moderate, swing-district House Democrats called for Washington to shift its focus to border security just hours after President Biden signed an aid bill to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan into law.

Why it matters: It signals a rare area of potential bipartisan compromise as Republicans rage about the lack of border security language in the $95 billion foreign aid bill.

Driving the news: The lawmakers said they "strongly agree" with a U.S. Border Patrol labor union which said it is "beyond disappointed" the foreign aid package did not include funding for border security or border policy changes.

• "Congress and the President must act and bring order to the Southern border," the lawmakers said in a statement.
• They called for Biden to use his authorities to quickly remove some migrants to Mexico and for Congress to pass a law to allow border officials to rapidly expel asylum seekers like under the pandemic policy of Title 42.
  

Between the lines: The group is made up of Reps. Marie Gluesenkamp Pérez (D-Wash.), Jared Golden (D-Maine) and Mary Peltola (D-Alaska), Reps. Vicente Gonzalez (D-Texas) and Don Davis (D-N.C.).

• Those five lawmakers were the only Democrats to vote for a GOP bill last week enhancing criminal penalties for transmitting the positions of Border Patrol agents and destroying Border Patrol communications devices.
  

Catch up quick: Republican lawmakers have fumed about the foreign aid bill passing without border security funding or border policy provisions after they spent months arguing the two could not be decoupled.

• A bipartisan Senate group proposed a foreign aid bill in January that would have significantly restricted migration along the Southern border, but House and Senate Republicans quickly declared it dead on arrival.
  

• A $66 billion foreign aid and border bill proposed by a bipartisan House group, including Golden and Pérez, never gained traction.
  

The other side: Republicans may be skeptical of the Democratic border security push, with the National Republican Congressional Committee accusing the vulnerable lawmakers of election-year politics.

• "It's a pathetic charade that says more about Democrats' political freakout over their open borders policies than it does about their willingness to end the crisis," NRCC spokesperson Jack Pandol said.
  

Go deeper: House Republicans blame Greene and Freedom Caucus for lack of border wins

[url=https://www.axios.com/2024/04/22/house-republicans-greene-border-security-foreign-aid][/url]