Apparently I Was Right

An eventful and contentious day as both sides have rested their cases in the Trump trial. More Cohen cross, the courtroom cleared, and Blanche arguing to the judge to dismiss the case at the end of the day. Full story on today. https://t.co/9TM1DP78Uf

— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) May 20, 2024

Although I’m assuming Blanche moved to dismiss so he wouldn’t have to put Costello on the stand. Surely he saw this coming.

But first, a detour to consider that “bombshell” that had the MSM and Eli Honig wetting their pants:

When he was asked about the $50,000 payment to RedFinch that Trump refused to make, Cohen said the purpose of that was because Trump was not included in a CNBC poll of the most famous businessmen in the last 50 years, so they were hired to create an algorithm to boost Trump to Number 1 because he wanted that. CNBC ended up cancelling the poll, so Trump refused to pay the bill. Cohen explained that he skimmed Trump for the extra $30,000 later when being reimbursed after paying them $20,000 out of his pocket because he was angry that his annual bonus was cut for no reason.

I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again: journalists know jack shit about trials, and cover them like they are made for TeeVee dramas made for five year olds. And most “legal commentators” are shit. Besides, this was much more important:

The jury was then brought back in and the photo was introduced into evidence. This is a critical piece of evidence because the White House call logs prove that Cohen called Schiller right as the money was being wired to Stormy and spoke to Trump using Schiller's phone, and now they have a photo of Schiller with Trump at that exact time.

The state cross-examined Costello (without the judge having to clear the courtroom), then told the judge they have another 45 minutes or so for tomorrow. Blanche then DID try to cut-off further questioning of Costello:

After the jury was excused, Blanche argued a motion for dismissal as a matter of law and made his legal arguments why the case should be thrown out as Trump perked up and listened intently. Blanche argued that there was no evidence of fraud in the documents since Cohen provided some legal services in 2017. He argued that there was no criminal intent behind the scheme to plant positive stories and kill negative ones about Trump while he was running for president. Blanche wrapped up his argument by saying that the court should not consider any of Cohen's testimony because he is not a credible witness.

That last bit is both pure Trump and a desperate attempt to get Costello off the stand. Cohen’s credibility is a question of fact (for the jury to decide). The justice can’t take that away from them.

Merchan said he’d rule in the morning (no surprise there). Blanche must be desperately hoping to pull his fat out of the fire, at this point. Moving for dismissal is not unusual. It’s virtually malpractice not to. But this argument sounds like 10 lbs of shit in a 1lb bag.