The Beginning of the End

I can't do a live-update post, because, well, life. But I'll do my best to keep you updated on breaking developments.

The Trial 

Yesterday, Tuesday, the prosecution and defense spent alllll dayyyyy giving closing arguments. 

Andy Marlette

The Defense

It seems like the defense spoke down to the jury and focused on telling them what a liar Michael Cohen is. Todd Blanche, T****'s attorney, called Cohen the "GLOAT" – Greatest Liar of all Time – and the "MVP of liars." The bulk of the closing was indeed going after Cohen's credibility as if he were the only witness, not one of 20 backed up my mountains of paper evidence.

According to reports, Blanche made. points. like. this. over. and. OVER! He also spent a good portion of time focused on a 90-second phone call in which he asserted there was no way that Cohen could have had the time to broach the subject of Stormy Daniels as well as another subject, that of a teenaged prankster. 

At the end, Blanche snuck in a plea to the jury, "You cannot send someone to prison – you cannot convict somebody based upon the words of Michael Cohen." There was an immediate objection, which the judge sustained and then followed after lunch with a curative instruction. 

The thing is, penalty is never to be brought up to a jury. It is understood in every criminal trial that no one talk about possible punishment because this language could add sympathy to the defendant. Besides that, Judge Merchan had explicitly forbid such language. The judge was properly upset with Blanche, and out of the jury's earshot, he called the comment "outrageous" and said, "It’s hard for me to imagine how that was accidental in any way."

The judge gave the jury instructions that they were to disregard any thought of punishment, as it is the judge's – and only the judge's – role to decide on a sentence. The jury members are only to find facts and decide on guilt. And not only that, prison isn't even a mandatory sentence for these charges.

He instructed: 

"Jurors, before we hear the people's summation there's an instruction I would like to give you. During the defense summation you heard Mr. Blanche asking that you do not send the defendant to prison. That comment was improper and you must disregard it. In your deliberations you may not discuss, consider, or even speculate about matters relating to sentencing or punishment. If there's a verdict of guilty it will be my responsibility to impose an appropriate sentence. A prison sentence is not required for the charges in this case or in the event of a guilty verdict."

But you can't unring the bell.

The Prosecution

The prosecution's closing summation followed, and it was the last the jury heard of the case before the judge's final instructions.

Attorney Joshua Steinglass gave the closing argument, and it was long: more than four and a half hours. The jury agreed to stay late so that they could hear it all in one sitting.

It was a good rebuttal to the defense's closing. Steinglass defended Cohen as a witness, saying, "We didn’t choose Michael Cohen to be our witness. We didn’t pick him up at the witness store. The defendant chose Michael Cohen as his fixer because he was willing to lie and cheat on his behalf." He also noted that Cohen and Pecker's testimonies corroborated each other. 

One bit of genius: Steinglass rebutted the defense's point about the phone call. He role-played the 90-second phone call, pretending to be Cohen talking about the teenage prankster problem and then talking to "the boss" about the Stormy Daniels situation. He clocked it as well under 90 seconds. 

Steinglass walked the jury through the whole body of evidence, reminding them of testimony and evidence presented weeks ago. (BTW, if you want to read court transcripts and other court proceedings for yourself, here they are.)

Wednesday morning, the judge took nearly an hour and a half to read jury instructions. The defense, prosecution, and judge had wrangled over the instructions in the week or so before summations. The jury does not get a copy of the instructions, but are invited to have a read-back if they need a refresher.

In the late morning, Judge Merchan handed the case to the jury.

Deliberations

After two jurors got a tutorial on the laptop that contained all of the exhibits, they retired to their deliberation room to discuss. 

About three hours later, they sent out a note to the judge, asking for a read-back of testimony. It's not as easy as having the court reporter trot out the testimony. No, the judge and the attorneys have to pour through the testimony and try to match up what the jury requested to what portions should be read back. It takes some time. 

Meanwhile, the pundits pounce and try to figure out what exactly the jury is thinking when they ask for this particular information. 

I have to say, I listened a lot to MSNBC mostly because I didn't want to miss a verdict should it come down quickly. But it drove me crazy how much guessing and speculation the talking heads go through as they think out loud to us. 

In the end, it seems that they thought the particular part of the testimony that they jury wanted to revisit was favorable to the prosecution. The jury asked about testimony about a meeting at Trump Tower with T****, David Pecker, and Michael Cohen, a meeting in which they first discussed the plot. They requested both Pecker's and Cohen's testimony about the meeting, testimonies which corroborated each other's. 

The pundits thought it was favorable that the jury was going to the beginning of the conspiracy, and the point at which Pecker, Cohen, and T**** all discussed the plot. It appears that the jury is examining T****'s direct involvement. 

The jury also requested a read-back of the jury instructions. 

Deliberations will resume on Thursday, after the read-back of the testimony and after the judge reads the instructions again. 

The Mango Mousselini must stay at the courthouse for the duration of the deliberations. This is delicious. He is stuck in a dingy courthouse on a hard chair, waiting and sweating.

FAUX News

In contrast to MSNBC who is crazily analyzing every movement, FAUX News is giving the MAGAts a very propagandized version of events. The folks over there have made up their viewers' minds for them and feed them what the Boss wants them to hear. For a minute there it looked like FAUX had washed their hands of the Supreme Leader, but no. They have their lips firmly placed again.

The Tired Martyr

Or, should that be the Turd Martyr. 

T**** languidly spouted his usual on-camera and social media grievances when the court day ended. It was evident that he doesn't really understand how trials work. He went on about how the judge is "conflicted." Huh? He has been extraordinarily fair to both sides. And besides, dummy. It's the jury you need to worry about.

Does he not understand how this works? Does he not understand that he has been given every right afforded to every other criminal defendant in the country? I truly don't believe he gets that crimes have consequences. Of course he doesn't. This is the first time he's had to face consequences.

In his faux tweets, he has indicated that he doesn't really understand the charges against him, nor that the jury must be unanimous in its decision. 

He also railed against the jury instructions, which were agreed upon by the prosecution, the defense, and the judge. He boo-hooed that the judge's instructions were "RIDICULOUS, UNCONSTITUTIONAL, AND UNAMERICAN."

And then *snicker* he compared himself to Mother Teresa.

"Mother Teresa could not beat these charges."

You're right about that, honey. She wouldn't beat the charges either if she had had sex with a porn star, paid her to keep quiet, and then made illegal entries to a business record. 

Idiot.

Update on Mr. A.

"My wife is fond of flying flags. I am not."

Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito has responded to the entrities to recuse himself from decisions concerning T**** and the January 6 charges due to the fact that insurrectionist flags were flown at both his primary residence and a vacation home. Read his letter to Senators here.

Yanno, he's just not really a flag guy.

He basically stomped on the request to recuse, throwing his wife under the bus under the guise of protecting her First Amendment rights while at the same time feigning ignorance of the meaning of the flags. He equated them to sports team flags and seasonal flags. 

He needs Alito more humility. Alito more honesty. And Aloto more integrity.

Bill Bramhall

I do not like that Sam the Sham! 

I do not like that ol' flim-flam. 

I do not like him in his robe. 

I wish he had an ethics probe. 

I do not like him on the bench. 

I do not like his traitor wench. 

I do not like that Sam the Sham. 

He is such a very bad man.

apologies to Dr. Seuss

And finally...

Your regular reminder. No matter what this jury of 12 citizens decides.....

Bill Bramhall