May07

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Trump Legal News: The Trial (Day 12)

It would be hard for a trial that is about sex to be less sexy than Donald Trump's trial was yesterday. Here are the highlights:

• Zip It: Judge Juan Merchan ruled yesterday on the second group of gag order violations. We predicted that "Trump will be fined $3,000 for the second group of violations, and will be warned that further violations will result in jail time." In fact... it was $1,000. Merchan told the former president: "The magnitude of such a decision is not lost on me, but at the end of the day I have a job to do, and part of that job is to protect the dignity of the judicial system... So, much as I do not want to impose a sanction [of jail] and I have done everything I can to avoid doing so... I will if necessary."
  
  Trump continued to play martyr, and said outside the courtroom: "Frankly our Constitution is much more important than jail. It's not even close. I'll do that sacrifice any day." Yeah, you're a real champion for free speech there, Donald, a modern-day Lenny Bruce. Oh well, it must goose the fundraising.
  
  
• The Paper Trail: This is where things got very dry. Former Trump Organization controller Jeffrey McConney was led through a painstaking description of how money was funneled to Michael Cohen, $35,000 at a pop. There were signed checks. There were spreadsheets. There were memoranda. It's enough to make a CPA's heart flutter.
  
  
• More Paper Trail: Deborah Tarasoff, who still works in accounts payable for the Trump Organization, was effectively the other side of McConney's labors, as she was the one who actually cut the checks. She said that Trump generally insisted on signing checks himself, and would not sign off on expenditures that he did not approve.
  
  
• Wakey, Wakey: A solution to Trump's sleep problems appears to have been discovered. He has a much easier time staying awake when business matters are being discussed, it would seem.
  
  
• Two Weeks: The prosecution said yesterday that it would be able to finish mounting its case in about 2 weeks. So, the original 6-week timeframe is looking basically correct, though it may be shorter depending on the nature of Trump's defense.

Not a terribly exciting day, on the whole. (Z)