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      This Is What Worries Me About the Trump Trial

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      I can’t remember when I’ve been more disturbed by a criminal trial than I have been by the Manhattan trial of Donald Trump. The prosecutors are painting a vivid picture of Trump as a vile and dishonest person, and the daily pilgrimages of Republican politicians to the Manhattan courthouse, in spite of horrific testimony against Trump, demonstrates that the party has a broken soul.At the same time, the underlying legal theory supporting the prosecution’s case remains dubious. The facts may be clear, but the law is anything but — and that could very well mean that the jury convicts Trump before the election, an appeals court reverses the conviction after the election, and millions of Americans, many of them non-MAGA, face yet another crisis of confidence in American institutions.Let’s first discuss the dreadful facts. Stormy Daniels’s testimony crystallized, better than that of any other witness, the prosecution’s theory that Trump ordered Michael Cohen to pay off Daniels to save his campaign and then fraudulently disguised the reimbursements. It helped answer a key question: Why would a known playboy, a person who has boasted of his affairs with his friends’ wives, suddenly be so keen to suppress details of his encounter with a porn star?Consider the timeline. On Oct. 7, 2016, the “Access Hollywood” story broke. The Washington Post released the infamous recording in which Trump told Billy Bush, one of the show’s hosts, “When you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything.” Trump went on, saying he could grab women by the genitals. “You can do anything.”The next day, a representative for Daniels told The National Enquirer that Daniels was willing to talk on the record about her encounter with Trump. We now know from Daniels’s sworn testimony that her story was going to essentially affirm the “Access Hollywood” tape. Trump used his star power to draw in Daniels and then exploited her.At trial, she did not testify to a frivolous or joyful encounter with Trump; she testified to something far more distressing. He invited her to his hotel room, and after she went to the bathroom, she walked out to find Trump on the bed in just his boxers and a T-shirt. She did not claim he forced himself on her, but she said she left “shaking” and testified that she was ashamed.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Transcript of Trump Manhattan Trial, May 16, 2024

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      M. Cohen
      –
      Cross/Blanche
      3839
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      And you had been hearing on television that they were
      dangling pardons. So, you directed your lawyer, hey, find out
      if I can get a pardon. I want this nightmare to end, right?
      A Not if I can get a pardon. If the President was going
      to be doing these pre-pardons.
      But you
      —
      you testified that you were 100 percent
      open to accepting it, anything to end this, right?
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      Yes, sir.
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      And so
      —
      and you did that with a couple of your
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      lawyers, Mr. Ryan and Mr. Costello, correct?
      Mr. Costello was never my lawyer.
      Well, you asked Mr. Costello, putting aside whether he
      was your lawyer, you asked Mr. Costello to reach out to people
      in the administration, including Mr. Giuliani, about the
      possibility of a pardon?
      A We spoke about it.
      And as part of your conversation with him, you asked
      him to reach out to Mr. Giuliani and explore it, correct?
      Yes, sir.
      And so, when you testified under oath less than one
      year later, February, on February 27th, 2019, that you never
      asked for, nor would you ever accept a pardon, that was a lie,
      wasn’t it?
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      A
      At the time it was accurate.
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      Well, the very next day so, again, February 27th,
      Susan Pearce-Bates, RPR, CCR, RSA
      Principal Court Reporter More

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      Transcript of Trump Manhattan Trial, May 13, 2024

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      M. Cohen Direct/Hoffinger
      3277
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      was there at The Trump Organization about executives coming in
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      to meet with Mr. Trump?
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      A
      Mr.
      Trump had an open-door policy, which, if there was
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      somebody in there, you waited; and if not, you knocked on the
      door, and I would say, “Boss, do you have a second?”, and I
      would walk right in.
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      Q
      And others did the same, to your knowledge?
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      To my knowledge, yes.
      Now, when you met with Mr. Trump at The Trump
      Organization, in his office, did you, generally, need
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      —
      I’m
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      sorry.
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      Did you, generally, record those meetings in your calendar?
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      No, ma’am.
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      As part of your work at The Trump Organization, did
      you feel that it was part of your job to keep him updated on
      matters that you were handling for him?
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      Yes.
      It was actually required.
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      A
      Tell us what you mean by that.
      When he would task you with something, he would then
      say, “Keep me informed. Let me know what’s going on.”
      And what he was saying, what everybody did is, as soon as
      you had a result, an answer, you would go straight back and
      tell him. Especially if it was a matter that was troubling to
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      him.
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      So, two things, just to break that down.
      Laurie Eisenberg, CSR, RPR
      Senior Court Reporter More

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      Transcript of Trump Manhattan Trial, May 10, 2024

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      J. Jarmel-Schneider
      –
      Direct/Conroy
      3217
      And if we could just continue going down January and
      February, those two columns, we talked about the one invoice,
      two vouchers; and is there only one check?
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      Yes.
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      with?
      How many invoices were there, in total, on this chart?
      Eleven.
      And can you just read which counts they’re associated
      Counts 1, 5, 8, 11, 14, 17, 20, 23, 26, 29 and 32.
      After January and February, is there one invoice for
      each month for the rest of the year?
      Going down to vouchers, same question. Could you just
      read the count number for each of the vouchers?
      ७
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      Yes.
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      Sure.
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      Sure.
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      Yes.
      Counts 2, 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 21, 24, 27, 30 and 33.
      And is there one voucher for every month in 2017?
      Yes.
      And, finally, in checks, could you read the count
      number for each check?
      It’s counts 4, 7, 10, 13, 16, 19, 22, 25, 28, 31 and 34.
      And after January and February, is there one check for
      each of the remaining months in 2017?
      Laurie Eisenberg, CSR, RPR
      Senior Court Reporter More

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      Neil Portnow Accuser Asks Court to Dismiss Her Sexual Assault Lawsuit

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      The woman, who sued the former head of the Grammy Awards anonymously, expressed concern that her identity would be revealed in the proceedings.A woman who filed a lawsuit accusing Neil Portnow, the former head of the Grammy Awards, of drugging and raping her in a New York hotel room has asked a federal judge for her case to be dismissed.The request by the woman, who filed her suit anonymously in November, was addressed to Judge Analisa Torres of Federal District Court in Manhattan over the weekend via email, and it was posted on Monday to the court’s website. Days before, her lawyers had opposed a statement by Mr. Portnow’s lawyers to require the woman to use her real name in the case.In her letter, the woman made clear that she was concerned about her identity being revealed. She also noted a dispute with her lawyers. Despite their opposition to Mr. Portnow’s request, she wrote that her lawyers’ filing “did not accurately reflect my position.”Also on Monday, her lawyer, Jeffrey R. Anderson, filed a motion to withdraw as her counsel. Mr. Anderson said she had submitted the letter without his knowledge, and that “the attorney-client relationship has deteriorated beyond repair.” Reached by phone on Tuesday, Mr. Anderson declined to comment.The woman’s lawsuit, originally filed in New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan, arrived as a legal window in New York was drawing to a close that had allowed people to file civil suits alleging sexual assault even if the statute of limitations for their cases had expired. The case was removed to federal court in January.The woman, who was identified in her suit only as a musician from outside the United States, said she met Mr. Portnow, then the chief executive of the Recording Academy, at a Grammy event in New York in early 2018. According to her complaint, that June he invited her to a Manhattan hotel room where he was staying. He gave her wine and she lost consciousness, according to the suit, and the woman said that she awoke to find him “forcibly” penetrating her.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      2024 Met Gala After-Parties: Usher, Serena Williams and Other Celebs

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      One reason the Met Gala after-parties are nearly as famous as the Met Gala itself has to do with an incident that took place 10 years ago at the Standard Hotel in the West Village of Manhattan.On that night, Beyoncé was a star of the red carpet at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, along with her husband, Jay-Z, and her sister Solange Knowles. Afterward, in an elevator car headed to the Boom Boom Room, the club on the top floor of the Standard, Solange attacked her brother-in-law while Beyoncé stood watching and a bodyguard tried to restore order. The security-cam footage leaked to TMZ and the internet, and a family fight became the stuff of New York social lore.Things were less dramatic this year and less star studded at the annual Standard after-party. Just past midnight, the most famous person at Boom was the designer Christian Siriano, who had arrived with his date for the evening, the model Coca Rocha. Connie Fleming, the hotel’s longtime doorwoman, reflected on the changes in the social atmosphere since the heady days of 2014.“I think the Met Gala has peaked in its base of being about real fashion and real fashion people,” said Ms. Fleming, who became one of the trans community’s first stars in the 1990s, when she walked runways for Thierry Mugler.Christian Siriano and Coco Rocha at the party at Boom. Nina Westervelt for The New York TimesLil Nas X and Camila Cabello at Boom.Nina Westervelt for The New York TimesPedro Oberto and Marc Bouwer.Nina Westervelt for The New York TimesWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More