The transcripts from Donald Trump’s criminal trial in Manhattan can be read by the public, thanks to persistent effort by many people, including myself, several Daily News editorials and a motion by Common Cause, all requesting that the transcripts be released daily.
On April 22, the state Unified Court System “announced that trial transcripts will be available on the court system’s website at https://ww2.nycourts.gov/press/index.shtml.”
I have been reading these transcripts as they have been released, and, as I suspected, they contain a number of trial nuggets that have not been reported by the press.
One aspect of the trial not covered by the press has been the sidebar conferences with the lawyers and Judge Juan Merchan. These conferences are held off to the side of the judge’s bench, hence the name “sidebar,” out of earshot from the jury, the public spectators and the press. The court stenographers, however, record every word, all of which appear in the transcripts.
One such sidebar occurred on April 26 during Trump lawyer Emil Bove’s cross-examination of former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker. In urging the judge to permit him to elicit from Pecker what he believed was a contradiction in his testimony, Bove acknowledged, “I think you know, this is the first cross-examination as a defense lawyer I have ever done.” (Transcript p. 1435.)
This left me breathless — that the first former president to ever be criminally prosecuted retained a lawyer who is actually a rookie, and he attempted to use his inexperience to support his position before the judge.
Bove’s cross-examination of Pecker, principally attempting to make the case that what the National Enquirer did for Trump in the 2016 election was standard practice for the National Enquirer in relation to other politicians and celebrities was equally stunning. (Tr. pp.1339-1451.)
Whatever headway Bove appeared to make on his cross was totally obliterated by the assistant DA’s effective and simple redirect that showed that what the National Enquirer did to silence former Playboy model Karen McDougall and the doorman Dino Sajudin by paying them significant funds was not something the National Enquirer did for anyone but Trump. (Tr. pp. 1452-90.)
There is also an unreported portion of Pecker’s direct testimony that is a harbinger of what the DA will almost certainly argue in summation to undermine one of Trump’s key defenses advanced in the opening statement of his principal lawyer Todd Blanche. Blanche told the jury that with respect to the alleged false documents charged in the indictment, Trump “had nothing to do with the invoice, with the check being generated, or with the entry on the ledger.”
In response to questions by the assistant DA, Pecker testified that “over the years” on “multiple times” he was present in Trump’s office when he observed Trump approving checks and invoices that were brought to him by his assistant Rhona Graff. She would provide Trump a “batch of invoices and checks to sign” with the checks stapled to the invoices. Pecker observed Trump as he reviewed the invoices, looked at the checks and then signed them.
Pecker described Trump as “detailed oriented” and a “micromanager.” (Tr. p.1003.) Smart money says all the checks to Michael Cohen for his payback on the Stormy Daniels payment have staple marks in the corner.
In a conference with the lawyers on April 30, the ADA referenced an earlier court hearing on April 15 where the prosecution asked the court “to introduce evidence regarding the defendant’s attempt to dissuade witnesses, including Michael Cohen and Stormy Daniels, through a public pressure campaign, retaliation, harassing comments, including in public remarks and online.” (Tr. p. 1652.)
At the earlier conference, “the Court excluded that evidence subject to the defense opening the door.” The ADA argued on April 30 outside the presence of the jury, and the court seemed to agree, that the defense opened the door to the admissibility of this proof in its opening statement where Blanche argued “Cohen made the decision to blame the defendant for his problems” and claimed Cohen’s “entire financial livelihood depends on attacking” Trump on television and social media. (Tr. pp. 1652-53.)
This is significant because it will admit powerful evidence of Trump’s efforts to keep Cohen from cooperating after the search warrant was executed on Cohen’s law office and Trump’s vicious attacks on Cohen after he pled guilty and cooperated with federal prosecutors. The ADA asked for a ruling on this matter by Thursday.
In short, the transcripts are a treasure trove of insights into the trial that I would encourage everyone to read.
Akerman was formerly an assistant special Watergate prosecutor and an assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York.