Things started off with a bang Tuesday at Donald Trump’s criminal trial in Manhattan as Justice Juan Merchan announced he was holding the insurrection-instigating former president in contempt for violating a gag order and fining him a total of $9,000. Merchan also reminded the defense that throwing Trump in jail for further violations remains a viable option.
This gave Trump a brand new reason to whine to the media during a break in the session that his First Amendment rights are being violated by a Trump-hating judge blah blah blah. Still, it undoubtedly was infuriating for Trump to start the day in court by being reprimanded for acting like a bullying, threatening asshole, and not being able to erupt like a bullying, threatening asshole.
Even worse, Trump was ordered to comply with the judge’s demand that he have nine gag-order-violating posts removed from Truth Social. Imagine being forced to remove posts from your own social media platform by a crooked, Trump-hating judge! This is not America.
But there were many more infuriating moments to come for the presumptive GOP presidential nominee! Bit by bit, piece by piece, the prosecutors used multiple witnesses and evidence Tuesday to connect Trump to a conspiracy with former personal attorney Michael Cohen to pay hush money to porn star Stormy Daniels on the eve of the 2016 election and then falsify business records to cover up the payments.
After walking jurors through the steps Cohen took to 1) set up an LLC for laundering the hush money and 2) make a $131,000 wire transfer from his home equity line to the new shell business’s First Republic Bank account, prosecutors played a series of videos from Trump rallies in October 2016 in which he brands as liars every woman who has ever accused him of sexual assault. Not only are they lying, insists Trump to one MAGA crowd after another, he’s never met any of them!
Then the prosecution started playing Trump’s disastrous deposition in the E. Jean Carroll rape case. From the New York Times trial live feed:
And now is the portion of the deposition in which Trump was asked by E. Jean Carroll’s lawyer if he was familiar with the infamous "Access Hollywood” tape. Trump confirmed in the deposition that it was him speaking on that video.
Fun fact: Even though Trump quickly and publicly admitted it was indeed him bragging about grabbing women by the pussies on the Access Hollywood recording leaked in early October 2016, a year later he floated a theory that maybe it wasn’t him. Idiot, you already admitted it!
The reason the Access Hollywood incident is relevant to this criminal case is it increased pressure on the Trump campaign to deal with the Stormy Daniels situation as the election neared, while also increasing interest in her salacious story. Trump and Cohen had to act fast before Stormy sold the rights to an outlet that would actually publish the scoop and voters found out that pussy-grabbing Don, later to become Sleepy Don, was banging a porn star while his wife was home with their baby son.
Keith Davidson, a lawyer representing Daniels during the hush-money transaction, testified in the afternoon about the events surrounding his work for another client, Karen McDougal, a former Playboy model. McDougal claimed to have had an affair with Trump in the mid-aughts. Davidson negotiated a $150,000 catch-and-kill deal for McDougal with the Enquirer.
Prosecutors are walking Keith Davidson through his text messages with Dylan Howard, who was editor of The National Enquirer, in which Davidson tells Howard: “I have blockbuster Trump story.” In his reply, Howard asked, "did he cheat" on Melania.
These text messages are remarkable to see on screen as Trump sits at the defense table looking on. Jurors already understand, from last week, the basics of Karen McDougal’s account of an affair with Trump. But now they are seeing it corroborated with incredibly damning texts, right after they were reminded Trump was married to Melania at the time. It’s not clear how the jurors are reacting — some are watching the speakers and others are looking at their notes or their screens.
During his testimony, Keith Davidson had to explain another text he sent to Dylan Howard where, in reference to the deal The National Enquirer was making with McDougal, Davidson wrote, “Throw in an ambassadorship for me. I’m thinking Isle of Man.” Davidson said the text was a joke that referenced Trump's presidential campaign. Pressed further by the prosecutor, Joshua Steinglass, he adds that he understood that getting McDougal a deal would help Trump’s candidacy.
Davidson’s testimony seems to be doing Lyin’, Two-timin’ Don no favors!
The jury this afternoon is hearing, over and over again, that Trump was married when the hush-money deal with Karen McDougal was being negotiated. The judge has not permitted much of the potential evidence that would paint Trump in the most harshly negative light. But it is really difficult — given the context of the charges and the trio of hush-money deals in question — for the witnesses to avoid making him look dishonest, if not worse. No wonder it’s so rare to see a witness make eye contact with the former president while on the stand.
Imagine Trump sitting there at the defense table, eyes closed in a futile effort to shut out reality, listening to witnesses lay out what a disgusting piece of shit he is.
But of all the narcissistic injuries inflicted on Trump during Tuesday’s testimony, this one undoubtedly cut the deepest:
Keith Davidson is now reading his texts with Dylan Howard aloud. One of them joked about hiring a Trump impersonator who had more money than Trump. Pressed on what that meant, Davidson, appearing deeply uncomfortable and choosing his words carefully, says he took it to mean that Trump was not as wealthy as he claimed.
Nothing enrages Trump more than people questioning his wealth. His entire self-image is built on the false notion that he is one of the richest people in the world. Example: After Trump agreed to be the subject of a celebrity roast in 2011…
Trump Tower made it known that two subjects were off-limits: Trump’s past bankruptcies, and any suggestion that he was not as wealthy as he claimed to be. “I don’t think we ever got that in writing, but that was definitely conveyed verbally,” [Comedy Central senior vice president Jonas] Larsen said. Another roast writer posted a note on the app Li.st that referenced Trump’s prohibition on “any joke that suggests Trump is not actually as wealthy as he claims to be.”
And now Trump is trapped in a shabby courtroom that he can’t even storm out of, listening to people read texts that mock him and question his wealth, and hearing testimony regarding his multiple extramarital affairs. And closing his eyes isn’t making any of it go away.
(From Project Orange: Saving Democracy From the Trump-MAGA Cult)