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Gatorubet · May 27

4 hours ago, Captainant said:

Lol now your stanning of our busted ass justice system makes a bit more sense.

We will never know what makes a bit more sense to you, because your garbled word salad is typically bereft of a point.

But the gators and the horns won their super regionals today, so all is pretty, pretty good.

atomheartbevo · May 27

4 hours ago, Jack Straw said:

it’s going to be a hung jury.

Jhawkmvp · May 27

I appreciate the insight from the lawyers on the board and think people should ease up on them for giving their opinions on what they expect to happen and how the court system works for better or worse. However, I think we can all agree that a judge should not take the case of the person who appointed them. It is bad optics, even if they are unbiased and many will be biased and that is why it should not be a thing, especially with the current hyper politized appointments that are happening where your willingness to inject politics into decisions and your ability to serve for decades are more important than if you would make a fair and knowledgeable judge.

TwiceHorn · May 27

11 hours ago, BamaATL said:

Just a guess, nothing more. I've noticed over the years when a prosecutor charges with a shit load, typically a couple of things don't stick entirely.

I agree that juries are apt to "compromise" on occasion. But they usually do so on what most would agree would be the weaker charges or claims in a case.

Each of these 34 counts is virtually identical, so I don't see much room for that.

And yeah, jury deliberations often are not what we'd call logical or even wholly rational. However, in the grand scheme of things, they tend to get things more right than wrong. And I think the perception of illogic and irrationality comes from advocates and observers who have become so "vested" in their case that they can't see how another, more neutral, entity (whether judge or jury) might view the case.

Lawdogs are often puzzled and outraged by decisions of judges and juries, at least initially, but in the fullness of time, those decisions become more acceptable and rational-seeming than in the heat of battle.

TwiceHorn · May 27

10 hours ago, tx 3 putt said:

I disagree that the strategy is "ingenious." Rather, it's obvious and predictable, but is being more effective than I'd hoped.

But I can't read the whole post/thread because fuck Twitter.

Bozo_Casanova · May 27

3 hours ago, TwiceHorn said:

I disagree that the strategy is "ingenious." Rather, it's obvious and predictable, but is being more effective than I'd hoped.

2024: Year of Hope

David Dennison · May 27

atomheartbevo · May 27

Warms my heart that he’s not only having a shitty day, but is telling the world that he is having a shitty day.

jimmyjazz · May 27

How would a dress EJC didn't produce "show negative"?

Brisketexan · May 27

He’s the biggest piece of shit in American history. There’s not even a close second.

Fudge Nuggets · May 27

12 hours ago, Gatorubet said:

The problem here is you do not consider the fact that the Maga team would also be allowed the same rights in your new justice system. Trump thinking someone will be unfair is grounds to recuse the judge.. We would have no Stormy trial at all. We would have no trials ever because he would be recusing everybody on just “feels” and “wants”. It is natural for everyone to consider their side’s interests when you have an asshole like Trump violating the law at will. But you have to step back and flip it to the other side taking advantage of the same things you want to take advantage of, and it becomes less attractive.

You do not fix a court system by making it unfair and partisan. This is why Trump has the advantage right now.

No, you still have to go through the process and a decision made based on the merits of the arguments (laughable I know, but allow me to join your fantasy world of a perfect justice system for a moment. As things stand now, you can’t even try.

YGIFS · May 27

2 hours ago, jimmyjazz said:

How would a dress EJC didn't produce "show negative"?

Yeah, the "dress showed negative" is one of the weirder things he's posted. And that's saying something. First thing that popped in my head was that internet dress deal from a few years ago where some people saw it as blue stripped and others saw it was white stripped. But it was actually a "negative" space color trick. And the simulation keeps going on and on.

Pato del Muerto · May 27

2 hours ago, jimmyjazz said:

How would a dress EJC didn't produce "show negative"?

He was deemed liable for using his finger, right? So what would they be testing for anyway, bronzer and Big Mac sauce?

tbone_ · May 27

He’s the biggest piece of shit in American history. There’s not even a close second.

Also easily the biggest whining pussy.

YGIFS · May 27

53 minutes ago, Pato del Muerto said:

He was deemed liable for using his finger, right? So what would they be testing for anyway, bronzer and Big Mac sauce?

Art Vandelay · May 27

9 minutes ago, tbone_ said:

Also easily the biggest whining pussy.

And the most self-centered. Using a Memorial Day post not to honor our fallen soldiers, but to make it all about himself and his grievances.

TeeDubya · May 27

12 minutes ago, Art Vandelay said:

And the most self-centered. Using a Memorial Day post not to honor our fallen soldiers, but to make it all about himself and his grievances.

There is no other way possible for the Orange Fucktard.

YGIFS · May 27

And he's literally co-opted an actual holiday in Memorial Day as his Festivus where he airs his bullshit grievances. We're about 3 hours away from him making Eric try to pin him and then we just get to pretend we still live in the United States. I mean, Melania even looks a lot like Jerry's two-face girlfriend on the porch. What in the fucking fuck is happening? God bless the fallen men and women of the U.S. Armed Forces.

How much can bullshit and disrespect can the MAGA nation tolerate? I know that some of them get off on the torment and disrespect, but there's gotta be a couple million that have just fucking had it up to here with this guy.

Edited May 27 by YGIFS

miguelito · May 27

What does he mean by "Now for Merchan!"?

jimmyjazz · May 27

1 hour ago, tbone_ said:

Also easily the biggest whining pussy.

I dunno, I think it's a bit of a horse race, but Trump wins by a half length.

elfenix · May 27

"happy" Memorial Day?

atomheartbevo · May 27

1 hour ago, elfenix said:

"happy" Memorial Day?

Trump understands Memorial Day and Veterans Day about as well as Musk understands free speech and the First Amendment.

To Trump, it’s just a banking holiday.

Rimbo · May 27

i find the idea that Cannon is delaying Trump's trial due to executing a brilliant plan brilliantly to be... dubious

She's an idiot in the impossible position of having to treat her criminal hero fairly.

boilerhorn · May 27

First time here and I may regret it . Did a search and could not find this linked, but the outage may have borked search.

Hartman as Trump in 1990. The more things change the more they stay the same.

Gatorubet · May 27

9 minutes ago, Rimbo said:

i find the idea that Cannon is delaying Trump's trial due to executing a brilliant plan brilliantly to be... dubious

She's an idiot in the impossible position of having to treat her criminal hero fairly.

Ummm…… that is not really “brilliant” - and has like one moving part: continue shit so she can’t fuck it up more and Trump can’t get convicted before the election.

Rimbo · May 28

1 hour ago, Gatorubet said:

Ummm…… that is not really “brilliant” - and has like one moving part: continue shit so she can’t fuck it up more and Trump can’t get convicted before the election.

was referring to the twitter thread posted on the previous page that I'm not going to bother to read because the concept is too idiotic to be worth my limited remaining time on this planet

Gatorubet · May 28

Meanwhile…

YGIFS · May 28

14 hours ago, atomheartbevo said:

Trump understands Memorial Day and Veterans Day about as well as Musk understands free speech and the First Amendment.

Well, it's about tariffs, dammit. When you make the troops force China to pay for stollen election machines on Memorial Day to commemorate the Barron's graduation. And other things ot that nature.

I get lower taxes and more predictable regulatory oversight, but this fucking guy. How do so many people love him? I think my shitty drug analogy is actually true.

Dnaguy · May 28

Considering I haven't seen anyone else post this, I thought I should....

Also, I know this isn't as easy to read as it usually is, but alas it's at least here.

Read in reverse.

Todd Blanche is now showing the jury the tax documents sent to Michael Cohen and the I.R.S. as evidence that the payments to Cohen were all above board. It’s important to remember that declaring a payment to the I.R.S. doesn’t automatically make it legal.

Jonah Bromwich
May 28, 2024, 10:35 a.m. ET8 minutes ago
8 minutes ago
Jonah BromwichReporting from inside the courthouse

Todd Blanche is now walking a very thin line as he seeks to convince the jurors that there was no intent by Trump to defraud — a legal concept at the heart of the case — without trespassing into the judge’s territory. Every time Blanche says the phrase “intent to defraud,” the judge stares over at him — but thus far, Justice Merchan has not said anything.

The Links Between Trump and 3 Hush-Money Deals
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Benjamin Protess
May 28, 2024, 10:34 a.m. ET10 minutes ago
10 minutes ago
Benjamin ProtessReporting on Trump's criminal trial

It’s a bit perplexing that Todd Blanche just highlighted that “some sort of tax scheme” was involved in the repayment to Michael Cohen. The prosecution’s theory of the case is that Trump falsified records to cover up a conspiracy to influence the 2016 election — and one way to prove the conspiracy is that tax crimes were involved. It’s unclear why Blanche would draw the jury’s attention to an important aspect of the prosecution’s case.

Jonah Bromwich
May 28, 2024, 10:35 a.m. ET8 minutes ago
8 minutes ago
Jonah BromwichReporting from inside the courthouse
This has been typical of Blanche’s closing and it's part of the risk of seeking to chip away at the prosecution's case, as opposed to pushing a cohesive alternative narrative. If you chip away, you have to hew closely to their case — and inadvertently remind jurors of the prosecution’s arguments.

In his follow-up to this argument about a tax scheme, Blanche asked why Cohen didn’t remember the amount he was meant to be owed each month and why the checks didn’t always come from Trump. Again, even as he seeks to cast doubt on the prosecution’s argument, he reminds jurors of what the other side wants them to believe.

Kate Christobek
May 28, 2024, 10:34 a.m. ET10 minutes ago
10 minutes ago
Kate ChristobekReporting from inside the courthouse

Trump continues to alternate between looking ahead at the defense table and the monitor in front of him and watching Todd Blanche address the jury from the lectern.

Jonah Bromwich
May 28, 2024, 10:31 a.m. ET13 minutes ago
13 minutes ago
Jonah BromwichReporting from inside the courthouse

Todd Blanche is now saying that Trump was not known for overpaying, and that testimony suggested that Michael Cohen did not deserve to be paid all that much for his campaign work, particularly Hope Hicks's remarks that Cohen went “rogue” at times. “That’s not exactly a glowing performance evaluation that justifies a larger bonus,” Blanche says.

Jonah Bromwich
May 28, 2024, 10:31 a.m. ET13 minutes ago
13 minutes ago
Jonah BromwichReporting from inside the courthouse
But at the same time, Blanche has argued that the $420,000 Trump did pay Cohen was for unspecified legal work. So there’s a contradiction in the logic of his closing that may leave him vulnerable.

Maggie Haberman
May 28, 2024, 10:29 a.m. ET15 minutes ago
15 minutes ago
Maggie HabermanReporting from inside the courthouse

It's been striking to hear Todd Blanche depict Trump as too distracted to focus on the matters of the checks and the payments. This portrayal cuts against a long-standing reality of Trump: his penchant to bore down on minutiae during times of high stress.

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Jonah Bromwich
May 28, 2024, 10:28 a.m. ET16 minutes ago
16 minutes ago
Jonah BromwichReporting from inside the courthouse

Todd Blanche just asserted that Michael Cohen’s testimony about an all-important meeting with Trump in January 2017, in which the president-elect signed off on the repayment scheme, is not “corroborated by anything, there’s not a shred of evidence.” And it's true that no one other than Cohen has directly testified about that conversation.

But it’s not true that there is not a “shred of evidence” — in fact, there is lots and lots of circumstantial evidence about what happened that day at Trump Tower, including notes made by Allen Weisselberg, then the Trump Organization's chief financial officer, about how Cohen would be repaid for the hush money, and an email that the defense just highlighted in its own closing referring back to the agreement.

Jonah Bromwich
May 28, 2024, 10:28 a.m. ET16 minutes ago
16 minutes ago
Jonah BromwichReporting from inside the courthouse
I would expect the prosecutors to hit that Blanche assertion hard in their own closing later today.

Jonah Bromwich
May 28, 2024, 10:25 a.m. ET19 minutes ago
19 minutes ago
Jonah BromwichReporting from inside the courthouse

Todd Blanche has turned to attacking Michael Cohen: “What the government did for the past five weeks, is to ask you to believe the man who testified two weeks ago, Michael Cohen,” he says.

Kate Christobek
May 28, 2024, 10:25 a.m. ET19 minutes ago
19 minutes ago
Kate ChristobekReporting from inside the courthouse
Blanche bluntly asks the jury: “How is the government going to ask you to convict President Trump based on the words of Michael Cohen?”

Jonah Bromwich
May 28, 2024, 10:25 a.m. ET19 minutes ago
19 minutes ago
Jonah BromwichReporting from inside the courthouse

Todd Blanche seemed to be describing why Trump could not be held accountable for checks he had signed. But then, somewhat confusingly, he returned to the Michael Cohen invoices, saying that jurors cannot assume that because Trump looked at invoices, “somehow he had full knowledge of what was happening.” It's possible he either meant to say checks, or decided to return to invoices abruptly. A few seconds later, he repeated the same point and made sure to mention both checks and invoices.

Maggie Haberman
May 28, 2024, 10:22 a.m. ET22 minutes ago
22 minutes ago
Maggie HabermanReporting from inside the courthouse

Todd Blanche is repeatedly reminding the jurors that Trump is a former president. This is as much about injecting reasonable doubt as it is about trying to remind the jurors of the weight of their responsibility.

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Credit...Doug Mills/The New York Times
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Maggie Haberman
May 28, 2024, 10:21 a.m. ET23 minutes ago
23 minutes ago
Maggie HabermanReporting from inside the courthouse

Todd Blanche is talking about Trump signing the other nine checks in the White House, recalling that “two witnesses” — meaning Hope Hicks and Madeleine Westerhout — had described Trump as “very busy. He was running the country.”

The suggestion that Trump may not have realized what he was paying for as he signed his own checks has been something his allies have offered up since 2018, when this issue first became public.

Benjamin Protess
May 28, 2024, 10:21 a.m. ET23 minutes ago
23 minutes ago
Benjamin ProtessReporting on Trump's criminal trial
The jury will have to weigh this argument against the well-established impression of Trump as a penny-pinching micromanager, an image Trump has stoked in his own books.

Jonah Bromwich
May 28, 2024, 10:20 a.m. ET24 minutes ago
24 minutes ago
Jonah BromwichReporting from inside the courthouse

Todd Blanche is moving through the three categories of financial documents that prosecutors say are false, and seeking to provide an explanation for each. He started with the invoices, saying they were disqualified because they were sent by Michael Cohen. He followed up with the internal ledger entries, which he said were generated by the Trump Organization’s software and its limited dropdown menu. But now he has reached the 11 checks, nine of which were signed by Trump himself.

Kate Christobek
May 28, 2024, 10:20 a.m. ET24 minutes ago
24 minutes ago
Kate ChristobekReporting from inside the courthouse
Blanche seeks to distance Trump from the first two checks, reminding the jury that he didn’t personally sign them.

Maggie Haberman
May 28, 2024, 10:18 a.m. ET26 minutes ago
26 minutes ago
Maggie HabermanReporting from inside the courthouse

Todd Blanche raps the government for not calling Trump’s older sons, Don Jr. and Eric, who took over the management of his company after Trump became president, to testify.

Maggie Haberman
May 28, 2024, 10:16 a.m. ET28 minutes ago
28 minutes ago
Maggie HabermanReporting from inside the courthouse

We have no idea what the jurors are thinking. As has happened most days, the foreman, who I’ve never seen take a note, is staring at the lawyer, expressionless, as the closings go ahead.

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Jonah Bromwich
May 28, 2024, 10:14 a.m. ET30 minutes ago
30 minutes ago
Jonah BromwichReporting from inside the courthouse

Todd Blanche just argued that the 12 ledger entries at issue in the case were classified as legal services because the Trump Organization's software used a dropdown menu in which one of the limited options provided is: “legal expense.”

Needless to say, the dropdown menu does not have a “repayment for hush-money deal” option.

Maggie Haberman
May 28, 2024, 10:15 a.m. ET29 minutes ago
29 minutes ago
Maggie HabermanReporting from inside the courthouse
That Cohen did actual legal work for Trump around when he received the payments from Trump has always been one of the defense’s strongest arguments.

Michael Gold
May 28, 2024, 10:16 a.m. ET28 minutes ago
28 minutes ago
Michael GoldReporting from inside the courthouse
And Trump himself has focused his Truth Social posts on this argument throughout the duration of the trial.

Image

Credit...Pool photo by Julia Nikhinson
Benjamin Protess
May 28, 2024, 10:16 a.m. ET27 minutes ago
27 minutes ago
Benjamin ProtessReporting on Trump's criminal trial
But one problem with this argument from the defense, that Cohen was repaid for legal services unrelated to the hush-money payment he made to Stormy Daniels, is that Trump’s chief financial officer laid out the plan to pay him on a copy of Cohen’s bank statement showing he paid her lawyer.

Maggie Haberman
May 28, 2024, 10:12 a.m. ET32 minutes ago
32 minutes ago
Maggie HabermanReporting from inside the courthouse

Todd Blanche is now mocking prosecutors’ inclusion of Trump’s own words in one of his partially ghostwritten books from years ago, which was entered into evidence as proof of him being a micromanager. “If the government reads to you quotes from a book a decade, more than a decade earlier, you should be suspicious,” Blanche says. “That’s a red flag”

Jonah Bromwich
May 28, 2024, 10:12 a.m. ET32 minutes ago
32 minutes ago
Jonah BromwichReporting from inside the courthouse
Blanche almost adopted a comedian’s tone, delivering the “red flag” line as if it were a punchline. The jurors closest to him looked a bit skeptical.

Jonah Bromwich
May 28, 2024, 10:11 a.m. ET33 minutes ago
33 minutes ago
Jonah BromwichReporting from inside the courthouse

Already, Todd Blanche has hit upon a few key themes: He has focused on the documents, referring to this as a “paper case.” He has sought to distance Trump, saying the leader of the free world had nothing to do with the way documents were classified at the Trump Organization. And he has attacked Michael Cohen as a liar who was too greedy to do legal work for free.

“What makes more sense?” Blanche asked just now, asking whether the prosecutors’ allegations are more logical than the simple idea that Trump agreed to pay Cohen for legal work.

Jesse McKinley
May 28, 2024, 10:11 a.m. ET33 minutes ago
33 minutes ago
Jesse McKinleyReporting from inside the courthouse
Blanche is making a classic horses, not zebras argument, saying that the simplest explanation of behavior is usually the right one, as he argues that Cohen was simply being paid for legal work, not repayment for a cover-up scheme.

Benjamin Protess
May 28, 2024, 10:08 a.m. ET36 minutes ago
36 minutes ago
Benjamin ProtessReporting on Trump's criminal trial

In New York, written retainer agreements are generally required between lawyers and their clients, though there are exceptions that might apply in the case of Trump and Michael Cohen. Specifically, lawyers don’t always need to establish a written retainer when they are performing the same type of legal work they’ve done previously.

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Jonah Bromwich
May 28, 2024, 10:08 a.m. ET36 minutes ago
36 minutes ago
Jonah BromwichReporting from inside the courthouse

Todd Blanche just played an interesting game with the phrase “retainer agreement.” He has insisted loudly that Michael Cohen testified there was no retainer, multiple times. Then he gestures toward an email from Allen Weisselberg, the Trump Organization’s chief financial officer, referencing an “agreement.” But that email says nothing about a “retainer agreement” specifically, and in fact, per Cohen’s testimony, refers back to his agreement with Weisselberg and Trump to disguise reimbursements for the hush-money payment.

Jonah Bromwich
May 28, 2024, 10:06 a.m. ET38 minutes ago
38 minutes ago
Jonah BromwichReporting from inside the courthouse

Todd Blanche said during the trial that Michael Cohen had an “oral” retainer agreement with Trump, meaning that he had agreed to do legal work on Trump’s behalf. So in his closing, just now, when he said there was a retainer agreement, he may have been out on a limb. We’ll see if and how the prosecutors respond in their own closing.

Jonah Bromwich
May 28, 2024, 9:59 a.m. ET44 minutes ago
44 minutes ago
Jonah BromwichReporting from inside the courthouse

The defense lawyers signaled throughout the trial that they would push an argument that Todd Blanche is making right now: That the documents weren’t false because Michael Cohen really was doing legal work for Trump in 2017. He’s casting aspersions on the government’s theory of Cohen being repaid for his payment to Stormy Daniels, saying that if that were so, Cohen would have been doing unremunerated legal work.

Maggie Haberman
May 28, 2024, 10:01 a.m. ET43 minutes ago
43 minutes ago
Maggie HabermanReporting from inside the courthouse
Blanche’s voice is rising as he again insists Cohen lied in his description of the level of work he was doing for Trump.

Michael Gold
May 28, 2024, 9:57 a.m. ET47 minutes ago
47 minutes ago
Michael GoldReporting from inside the courthouse

Todd Blanche has been emphasizing the image of Trump in the White House, conjuring up his long days in the Oval Office as the “leader of the free world.” It seems to be an effort to put more distance between Trump and the documents at the center of the case, while also reminding the jury that the defendant is, unlike every other criminal defendant ever, a former American president.

Susanne Craig
May 28, 2024, 9:57 a.m. ET47 minutes ago
47 minutes ago
Susanne CraigReporting from inside the courthouse
As busy as he may have been, jurors have heard from numerous witnesses that Trump is a lifelong micromanager. For instance, he frequently sought to reduce the size of bills he owed. For decades he insisted on signing pretty much every check leaving the Trump Organization.

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Jonah Bromwich
May 28, 2024, 9:16 a.m. ET1 hour ago
1 hour ago
Jonah BromwichReporting from inside the courthouse

The prosecutors enter the courtroom for their final day of arguments. Joshua Steinglass, who is expected to deliver the closing argument for the prosecution, is laden down with one enormous box. The rest of them are carrying bags, binders and other containers for documents. They look serious, fewer smiles than usual, as they steel themselves for the day.

Jesse McKinley
May 28, 2024, 9:23 a.m. ET1 hour ago
1 hour ago
Jesse McKinleyReporting from inside the courthouse
By contrast, the court officers — who have been patient, professional, and largely accomodating under a crush of media interest — seem a touch more relaxed today, perhaps sensing the looming end of the daily grind of dealing with reporters, a demanding bunch.

Image

Credit...Adam Gray for The New York Times
Jonah Bromwich
May 28, 2024, 9:55 a.m. ET49 minutes ago
49 minutes ago
Jonah BromwichReporting from inside the courthouse

Todd Blanche is focusing on the 34 documents that led to the 34 felony charges. He sounded as if he was getting close to making a legal argument about “intent to defraud.” The jurors would have to find that Trump acted with intent to defraud when he directed the falsification of the documents in order to find him guilty.

Justice Merchan appeared to glare at Blanche as he came close to commenting on the law. But the defense lawyer moved away, and the judge said nothing.

Jonah Bromwich
May 28, 2024, 9:56 a.m. ET48 minutes ago
48 minutes ago
Jonah BromwichReporting from inside the courthouse
He is talking about the first batch of documents: 11 invoices that were sent by Michael Cohen. The invoices said that Cohen required payment for legal services, but Cohen testified at trial that he was directed to say that by the powers that be at the Trump Organization. Prosecutors say Trump himself caused these false documents to come into being.

Image

Credit...Julia Nikhinson/Associated Press
Jesse McKinley
May 28, 2024, 9:52 a.m. ET52 minutes ago
52 minutes ago
Jesse McKinleyReporting from inside the courthouse

For those of you more accustomed to the closing arguments you've seen on T.V. — which are usually just spoken summations — it might be a surprise that many have visual components. Todd Blanche is currently breaking down evidence that is being displayed on screens.

Maggie Haberman
May 28, 2024, 9:50 a.m. ET54 minutes ago
54 minutes ago
Maggie HabermanReporting from inside the courthouse

Todd Blanche says he is going to talk a lot about Michael Cohen today. “You cannot convict President Trump on any crime beyond a reasonable doubt on the words of Michael Cohen,” Blanche says, adding that Cohen took the stand during the trial and told “lies” while there.

Maggie Haberman
May 28, 2024, 9:46 a.m. ET58 minutes ago
58 minutes ago
Maggie HabermanReporting from inside the courthouse

Todd Blanche says that this case “is about documents. It’s a paper case.” It is not, he says, about an encounter with Stormy Daniels, noting — something the client likes hearing — that the defendant has denied it occurred.

Jonah Bromwich
May 28, 2024, 9:50 a.m. ET54 minutes ago
54 minutes ago
Jonah BromwichReporting from inside the courthouse
Blanche is seeking to narrow the aperture of the case for the jury, saying that it’s not about Daniels’s story or even the hush-money payment but that it's about whether Trump, “while he was living in the White House and was the leader of the free world,” had anything to do with the way that financial documents were processed at the Trump Organization.

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Jesse McKinley
May 28, 2024, 9:11 a.m. ET1 hour ago
1 hour ago
Jesse McKinleyReporting from inside the courthouse

Six members of the public made it into the courtroom, including one woman who wanted to sit on the aisle, next to where Trump will walk in. She was denied by a court officer.

Nate Schweber
May 28, 2024, 9:11 a.m. ET1 hour ago
1 hour ago
Nate SchweberReporting from outside the courthouse

Trump’s motorcade arrived at 9:01 a.m., greeted by a charged atmosphere outside the courthouse and a long line to get inside. A gray-bearded man paced back and forth, waving a wooden cross and clanging a bell. Another man shouted insults at government workers.

Andrew Giuliani filmed himself confronting a demonstrator carrying a sign protesting the killings of children in Gaza. (“What about the hostages?” Giuliani said, mugging for his phone.) Several women who are originally from China and turn out daily to support Trump demanded that the police evict anti-Trump hecklers. (“Everybody has the right to say what they want,” an officer replied.)

To more than two dozen supporters waving flags, Trump puckered his lips and pointed.