(Photo
by
Michael
M.
Santiago/Getty
Images)
On
Monday,
New
York
Court’s
Chief
Administrative
Judge
Joseph
A.
Zayas
announced
that
the
court
will
be
publishing
daily
transcripts
of
Trump’s
criminal
trial
along
with
the
trial
exhibits
“to
ensure
broad
and
continuous
public
access
to
this
extraordinarily
high-profile
case.”
Arguably,
“continuous
public
access”
would
involve
livestreaming
the
entire
trial,
but
we
take
what
we
can
get.
Especially
when
it
lets
us
see
the
absolutely
dogshit
opening
statement
delivered
by
Trump’s
lawyer
Todd
Blanche.
The
prosecutors
went
first,
of
course,
and
Assistant
DA
Matthew
Colangelo
delivered
a
stemwinder
that
framed
the
false
business
records
as
part
of
a
larger
scheme
to
influence
the
presidential
election.
“The
defendant,
Donald
Trump,
orchestrated
a
criminal
scheme
to
corrupt
the
2016
presidential
election,”
he
began.
“Then
he
covered
up
that
criminal
conspiracy
by
lying
in
his
New
York
business
records
over
and
over
and
over
again.”
Colangelo
went
on
to
describe
in
minute
detail
the
plan
cooked
up
by
Trump,
his
fixer
Michael
Cohen,
and
his
longtime
buddy
David
Pecker,
the
owner
of
the
National
Enquirer.
The
three
agreed
that
Pecker
would
promote
stories
harmful
to
Trump’s
opponents,
while
buying
up
stories
which
might
hurt
Trump’s
campaign
and
making
sure
they
never
saw
the
light
of
day.
Trump
agreed
that
he
would
reimburse
Pecker
after
the
election.
But
after
two
such
deals,
Pecker
balked
at
paying
Stormy
Daniels,
so
Cohen
and
Trump
tried
to
stall
her
until
after
the
election,
at
which
point
it
wouldn’t
matter
what
she
said.
But
then
the
Access
Hollywood
tape
dropped,
and
Colangelo
described
panic
inside
the
Trump
campaign,
which
prompted
Cohen
to
take
$130,000
out
of
his
home
equity
line
to
finally
come
to
terms
with
Daniels.
And
then
Trump
reimbursed
him
for
the
$130,000
plus
the
taxes
he’d
have
to
pay
if
he’d
actually
earned
the
$130,000
as
ordinary
income.
What
Todd
Blanche’s
opening
statement
proposes
is
…
maybe
he
didn’t?
“President
Trump
is
innocent.
President
Trump
didn’t
commit
any
crimes,”
Blanche
began,
insisting
that
his
client
deserved
to
be
addressed
by
his
honorific,
“out
of
respect
for
the
office
that
he
held.”
In
Blanche’s
telling,
Trump
“put
up
a
wall
between
himself
and
his
company”
when
he
assumed
office,
and
he
had
no
idea
what
was
going
on
inside
the
Trump
Organization
between
2017
and
2021.
The
invoice
was
processed.
Somebody
at
Trump
Tower
generated
a
check.
The
check
was
ultimately
signed,
and
there
was
a
record
in
a
ledger
on
President
Trump’s
personal
records
that
reflected
the
invoice.
Sure,
Trump
signed
those
checks
to
Michael
Cohen.
But
he
was
so
busy
doing
official
president
stuff
that
he
just
assumed
they
were
on
the
up
and
up!
For
nine
of
the
checks,
the
check
made
its
way
down
to
the
White
House,
and
President
Trump
signed
it.
You’ll
hear
that
he’s
the
only
signatory
on
his
personal
checking
account,
which
is
why
he
signed
the
check.So,
what
on
Earth
is
a
crime?
What
is
a
crime
about
what
I
just
described?
The
sham
invoices,
false
ledger
entries,
and
checks
for
non-existent
legal
work
were
just
“34
pieces
of
paper,”
Blanche
scoffed,
and
how
can
paper
be
a
crime?
He
also
seems
to
be
banking
on
the
financial
illiteracy
of
the
jury
panel
culled
from
residents
of
the
world’s
financial
capital,
several
of
whom
are
lawyers
or
financial
professionals.
You’ll
hear
that
Ms.
Clifford/Ms.
Daniels,
did,
in
fact,
sign
an
NDA
in
October
of
2016
in
exchange
for
$130,000.
But,
think
for
a
moment
of
what
the
People
just
told
you.
President
Trump
did
not
pay
Mr.
Cohen
back
$130,000.
President
Trump
paid
Michael
Cohen
$420,000.And
in
the
same
breath,
the
People
told
you
that
President
Trump
is
known
as
a
frugal
businessman,
that
he
pinches
pennies.Ask
yourself:
Would
a
frugal
businessman,
would
a
man
who
pinches
pennies
repay
$130,000
debt
to
the
tune
of
$420,000?
IF
THE
GLOVE
DOES
NOT
FIT,
YOU
MUST
ACQUIT!
Blanche
insisted
that
his
client
did
not
have
sexual
relations
with
that
woman,
Miss
Clifford
…
errr,
Daniels,
who
was
just
trying
to
extort
Trump
as
part
of
a
“sinister”
attempt
to
“embarrass”
him
and
his
family.
Blanche
acknowledged
that
Trump
did
authorize
Cohen
to
enter
into
the
hush
money
agreement
with
Daniels,
but
not
that
he
authorized
any
reimbursement
of
the
money
Cohen
put
forward.
This
would
seem
to
suggest
that
Trump
intended
to
stiff
Cohen,
but
let
us
not
linger
on
unpleasant
things!
In
Todd
Blanche’s
telling,
Michael
Cohen
sent
the
sham
bills
to
the
Trump
Organization,
which
simply
paid
them
without
thinking
because
Cohen
was
a
trusted
employee.
Also,
Michael
Cohen
is
a
lying
scoundrel
who
should
never
be
believed
and
who
has
a
blood
vendetta
against
the
defendant.
And
none
of
this
is
a
“conspiracy”
because
Trump
wasn’t
charged
with
violating
campaign
finance
laws
to
engineer
an
illegal
payment
meant
to
influence
the
outcome
of
the
election.
Okay,
yes,
Michael
Cohen
pled
guilty
to
making
an
excessive,
undeclared
contribution,
and
Pecker
accepted
immunity
for
same.
But
they
never
charged
Trump,
and
anyway,
schemes
are
good,
actually?
The
reality
is,
there’s
nothing
illegal
about
a
scheme.
There’s
nothing
illegal
about
what
you
will
hear
happened
among
AMI
and
National
Enquirer
and
Mr.
Pecker
and
President
Trump.It
happens
—
I
expect
you
will
hear
shortly,
this
sort
of
thing
happens
regularly,
that
newspapers
make
decisions
about
what
to
publish,
when
to
publish,
and
how
to
publish.
It
happens
with
politicians,
with
wealthy
people,
with
famous
people.It’s
not
a
scheme.
Unless
a
scheme
means
something
that
doesn’t
matter,
that’s
not
illegal,
that’s
not
against
the
law.
This
would
appear
to
be
a
bet
that
New
York
jurors
are
either
dumb
as
rocks
or
prone
to
nullification.
Let’s
see
if
it
pays
off!
Trump
Trial
Transcript,
April
22
Liz
Dye lives
in
Baltimore
where
she
produces
the
Law
and
Chaos substack and podcast.