May 28, 2024, 5:35 p.m. ET


Jonah BromwichReporting from inside the courthouse

An extremely interesting move by Joshua Steinglass just now — he moved very quickly over some of the testimony most damning to Trump, because it came from Michael Cohen. And now he is referring to exhibits that Jeffrey McConney, a longtime loyal Trump employee, testified about: Allen Weisselberg’s notes setting up the repayments.

Steinglass refers to these exhibits as “the smoking guns” of the prosecution’s argument, saying they “completely blow out of the water the claim the money paid to Cohen” was for legal services.

May 28, 2024, 5:30 p.m. ET

Jonah BromwichReporting from inside the courthouse

Joshua Steinglass has moved the action to January 2017, the month that Trump was inaugurated. He is describing a meeting between Michael Cohen and Allen Weisselberg, then the Trump Organization's chief financial officer, who Cohen testified had made the arrangements to reimburse Cohen for the hush-money payment. “Right on the bank statement, Weisselberg and Cohen calculated all the money that was owed to Cohen,” Steinglass says.
May 28, 2024, 5:34 p.m. ET

Jonah BromwichReporting from inside the courthouse

Steinglass then highlights Michael Cohen’s testimony implicating Trump in the charged crimes. He shows jurors, using highlighted transcript pages, Cohen’s testimony that Trump not only approved the arrangement but was aware that the reimbursements would be classified as payments for legal services.

If jurors believe Cohen’s testimony here, the prosecutors will be in a very strong position. But it’s worth noting that the documentary evidence that supported all of Steinglass’s arguments from October 2016 is in short supply here.


May 28, 2024, 5:28 p.m. ET


Jonah BromwichReporting from inside the courthouse

As we start up again, Joshua Steinglass…says that Trump, after getting elected, still had to ensure that no one found out about the conspiracy. “But here’s the problem,” Steinglass says. “Michael Cohen was out $130,000.”

Steinglass says that Trump could not just write Cohen a check…Cohen…”wanted his money back.”