Welcome back, Deadline readers: Legal Newsletter. Both the prosecution and defense rested this week in People v. Donald Trump. Closing arguments are scheduled for Tuesday in the first criminal trial against a former US president. No one knows how this historic case ends, so both sides (and the jury) will likely feel the weight of the moment heading into Memorial Day weekend.
The week started with Michael Cohen at the stand, finishing your interrogation. Overall, Trump defense attorney Todd Blanche landed some punches at his client’s former repairman, but nothing seemed to shake the foundation of the state’s case. Manhattan prosecutors rested after Cohen’s testimony, raising the question of whether the defense would call any witnesses, including Trump himself.
Trump did not testifywhich was a smart move, given the tenuous relationship with the truth. But the defense called another bad witness: Roberto Costello. The Trump-aligned lawyer apparently took a stand to destroy Cohen’s credibility. However, his rude behavior almost got him in contempt of judge Juan Merchanand the substance of your testimony didn’t do much better. It could even have helped the prosecution.
The defense rested and Merchan set closing arguments for Tuesday. However, the parties discussed important jury instructions this will influence how they present their sums. Once the jury begins deliberating, we could get a verdict at any time – perhaps in next Friday’s newsletter.
In other Trump lawsuitsJudge Aileen Cannon held a hearing in the case of classified documents. More than anything, the Florida courthouse tour highlighted how Cannon is delaying the case, which is increasingly unlikely to be tried before the election. To understand why this happens, see this recent New York Times op-ed from a former CIA lawyer who explains how much Cannon misrepresented this serious process.
Election interference in Georgia 2020 it is also unlikely that the case will be subject to a pre-election trial. This is tied up in pre-trial appeal for the near future. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and his former special prosecutor (and former romantic partner) Nathan Wade made primetime appearances on MSNBC this week, with Rachel Maddow It is Joy Reid. Both Willis and the judge who effectively disqualified Wade from the decision this is on appeal, Scott McAfeeeasily won the elections on Tuesday.
The fourth case, about alleged interference in federal elections, remains on ice. The Supreme Court issued rulings again this week — but not the immunity ruling that halted the Jan. 6-related case against the presumptive Republican nominee. We receive relevant news, in a waywhen The Times reported in yet another flag that flew outside an Alito home and that was also carried by Capitol rioters on January 6. Naturally, this has increased calls for at least Alito’s recuse in cases related to January 6th.
At leastif he doesn’t refuse, Alito should explain his decision as he did in another case of this term.
Alito wrote two opinions who were published this week. One was the Roberts Courtthe latest legal attack on voting. O Decision 6-3, with the court’s majority of Republican appointees, sided with South Carolina Republicans in a ruling that makes racial gerrymandering even harder to prove. Writing to the three Democratic nominees in dissent, Justice Elena Kagan exposed what she called the “inverted” nature of the decision written by the judge whose house, we recently learned we host an upside down American flag after January 6th.
The high court with low ethical standards is set to emit opinions again Thursday. Theoretically, we could see a Trump verdict in New York on the same day as his immunity ruling in Washington, but the latter is it is most likely to come in June.
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This article was originally published in MSNBC.com
