Trump Trial: 'I Felt The Skin Of A 60-Year-Old Man'
Day 14, afternoon: More motive, more evidence, more Todd and Susan losin'.
Happy Friday, here’s your Thursday afternoon Trump-trial debrief!
It got calm after the Stormy (catch up here), but then got spicier again at the end of the day when Todd Blanche lost his shit then got his ass handed to him. Let’s resume!
The next witness after Stormy Daniels was Rebecca Manochio, a Trump Org junior bookkeeper under buffoon Controller Jeff McConney and jailbird CFO Allen Weisselberg. Manochio testified she FedExed checks to the White House for Trump to sign, then got them back for processing. She also sent checks to the houses of Trump bodyguard Keith Schiller and Trump aide John McEntee. Yawn, but gotta track the movement of those payments.
Then lunchtime!
And so now we find out why Alina Habba and Judge Jeanine Boxwine Pirro were marinating in Trump’s fart zone: so they can step out and squawk in front of the courthouse at lunch for Fox News about how everything is both going great for glorious Donald Trump, and yet also HOW UGH UNFAIR RIGGED it all is!
Rasped Jeanine about the defense’s disaster of a morning:
“I think the most telling about the testimony today is that this was a master class in cross-examination. You had an attorney who was able to question Stormy Daniels about what she said … all the prior inconsistent statements that are what we use as prosecutors to make the witness incredible. And this witness was incredible.”
No, you’re incredible, Jeanine. I’m sure the jury — an Irish guy who wears black, woman who enjoys meditation, lawyers, speech therapist, software engineer, and assorted retirees — appreciated how Susie Nickels spent hours arguing that Stormy is the real criminal here because boxer shorts can’t be pajamas.
Then Habba got beamed into America’s Newsroom (TM) too, to wring her hands at the UNFAIR part, DUAL SYSTEM OF JUSTICE! “As his legal spokeswoman I’m nervous about what I can’t say, and that’s also unconstitutional. The fact that they will not let a defendant speak, exercise his first Amendment rights, that is un-American. Yesterday we filed something in the appellate division. […] I’m an attorney for the president, so I will be careful in watching my words.”
Mmm hmm. What total number of garbage appeals would that make by now? At least a Brooklyn fatberg’s worth.
After lunch, witness Manochio confirmed that Trump was the only one who could sign his personal checks.
Then next witness! It’s Tracy Menzies of Harper Collins, VP of stuff, custodian of records. We love afternoon book-reading time, let us brew tea and settle into a quilt, imagining we’re by a fireplace, and unwind from the traumatizing morning. Menzies is here to read from Trump’s Think Big: Make It Happen in Business and Life.
[Hey, a breaking news alert just dropped! Bruce Garelick, an investor in that shell company that merged with Trump Media, has been found guilty of insider trading. Two other men have already pled guilty in the scheme. Womp womp.]
Now back to TRUMP THINK BIG: Make It Happen in Business and Life, and imagining the feel and smell of hardbound book paper and the ASMR of a publishing person’s enunciation.
![TRUMP and Bill Zanker, THINK BIG: MAKE IT HAPPEN IN BUSINESS AND LIFE. “This book is Donald Trump’s version of The Secret, It’s a must read!” — Jack Canfield, coauthor [sic] of Chicken Soup for the Soul](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F179a3437-2260-411f-a45f-fe49ba613b07_412x626.jpeg "TRUMP and Bill Zanker, THINK BIG: MAKE IT HAPPEN IN BUSINESS AND LIFE. “This book is Donald Trump’s version of The Secret, It’s a must read!” — Jack Canfield, coauthor [sic] of Chicken Soup for the Soul")
"Donald Trump’s words, or at least the writing, is in a serif font, and [co-author Bill] Zanker’s is in a non-serif," Menzies explains, pre-empting any defense moans of the ghostwriter did it.
Now, a selection of The Boss’s bon mots:
"I used to say, 'Go out and get the best people, and trust them.' Over the years I have seen too many shenanigans, and now I say, “Get the best people, and don’t trust them.' Do not trust them, because if you don’t know what you are doing, they are going to rob you blind."
"I think the reason we have so many loyal people is that we reward loyalty and everybody knows this. It has become part of the corporate culture of the Trump Organization. People like Allen Weisselberg and Matt Calamari are great and have proven themselves over many years."
[Whatever happened to Matty the Squid, anyway?]
"My motto is: Always get even. When somebody screws you, screw them back in spades."
"When you are wronged, go after those people, because it is a good feeling and because other people will see you doing it. Getting even is not always a personal thing. It’s just part of doing business."
Don’t take it personal, you horsefaced honeybunches! He has to attack to send a message.
Donald Trump is truly the worst, ugliest side of America. A spoiled, horny, lying, cheating, stealing, yammering leisure-suit Larry, a one-pump chump. Bitter, vindictive, complaining. Who’s next?
It’s Weepy Greeter-Girl Madeleine Westerhout
Next up, it’s Madeleine Westerhout, former director of Oval Office Operations, executive assistant and “greeter girl” who sat right outside Trump’s door for two and a half years, across from Hope Hicks. Before that she worked at the RNC, and testified after the “Access Hollywood” tape there were active conversations about replacing Trump as nominee, which would have been wild one month before the election, but that’s how bad it was. Motive!
Westerhout confirmed Trump never used a computer, or even had an email address, but wrote all of his own Tweets, then reviewed hard copies of the post drafts and made handwritten edits in Sharpie, then she would fix and reprint them with his edits. RIDICULOUS. “There were certain works he liked to capitalize, like COUNTRY. And he used exclamation points and the Oxford comma.”
Westerhout said she worked closely with Rhona Graff, who demanded Westerhout ask for a discount at Tiffany’s when ordering a picture frame for Trump’s mother, because Trump is that cheap. Westerhout said he had a good relationship with Melania. “He’d have me call her and say he was running late, just like any other marriage,” and that Melanie and Trump waved to each other through the window sometimes. Westerhout confirmed that she sent emails to Michael Cohen, and that Hope Hicks texted her, "Hey the president want to know if you called David Pecker again?"
Then OH BOY MORE WHITE GIRL TEARS. The prosecutor asked why she left the White House. “I went to what I thought was an off the record dinner and said some things I shouldn't have and I lost my job, I regret my youthful indiscretion,” she sobbed. The Boss demands loyalty! It’s only a youthful indiscretion when The Boss does it. Didn’t you read his books?
Well, enough of this. The jury’s dismissed for the day, and then the REAL fireworks start.
Ugh, it’s Todd.
Cue Todd Blanche throwing a fit, MISTRIAL, Stormy CHANGED FACTS! GAG ORDER SO UNFAIR, WE OBJECT TO KAREN! Trump cannot even ressponnndd to mean old Stormy Daniels!! He doesn’t bring up Alina Habba’s UNCONSTITUTIONAL FIRST AMENDMENT argument. That’s just for the rubes who watch Fox teevee!
JUDGE JUAN MERCHAN: I can't take your word for it that it's just going to be a response, disputing the facts. That's not your client's track record. Your application to modify the gag order to allow your client to respond to Ms. Daniels is denied.
More Todd screaming! “The government got her to talk about spanking him — they did not move on. There was a question asked about what the inside of the bathroom looked like inside — why? […] They asked her what was the difference in height — why? She said, “There was an imbalance of power for sure.” It doesn't go to motive, she wasn't saying it at the time. There was no basis to ask. We heard all this for the first time!!”
“I sustained some objections.”
“But the jury still heard the question and often the answer! That's why this was so dangerous. This was a dog whistle for rape!”
FOR FUCK’S SAKE. GIVE IT A GOTTDAMNED REST, TODD.
PROSECUTOR: We went out of our way to avoid some of the salacious details, to not embarrass the defendant with the details of the sexual act. At one point she was asked, “did you feel anything different?” She was going to say, “I felt the skin of a 60-year-old man.”
At 27, that would be pretty different.
PROSECUTOR: We could put in an ex parte submission of more embarrassing details we omitted, to not embarrass the defendant. Ms. McDougal was on our witness list but we never said we intended to call her.
DO IT, enter ALL that shit!
MERCHAN: I sua sponte objected to the “trailer park.” Ms. Necheles hadn’t objected. She didn't object to the condom, I have no idea why. I wish that hadn't come in. Then you went into it all, about force, on cross. Drilling it into the jurors' ears. I don't think there is a new story here. You attacked her credibility in opening. You didn't attack the business records issues. Your motion is denied.
Seriously, why is it just the SSEEXX that has you so upset, Todd and Susan? Weren’t all the details we’ve heard about what a penny-pinching, micromanaging bastard he was, bargaining for a picture frame, at least as extraneous and bad?
Desperate to claim a victory, Blanche went to the courthouse steps to crow that the state wasn’t calling Karen McDougal, as if that was his own doing, and not the prosecution’s choice to spare us all more misery.
In conclusion, fuck you Todd, double “fuck you” Susan! And fuck your tears of asskisser’s remorse, Maddy!
More to come!
PREVIOUSLY!
<Donald Trump is truly the worst, ugliest side of America. A spoiled, horny, lying, cheating, stealing, yammering leisure-suit Larry, a one-pump chump. Bitter, vindictive, complaining.>
Wonderful, Marcie. One sentence and two phrases to describe what most would need twenty to have the same impact.
𝑴𝒂𝒏𝒐𝒄𝒉𝒊𝒐 𝒕𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒇𝒊𝒆𝒅 𝒔𝒉𝒆 𝑭𝒆𝒅𝑬𝒙𝒆𝒅 𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒄𝒌𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑾𝒉𝒊𝒕𝒆 𝑯𝒐𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝑻𝒓𝒖𝒎𝒑 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒊𝒈𝒏, 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒈𝒐𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒄𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒈. 𝑺𝒉𝒆 𝒂𝒍𝒔𝒐 𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒄𝒌𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒔𝒆𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝑻𝒓𝒖𝒎𝒑 𝒃𝒐𝒅𝒚𝒈𝒖𝒂𝒓𝒅 𝑲𝒆𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝑺𝒄𝒉𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒓 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑻𝒓𝒖𝒎𝒑 𝒂𝒊𝒅𝒆 𝑱𝒐𝒉𝒏 𝑴𝒄𝑬𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒆. 𝒀𝒂𝒘𝒏, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒈𝒐𝒕𝒕𝒂 𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒔𝒆 𝒑𝒂𝒚𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒔.
In my 40 years of working in Accounts Payables, at various businesses - small, medium and large, that is a process that I have never experienced. You don't have to have ever worked in Payables to realize that it's inconvenient and inefficient. There is one reason for this clumsy process - trump. He didn't divest from his businesses when he became president, like he should have, and he HAD to be the one to physically sign the checks. They should have used check signing plates or a laser check printer, with the signature on it, or designated another officer to sign the checks, but trump is stupid, insecure and full of his self-importance. If I had worked for him, I wouldn't be posting this non-comment, because I'd be serving time for murder. He had to be hell to work for.