Jen Psaki, former White House press secretary turned MSNBC star, reports today from the Manhattan courtroom where the presumptive GOP nominee, former President Donald Trump attends the last day of his trial regarding alleged “hush money” payments made to adult film star Stormy Daniels prior to the 2016 presidential election. (Daniels testified that she had a sexual encounter with Trump, which his defense denied.)
Trump, who faces 34 felony counts for allegedly falsifying business documents to cover up the payments, says he’s not guilty. He is represented by attorney Todd Blanche.
Psaki wrote today: “A bit of a gasp in the overflow room when [Prosecutor] Josh Steinglass said his closing argument would be 4 to 4.5 hours.”
A bit of a gasp in the overflow room when Josh Steinglass said his closing argument would be 4 to 4.5 hours..
— Jen Psaki (@jrpsaki) May 28, 2024
Fellow MSNBC analyst and former US Attorney Barb McQuade replied to Psaki: “Waaaaaaaaaaay too long.”
During the trial, prosecutor Steinglass cross-examined former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker, who testified that he practiced the “catch and kill” tactic to protect Trump. That is, he bought exclusive rights to stories (including Daniels’s and Playboy model Karen McDougal’s) only to squash them so no one else could publish them.
Assistant District Attorney Joshua Steinglass brought up Trump’s various inflammatory tweets and statements about the case as prosecutors hope to introduce many of them as evidence.
Follow live https://t.co/CtVeETYZ9n pic.twitter.com/j7bzDcmtNC
— The Hill (@thehill) April 15, 2024
Note: Steinglass helped to lead the effort to successfully convict the Trump Organization in 2022 on multiple counts of tax fraud and falsifying business records.