A Bunch of Links, Two Reminders, and Some Early Morning Thoughts
Trump New York Trial Diary, Entry 6
Good Morning:
Our first trial dispatch covering matters actually presented to the jury ran yesterday. It details events in court on Monday and Tuesday, including opening statements, the testimony of the aptly-named David Pecker, and the fireworks at the contempt hearing over Donald Trump’s alleged violations of Justice Juan Merchan’s gag order. It opens:
“We have a few housekeeping matters to take care of before we get started,” Justice Juan Merchan says to get the day and trial started.
The first housekeeping matter is a toothache—literally.
One of the alternate jurors, Justice Merchan explains, had a toothache last week. She scheduled an emergency dental appointment for this afternoon. “I told her we can break at 12:30,” Justice Merchan explains. “That’s just something we have to do to make sure we don’t lose an alternate,” he says.
Moving from (actual) toothaches to (metaphorical) headaches, the judge addresses the next housekeeping matter: “We received a call on Friday from Juror Number 9,” he says. The juror “wasn’t 100 percent sure she wanted to be here,” Merchan explains. He wants to speak with the juror in chambers to determine whether she “can continue to serve.”
Our second YouTube trial dispatch ran Tuesday afternoon and will bring you up to speed on the events in court that day:
Yesterday, we did our weekly Trump Trials & Tribulations roundup show:
And today, we’ll have two livestream shows, one on the Supreme Court arguments today in the presidential immunity case and the other (as yet unscheduled) on today’s events in court here in New York:
Audio of all of these livestreams, of course, end up on the Lawfare Podcast feed, which you can access here:
Two important Ukraine reups for folks in Washington DC.
Today at the United States Institute of Peace, it’s the “Unissued Diplomas” exhibition, organized by my friend Mariia Hlyten. I wrote a bit about this project last week. Here’s USIP’s announcement. And here’s the project’s web site.
And a reminder that you should come and plant sunflowers with me on Saturday:
Today’s #BeastOfTheDay is the owl, about whom you might want to learn some true facts:
Trump Trial Diary, April 25, 2024
It is early Thursday morning, and I haven’t slept either well or much. I’m back in New York City at what we are calling the “Lawfare Content House,” which is a four-bedroom loft at a undisclosed location not too far from the courthouse. The good folks from Goat Rodeo will come today to build our studio.
I missed Tuesday’s contempt fireworks and David Pecker’s continued testimony in court that day as I was back home for Passover. Then yesterday, when court was out of session for midweek Shabbat, I went up to Providence for the day to give a speech on Israel and Gaza at the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs:
After a dinner in Providence, I drove down to New York with a bunch of stuff for the house, arriving late last night just in time to sleep intermittently until I got up to buy some groceries, make coffee, and do some writing just before 5:00 am.
It’s 6:22 am and it already feels like it’s been a long day.
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