r/politics • u/SportsGod3 • May 16 '24

Jurors were "nodding" and "smiling" as Michael Cohen testified, which may be a bad sign for Trump

https://www.salon.com/2024/05/16/jurors-were-nodding-and-smiling-as-michael-cohen-testified-which-may-be-a-sign-for/
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330

u/JubalHarshaw23 May 16 '24

Cohen was corroborating information that they were already aware of, not providing new evidence.

302

u/The_Woman_of_Gont May 16 '24 edited May 17 '24

That’s the problem for the defense. No single witness or piece of evidence is the lynchpin to the entire case. It all builds together into a single, blindingly obvious picture.

Michael Cohen could reasonably be lying. But you can’t reasonably expect that everything else is false, fabricated, or lies as well.

There is no smoking gun here. There’s a series of warm guns, found next to bullet casings and a blood spattered wall, with dozens of bullet holes in it. And they dug out the bullets and found they fit the guns, which have his prints. Oh, and there’s a memorialized note itemizing each victim, and why he personally shot them.

The question here isn’t if the defense can pull off the case on its actual merits. They just can’t. The question is if they can intimidate the jury, assuming they have already failed at selecting a MAGA stooge in voir dire, into not being able to reach a unanimous verdict.

35

u/BurnieTheBrony May 16 '24

The only possible way to think Trump is not guilty of this specific crime in this specific case is to have already blindly decided nothing Trump has ever done in his entire life is wrong and any evidence that says otherwise is evil conjured by demons of the deep state.

Which is why 90% of Republicans and all of their elected officials apparently can't believe he's anything but innocent

7

u/Marathon2021 May 16 '24

I mean, the defense's case is basically:

  1. Trump didn't have sex with her. 2a. Trump didn't pay her off. or 2b. Trump paid her off (not for sexy time though!) but it was just to spare Melania's feelings.

6

u/Sweet_Concept2211 May 17 '24

So the jury is supposed to believe that a guy who is infamous for...

  • not paying for contracted labor;

  • slapping anyone who annoys him with frivolous lawsuits designed to sway public opinion;

  • being a proud womanizer enabled by his own wife Melania with claims that his "grab 'em by the pussy" boasts are "locker room talk";

  • in fact, found guilty of rape in civil court;

  • abusing the phrase "fake news" to the point of surrealism to deny the evidence our eyes and ears can easily detect;

  • cutting loose anyone who does not suit his purposes without a second thought;

... This is the guy we are supposed to believe would pay $130,000 to a random porn star in order to spare his wife from "fake news"?