Today is Monday, May 13, 2024. Today former lawyer to the Orange Turd took the stand and testified against his disgraced ex-boss, Donald J. Duck, in explosive testimony in which he implicated his former employer in the hush money scheme to pay Stormy Daniels just days before the 2016 election, saying he doled out $130,000 at Trump’s direction and was promised reimbursement. This new day of witness testimony is covered in an online CNN article by Jeremy Herb, Lauren del Valle, and Kara Scannell entitled “Takeaways from the first day of Michael Cohen’s testimony in the Trump hush money case.”

Cohen’s testimony ties together the prosecution’s allegations that Chump broke the law by falsifying business records to reimburse Cohen and conceal the hush money payment that Cohen said he made at Trump’s direction. For the record, Drumpf has pleaded not guilty (sure!) and denies having an affair with Daniels.

It appeared that Drumpf and Cohen avoided eye contact while the latter testified today. Cohen looked directly at prosecutor Susan Hoffinger throughout most of his testimony, occasionally scanning the room or looking in the jury’s direction.

Trump’s attorneys are likely to get their chance to question Cohen tomorrow. The former president’s lawyer Todd Blanche is expected to try to shred Cohen’s credibility with the jury during cross examination by portraying him as a convicted perjurer who has changed his story more than once.

Here are the takeaways from Day 16 of the Dump election interference trial:

Cohen ties Trump to the Daniels hush money payment

Through roughly five hours of testimony today, Cohen walked jurors through how he worked with former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker on Trump’s behalf during the 2016 campaign to kill negative stories; how he kept Drumpf apprised of his hush money negotiations with Keith Davidson, the attorney for Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal; and how Trump approved and was aware of how Cohen would be falsely repaid in 2017 for the Daniels payment as legal services.

In Cohen’s startling testimony, he reveals himself as the glue that brings together the other witnesses the jurors have heard from so far, connected through text message, email, and phone calls to Pecker, Davidson, Dylan Howard, Hope Hicks, and others who were allegedly involved with the hush money payments.

Cohen described his conversations with Drumpf during the Daniels hush money negotiations, which prosecutors backed up using Cohen’s phone records to show when the two had spoken. He also connected the payment to Trump’s campaign.

Admitting, “I had to get this done,” Cohen added, “This would be catastrophic to the campaign.”

After Cohen and Davidson agreed to a $130,000 settlement payment on October 11, 2016, Cohen said he tried to drag out the process until after the election at Trump’s direction – claiming he would need 10 days to get the money together and noting that the office was closed on Yom Kippur.

Here Hoffinger asked why Cohen did that. He replied, “Because after the election, it wouldn’t matter.”

Cohen ties the hush money reimbursement to Trump, too

Trump is charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records – 11 invoices, 12 vouchers, and 11 checks – records that prosecutors say stem from the monthly reimbursements Cohen received in 2017 from the hush money payment he made to Daniels.

Today jurors heard through Cohen for the first time evidence directly connecting Trump to those reimbursements.

No fireworks in Trump, Cohen showdown

Today the jury heard a more subdued Cohen who gave slow and deliberate answers on direct examination.

Cohen rarely looked over at Chump sitting at the defense table, training his eyes on the prosecutor questioning him.

And aside from reviewing some documents and passing a few notes to his attorneys, Trump spent the majority of the day with his eyes closed. The former president glanced up at Cohen a few times, but there was never an obvious moment of eye contact.

The only time Cohen might have evoked disapproval from his former boss was when Cohen mentioned Trump’s wife, Melania. The former “fixer” claimed Chump wasn’t worried about his wife’s feelings when the infamous “Access Hollywood” tape went public before the election.

Trump’s entourage grows for Cohen’s testimony

Throughout the four weeks of the trial, Chump has looked to having supporters at court – both on the streets outside of the Manhattan courthouse within the confines of Judge Juan Merchan’s courtroom – and has complained about not having more support.

Last week, Trump’s son Eric was seen in the courtroom; his senior campaign adviser, Susie Wiles, was seen as well; and Senator Rick Scott all appeared in the gallery behind the former president.

Today Chump had the biggest entourage of stupid GOP lawmakers at his fat side – including some potential vice presidential hopefuls. Those hopefuls included repugnant Senator J.D. Vance of Ohio and ignorant Senator Tommy Tuberville of Alabama. Also seen in court were Rep. Nicolle Malliotakis from Trump-friendly Staten Island and the attorneys general of Alabama and Iowa.

These Chump lackeys and sycophants went outside to give their own account of the proceedings to the cameras to denounce the events they had just witnessed. Let’s hope the majority of Americans will think these people as idiots and will not fall for their support of the former disgraced ex-president who could be convicted very soon of these 34 felony counts.

Most of these idiots defending Donald Chump said the trial was preventing the presumptive repugnican nominee for president from going on the campaign trail, but as indicated by MSNBC commentator Rachel Maddow tonight, the reality collides with the falseness of those comments. That whenever Drumpf has had time off from the trial, he does not campaign, he does other things like play golf or spend time at his myriad palatial estates. So he does not campaign when he has time off from this significant trial. But his stupid GOP mouthpieces just spew more lies for him during the break in the trial. How disgusting!

Today we spent considerable time with my son “Joshua” who was in New York this weekend to celebrate Mother’s Day with his mother and to see his declining grandmother who is in a nursing home. Joshua came over to us after 2 and spent some time getting acquainted with Atticus. A funny thing with Atticus is that he went directly to Joshua’s sneakers and showed some inexplicable interest in them. I don’t know what Atticus smelled on his sneakers; he couldn’t tell us what he sensed there. After Atticus walked away from Joshua’s footwear, we spent a good part of the afternoon chatting in the living room, and by 5, we decided to go to dinner with Joshua in Bayside. Joshua selected a Greek restaurant on Bell Boulevard called Taverna Kyclades Bayside.

It was too short a time since Joshua has to fly home to Florida tomorrow after 3. But Elliot and I do intend to come down to Boynton Beach and other areas in June to visit cousins and we’ll definitely make plans to meet Joshua at that time.

Stay safe and be well.

This is what you encounter in front of the Phallological Museum in Iceland.

This is the largest church in Iceland, Hallgrimskirkja. At 244 feet tall, it is the largest church in Iceland and among the tallest structures in the country. The church is named after the Icelandic poet and cleric Hallgrimur Petursson (1614-1674), author of the Passion Hymns.

More of the Glacier Lagoon.

Some hints of humor at the Phallological Museum.

I have no idea who this is, but I found his picture at the Punk Rock Museum.

These are the two tectonic plates, the North American and Eurasian, seen together at the Thingvellir National Park.