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SDNY COURTHOUSE, June 26 – After months of preliminaries, the trial of Stephen Calk for conspiracy to trade his bank's loans to Paul Manafort for the Secretary of the Army position began on June 23. Inner City Press live tweeted, here, previous coverage here,  podcast here

Then the defense opening statement and first witness, here, and Inner City Press question to Calk on Scaramucci, here (& Alamy photo here)

On June 24 came the direct examination of Anthony Scaramucci, which Inner City Press live tweeted here (podast here) and below.

 While the trial did not meet on Friday June 25, and will not on Monday June 28, the US Attorney's Office has filed a letter complaint including: "Dear Judge Schofield:  The Government respectfully submits this letter in light of recent developments at trial. In  short, during the cross-examination of a custodian of records, the defendant conducted a lengthy  inquiry into matters about which the witness had little to no personal knowledge, using exhibits  that had not previously been disclosed to the Court or the Government, in violation of the Court’s  orders. The Government therefore requests certain relief that it believes would increase the  efficient presentation of evidence and prevent unfair surprise.  I. Limiting Cross-Examination to the Scope of Direct Examination Will Increase  Trial Efficiency.   This Court has explained that “efficiency is always primary in my mind, consistent with  the rules.” Tr. 201. Recent trial developments have shown that efficiency in this trial could be  materially increased by generally limiting cross-examination to “the subject matter of the direct  examination,” and “matters affecting the credibility of the witness.” Fed. R. Evid. 611(b).1  On  the most recent day of trial, the defense conducted lengthy cross examination of a custodial  witness, Kory Langhofer, concerning documents that the witness had not reviewed, did not  remember, and may have never seen, in order to laboriously extract the substance contained in five  undisclosed defense exhibits, under the rubric of “refreshing” the witness’s recollection." Full letter here on Patreon here.

AUSA: What did Mr. Manafort ask you to do for Mr. Calk? Scaramucci: He wanted Secretary of the Army, but since that wasn't available, we moved down. AUSA: What was your relationship with Mr. Manafort? Scaramucci: He was good to me on the campaign. I wanted to help

AUSA: Who is 1202? Scaramucci: Paul Manafort. AUSA: When did you get involved in the campaign? Scaramucci: Mid to late May of 2016.

 AUSA: Who asked you to join? Scaramucci: Donald Trump. He asked me on the 26th floor of Trump Tower. We used 5 and 14 as our HQ.

AUSA: When did you meet Paul Manafort? Scaramucci: Mid-May. I went to see Mr. Trump and I met Mr. Manafort on the 26th floor. I had been working for Jeb Bush but he dropped out. So Mr. Trump asked me to join. I shook Mr. Manafort's hand

Scaramucci: On election night I was at my restaurant, the Hunt & Fish Club. I went to an NYT event, then with Louise Linton and my wife, to the NY Hilton, 6th and 54th, for big donors. There was cautious optimism. It seemed it would fall to Florida.

 AUSA: How did the mood change? Scaramucci: I was with Mayor Giuliani on the couch, he said it was likely Trump would win. The NYT dial [needle] was moving for Trump. By 11 pm, the mood was happier. Hillary Clinton did not concede. But Mr. Trump spoke at 2 am.

AUSA: Did you stay on the transition? Scaramucci: Yes. [In the court room, Calk in mask is staring at Scaramucci in the plexiglass witness box.

Scaramucci: I was on the Tiger Team, with Martin Silverstein and John Sweeney from update New York, to interview deputy secretaries in Trump Tower on the 14th and 15th floor.

AUSA: Did you recommend anyone? Scaramucci: Vincent Viola for Secretary of Army. Scaramucci: But he owned the Florida Panthers and racehorses. He withdrew. Judge Schofield: Let's take our afternoon break. Thread will continue.

 Jury's back. AUSA: Mr. Scaramucci, I'll ask you to read this message. Scaramucci: "How is 2 pm today."

AUSA: What was Mr. Manafort asking for? Scaramucci: A face to face meeting with me. AUSA: Did you meet? Scaramucci: Yes. There was no discussion of Steve Calk

 AUSA: And this one. Scaramucci: Dec 14, 2016, "Call me on 917 [we are omitting], this is my second cell, Paul." AUSA: Did you call him? Scaramucci: Yes. He recommended Steve Calk and one Vernon Parker.

 Scaramucci: I told Mr. Manafort I had recommended Vincent Viola. I asked Mr. Manafort to text me. I was being inundated with requests. AUSA: Did Mr. Manafort tell you he had gotten million in loans from Steve Calk's bank? Scaramucci: No.

AUSA: Next message. Scaramucci: Vernon Parker, DOJ, Deputy AG position. And Calk for deputy secretary of the Army, or personnel, DOD. AUSA: GX 611.

Scaramucci: "Any progress on Stephen Calk? Did you speak with him?" I'm the blue bubbles [in the text messages]. Scaramucci: When I wrote, "Would he take under secretary of the Army. If so, I think we could get it done," I meant get him the interview. It would have been up to General Jim Mattis.

AUSA: Response? Scaramucci: 29 minutes later he said yes, He will take it.

 AUSA: Did you hear from Steve Cortes about Mr. Calk? Scaramucci: I did. I knew Steve Cortes from CNBC. He had been working for Rick Perry, then he came to the Trump campaign. AUSA: Did Steve Cortes follow up? Scaramucci: No. But Mr. Manafort did.

 AUSA: Did you speak with Mr. Calk on December 27, 2016? Scaramucci: Yes. He tried to name people we might have had in common. Perhaps Steve Cortes came up in the call. I needed his CV or a paragraph from his bio, to get him into the Tiger Team.

AUSA: DX 249.  Scaramucci: It's from Steve Calk, Dec 28, 2016. It says, "Re: Steve Calk Under-Sec Army." The body says, Here's links to my work on the President-Elect in the last year. There's a link to a coverage book. AUSA: DX 249a. 

Scaramucci: CNBC screen shot Scaramucci: The economic team. It's like when I worked for the Romney campaign. One these you put, in bucket one, economic advisers like Peter Navaro. Then two, like Stephen Ross. Then bucket three, fundraisers.

 Scaramucci: We had Stephen Moore, Navaro, and  Malpass - he went on to the World Bank. Navaro had an office in the executive branch of the White House.  AUSA: What about Wilbur Ross? Scaramucci: Secretary of Commerce.

AUSA: New topic - but there are only ten minutes left. Judge Schofield: Let's start. Everyone minute is precious.

AUSA: What did Mr. Calk want to speak with you about? Scaramucci: Getting the interview. He wrote, Happy New Year, hope to hear from you soon.

 Scaramucci: Jan 23, 2017 he wrote to me about Ambassadorships.  AUSA: GX 314, and 609. Zoom in. Scaramucci: It says, preferred roles, I'd prefer to speak with you live, 312.  Then he wrote, Checking to see if I'm still in the game. 

 Judge Schofield: We're adjourned until Tuesday.

The case is US v. Calk, 19-cr-366 (Schofield)

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