Paralegal may be teeing up "headline witness," CNN legal analyst says (2024)

Georgia Longstreet, a paralegal in the Manhattan District Attorney’s office, testified that she's reviewed anywhere between 5,000 and 10,000 social media posts related to the Trump case.

CNN's Jeremy Herb in the courthouse said the witness is meant to establish a foundation so prosecutors can introduce social media posts made by Trump.

Longstreet is not a household name, but it’s not uncommon to call a paralegal or other administrative staffer to testify.

“Typically, you would call a paralegal … just to do basic mechanics,” CNN legal analyst Elie Honig said. “‘Yes, this is an article that appeared in the New York Post on such and such a date. This is a tweet or a Truth Social that was sent on such and such a date.'"

Georgia Longstreet is explaining to the jury that she placed the URL of websites into the Wayback Machine to retrieve news articles.

Prosecutors said earlier this morning they are using the digital archive service to introduce the Washington Post's article on the "Access Hollywood" tape as it appeared in October 2016.

Georgia Longstreet is now explaining the social media platforms Twitter and Truth Social.

Longstreet says she reviewed the account @realdonaldtrump on Twitter, and she confirms this was Donald Trump's account.

Prosecutors are expected to introduce social media posts made by Trump.

Trump's legal team signaled ahead of the hush money criminal trial that they would attack the veracity and completeness of the information on Michael Cohen's electronic devices — part of a broader strategy to chip away at the credibility of a key witness.

Before the trial began, Trump's team tried to subpoena the Manhattan district attorney's employee who was responsible for the phones during the four-day lapse before delivering the devices for review by the department of Douglas Daus, the man who we've been hearing testify.

Trump’s lawyers indicated in the letter they wanted to "challenge the integrity of evidence DANY will seek to offer from Cohen's phones, for use in cross-examination of Cohen" and "regarding the bias and hostility toward President Trump to attack the lack of integrity of DANY's investigation under federal constitutional."

Prosecutors have sought to push back on this angle from the defense in court today.

"Did you see any evidence of tampering or manipulation on any of the data that you pulled related to the recording that’s in evidence as people’s 246?" prosecutor Chris Conroy asked a short time ago.

"I did not," Daus testified.

Remember: Cohen, Trump's former personal lawyer and "fixer," served federal prison time for actions he took while playing that role. Now he is a key prosecution witness who will testify later in the case.

Several witnesses have already testified to unsavory things about Cohen, and the defense has been highlighting his past wrongdoing in hopes of chipping away at his credibility before he takes the stand.

Georgia Longstreet says she identified "publicly available materials" relevant to Donald Trump's case, including social media posts and news articles.

She says she's reviewed anywhere between 5,000 and 10,000 social media posts.

Trump is watching her and writing something. Meanwhile, attorney Todd Blanche is smiling.

The next witness is Georgia Longstreet, a paralegal at the district attorney's office.

Prosecutor Rebecca Mangold will question her.

Trump attorney Emil Bove smirked and shook his head as prosecutor Chris Conroy asked his last inquiry on another round of questions.

Donald Trump hit Bove’s arm and gestured for him to get back up there, but Bove shook his head no.

Prosecutor Chris Conroy is back up for more questioning of witness Douglas Daus.

Conroy's one question was if he made a phone call seven years ago with the phone in his pocket he wouldn't expect to see it show up in the call log on the phone.

Daus responds, "I would not."

Daus is off the stand.