Dramatic text messages were front and center Wednesday on another day of the Elizabeth Holmes trial.
Revealing these text messages was part of the prosecution's efforts to show that Holmes knew what was going on at Theranos even as things were falling apart.
About 12,000 text messages sent between Holmes and former Theranos Executive Sunny Balwani were extracted from phones and computers, including one where Balwani referred to a Theranos lab, with an expletive, as a "disaster zone."
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Other text messages showed Holmes expressed concern that a Wall Street Journal reporter was showing up to see the lab.
"For a lack of a more legal term, they want to show the two were in kahoots," said Esquire Digital Legal Analyst Aron Solomon.
Holmes and Balwani were working together, and worrying together, about their machines including one dubbed "Edison."
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"These messages show intimacy, a knowledge of how the company was operating and not operating," said Solomon, "and they're absolutely text messages that show that the Edison black box wasn't where it needed to be."
Also on the stand on Wednesday was retired four-star general and former Theranos board member James Mattis.
He said he was impressed by Holmes and hoped to use Theranos machines in the field of battle on soldiers, but was ultimately disappointed that he was not allowed to test the machines.
General Mattis said he left the Theranos board when former President Donald Trump nominated him for Defense Secretary.
Mattis said he invested $85,000 into the company and was granted Theranos stock options. His board salary would've been $150,000 a year.
