24 COOPER v. HARRIS Opinion of the Court said that “his leadership had told him that he had to ramp the minority percentage in [District 12] up to over 50 percent to comply with the Voting Rights Law.” App. 2369; see id., at 2393. And further, that it would then be Rucho’s “job to go and convince the African-American community” that such a racial target “made sense” under the Act. Ibid.; see id., at 2369.10 The District Court credited Watt’s testimony about the conversation, citing his courtroom demeanor and “consistent recollection” under “probing cross-examination.” 159 F. Supp. 3d, at 617– 618.11 In the court’s view, Watt’s account was of a piece with all the other evidence—including the redistricters’ on-the-nose attainment of a 50% BVAP—indicating that the General Assembly, in the name of VRA compliance, deliberately redrew District 12 as a majority-minority district. See id., at 618.12 —————— 10 Watt recalled that he laughed in response because the VRA required no such target. See id., at 2369. And he told Rucho that “the African-American community will laugh at you” too. Ibid. Watt explained to Rucho: “I’m getting 65 percent of the vote in a 40 percent black district. If you ramp my [BVAP] to over 50 percent, I’ll probably get 80 percent of the vote, and[ ] that’s not what the Voting Rights Act was designed to do.” Ibid. 11 The court acknowledged that, in the earlier state-court trial involving District 12, Rucho denied making the comments that Watt recalled. See 159 F. Supp. 3d, at 617–618. But the court explained that it could not “assess [the] credibility” of Rucho’s contrary account because even though he was listed as a defense witness and present in the courtroom throughout the trial, the State chose not to put him on the witness stand. Id., at 618. 12 The dissent conjures a different way of explaining Watt’s testimony. Perhaps, the dissent suggests, Rucho disclosed a majority-minority target to Watt, but Watt then changed Rucho’s mind—and perhaps it was just a coincidence (or a mistake?) that Rucho still created a 50.7%BVAP district. See post, at 25–26. But nothing in the record supports that hypothesis. See ibid. (relying exclusively on the State’s preclearance submission to back up this story); supra, at 23, and n. 9 (correcting the dissent’s misreading of that submission). And the State, lacking the dissent’s creativity, did not think to present it at trial.