Michael Cohen’s former adviser Bob Costello pushed back against Cohen’s testimony on Fox News Thursday, saying a key witness told him he had “nothing” about former President Donald Trump.
Costello appeared on “The Ingraham Angle” to discuss Cohen’s testimony in Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s trial of former President Donald Trump on charges of falsifying business records. Fox host Laura Ingraham began Thursday’s cross-examination by rereading portions of Cohen’s answer, in which she said he told Cohen he had nothing on Trump. I don’t remember.” (Related: Trump’s lawyer makes Swiss cheese from Michael Cohen’s testimony, allegation of perjury arises)
“[It was a] At a very critical moment in his life, he was contemplating suicide. We made it clear to him that there is a way to solve the problem if we have true information about Donald Trump. Because it’s clear what the southern region is aiming for. I then said that if they wanted to, I would resolve the legal issue by the end of this week. Every time I brought it up, he said, “I swear to God, Bob” — and this is a quote — “I swear to God, Bob, I don’t have anything about Donald Trump.” Costello said.
“But I kept coming back to this matter to make sure he knew that this was a way out if he wanted to and if he had true information. As it turned out, he didn’t have any real information. During the same meeting, he was slamming his fist on the table and pointing at Jeff Citron and me and saying, ‘Guys, you know. I’ll do whatever I have to do. I won’t spend a day in jail.” Yes, he spent more than a day in jail, and he blames Donald Trump for it. .”
Costello went on to say that Cohen had told him that Trump had nothing to do with the $130,000 deal, and that he believed it was all about him because he allegedly didn’t want to embarrass Melania Trump. He pointed out that it was an idea. But Mr. Costello questioned why Mr. Cohen would “handle something like that,” to which he said the former lawyer made clear it was used as leverage.
“In a subsequent conversation, Michael said that he was very upset about the fact that when Trump was elected, his entire inner circle left New York for Washington, D.C., except for one person, our friend Michael Cohen. They left him behind. I didn’t specifically say it was their fault I didn’t go to Washington, but he kept badmouthing Jared and Ivanka. It was obvious that I was blaming them. But one time I said to him, “Michael, what do you think would have happened if you had gone to Washington?” What kind of job were you looking for? ” Believe it or not, he said, “Well, I could have been attorney general of the United States.” I swear to God, I swear to the president, at least to my chief of staff. ”
“I mean, I looked at the guy and thought, ‘He’s delusional.’ This guy has no sense of self-worth or lack of self-worth,” Costello continued. “But making this payment and dealing with this issue was his way back into Donald Trump’s good graces. Because then he went to Trump and said, ‘Boss,’ as he calls him. I had a big, embarrassing problem, and I, Michael Cohen, solved it. ‘That’s what he was doing. ”
This week, defense attorney Todd Blanche began cross-examining Michael Cohen, who revealed that he not only directed President Trump to sign a non-disclosure agreement with porn star Stormy Daniels, but also did so through falsifying business records. He claims he agreed to have the plan redeemed. Cohen has a history of lying under oath, pleading guilty to lying to Congress in 2017 and lying under oath to a federal judge in 2018 when pleading guilty to tax evasion. He said there was a suspicion that
