Yesterday, the prosecution and defense took a break, which, to no one’s shock, meant that Donald Trump did not testify.
President Trump said he would do it, but it would have been judicial malpractice for his lawyers to subject him to 100 different cross-examinations.
Michael Cohen entered the hush money trial with a reputation as a convicted liar.
Everybody knew he was going to be accused in cross-examination of lying on Trump’s behalf, lying to Congress, lying to investigators, lying to the press. That was built into the equation.
Michael Cohen loses balance during cross-examination, but supporters say he hates Trump
Donald Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen has finished testifying in the New York v. Trump trial. (Getty Images)
But the lies he admitted Monday are in an entirely different category and could be a turning point in persuading one or more jurors to dismiss him as a money-grabbing thief and vote to acquit Trump. There is sex.
The former fixer has cut himself a sweet deal by stealing from the Trump Organization.
Yes, he did, Cohen said. Yes, he lied about it. Yes, he was upset about his bonus being cut, so he happily pocketed the money.
This was a true Perry Mason moment and a complete failure of the prosecution.
To soften the sting of Alvin Bragg’s other series of lies, which Trump’s lawyers were accusing him of, they put the best twist possible on direct questioning. Ta.
But what about this? Nada. At first, I thought Cohen didn’t tell prosecutors, but Trump’s attorney Todd Blanche said, “And you did tell that story to multiple prosecutors in the 13th District Attorney’s Office.” ?” he asked.
“I got it.”
I mean, it was just total sloppiness and an incredible failure.
And the story becomes even more vulgar.
The Trump campaign hired a technology company called Red Finch to try to discredit unfavorable polls by CNBC and Drudge. The fee was $50,000. Cohen delivered $20,000 in cash in a brown bag to the head of the company. There’s nothing suspicious about that, right?
Cohen then kept the remaining $30,000 (later increased to a maximum of $60,000 for tax purposes) by blatantly stealing from his former boss’s company. (President Trump withheld the payment to Redfinch, but the effort waned because he didn’t know about Bag-O-Cash.)
Michael Cohen corroborates others, says Trump wanted to silence the storm because of the election
There was little prosecutors could do when it was their turn. Cohen said he was “furious” that his normal $150,000 bonus was cut by two-thirds, adding: “So I felt like it was almost self-help, you know. I had no intention of giving him this benefit either.” . ”
Ah, self-help efforts. Theft as therapy. A pretty rough explanation.
It didn’t matter what else Mr. Cohen said in 2018, including his insistence that he never paid Stormy Daniels $130,000 in hush money without the president’s explicit approval. This is well documented. The damage had been done.
But there were more fireworks.
The defense called Robert Costello, a veteran attorney and skilled defense attorney who had represented Cohen for several months, as its chief witness.
Former President Donald Trump departs Trump Tower on his way to Manhattan Criminal Court on Monday, April 15, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
Cohen testified that he did not trust Costello because of his close relationship with Rudy Giuliani, who provided him with backdoor access to the White House, and because there was a risk that anything Cohen said would be repeated in the White House.
Mr. Costello testified that he told Mr. Cohen that his legal problems could be resolved by “obtaining true information about Donald Trump and cooperating with the Southern District of New York.”
Costello said Cohen repeated 10 to 12 times, “I swear to God, Bob, I have nothing on Donald Trump.”
That was clearly a big lie.
Mr. Costello also claims that Mr. Cohen told Mr. Trump that he did not know about the hush money payments, which is the crux of the case.
Stormy claims one-night stand with Trump, agrees to lie for $130,000 payoff
But Robert Costello entered the courtroom with a large wound on his shoulder.
After one question, he said, “That’s ridiculous.” Then he said, “Hi.”
Judge Juan Merchan decided enough was enough and dismissed the jury.
“If you don’t like my ruling, don’t say, ‘Hey, hey,’ and don’t say, ‘Strike!’ Because I’m the only one who can testify in court.”
The lecture was stern. “So if you don’t like my sentence, don’t side-eye me or roll your eyes. Do you understand?”
Costello took a long look at the judge, “Are you staring at me now?”, at which point he announced, “Get out of the courtroom.” Then everyone returned.
On May 20, in Manhattan State Court in New York City, Michael Cohen accused Donald Donald of falsifying business records to hide money he paid to hush porn actress Stormy Daniels in 2016. Former President Trump will be re-examined by prosecutor Susan Hoffinger during his criminal trial. , 2024, this courtroom sketch. (Reuters/Jane Rosenberg)
In yesterday’s testimony, prosecutors forced Mr. Costello to admit that he was referring to Mr. Trump when he said he had “friends in high places.”
Costello said the emails to “get everyone on the same page” were because Cohen was “constantly complaining about what Rudy Giuliani was saying in the press.”
He said the email to get everyone “on the same page” was intended to resolve grievances against Rudy.
Costello denied the prosecutor’s question that he had “encouraged him not to cooperate.”
Upon redirect, the defense asked, “What about the email that said you were ‘duped’? ” I asked.
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Mr. Costello said he continued to urge Mr. Cohen to contract with his retainers in order to get paid, but Mr. Cohen kept making excuses and procrastinating.
Was he pressuring Michael Cohen to do something? Costello replied that this was not the case.
that’s all. Closing arguments are scheduled for next Tuesday.
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Prosecutors have many other witnesses and materials, but in this openly partisan and shaky case, they are directly concerned with repaying hush money to President Trump and Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal. The only person connected is Mr. Cohen. So unless the 12 jurors believe the former president needed to know, Mr. Cohen’s evisceration on the stand has real implications for the document tampering charge.
