Michael Cohen may be the star witness in the landmark New York v. Trump case, but experts and legal experts across the political spectrum are questioning his credibility and his social media openly questioning the wisdom of its brazen presence.
Cohen, once a loyal ally of former President Trump but now an arch-enemy, posted a video on TikTok while Trump was silenced by Judge Juan Machan’s controversial gag order. He has been criticized for speaking out about the incident.
“His lack of impulse control in all of this is remarkable,” New York Times reporter Suzanne Craig told MSNBC on Friday. “He went on a Twitter rant and said I wasn’t going to say anything more…and then appeared on a live TikTok video while in prison wearing a Donald Trump shirt.”
Mr. Cohen has been labeled by some as a “con artist,” but others have praised him as a reformed sinner who sincerely regrets his past work as a fixer to Mr. Trump.
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Former President Donald Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen is scheduled to testify Monday. (Yuki Iwamura/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
He was accused by a jury of his role in arranging a $130,000 payment to adult actress Stormy Daniels in 2016 to silence her story of having had a sexual relationship with former President Trump in 2006. is expected to explain whether he believes his writings should be at the center of the lawsuit. success.
Trump and Cohen had a separate relationship in 2018, after spending years engaging in what he called the future president’s “dirty behavior,” as Cohen’s legal problems deepened.
Convicted perjurer and disbarred attorney Michael Cohen will suspend his paycheck this week for bashing Trump on TikTok and, therefore, in court. ” said attorney Mike Davis, an outspoken Trump supporter who served as a law clerk on the Supreme Court. Justice Neil Gorsuch told FOX News Digital.
In court on Friday, Judge Marchan directed New York prosecutors to instruct Mr. Cohen to stop commenting about the case and Mr. Trump before taking the stand, but did not impose a gag order. The state’s attorney said he would get the message across.
But that didn’t stop Mr. Cohen from broadcasting live TikTok videos about the case, speculating that Mr. Trump might go to prison, and raising money from viewers’ donations during the trial. .
“Trump 2024?” Cohen said One day last month. “He looks like a 20- to 24-year-old Trump.”
Jonathan Turley, a Fox News contributor and constitutional expert, called him a “serial perjurer” who makes money off the cases by soliciting cash and selling products on social media.
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“Cohen has always been an open fraudster.” Turley wrote.
“He continues to act according to his nature. The problem is the political and legal system that enables him to be a serial liar,” Turley continued.
Incarcerated attorney Michael Avenatti, who originally represented Daniels in the case against Trump, said he doesn’t think the state can win unless the jury believes and likes Cohen. I think it’s a difficult job.
“You have to call him, because there is no one other than Mr. Cohen who connects President Trump to these redemptions and this alleged conspiracy. No one else but Mr. Cohen can water down these important points. There are no witnesses who can testify,” Avenatti told FOX News Digital from a California prison. .
“If I were the state, I would be very nervous about this because I don’t want to bet anything on Michael Cohen at this point,” Avenatti continued. “That man is a complete failure as a witness.”
Michael Cohen mocks former President Trump on TikTok. (Getty Images)
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Several media outlets that are firmly opposed to Trump, along with longtime Trump critics, have also pointed out the former fixer’s shortcomings.
The Washington Post recently published an article with the headline, “One thing is already clear from Trump’s New York trial: No one liked Michael Cohen,” stating that the prosecution’s continued questioning of key witnesses Detailed contempt.
While Trump is on trial, the Post reported that “the testimony was just as shocking” for Cohen, who “has become something of a public punching bag.”
Post reporter Devlin Barrett called Cohen a “flawed witness” who was called “hopeless” and “stupid” before the jury. The jury also heard that when the witness learned that President Trump did not intend to give Cohen a job in the White House, he thought Cohen was “going to kill himself.” Some reports say this was done intentionally by prosecutors to soften the blow when Cohen testifies and to be candid about his shortcomings to jurors.
another Washington Post article It was dubbed “Coen’s TikTok Grift.”
Recent ABC news Article published He declared that Cohen’s behavior on TikTok could be problematic. Jeremy Saland, a defense attorney who worked in the Manhattan district attorney’s office, told ABC News that Trump’s legal team could use Cohen’s actions to “discredit him.” Ta.
Will Stekin, an ABC News reporter who co-wrote this article, said that on X days after Cohen appeared on TikTok wearing a jumpsuit and a shirt depicting President Trump handcuffed to a bar. he pointed out.
On Thursday, CNN panelists discussed Cohen’s credibility as a witness in his former boss’s trial.
“If there are humans on earth, [whose] This photo should be next to the definition of ‘reasonable doubt,’ that’s Michael Cohen,” Arthur Aidala said, before pointing out Cohen’s “history of lying” and “fraud.” Ta.
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CNN’s Ellie Honig predicted that Cohen would not be the prosecution’s last witness. The reason for this is “we don’t want to end up in a potentially unstable and dangerous situation.”
Cohen was even dragged across the pond. The BBC recently reported Cohen “didn’t help prosecutors in any way” with his out-of-court antics, including mocking Trump on social media and joking about Trump’s incarceration.
Former Manhattan prosecutor Lance Fletcher told the BBC: “He’s doing all the things you don’t want a witness to do as a prosecutor. He has all sorts of credibility issues.”
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Asked for comment, Lanny Davis told Fox News Digital that she pointed to her client’s testimony before the House Oversight Committee on February 27, 2019, suggesting that Cohen could be trusted that day.
“you have [an] answer. live tv. In front of millions of people. Jim Jordan and Mark Meadows on February 27, 2019, before paying him 12 rupees to call him a liar,” Davis said in an email.
On that day, Cohen called Trump a “racist,” “fraud” and “con man,” said he was “embarrassed” to know Trump, and allegedly used the money to repay “hush money.” Personal checks revealed.
Trump’s lawyers have argued that the $35,000 payment was not a “repayment” but a legal payment or attorney’s fee.
Fox News Digital’s Jeffrey Clark, Brianna Herlihy and Brooke Singman contributed to this report.
