Michael Cohen’s former lawyer, Robert Costello, testified Monday for the defense in the New York criminal case against former President Donald Trump. live update From the court.
Mr. Trump’s lawyer, Todd Blanche, called the defense’s first witness, paralegal Daniel Sitko of the Blanche Law Firm.
Sitko said he had produced a summary of calls between Costello and Cohen, who briefly served as Cohen’s lawyer in 2018. Cohen maintains he never had a formal agreement with Costello to represent him.
“You don’t look at me sideways or roll your eyes.”
Mr. Costello told lawmakers last week at a federal weaponization hearing that Mr. Cohen repeatedly lied while testifying on the stand in the New York criminal trial against Mr. Trump. blaze news Previously reported. Costello called Cohen a “habitual liar” and tarnished his reputation.
Mr. Costello said Mr. Cohen told Mr. Costello that he had paid the $130,000 settlement with porn actress Stormy Daniels himself without consulting Mr. Trump. Mr. Costello claimed that Mr. Cohen was desperate to win back Mr. Trump’s support and gain a position in the White House.
In his testimony Monday, Sitko explained that despite Cohen’s claims, he never formally employed Costello. He said the two had 75 phone calls in April, May and June 2018, with one call lasting 96 minutes.
Mr. Costello testified for the defense Monday afternoon. Mr Costello told jurors about the first time he met Mr Cohen on April 17, 2018. Costello noted that one of her partners, Jeffrey Citron, was also present at her meeting.
Mr. Costello said Mr. Cohen was “totally manic” throughout the two-hour meeting at the Regency Hotel in Manhattan, where federal agents had recently raided Mr. Cohen’s hotel and offices.
“He kept walking back and forth and side to side,” Costello testified.
He told jurors that Cohen had repeatedly said that Trump was not involved in the settlement agreement with Daniels.
Costello said Cohen said, “‘I really want you to explain to me what my options are and what my escape route is.'”
Cohen reportedly told Costello, “I swear to God, Bob, I have nothing on Donald Trump.” Costello said he repeated that sentence 10 to 12 times during the April meeting.
“Michael Cohen said many times that President Trump knew nothing about those payments and that he did them on his own. He repeated that over and over again,” Costello testified.
While on the stand, Mr. Costello became frustrated as Judge Juan Melchian repeatedly challenged his testimony from the prosecution. Costello rolled his eyes, sighed, and said, “That’s ridiculous.”
Machan told Costello, “You don’t look at me sideways or roll your eyes. … When I have a witness on the stand, if you don’t like my verdict, you don’t say, ‘Wow.’ Told. . ” I wouldn’t say “hit.”
At one point, Costello glared at Marchand for a long time and instructed the judge to have people temporarily “vacate the courtroom.” After a few minutes, the defense was able to continue direct questioning of the second witness.
In cross-examination, Costello said Cohen told him he had considered suicide because he “couldn’t handle the pressure of an ongoing criminal case.”
anything else?
Mr. Trump’s lawyer, Emil Bove, said there were no plans to call additional witnesses after Mr. Costello’s testimony.
Blanche asked the judge to dismiss the charges against Trump, saying prosecutors had failed to prove their case.
“There is no evidence that there was any idea or intent to mislead or to conceal or falsify business records,” Blanche told the judge. “There is no evidence that anyone was thinking about campaign finance claims in 2016 when this payment was made to Mr. Daniels.”
Blanche also argued that there was no evidence that “the alleged co-conspirators had any criminal intent at the time they engaged in this activity.” He asked Marchand to determine that Cohen was “not reliable as a matter of law.”
“President, we didn’t just catch him lying. He came here with a history of lying,” Blanche argued. “He testified and lied under oath in this court. … The result of that lie, if accepted by the jury, is a conviction.”
“There is no way the court could rely on Mr. Cohen’s testimony and send this case to a jury,” Blanche asserted.
Marchand said he would respond to the defense’s motion to dismiss at a later date.
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