Prosecutors surprised many on Tuesday by abruptly announcing that they would end their case against former President Donald Trump after Michael Cohen finished testifying.
This is surprising because the prosecution did not clearly state the crime it was proving, the elements of that crime, or even why the payments indicating payments related to Stormy Daniels were not properly recorded as legal costs. That was it.
In fact, the only thing the prosecution proved was that there were liars, pathological liars, in the hall of fraud. . . And Michael Cohen.
Mr. Cohen has spent the past two days claiming that he used to be a liar, but that he only lied to help former President Donald Trump. If that’s what his testimony claims, it’s just the latest lie Cohen has told under oath.
Cohen lied to Congress, the courts, the special counsel, the IRS, the banks, and just about every living thing that walks or crawls on the face of the earth.
Notably, his past convictions for business and tax evasion were taken in his own interest, not President Trump’s.
He admitted on stage that he had lied in an earlier plea deal, but it wasn’t to support Trump, whom he had already criticized. It was to further his own interests.
There’s every indication that Cohen will be still I’m lying.
For example, consider testimony about the unethical decision to secretly record a phone call with President Trump on September 6, 2016.
It was a breathtaking betrayal that most lawyers would never think of, much less do.
When questioned by prosecutors about the act, Mr. Cohen strangely said that he did it to ensure that former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker “remained loyal to Mr. Trump.” He claimed that
No one seriously believes this to be true. That doesn’t make sense. Mr. Pecker has spoken with President Trump about the payments and also met with him at the White House.
For Mr. Pecker, acting out the phone call with Mr. Trump will only create confusion, not pressure.
Furthermore, why did Mr. Cohen record the call without telling Mr. Trump? The apparent motive was to gather material that could be used against Mr. Trump if he ever needed any leverage.
Again, it was for Cohen.
Mr. Cohen’s testimony showed that he has consistently acted only with his own interests in mind.
After portraying his sudden cooperation with prosecutors as a kind of “Road to Damascus,” jurors learned that all roads lead to Cohen and his bank account.
After telling jurors that he had dedicated his life to righting Trump’s mistakes and holding him accountable, he admitted to repeatedly undermining prosecutors to make money.
Prosecutors asked him to stop giving public interviews, but Cohen didn’t care. He has made approximately 24 television appearances and recorded hundreds of his podcast episodes.
He admitted that he mentioned Trump in virtually every episode, about four times a week.
He told how he raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for books, including one titled “Revenge.” He sells items such as a $32 shirt with a photo of Trump in a jumpsuit in prison and a coffee mug with the phrase “Send him to the mansion, not the White House.” admitted that he was doing it.
He also appeared on a reality show called “The Fixer,” in which he promised viewers, “I’m your fixer.”
After just a few hours of cross-examination, it was clear that Cohen was the same con artist saving himself – one Venmo at a time.
Yet Cohen continued to reconstruct reality in the image he himself constructed.
When asked about his antics on TikTok, he described his posts as a type of sleep deprivation therapy, saying, “It’s hard to sleep, [he] Found out. ”
No reasonable prosecutor would rely on Cohen, much less put him in charge of the case.
Prosecutors never bothered to show that Mr. Trump was responsible or that he knew how the payments were recorded in ledgers or business records.
They also simply ignored the need to demonstrate why labeling these payments as “legal costs” is fraudulent or what the correct description is.
These details might be required in other courts, but this is New York and the defendant is Donald Trump.
For Bragg and his team, it’s all about what they can get out of this case, despite the law.
In that sense, they hit it off with their star witness, and Michael Cohen has finally found a place that values the “special skill set” he touts on his reality show.
Jonathan Turley is an attorney and professor at George Washington University Law School.
