"The defense spent a whole day casting Cohen as a liar and elicited admissions that he had lied under oath during past cases, allowing them to cast some doubt on aspects of the story he’s told at this trial. But prosecutors will have three days to prepare for a crucial re-direct, in which they will seek to build Cohen back up and refocus the jurors on the most important elements of their case." - reporting from the courtroom, Jonah Bromwich, NYT #trumptrial#trump#hushmoney
"Todd Blanche, the defense lawyer, is asking Michael Cohen how he can have specific memories of phone calls that he conducted eight years ago. Cohen responds that the reason he remembers them is because he’s been talking about the conversations for six years." - Jonah Bromwich, reporting from the courthouse for the NYT.
Cross-examination of #MichaelCohen resumes, an opportunity for the defense to poke holes in his testimony & perhaps trip up or provoke the state’s key witness. The questioning of Cohen, #Trump’s fmr fixer, is the beginning of the end of Trump’s #criminal trial, which began April 15 & might conclude before Memorial Day weekend at this pace.
That’s the thing about criminals, they work with other criminals.
Duh.
#Blanche is now demonstrating for the jury that #MichaelCohen lied under oath for different reasons. By his own admission, it wasn’t only to demonstrate his #loyalty to #Trump. He lied also, Cohen admits, because the stakes affected him personally.
#Blanche is showing #MichaelCohen’s lack of remorse. Cohen has talked publicly about wanting to right the wrongs he committed while working for #Trump. Blanche is getting him to say he doesn’t think he should have been charged.
Blanche asks Cohen about blaming a lot of people for the conduct for which he was convicted. Cohen freely acknowledges he has.
#Blanche is now going over the financial transactions that allowed #MichaelCohen to pay #HushMoney to #StormyDaniels, perhaps the closest he's gotten to the subject matter of the case.
He notes that Cohen hid those transactions from his wife, apparently seeking to call into question whether Cohen was really as concerned about his family - & his wife — as he suggested when explaining his federal guilty plea.
#MichaelCohen admits he asked his lawyers to explore the possibility, although he testified before a House panel that he would never have accepted one. Cohen points out — correctly, as NYT broke the story — that Trump was dangling pardons to people connected to the special counsel's investigation into the #Trump campaign's possible ties to #Russia.
Jurors will have to determine when — if ever — #MichaelCohen began telling the truth. #Blanche is demonstrating that Cohen told lies, big & small, over a long period of time & for various reasons.
At the same time, prosecutors have & will demonstrate in re-direct & closing arguments that #Trump has told lies, big & small, about a number of people & issues in this & other cases.
#Merchan decides that #Blanche can do it in his own questioning. But prosecutors, Matthew #Colangelo & Joshua #Steinglass, argue that it it should come from Merchan because the questions were so misleading.
Merchan tells prosecutors that they can draft a version of an order that the judge himself would give if Blanche’s corrections end up being insufficient.
#Blanche is trying to cast doubt on #MichaelCohen’s account, saying it was the first time he had mentioned the call.
Prosecutor #Hoffinger objects again, & asks to approach.
After the sidebar conversation w/the judge, Emil #Bove, one of Trump's lawyers, returns to the defense table, sits down & whispers something to #Trump who shakes his head & scowls.
#Blanche starts a long series of questions about whether #MichaelCohen received harassing phone calls from a 14-yr-old prankster in Oct 2016. [WTF?] He seems to be suggesting an alt reason for Cohen's call to #KeithSchiller, #Trump’s bodyguard.
Cohen had testified he made that call to inform Trump of the #HushMoney payment to #StormyDaniels. Blanche is suggesting to jurors that Cohen lied about the call's purpose.
Defense: You asked Schiller who to speak to on harassing texts & he says call me, then you call him back at 8:02 for a minute thirty... then you text him the number of the 14-yr-old... You said the Oct 24th call was not w/ #KeithSchiller …. “That was a lie."
Blanche suggests that Cohen was not reporting the #HushMoney payment to #Trump but reporting that he was being pranked by a teenager. (Seriously?)
#Blanche, emphasizing his point, raises his finger & his voice gets higher. He is suggesting it is ridiculous that #MichaelCohen might have simultaneously reported a prankster to #KeithSchiller & told #Trump that a #HushMoney payment had been made.
(This whole thing is ridiculous)
Blanche is trying to get Cohen to crack, but he’s holding firm. “You can admit,” Blanche says, that you lied. “No sir, I can’t,” Cohen responds, sticking to his story.
#Blanche admitted into evidence #MichaelCohen’s texts w/ a 14-yr-old harasser, which occurred on 24 Oct, 2016 until roughly 7:24PM, when Cohen wrote: “Please have your parent or guardian contact me before secret service reaches out them.”
Blanche is now driving home that Cohen threatened to turn the Secret Service on a prank caller who said they were 14 yrs old.
#Blanche is trying to establish the idea for the jury that #MichaelCohen was a rogue agent who did things w/o consulting w/ #Trump -- which defense says is what happened w/the #HushMoney payment.
Blanche notes that Cohen often frustrated campaign ofcls w/statements he made to the press during the 2016 campaign. Cohen parries that by saying Trump had told them that Cohen reported to him.
#Manchin, supposedly a Democrat from West Virginia, told reporters today that #Trump's #criminal trial "doesn't make sense."
When asked whether he believes Trump should be convicted in any case, Manchin responded that "there are 2 really solid cases: January 6 & Georgia."
"Everything else doesn't really make sense," he added as a reporter directly asked about the case in NY.
#MichaelCohen previously testified that in June 2016, he was negotiating w/ The #NationalEnquirer & #KarenMcDougal over her story about having had an affair w/ #Trump. On the stand now, as #Blanche digs in about whether he can remember a specific call from that year, Cohen says that seeing prosecutors’ other evidence has jogged his memory about calls he had back then. (That’s memory for ya)
#Blanche notes that while #MichaelCohen has talked a lot about using Signal, an encrypted app that makes use of disappearing messages, many of the sensitive conversations that we’ve seen & heard about in this trial just took place over text.
(Probably because having not disappeared, they could be admitted into evidence. Duh.)
Blanche asks about negotiations he had w/ ABC News reporter John Santucci regarding the #StormyDaniels story.
Blanche is restating his opening argument point that NDAs were typical among the wealthy & famous & that they were not illegal. (No one has said otherwise)
#Blanche shows the #HushMoney contract that #MichaelCohen struck w/ #StormyDaniels. He gets Cohen to agree it’s a “perfectly legal contract.” He’s raises his voice for emphasis — trying to make the #jury feel like this arrangement was business as usual.
It may be usual to have NDAs, but this was unusual for other reasons.
Prosecutors have said that #Trump's reimbursements for the #HushMoney were fraudulently disguised as #legal services, even though #MichaelCohen had no legal retainer. The point Blanche is seeking to make is: Cohen did legal work for years, & never had a legal retainer. (See above)
#Blanche is also trying to minimize the fact that Cohen had no retainer agreement w/ Trump, suggesting NY #ethics rules don’t require it.
#Blanche again asks #MichaelCohen about his relationship w/journalists. Cohen admits he lied to reporters in early 2018 & secretly recorded conversations w/reporters about Trump’s involvement in the HushMoney payment. (#Wenowdis)
Blanche emphasizes when Cohen recorded reporters — early 2018.
Justice #Merchan stops when Blanche says he’s moving to another area.
Prosecutors now have 3 days to prepare re-direct, when they will seek to build #MichaelCohen back up & refocus the jurors on the most important elements of their case & the actual charges for which they’ve presented mountains of evidence regardless of whether Cohen is a liar or not.