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.
The long sidebar may have been about scheduling issues. The judge just told the jurors that, if they are OK w/it, court may be in session next Wed, despite the fact that the trial is usually off on Wednesdays.
This suggests prosecutors & defense were quibbling over the calendar.
The defense sought to delay the trial many times before it started, & #Trump has complained that it was going too fast.
There’s laughing when Justice #Merchan shoots down Todd #Blanche, #Trump's lawyer. Blanche asked for a sidebar & got a dismissive “no” from Merchan.
We’ve had 10 objections in <20 mins.
Defense plays a recording of #MichaelCohen celebrating Trump's indictment on his podcast. His voice is loud & enthusiastic to the point of seeming off-putting.
#MichaelCohen seems deflated after hearing that clip. Blanche asks if that was the first time that he had said he wanted #Trump to feel what Cohen himself had felt when he was prosecuted. Cohen says that he had expressed that sentiment before.
Reportedly Cohen’s voice sounded truly odd in the podcast clip. Giddy, high-pitched, & speaking so fast that it sounded as if the tape had been artificially sped up.
#Trump is paying close attention, as clips play of #MichaelCohen describing how much he hates Trump & wants him to rot in prison.
Prosecution used earlier witnesses to introduce Michael Cohen to the jury as an outsized personality. + Cohen has not been shy on the stand about his hatred of Trump. These clips, while entertaining, might not come as a huge shock to the jury.
#Blanche has yet to ask #MichaelCohen about anything in connection to the actual case that's on trial.
Trump's lawyers have focused on impeaching the credibility of the prosecution's 2 biggest witnesses, #StormyDaniels & Cohen. Though while Susan #Necheles’s cross-examination of Daniels was largely focused & had an arc, Blanche’s cross-examination of Cohen has been all over the place.
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.
[insert Mob voice]
Thinking of changing my name to "Louie The Fish" and offering my casual observations* as a "Trump Trial Pundit" to any news organization(s) that might want to "utilize my services" in explaining the low-life-ness of the defendant.**
*available via Zoom
** have your lawyers call my lawyers and we'll do some lawyering.
#Trump has his posse again. Today it’s more #Republican elected officials. Today, Trump will be joined by the #House speaker, #MikeJohnson, as well as #NorthDakota’s governor, #DougBurgum, a contender to be Trump's running mate. Also present will be Representatives #ByronDonalds & #CoryMills of Florida, & #VivekRamaswamy, who was one of Trump's primary rivals this year. Both Donalds & Ramaswamy are longshot hopefuls to be Trump's running mate.
#MichaelCohen, for only the second time this trial, is getting angry as he remembers what he clearly sees as an #injustice. He testifies that not only was he sent back to #prison, he was put in #solitary confinement.
In 2023, during #MichaelCohen’s testimony at #Trump’s #civil#fraud trial, the defense was able to trip him up while asking him about one of his federal guilty pleas. There, he seemed to suggest that he wasn’t actually #guilty of one of the #crimes he had pleaded guilty to. Ever since, Trump’s lawyers have accused him of perjury.
#Blanche gets to his point: that #MichaelCohen says he doesn't "recall" having had multiple conversations w/the DA's office about not going on TV, but he can recall w/pristine detail conversations he said he had w/ #Trump in 2016.
"I remember all the phone conversations w/Mr. Trump at the time, yes," Cohen says.
FYI, Cohen is under no obligation to “recall” anything. He is not on trial.
#Blanche asks #MichaelCohen if he has gone on TV several dozen times. “I have gone on television,” Cohen says. Blanche asks him if it’s >20 times. “It could be,” Cohen concedes. Blanche asks him if he has any doubt that he has gone on television >20 times, & Cohen allows, that no, he has no doubt he has gone on television >20 times.
#MichaelCohen is still calm, but focused, & turning around #Blanche’s questions wherever possible. He’s not being defiant, as he was during his shaky cross-examination in #Trump's #civil#fraud trial. Some of his answers, perhaps unintentionally, are funny, which could be taking the sting out of some of Blanche’s insinuations. The jurors look amused. One is smiling.
As #MichaelCohen testifies, #Trump has dropped his head repeatedly & appears to be struggling to stay awake. #NodFarter
Blanche asks Cohen questions about the properties he has owned in Trump buildings. Prosecutors told a story about Cohen loving Trump until he felt he was betrayed in 2018. Blanche emphasizes that indeed there was a time when Cohen was devoted to Trump.
#Blanche tries trapping #MichaelCohen by repeatedly asking if he lied. Cohen repeats over & over “I wasn’t lying. I believed it at the time”
Blanche emphasizes a counternarrative about Cohen, asking him how he felt when he was cut off from the Trump family. The defense appears to want to make him look like he has an ax to grind against #Trump.