Cohen admits habit of blaming others as Trump attorney leans on his desire for revenge in cross-examination – live | Donald Trump trials
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Trump’s lawyer gets Cohen to admit he has a habit of shifting blame
Trump’s lawyer Todd Blanche also gets Michael Cohen to admit that he has experience blaming other people for his problems. Blanche asks:
You blamed … your bank, your accountant, you blamed the federal prosecutors, the judge, President Trump?”
“Yes, sir,” Cohen replies.
Key events
Court was adjourned for lunch and will resume at 2:15 PM ET.
after the break Michael Cohen will return to the stand to be questioned by the defense.
Trump’s lawyer questions Cohen’s testimony about the October 2016 conversation with Trump
– asks Trump’s lawyer Todd Blanch Michael Cohen for a call on October 24, 2016. Cohen testified that he made the call to talk with Donald Trump for “discussion of Stormy Daniels matter and its resolution”.
Asked what his recollection of that call was, Cohen said:
We talked about it and it was resolved.
Blanche is asking Cohen directly now if he lied in his testimony Tuesday that he called Schiller and spoke to Trump on the phone in October 2016 and told Trump he was going ahead with the Stormy Daniels hush money.
Blanche speculates, based on reports from the time, that Cohen called Schiller primarily to complain about being prank-called by a 14-year-old — and he wouldn’t have enough time within 1 minute and 36 seconds of conversation to notify Trump of the deal.
Maya Yang
Over three hours of cross-examination passed and Michael Cohen largely kept his composure on the stand.
The former Trump go-between looked downcast and confused at times, but for the most part remained calm and level-headed, answering many of Blanche’s questions with “Yes, sir” and “No, sir.”
Trump’s attorney Todd Blanche brings up the fact that Michael Cohen used a Google AI tool last November to help his lawyer apply for an early termination of his supervised release.
The AI tool created three fake cases, which Cohen admits he passed on to his lawyer, who then used them in the early termination letter. Blanche asks:
The three cases you gave your lawyer weren’t real cases, were they?
“That’s right,” Cohen replies. Blanche asks:
And did you know that your lawyer will use to support your application?
“Yes,” says Cohen. Blanche seems to have included this example to portray Cohen as a rogue operator who also causes more problems than he solves.
The parallel for the jury could be that in the hush money scheme, Cohen concocted a plan to pay off the hush money on his own accord, trying to be too clever by half and cause trouble for everyone else.
Maya Yang
Trump attorney Todd Blanch is also asking Michael Cohen did he express his frustration to Darrell Scott, pastor and former member of the Trump Diversity Coalition, because Trump did not bring him into the administration.
“Not in administration, I knew the role I wanted,” Cohen said. He adds:
I may have expressed disappointment.
Blanche also asks Cohen why he wanted Scott to advocate for Trump on his behalf, despite Cohen’s testimony that he spoke with Trump almost every day during the campaign.
In response, Cohen says:
It’s always good to have another defender.
Maya Yang
As Trump’s attorney Todd Blanche asks Michael Cohen about his time in the White House, Donald Trump he seems to be staring at Cohen intently.
Maya Yang
Trump’s attorney Todd Blanche asks questions Michael Cohen about his text messages with his daughter in which they discussed a potential role for Cohen as White House chief of staff.
“And you said, ‘He’s pushing like crazy,'” Blanche quotes Cohen’s text in which Cohen mentions Reince Priebusattempts to secure the position – which he eventually did.
Blanche goes on to ask Cohen if he told his daughter that he was disappointed that Priebus ended up being cast in the role. “That was not taken into account, yes, sir,” says Cohen.
Blanche asks Cohen if he was disappointed or “embarrassed” at being left with only the role of personal lawyer to the US president after “all the work” he did for Trump.
“That’s not accurate,” says Cohen.
Cohen says he wanted to work in White House ‘because of ego’
Maya Yang
asked Trump’s lawyer Todd Blanch Michael Cohen about his desire to work in the White House, as well as his desire to be considered chief of staff.
Cohen said:
I would like to be considered ego goals.
a judge Juan Mercan announced that next Wednesday there would be no court as usual, after previously floating the idea of keeping it after that to make up for a few days off coming up.
Some jurors have indicated they can’t work that day, “so that’s out of the question,” Murchan said, AP reported.
a judge Juan Mercan returns to the bench after a short morning rest.
The court is in session again.
The court takes a short break.
Matt Goetz refers to Trump’s infamous comment about proud boys
The Republican congressman from Florida Matt Goetz posted a photo of himself standing outside a Manhattan courtroom this morning in support of Donald Trump.
“Standing by and ready Mr. President,” Goetz wrote on X, a reference to when Trump told the far-right group Proud Boys to “give in and stay” during a 2020 presidential debate.
During the debate, the former president refused to condemn white supremacists and violent right-wing groups, instead urging, “Proud boys, back off and stay away! But I’ll tell you what, somebody has to do something about Antifa and the left.”
The proud boys immediately celebrated the president’s comment in posts on social media. One group of proud boys added the phrase “Stand back, wait” to their logo. Another post was a message to Trump: “I stand and we stand by sir.”
Trump’s lawyer Todd Blanche hit another case of Michael Cohen changing his story and lying under oath.
Blanche asked Cohen to reconcile two statements to Congress in February 2019: first, he testified that he would never accept or seek a pardon; in a subsequent deposition, he said he had instructed his attorney to explore the possibility of a pardon.
Trump’s lawyer gets Cohen to admit he has a habit of shifting blame
Trump’s lawyer Todd Blanche also gets Michael Cohen to admit that he has experience blaming other people for his problems. Blanche asks:
You blamed … your bank, your accountant, you blamed the federal prosecutors, the judge, President Trump?”
“Yes, sir,” Cohen replies.
Cohen admits he lied to the federal judge not only out of loyalty to Trump
Trump’s lawyer Todd Blanche gets Michael Cohen to admit that he lied for a variety of reasons—not just out of loyalty to Trump.
“The reason you lie to a federal judge is because the stakes affect you personally?” Blanche pleaded in her guilty plea before Judge Pauley in 2018 to federal tax evasion charges.
“Yes,” Cohen replies.
Trump’s lawyer Todd Blanche gaining some speed with Michael Cohen and doubling down on the suggestion that he’s a serial liar: Cohen told Judge Polley in 2018 that he didn’t feel pressured to plead guilty, but now says he feels cornered.
Cohen told the court he accepted responsibility and then called the case “corrupt” outside the courthouse.
Trump’s lawyer relies on Cohen’s desire for revenge
Trump attorney Todd Blanch is now moving to Michael Cohenthe 2018 guilty plea to federal tax evasion and making false statements, prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.
Blanche reads from Cohen’s book The Revenge, in which Cohen said he did not feel involved in tax fraud and pleaded guilty only to protect his family.
Blanche seems to suggest that Cohen wants revenge and wants Trump to go through what he had to go through.
Trump’s lawyer highlights Michael Cohen’s past lies under oath
Trump attorney Todd Blanch goes into detail about Michael Cohenthe previous lies under oath.
When Cohen testified before Congress, he lied about the number of calls he made Donald Trump about the Trump Moscow project and when the project was stopped.
Blanche tries to imply that Cohen lied with ease about important facts, though Cohen protests that he did it out of loyalty to Trump.
Trump’s lawyer Todd Blanche joins in a new line of questioning to show Michael Cohen is motivated to see Donald Trump convicted in the case.
Playing clips from Cohen’s “Mea Culpa” podcast, where Cohen said that “thinking about Trump in Otisville jail makes me giddy with joy,” Blanche got Cohen to admit that he believed the evidence he gave to the district attorney’s office, played a large role in the indictment.
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