Donald J. Trump’s legal professionals on Thursday took their finest shot at Michael D. Cohen, the star witness within the former president’s legal trial in Manhattan, grilling Mr. Cohen a couple of medley of misrepresentations, manipulations and outright lies.
Searching for to destroy Mr. Cohen’s credibility, a protection lawyer, Todd Blanche, portrayed him as an unrepentant legal and a serial deceiver who took the stand solely to precise revenge on Mr. Trump.
He argued that Mr. Cohen, Mr. Trump’s loyal lawyer and fixer till a falling-out years in the past, had modified his story about issues large and small: whether or not he had wished a White Home job, whether or not he had sought a presidential pardon and whether or not he had lied throughout the trial a couple of cellphone name he stated he had with Mr. Trump.
Mr. Cohen testified that he had spoken with Mr. Trump in October 2016, throughout the presidential marketing campaign’s waning days, to replace him a couple of hush-money deal that Mr. Cohen was negotiating with a porn star on his boss’s behalf. Producing a string of Mr. Cohen’s textual content messages a couple of prankster who had focused him, Mr. Blanche provided an alternate idea in regards to the dialog, elevating his index finger as his voice hit a better register.
“You have been truly speaking,” Mr. Blanche stated, “about harassing cellphone calls from a 14-year-old,” quite than the hush cash.
“That was a lie,” Mr. Blanche then shouted, evoking the climax of a courtroom drama. “You possibly can admit.”
“No sir, I can’t,” Mr. Cohen responded, sticking to his story, as he did by a lot of the day whereas the protection sought to nook him. “I consider I used to be telling the reality.”
Now on his third day of testimony within the first legal trial of an American president, Mr. Cohen confirmed indicators of fragility because the protection chipped at his credibility with out delivering a deadly blow to the prosecution’s case. Mr. Cohen, a self-described former “thug” for Mr. Trump who oscillates between defiance and allure, bent on the stand, however didn’t break.
Mr. Cohen’s conduct — and truthfulness — is on the case’s coronary heart. He made the $130,000 cost to the porn star, Stormy Daniels, to suppress her account of a sexual liaison with Mr. Trump, who later reimbursed Mr. Cohen from the White Home. Prosecutors accused Mr. Trump, who denies the intercourse and any wrongdoing, of falsifying associated data so he may cowl up the scandal for good.
When the deal leaked anyway, Mr. Trump washed his arms of Mr. Cohen, who in flip pleaded responsible for his function within the hush cash, amongst different federal crimes, saying he had struck the deal on the former president’s route. The plea marked a definitive break with Mr. Trump, his onetime mentor, and Mr. Cohen is the one witness providing testimony linking Mr. Trump to the data that prosecutors say have been falsified.
Throughout cross-examination Thursday, Mr. Blanche sought to undercut Mr. Cohen’s testimony with moments meant to be showstopping, together with hammering Mr. Cohen about his legal file and his earlier admissions to mendacity underneath oath.
“There’s little doubt that you understand what perjury means, appropriate?” Mr. Blanche requested Mr. Cohen. The witness, who has admitted mendacity to Congress and the courts, replied, “I do know what perjury means.”
It was considered one of dozens of heated exchanges between the 2 legal professionals — Mr. Blanche a former prosecutor, Mr. Cohen a disbarred litigator. Every sought to outmaneuver the opposite as they parried all through the day.
A few of Mr. Blanche’s assaults meandered, and a few Mr. Cohen simply turned apart. The questioning drew greater than a dozen prosecution objections that the choose sustained and prompted a handful of sidebar conferences on the choose’s bench. The interruptions gave a disjointed feeling to a high-stakes confrontation.
Early within the day, Mr. Cohen lightened the temper within the courtroom amid the strain attributable to the prosecution’s string of profitable objections. Glancing at jurors, Mr. Cohen shook his head, showing to crack a short, crooked smile earlier than accepting a recent cup of water from a court docket officer.
Mr. Trump, who had saved his eyes closed for a lot of Mr. Cohen’s earlier testimony, was now very a lot awake, leaning in and at one level obvious at his former fixer.
And his lawyer, Mr. Blanche, gained steam and confidence after closing out the morning with the questioning in regards to the prank calls. Whereas he didn’t name into query key parts of the prosecution’s case, he wearied Mr. Cohen.
The previous president, who faces probation or as much as 4 years in jail if convicted, stands accused of 34 counts of falsifying enterprise data, one for every file concerned within the reimbursement of Mr. Cohen: 11 checks, 11 invoices and 12 entries within the former president’s ledger.
The data, prosecutors say, disguised the character of the compensation to Mr. Cohen. Though Mr. Trump was reimbursing him partly for the hush cash, the data referred solely to a retainer settlement and abnormal authorized bills.
Below questioning from prosecutors earlier within the week, Mr. Cohen gave his account of two essential conferences with the previous president in regards to the data, the primary in January 2017, the place he stated Mr. Trump realized a couple of plan to falsify them. They met once more the next month within the Oval Workplace, the place Mr. Trump confirmed a plan to ship Mr. Cohen a verify.
Though Mr. Trump didn’t personally falsify data or explicitly instruct anybody to take action, underneath New York regulation, prosecutors want solely present that Mr. Trump “aided” against the law, or “brought on” his firm to file false data.
Mr. Blanche has not addressed these two conferences, however as a substitute targeted a lot of his cross-examination on what he described as Mr. Cohen’s obsession with hurting Mr. Trump, and his unrepentant mendacity.
The protection lawyer started by enjoying excerpts from Mr. Cohen’s podcast, “Mea Culpa,” through which the previous fixer sounded giddy about Mr. Trump’s indictment final yr.
The jury heard Mr. Cohen’s maniacal pleasure as he known as Mr. Trump “dumbass Donald.” In one other recording, he expressed his hope “that this man leads to jail,” including that “revenge is a dish finest served chilly.” He averred that “you higher consider I would like this man to go down and decay inside for what he did to me and my household.”
Mr. Blanche additionally highlighted what he stated was a motive for Mr. Cohen to assault Mr. Trump. Mr. Cohen, he famous, missed out on a Trump administration job.
“You actually wished to work within the White Home, appropriate?” Mr. Blanche stated, laying a lure for Mr. Cohen, who briefly stepped in.
“No, sir,” Mr. Cohen replied.
Then Mr. Blanche produced data that appeared to undercut that denial and raised his voice as he confirmed that Mr. Cohen had in actual fact longed to be Mr. Trump’s chief of employees.
“That was for my ego, sure,” Cohen acknowledged, and it appeared as if Mr. Blanche had landed a blow.
However the questioning quickly devolved right into a debate over semantics and nuance. Mr. Cohen stated that he had truly wished a “hybrid” function, each White Home and private lawyer, that might preserve him near the president.
Mr. Cohen additionally denied Mr. Blanche’s declare that he had initially turned on Mr. Trump to obtain leniency from federal prosecutors years in the past as they investigated him for crimes associated to the hush-money deal and different wrongdoing.
He fired again that he “wasn’t ” in a proper cooperation deal after he pleaded responsible in 2018; he additionally acquired nothing from the native prosecutors who introduced the case in opposition to Mr. Trump.
Mr. Cohen pleaded responsible to mendacity to Congress a couple of potential Trump Tower deal in Moscow. He additionally pleaded responsible to campaign-finance violations associated to payoffs of Ms. Daniels and one other lady. Mr. Cohen has taken accountability for these crimes, attributing them to a primal urge to guard his household and Mr. Trump, his longtime boss and a person he as soon as revered.
However he additionally pleaded responsible to non-public monetary crimes unrelated to Mr. Trump, admitting underneath oath that he dedicated them. Now, nonetheless, he disputes his guilt in these issues.
Mr. Blanche sought to underscore the discrepancy, casting Mr. Cohen as an indiscriminate liar who modified his story to swimsuit the state of affairs.
Mr. Cohen stated he had pleaded responsible to tax evasion solely as a result of prosecutors have been threatening to cost his spouse as properly. However, Mr. Blanche famous, when Mr. Cohen pleaded responsible, he was requested whether or not anybody had “threatened or induced you to plead responsible.”
He advised that when Mr. Cohen answered no, he had lied.
Mr. Cohen conceded that was the case, a compelling back-and-forth that appeared the command the jury’s consideration.
Mr. Blanche additionally painted Mr. Cohen as one thing of a conspiracy theorist as he famous that Mr. Cohen has positioned blame on the federal choose who oversaw the 2018 case, William H. Pauley.
“So that you consider Decide Pauley was in on it?” Mr. Blanche requested.
“I do,” he replied.
Mr. Blanche additionally seized on Mr. Cohen’s declare underneath oath earlier than Congress in 2019 that he had by no means sought a pardon from Mr. Trump. Mr. Cohen testified throughout this trial, in addition to throughout an unrelated deposition, that he had as soon as directed his legal professionals to discover the likelihood.
Whereas Mr. Blanche, now decreasing his voice, harped on the inconsistency, Mr. Cohen identified that Mr. Trump was dangling pardons to numerous allies presently. Mr. Cohen defined that he merely wished to know if he would possibly qualify as properly, a line of testimony that drew a slight shake of the top from Mr. Trump.
“Is that this actually one thing that they’re speaking about? Can you discover out?” Mr. Cohen recalled saying to his legal professionals. “I wished this nightmare to finish.”
Jonathan Swan, Wesley Parnell and Kate Christobek contributed reporting.
