United States: As the historic criminal case against former President Donald Trump draws to a close, Michael Cohen took the witness stand in Manhattan criminal court on Thursday to continue his confrontation with the former president’s defense lawyer.
Cohen’s Testimony
This Monday, prosecutors informed Judge Juan Merchan that Cohen—a.k.a. Trump’s former personal attorney—is their last witness in the frequently contentious trial, which got underway on April 15.
Trump made another appearance accompanied by a number of well-known allies. Reps. Bob Good of Virginia, Lauren Boebert of Colorado, and Matt Gaetz of Florida were among the Republicans in his delegation on Thursday. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson and other possible Trump running mates, including as Ohio Senator JD Vance, North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum, and billionaire Vivek Ramaswamy, have attended in the past.
Following his deposition, Cohen was questioned by Todd Blanche, the attorney for Trump, over remarks the former Trump supporter had made about his former employer on the “Mea Culpa” podcast, including expressing a wish for him to wind up “in prison.”
He declared on the program, “You better believe I want this man to rot in his cell and pay for what he has done to me and my family.” Blanche questioned Cohen about any instances in which he had claimed on his program that he had contributed to Trump’s indictment.
Blanche’s Cross-Examination
“Yes, I did take some credit,” he answered.
On Tuesday, Blanche’s cross-examination of Cohen got off to a heated start.
“After the trial started in this case, you went on TikTok and called me a ‘crying little s—,’ didn’t you?” He inquired.
Cohen answered, “That sounds like something I would say.”
After that, Blanche barraged Cohen with inquiries meant to demonstrate his record of dishonesty as well as his deep animosity toward his former employer. Blanche questioned Cohen about his comments on April 23 TikTok regarding Trump’s need to be kept in a “cage, like an animal.”
Cohen recalled adding, “I think I did.”
Key Witness in Trump Case
In the first criminal trial of a former president, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s case against Trump features Cohen, 57, as a key witness. In the final days of the 2016 presidential campaign, Stormy Daniels claimed to have had a sexual experience with Trump ten years prior, which she claimed to have had after they met at a celebrity golf tournament. Cohen was the one to pay Daniels $130,000 to keep her quiet about the incident. Trump disputes her assertion.
Prosecutors claim that in an effort to conceal their true purpose, then-President Trump paid Cohen back in a series of installments that were fraudulently declared as legal costs.
Cohen’s Testimony Continues
Cohen stated in his testimony this week that Trump had given him instructions to address Daniels’ allegations because he was concerned they would be a “total disaster” for his campaign. Cohen claimed that once Trump promised to reimburse him, he instructed him to settle the specifics with Allen Weisselberg, the then-chief financial officer of the Trump Organization.
Following the public disclosure of his payment to Daniels in 2018, Cohen claimed that Trump had urged him to accept full responsibility for the hush money arrangement, which he duly did.
When asked why he had done them and other things during the 2016 election to stifle damaging Trump news, Cohen replied that he had done so “at the direction of” and “for the benefit of Donald J. Trump.”
The only witness who may link Trump directly to the purported conspiracy of fabricating corporate papers is Cohen.
In his opening remarks, Blanche informed the jury that Cohen had received payments from Trump for legal services and that Cohen “cannot be trusted” because to his history of lying and vendetta against his former employer.
Although Cohen has admitted to lying in the past, including to Congress, for which he entered a guilty plea in 2018, he insists that his motivation at the time was his intense desire “to protect Mr. Trump.”
"Cohen admitted that he bullied people on behalf of Trump —anything, Cohen said, to make Trump happy."@aaronkatersky has the latest as Michael Cohen's testifies in former Pres. Trump's hush money case. pic.twitter.com/wWE6pZ3OHY
— ABC News Live (@ABCNewsLive) May 13, 2024
Expert Testimony and Witness Uncertainty
In court on Tuesday, Blanche stated that he expected to spend the majority of Thursday, if not all of it, answering questions. According to a person with intimate knowledge of what to expect during cross-examination, the defense will grill Cohen on Thursday mostly about his prior testimony given under oath and his repeated fabrications about events in 2016 and 2017.
If Blanche is right and the court is closed on Friday so that Trump may attend his son’s high school graduation, Cohen will probably take the stand again on Monday for further questions from the prosecution and Blanche herself before the prosecution adjourns.
At this moment, it’s uncertain if Trump will present a defense. This week, Blanche informed the judge that if he felt it was necessary, he might provide some expert testimony. According to court documents, the expert is Bradley A. Smith, a former head of the Federal Election Commission who is qualified to testify about the FEC and its operations, laws that the agency is in charge of upholding, and relevant concepts and terminology.
Trump is the other potential witness. Prior to the start of the trial, Trump declared he would “absolutely” testify in the case, but he has since amended that he would only do so if required. On Tuesday, Blanche informed the judge that he was unsure if his client would accept the side.
