Lies, loyalty and a gag order confirmed: Michael Cohen testified within the legal trial in opposition to Trump

Michael Cohen, former lawyer and confidant of Donald Trump, leaves his constructing on the best way to court docket in New York Metropolis on Might 14, 2024. (AP Photograph/Seth Wenig)

Donald Trump’s protection within the legal trial he faces in New York tried this Tuesday to focus on the credibility of the magnate’s former lawyer Michael Cohen, after the previous president’s right-hand man (now distanced from he) responded for nearly ten hours to the Prosecutor’s questions.

Todd Blanche, certainly one of Trump’s present attorneys, started the interrogation by asking Cohen if he remembered that in 2021, in the course of the investigation of this case, the Prosecutor’s Workplace itself was “pissed off” as a result of the conversations along with his lawyer Lanny Davis or with him “led to TV”.

Trump’s former fixer will return to the witness stand Thursday for additional questioning earlier than prosecutors dismiss his case, alleging a scheme to illegally affect the 2016 election by silencing girls who alleged that they had sexual encounters with him. Trump denies having sexual relations with the ladies and denies any wrongdoing within the case.

Under are some key takeaways from Tuesday’s proceedings:

Prosecutors confronted Cohen’s historical past of falsehoods head-on in an try and get forward of a problem that Trump’s attorneys are seizing on to assault the now-disbarred lawyer’s credibility. Prosecutors additionally tried to painting Cohen as a religious Trump loyalist whose crimes had been dedicated within the former president’s identify.

Beneath questioning by prosecutor Susan Hoffinger, Cohen admitted that he lied to Congress throughout an investigation into attainable ties between Russia and the 2016 Trump marketing campaign. Cohen pleaded responsible as a part of particular counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation and admitted that He lied, amongst different issues, concerning the variety of occasions he spoke with Trump about an actual property venture in Moscow.

Hoffinger additionally requested Cohen about considerations that he might have lied on the witness stand within the former president’s civil fraud trial final yr. At that trial, Cohen insisted that he didn’t commit tax evasion and stated that he had lied to the choose that he accepted his responsible plea to the cost in 2018.

Cohen informed Hoffinger that he didn’t dispute the details of his responsible plea, however that he didn’t imagine he ought to have been charged with a criminal offense “as a first-time offender who at all times paid his taxes on time.”

Cohen additionally informed jurors that he repeatedly lied on behalf of Trump, even after Cohen paid porn actress Stormy Daniels $130,000 to forestall her from going public simply earlier than the 2016 election together with her claims of a sexual encounter with Trump.

When Hoffinger requested why he would do it, Cohen stated, “Out of loyalty and to guard him.”

Former President Donald Trump walks to talk to the media after leaving Manhattan Legal Court docket in New York, Monday, Might 13, 2024. (Spencer Platt/Pool Photograph through AP)

Cohen described to jurors how his life and relationship with Trump modified after the FBI raided his workplace, residence and lodge room in 2018. That might lead Cohen to plead responsible to federal fees and implicate Trump within the scheme. of cash to maintain quiet. Trump was by no means charged with any crime associated to that federal investigation.

When the prosecutor requested him how he felt at that second, Cohen stated: “How do you describe the change in your life? Involved. Dejected. Indignant.”

Initially, Cohen stated he felt comforted as a result of Trump, who was within the White Home on the time, assured him to not fear. Trump’s attorneys additionally continued to pay his authorized charges and he remained a part of a joint protection settlement with Trump and his attorneys, he testified.

However his household finally satisfied him to show in opposition to Trump, Cohen stated.

“My household, my spouse, my daughter, my son, all of them informed me, ‘Why do you maintain on to this loyalty? What are you doing? We’re purported to be your first loyalty,’” Cohen informed the jury.

After Cohen pleaded responsible, Trump criticized him on Twitter, writing, “If anybody is on the lookout for lawyer, I strongly recommend you don’t retain the providers of Michael Cohen!”

Trump’s group opened their cross-examination by urgent Cohen about vital feedback and vulgar social media posts he has made concerning the former president for the reason that trial started. The protection’s questions on Tuesday didn’t deal with the central details of the case however had been designed to painting Cohen as an obsessed Trump loyalist who, spurred on by his former boss, is now on a mission to hunt fame and revenge.

“Is it honest to say that you’re motivated by fame?” Blanche, Trump’s lawyer, requested Cohen.

“No sir, I do not suppose that is honest to say,” Cohen responded. He later added, in response to a query about whether or not he was motivated by publicity, that he’s “motivated by a number of issues.”

Blanche requested Cohen to hear on headphones to an October 2020 podcast episode wherein the previous lawyer stated Trump wants to make use of handcuffs and that “individuals will not be happy till this man is sitting inside a cell.”

Cohen informed Blanche he did not bear in mind saying that, however added, “I would not let it go.”

Blanche additionally pressed Cohen on whether or not he desires Trump convicted within the case. Cohen was initially evasive, saying: “I want to see accountability. It isn’t for me. “It’s for the jury and this court docket.”

However when requested once more, Cohen replied, “Certain.”

FILE PHOTO: Grownup movie actress Stormy Daniels, actual identify Stephanie Clifford, poses for pictures on the finish of her strip present on the Gossip Gentleman membership in Lengthy Island, New York, USA, February 23 2018. REUTERS/Eduardo Muñoz/ File photograph

Because the jury heard Cohen’s testimony, Trump suffered one other authorized blow when an appeals court docket upheld a gag order limiting what he can say concerning the case.

Trump had defied the gag order, which bars the previous president from publicly commenting on jurors, witnesses and others linked to the case, together with the choose’s household and prosecutors apart from District Lawyer Alvin Bragg.

The appeals court docket dominated that Decide Juan M. Merchán “correctly decided” that Trump’s public statements “posed a big risk to the integrity of the testimony of witnesses and potential witnesses.”

Trump questioned restrictions on his skill to touch upon Matthew Colangelo, a former Justice Division official who’s a part of the prosecution group, and Merchan’s daughter, the top of a political consulting agency who has labored for Trump’s rival. , Joe Biden, and different Democratic candidates.

Trump’s attorneys argued that the gag order is an unconstitutional limitation on the presumptive Republican nominee’s free speech rights as he campaigns for president and fights legal fees. The choose fined Trump for repeatedly violating the gag order and warned the previous president that future violations might ship him to jail.

Restricted by what he can say publicly concerning the case, Trump has been joined in court docket by a rising entourage of Republican supporters who echo his complaints concerning the prosecution. US Home Speaker Mike Johnson was the newest to take action on Tuesday, attacking the authorized system as “corrupt” and the case in opposition to Trump as a “farce.”

It was a shocking second, underscoring Trump’s political energy at the same time as he faces trial on legal fees.

Chatting with reporters outdoors court docket, Johnson criticized Cohen as a person who has “issues with the reality” and who’s “clearly on a mission of private revenge.” Describing Trump as a sufferer of a politically motivated authorized system, Johnson stated the case “shouldn’t be about justice.”

“Individuals are shedding religion on this nation, individuals are shedding religion in our justice system,” Johnson stated. “I got here right here once more as we speak simply to help President Trump as a result of I’m one of many a whole bunch of thousands and thousands of individuals and a citizen who’s deeply involved about this,” he stated.

(With info from AP)