This will all boil down to the believability of Cohen. I’m not sure there’s a direct smoking gun if they think there’s reasonable doubt about his testimony. Not yet anyway.
this is what david pecker got immunity for, and locked in his testimony at this trial.
Just my opinion but I think Cohen comes across as believable because he’s very straightforward in his answers and those answers make sense. As for his credibility, he’s been asked that question many times already and he has an answer for it. He’s happy to talk about the times he lied because Donald Trump told him to lie. Is he lying now? Well, he could be risking another stint in jail for perjury but there is lots of documentary evidence in this case to back up anything he says. I’m sure the prosecution will ask some of these questions before the defense does as well.
For me the interesting bits are that he didn’t want anything written down because it might be used to convict him of something later, and that he expected there to be “a lot of women coming forward” when he announced his candidacy. These are not the actions of a non-criminal person.
Michael Cohen, Trump’s former “fixer” and the key witness in the trial, opened Monday’s testimony by speaking about what it was like working as Donald Trump’s personal lawyer.
Cohen testified he helped Trump with legal issues, worked to renegotiate specific bills or dealt with negative press. He acknowledged he was “often” aggressive in that work and said he would sometimes bully people. “The only thing that was on my mind,” he said, was to accomplish the task “to make him happy.”
Cohen also said it was “required” to keep Trump up to date on his actions, saying the boss was a micromanager.
“When he would task you with something, he would then say, ‘Keep me informed. Let me know what’s going on.’ What he was saying, what everybody did, as soon as you had a result (or) an answer, you could go straight back and tell him, especially if it was a matter that was troubling to him,” Cohen testified.
Michael Cohen said he spoke with David Pecker about the reimbursement for the Karen McDougal story.
“He needed to get the $150,000. He wanted the $150,000 back because it was too much money for him to hide from the CEO of the parent company, and he had also just laid out $30,000 previous,” Cohen says. “So he was putting pressure on me to speak to Mr Trump to get the money back.”
Pecker “insisted” that he get reimbursed. When asked if the National Enquirer publisher was upset, Cohen testifies “very.”
They followed up with lunch at Pecker’s favorite Italian restaurant. “Again he expressed his anger,” Cohen says.
When he relayed the message to Donald Trump, Cohen says he responded, “Don’t worry. I’ll take care of it.”
Michael Cohen is now describing his concern about the files that AMI had on Donald Trump. Cohen says at the time, Pecker was being considered CEO of Time Inc.
“One of the concerns that I had that I expressed to Mr. Trump was if he goes there’s a series of papers there that relate to you,” he testifies.
“I didn’t know what those stories were, nobody was discussing with me. But they would be open for use,” Cohen says.
In 2018, Michael Cohen released an audio recording from 2016 in which he and Donald Trump can be heard discussing how they would buy the rights to former Playboy model Karen McDougal’s story about an alleged affair she had with Trump years earlier, which the former president denies.
The recording offered the public a glimpse at the confidential discussions between Trump and Cohen, and it confirmed Trump had contemporaneous knowledge of a proposal to buy the rights to the story of McDougal.
Cohen told Trump about his plans to set up a company and finance the purchase of the rights from American Media, which publishes the National Enquirer. The recording captured what appeared to be a routine business conversation of several matters on their agenda.
The audio is muddled and the meaning of Trump’s use of the word “cash” is disputed by the two sides.
Michael Cohen says Donald Trump was unaware he was recording their conversation in 2016.
“To your knowledge was Mr. Trump aware that you were recording this conversation?,” prosecutor Susan Hoffinger asks
“No ma’am,” Cohen says.
Michael Cohen said he recorded the September 6, 2016, call with Donald Trump and that it was the only time he recorded a call in 10 years of working for him.
“It was so I could show it to David Pecker and that way he would hear the conversation, that he would know that we’re going to be paid, Mr. Trump is going to be paying him back,” Cohen said.
“I also wanted him to remain loyal to Mr. Trump,” Cohen said.
Cohen said he had his cell phone in his hand and hit record while he had the conversation with Trump. He says he was on the opposite side of Trump’s desk.
Susan Hoffinger is now playing snippets of the 2016 audio recording of the conversation with Donald Trump, stopping, and asking Michael Cohen what he was saying on the recording.
Cohen explains that they talked about opening a company “in order to have separation, keeping it away from Mr. Trump.”
Cohen says that he was going to open an LLC that would be the “owner of all of the information that was contained in that drawer that David was referencing.”
Hoffinger asks why Cohen referred to “David” and not David Pecker, the publisher of the National Enquirer.
He responds, “It wasn’t necessary Mr. Trump knew what I was referring to. It was an ongoing conversation that we had.”
On the call, Cohen mentioned he had spoken to CFO Allen Weisselberg about opening the LLC. Asked, why he mentioned Weisselberg, Cohen says:
“Because Mr, Trump previously directed me to speak with Allen Weisselberg about getting this matter handled.”
Trump is leaning forward to read the transcript on the screen in front of him.
On the tape, Donald Trump asked if they had to pay $150,000 for the Karen McDougal story.
“He already new based upon conversation with David which is why he mentioned the number 150,” Cohen testified in court.
On the call Trump says, “pay with cash”
Cohen explained that was “one way to avoid any type of a paper transaction but that’s not what I thought was the best way to do it.”
We’re taking the mid-morning break in the trial.
Judge Juan Merchan is off the bench.
Michael Cohen walks out and looks over to the gallery as he exits.
He didn’t look in Donald Trump’s direction.
Trump is also leaving the courtroom.
The jury has left the courtroom without looking at Trump.
Well I believe him. Will all of the twelve think that it’s not beyond reasonable doubt that he’s making up part of the Stormy story? That’s the last link.
We of course haven’t yet heard him talk about Stormy nor have we heard the cross examination. How well he withstands cross is the key.
I know people say he’s a scumbag liar, but every time I’ve seen him I see a person saying ‘I went to jail for this asshole, now it’s payback time, ask me anything’.
HIs responses are consistent and not evidently self-serving. That could just mean he’s a good liar, but they’re also consistent with what the previous witnesses have said.
per cnn updates (sorry, i forgot to put this up in my other posts this morning. it is monday the 13th…):
The political entourage that came to support Donald Trump appears to have skipped out during the break.
Before the brief pause, the politicians seated in the second row like Sen. Tommy Tuberville and Rep. Nicolle Malliotakis split their time between their phones and the testimony underway in the courtroom.
Judge Juan Merchan is now instructing the jury about the call with Donald Trump that Michael Cohen recorded and was presented as evidence before the break.
“The evidence in the case is the tape itself,” he said.
“The transcript is an aide,” he added.
Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger is back at the podium to resume the direct examination of Michael Cohen.
Donald Trump has his stack of papers in his hand and is reading them as Hoffinger resumes questioning.
He looks over in Cohen’s direction for a second and then turns to say something to his attorneys, Emil Bove and Todd Blanche.
Trump is sitting back in his chair and thumbing through his papers some more.
Michael Cohen says the recording was cut off because he received in incoming call.
While discussing the recording of Trump’s 2016 call with David Pecker, Michael Cohen says that the call that interrupted the recording came from a bank branch manager at Capital One bank.
Cohen indicates that it does match one of his contacts. He says the branch manager from Capitol One bank.
The prosecutor asked Michael Cohen whether he ever altered the audio recording with Donald Trump and he responds, “No.”
Trump and his attorney Emil Bove are talking to each other after Cohen denies altering the call.
More on this: Trump’s attorneys have suggested that the call was not cut off by an incoming call to raise questions about whether it was doctored with.
Cohen also notes that Weisselberg was a longtime loyal employee to Trump.
Hoffinger follows up and asks whether a deal of this size, of $150,000, would be handled by Weisselberg. “No. It wasn’t even a deal of this magnitude. It was any deal would end up going through Allen,” he says.
“Allen handled all the finances coming in and coming out,” Cohen says.
Michael Cohen says he had 10 to 12 conversations with former Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg about the Karen McDougal transaction.
The papers that Donald Trump is thumbing through at the defense table may be news stories.
One of the pages has a giant photo printed on it.
As we’ve seen today and other days, the former president often comes into the courtroom with a large bundle of papers.
The day after Michael Cohen recorded the conversation with Donald Trump, Cohen and another person at AMI texted and discussed possible LLC names.
We heard earlier how in the audio recording, Cohen explains that they talked about opening a company “in order to have separation, keeping it away from Mr. Trump.”
As Cohen also testified earlier, they used the Signal app to communicate.
Prosecutors are showing a screenshot of possible names and calls made on Signal.
from cnn,
Michael Cohen is one of the good guys and history will “reward him for the honesty he’s showing today,” said Anthony Scaramucci, former Trump White House communications director.
Asked about Cohen’s potential lack of credibility, Scaramucci said, “I think there’s always going to be two schools of thought on this, but I see him as a reformed person.”
Scaramucci added that he believes that Cohen has “has already paid a price for lying in court and I see it as a near impossibility that he would be lying about this and I think he and the prosecutors built a good foundation of that today before the jury. And so, I think the facts that Michael are laying out are irrefutable.”
from rc,
cohen did take quite a fall and spent time in prison. he may have “seen the light”.
What’s with Jake Tapper and the Hippos??
I would think that having sitting members of Congress attend your court case in your favor could be intimidating to a jury as well, but what do I know?
“One of the good guys” may be pushing it. Let’s aim for “a credible witness”.
My guess, and it is only a guess, is that these are printouts of media stories, especially if they have pictures. If that is what they are, then they are undoubtedly favourable to Donald Trump, and come from sources that have been so over time. They are also (again, just a guess) the source of his remarks referring to “legal scholars” and “many people are saying” and so on.
I’m thinking that they’re a distraction that his lawyers have provided him with. As long as he has some papers, and his Sharpie, and some highlighters, he can be kept happy basically coloring; while his lawyers can get on with actual lawyering, without being constantly bothered by Trump.
that was really funny. and band name.
i believe there were discussing how the defence might go after cohen.
I wouldn’t be able to identify Tuberville. I have no idea what he looks like. Just another old dude. Why would a senator from Alabama be intimidating to a New Yorker?
from cnn:
Michael Cohen formed a company named Resolution Consultants, LLC, to handle the payment.
The jury is now being shown the certificate of formation Cohen filed when setting up Resolution Consultants.
Michael Cohen says the purpose of the Resolution Consultants LLC was “to use this entity for the assignment of the (Karen) McDougal matter as well as the other information” that AMI had about Donald Trump.
Michael Cohen explains that the agreement with AMI was for $125,000, not $150,000, because AMI agreed the compensation to Karen McDougal for National Enquirer articles and covers was worth $25,000.
Manhattan prosecutor Susan Hoffinger asked Michael Cohen if he was planning to own the life rights to Karen McDougal’s story.
“No ma’am. I had no reason to own the life rights,” Cohen said while explaining, “What I was doing was at the direction and for the benefit of Mr. Trump.”
Michael Cohen appears much more relaxed now. He’s looking at the jury while answering some of these questions about the Karen McDougal deal.
Michael Cohen is being shown the invoice from Investor Advisory Services, AMI’s third-party entity used for the transaction.
The invoice describes a “flat fee for advisory services.”
Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger asks Cohen whether that was truthful.
“No ma’am,” Cohen says, saying it was for the life rights of Karen McDougal.
Michael Cohen is testifying that David Pecker told him the Karen McDougal cover on Men’s Health magazine had sold more copies than they had anticipated, and they had a second cover coming.
“He felt it was even for the $150,000, it was an excellent business deal,” Cohen says of Pecker.
Michael Cohen says there was never a need to play the recorded conversation with Trump for David Pecker.
“I told him I could, but I just never played it,” Cohen says.
Remember: Cohen said he recorded the September 6, 2016, call with Donald Trump in part to make sure Pecker remained loyal.
Cohen said: “David Pecker contacted me and stated it was no longer necessary to have Mr. Trump pay the $125,000.”
“He told me to rip it up, forget it,” he says of Pecker.
Michael Cohen said he was in London for his daughter’s birthday and wedding anniversary when he became aware of the “Access Hollywood” video.
“I received a phone call,” he said. “from Hope Hicks.”
More background: On October 7, 2016, The Washington Post released an “Access Hollywood” video from 2005 in which Donald Trump uses vulgar language to describe his sexual approach to women with then show host Billy Bush.
Fallout from the “Access Hollywood” tape prompted Trump’s inner circle to do damage control of any more potentially bad press like an alleged affair story from adult film star Stormy Daniels, according to prosecutors.
Donald Trump is done reading his papers and has returned to sitting back in his chair with his eyes closed as his former fixer Michael Cohen is testifying.
Steve Bannon forwarded the email from the Washington Post seeking comment on the “Access Hollywood” tape to Michael Cohen. According to the email, Cohen responded to Bannon, “Please call me.”
“It’s all over the place. Whose doing damage control here?” Cohen wrote.
Cohen says he wanted to “ensure” that things were being taken care of properly and that Trump would be protected.
Michael Cohen said that he was still in London on October 8, when he had several calls with Hope Hicks, including one call that Donald Trump joined.
Cohen also spoke separately to Trump that day, he said.
Cohen recalled stepping out of dinner with his family and friends in London to take the calls with Trump.
There were two calls, according to the phone logs. They have been entered into evidence.
Prosecutors are showing call records with the calls: one lasting 4 minutes, 19 seconds and one lasting 7 minutes, 46 seconds between Trump and Cohen.
“He wanted me to reach out to all my contacts in the media. We needed to put a spin on this. The spin he wanted put on it was that this is locker room talk, something that Melania had recommended or at least he told me that’s what Melania had thought it was and use that in order to get control over the story and to minimize its impact on him and his campaign,” Cohen testified.
Texts between Michael Cohen and former CNN anchor Chris Cuomo at CNN are now displayed.
Cohen says he received calls from many contacts in the press after the “Access Hollywood” tape, which he describes as “quite damaging.”
For background, the tape was recorded in 2005 and it was leaked to The Washington Post, which published the video on October 7, 2016, a little more than a month before Election Day.
Texts with Chis Cuomo on October 8, 2016:
- CC: You going to defend him?
- MC: I’m in London
- MC: I have been asked by everyone to do shows starting Tuesday
- Not sure what I will do
- CC: Will be too late. He is dying right now.
Asked what Cuomo meant by “he is dying right now,” Cohen says: “This is a tremendously negative story in regard to the Trump campaign.”
Michael Cohen testified that National Enquirer editor Dylan Howard was the one to tell Cohen that Stormy Daniels is out looking to sell her story about Donald Trump.
Cohen spoke with David Pecker and Dylan Howard about the Radar story and thats when Cohen said he learned that Daniels was looking to sell her story.
Asked what kind of impact Stormy Daniels’ story would have on the Donald Trump campaign, Michael Cohen says, “Catastrophic. This is horrible for the campaign.”
Cohen emphasizes “catastrophic,” pausing before finishing the sentence.
Michael Cohen first learned about Daniels’ story in 2011 when he worked with Keith Davidson to get thedirty.com to remove a blog post about the alleged account.
"After I received the information from Dylan Howard, I immediately went to Mr. Trump’s office, knocked on the door. “Boss, I gotta speak to you,” Cohen says.
He said he told Trump what he learned.
According to Cohen, “I told him that one of the things that we need to do is obviously take care of it. He said, ‘Absolutely. Do it, take care of it.’”
We are finally on to Stormy! I get that they needed to lay the foundation first
His assistant who provides him the coloring books dresses up to keep him distracted as well (my speculation but I stand by it as several ladies in Trump’s orbit seem to sport this same look):
whoa, and wow.
cohen said that trump was worried about campaign not his marriage. that he said " don’t worry, how long do you think i’ll be on the market for… not long"
whoa!