Manhattan Prosecutors file criminal charges for Trump re Stormy Daniels case - ongoing discussion here (Guilty on all 34 counts, May 30, 2024)

Politics & Elections
3801

from cnn update:

Asked why he paid the money to Stormy Daniels, Michael Cohen says that it was “to ensure that the story would not come out, would not effect Mr. Trump’s chances of becoming president of the United States.”

Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger asks whether Cohen would have paid the money if not for the election. “No ma’am,” Cohen says.

Michael Cohen testified that he worked on the deal “at the direction of Donald J. Trump” and “for the benefit of Donald J. Trump.”

Michael Cohen is now being asked about the payments American Media Inc. (AMI) made to Karen McDougal, which was also part of his 2018 guilty plea.

Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger asks Cohen why he worked with AMI to pay off McDougal.

Cohen responds, “in order to ensure that the possibility of Mr. Trump succeeding in the election — that this would not be a hindrance.”

Michael Cohen said he also pleaded guilty to tax charges and making false statements to a financial institution that were unrelated to Donald Trump.

Asked what the day was like, Cohen said, “Worst day of my life.”

Trump’s been leaning back with his eyes closed for the last several minutes including through this whole line of questioning.

Michael Cohen is now reading Trump’s tweets from August 22, 2018, the day after he pleaded guilty.

“If anyone is looking for a good lawyer, I would strongly suggest that you don’t retain the services of Michael Cohen!” one of the tweets reads.

Cohen says the tweets “caused a lot of angst, anxiety” and notes that the messages were communicating, “certainly displeasure, that I no longer … I guess important to the fold.”

Trump is leaning forward, reading the tweets on his screen.

Michael Cohen has confirmed that on November 29, 2018, he also pleaded guilty to one count of making false statements to Congress — on Trump’s behalf — in 2017.

Jurors are watching Cohen as he explains he was sentenced to 36 months in prison and fined.

Michael Cohen says before he reported to prison on May 6, 2019, he testified before Congress in February 2019.

Cohen says he testified to the House and Senate Intelligence Committees and the House Oversight Committee.

rc: reminder that the testimony at congress is what started the fraud cases that happened recently due to questioning by a.o.c…

cnn update:

Michael Cohen is recalling when he spoke about the payments and apologized to Congress.

He is recounting that he testified about the payments to the two women when he spoke before the House and Senate Intelligence Committees and the House Oversight Committee.

"I testified about the reimbursement of the $130,000 with the payments made to me on a monthly basis, " Cohen says.

“I apologized to Congress. I apologized to the country. I apologized to my family,” Cohen says, nodding his head slightly.

Cohen says he apologized to the American public “for lying to them, for acting in a way that suppressed information that the citizenry had a right to know in order to make a determination on the individual who was seeking the highest office in the land.”

3802

There are legitimate reasons to not object. Especially to “leading questions,” since often leading questions are less impactful on the jury than proper questions. I frequently let improper questions slide, and save objections for matters the jury should not hear for one reason or another.

Letting leading questions come in without objection is not going to be successful “ineffective assistance” appeal. The bar is considerably higher.

3803

cnn commentary:

What’s been made clear during the trial so far is that Donald Trump surrounded himself with shady people, CNN chief legal correspondent Paula Reid said.

“Obviously they know the big players here, everyone knows who the former president is, likely knows who Michael Cohen is, but if you sit in this trial, and this jury is so incredibly attentive, you’ve been in the court, you know, they are watching every document, every witness,” Reid said, referring to Bob Costello and Rudy Giuliani, among others.

“But at some level they’ve got to say ‘Wow this is a shady group people,’ right?” Reid said. “I mean that is the one thing I think they’ve proven beyond a reasonable doubt.”

rc: best people, finest in the land. trump does indeed prove the adage “birds of a feather flock together”.

3804

No but a strategy of risking losing the case in court but ensuring he never actually faced significant negative repercussions by appealing and drawing out the whole the process indefinitely sounds exactly like Trump.

3805

It’s the old Catch-22. If you’re competent enough to recognize your own incompetence, you’re not incompetent enough to get a mistrial.

3806

And now, notes are being passed from the gallery to the defense table.

(per CNN)

3807

alina habba handed a note from the gallery to another lawyer who gave it to nechles, nechles gave it to bove, bove gave it to blanche.

lovely, now notes from the peanut gallery.

3808

I trust it’s not what’s happening here, but:

Passing notes from the gallery sounds like a great way for an attorney not admitted to the NY bar to aid a NY client. If kosher, I’m a little surprised.

3809

cnn update:

Michael Cohen is testifying that he met with special counsel Robert Mueller’s office several times before reporting to prison.

Cohen first met with the special counsel’s office in 2018 before pleading guilty, and he says he was not truthful “because I was still holding onto the loyalty to President Trump.”

After pleading guilty, Cohen says he gave truthful testimony in subsequent meetings with Mueller’s team.

Michael Cohen says he went to prison and was released partway through his sentence because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

rc: he was sent back to prison and put into solitary. this would have been about the time that his book writing was known.

Michael Cohen is explaining that in addition to speaking with the special counsel’s office, he also met with the New York attorney general’s office and the district attorney’s office.

He confirms he spoke to the district attorney’s office for the first time while he was still incarcerated.

Cohen confirms that he testified before the grand jury in this case and received immunity.

He says he asked the federal judge for a reduction in his sentence and asked the DA’s office to provide a letter about his cooperation.

Cohen also confirmed he understands that every witness who testifies before the grand jury is automatically offered immunity.

Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger is returning to Michael Cohen’s cell phones, asking if he turned them back on when they were returned to him.

Cohen says he may have, saying he wanted to see if they still worked.

Trump passed his attorney Todd Blanche a note, who looked at it and nodded his head repeatedly.

Hoffinger is quizzing Cohen on his cell phones that were seized in 2018. Cohen says he got a new phone after that raid so if he turned them on at any point it was just to see if they were still working.

Cohen says he used one of his older cell phones that had been seized by the FBI in order to record a conversation with the bureau of prisons.

Michael Cohen says he never altered his cell phone audio recording with Donald Trump.

“At any time did you alter or modify the audio recording of your conversation with Mr. Trump as contained in PX246?” Hoffinger asks.

“No ma’am,” Cohen said.

Cohen says he voluntarily provided the two cell phones to the district attorney’s office in 2023. He provided them on two different days because he only knew where one of them was and had to find the other one, he says.

For context: Defense attorney Emil Bove took lengthy steps to cast doubt on the credibility of the data on Cohen’s phones when it was introduced through a district attorney employee. Bove suggested it was possible the phones submitted to the DA’s office could’ve been tampered with.

3810

Presumably the lawyer actually on the defense team is responsible for the defense. If they do something because a note suggested it, it’s on them, not the notewriter.

But I’m sure I’m not the only one imagining a junior high-style note from Habba to Trump: “WILL U PAY ME - YES/NO (CIRCLE ONE)”

3811

What’s the betting this is the umpteenth time during the trial they’ve thought “I am not being paid enough for this crap”

3812

rc: procecution asked about cohen’s testimony in the fraud trial, objection and sidebar.

the objection has been withdrawn and the sidebar is over. now the procecution is asking about his cross exam by habba in the fraud trial.

In relation to the penalties tied to his federal guilty plea, Michael Cohen said he “paid the taxes, paid the fines, paid everything.”

“And served time in prison,” Cohen added.

He also noted he still remains currently on supervised release.

3813

To be fair, it doesn’t actually need to occur to him, does it? For the sake of argument, he could hear about it — many people are saying, if you will — from a couple of successful businessmen who got wins that way when their attorneys didn’t object; and he’s minimally competent to respond, oh, yeah, I know all about that; I can win bigly doing that; I just throw someone under the bus, say it was all their fault, art of the deal.

3814

Which, as its Alina Habba we are talking about here, also sounds like a way to get really spectacularly bad legal advice.

3815

cnn update:

Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger is asking Michael Cohen about statements he has made criticizing the tax and false statement charges he pleaded guilty to in 2018.

Cohen said he’s not disputing the fact but he doesn’t think he should have been charged with the crimes.

“I have constantly maintained that I do not dispute the fact. There was an error in the taxable amount and the tax that was due. What I did dispute and I continue to dispute that for a first time offender that has consistently paid taxes on its due date, never have been audited, that this would go immediately to a criminal charge,” Cohen says.

He adds that he was given 48 hours to plead guilty or an indictment that included his wife would be filed.

Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger clarifies that when Cohen said he lied to the federal judge, he was not saying he falsely pleaded guilty to the campaign finance crimes tied to Trump.

tapper explains that it happens every day that people will plead to things to avoid going to trial.

In February 2021, Michael Cohen invited Stormy Daniels on his podcast, “Mea Culpa,” Cohen testifies.

Cohen says he apologized to her on the podcast. It was the first time they had spoken, he says.

Michael Cohen wrote two books. His first is “Disloyal which is a memoir,” he says.

“I wrote that while I was in prison. While you’re in prison, time management is very important it helps the time go by quicker.”

His second book “Revenge,” he says, is “a forensic dissection of the corrupt prosecution, or the weaponization of the Justice Department against a critic of the president.”

Some jurors are taking notes. Trump opened his eyes and glared up at Cohen when he described his book.

Michael Cohen is now being asked if he regrets his past association with Trump

“I regret doing things for him that I should not have — lying, bullying people in order to effectuate a goal. I don’t regret working with the Trump Organization,” Cohen says.

“As I expressed before, some very interesting great times. But to keep the loyalty and to do the things that he had asked me to do, I violated my moral compass and I suffered the penalty, as has my family,” Cohen adds.

Trump looked over briefly at Cohen while he spoke.

Donald Trump’s attorneys will begin their cross-examination of Michael Cohen after the lunch break.

The prosecution said they had no further questions.

and now the lunch before the storm.

3816

“Only the best people.”

Where “best” = “loyal to Trump.”

3817

I’m curious if he can stay calm and respectful during cross-examination. I’m sure the defense will try to evoke a response out of him while trying not to cross the line into openly antagonizing him.

3818

I think Cohen will be fine under cross. He’s been in enough courtrooms, both as a lawyer and as a defendant, to know that A Few Good Men and My Cousin Vinny are only movies. This is real life, and staying calm, cool, and collected under pressure (and there will be a lot of pressure) will get his story a lot farther than if he was to blow up.

“Speak your truth quietly and clearly,” as a wise man once said. I think Cohen will.

3819

They have probably practiced cross with him too. He knows exactly what’s coming.

3820

“Michael, you have one job…”