per cnn update:
Trump attorney Todd Blanche is asking Michael Cohen about his attempts to end his supervised release early.
“After you started supervised release, you have made several efforts to have your supervised release terminated early,” Blanche says.
“Correct,” Cohen says, noting none of them have been successful
Cohen has tried four times to end his supervised release early, he confirms.
Cohen first said three times, but then agreed with Blanche, who corrected him that it’s been four failed attempts.
Blanche asks Cohen if he wanted to be released early because of his cooperation with an ongoing investigation.
“But this whole time, all the meetings, you were never offered a cooperation agreement and you were never a cooperating witness?” Blanche asks.
“That’s correct,” Cohen says.
Trump attorney Todd Blanche asked if Michael Cohen recalled whether he testified in October 2023 that he refused a substantial assistance letter.
“I do,” Cohen said.
“But that’s not true, is it?”
“It’s true,” Cohen said.
Cohen continued, "Yes it’s truthful. The 5K1 concept (to lower the sentence) was given to Guy Petrillo, my lawyer, that was after already I had plead — after the 48 hours that I was given to plea so I turned around and I said I’m not interested so let’s not even talk about it. "
Blanche asked, “Who did you say that to?”
“Guy Petrillo, my lawyer.”
Defense attorney Todd Blanche is asking Michael Cohen about his desire to work at the White House, specifically wanting to be considered for White House chief of staff.
“I would have liked to have been considered for ego purpose,” Cohen says, reiterating his testimony from earlier in the week.
Blanche asks whether he recalled arguments at sentencing about his wanting a role at the White House. Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger objected and attorneys had a brief sidebar.
The defense has been pressing Michael Cohen on whether he really wanted to work in the White House, potentially as chief of staff to Donald Trump.
Trump attorney Todd Blanche has asked Cohen repeatedly whether it’s true that Cohen only wanted to be considered for the role, “for ego purposes,” as he has previously testified. Cohen has stood by that remark.
Blanche is now reviewing texts between Cohen and his daughter, where they discussed whether he would be chief of staff. In the messages, Cohen’s daughter says she read that Reince Priebus — who did eventually become Trump’s first chief of staff — was being considered.
“And you said, ‘He’s pushing like a madman,’” Blanche says, referring to Cohen’s comments in the messages.
When Trump picked Priebus, Blanche asks Cohen whether it’s true Cohen told his daughter he was disappointed.
“That I wasn’t considered, yes sir,” Cohen says, sticking to the distinction he’s made about merely wanting to be listed among the potential picks.
Defense attorney Todd Blanche continues to push Michael Cohen on his true desires to be a part of Trump’s administration.
In texts, Cohen told his daughter “with him now and he wants me to go just not sure the position.”
Cohen acknowledged he told his daughter that Trump was “not happy with the title I wanted.”
Blanche pushed Cohen to admit he wanted the position of special counsel to the president within the Trump administration.
“My daughter may have called it special counsel to the president. The role I had asked President Trump for was the personal attorney to the president,” Cohen says, adding that he had wanted a hybrid role with access to Trump but also outside the government.
As attorney Todd Blanche and Michael Cohen go back and forth over whether Cohen had wanted a White House role, Trump is looking in Cohen’s direction.
rc: the defence is looking for another trigger point for cohen. so far they found one with judge pauley.
Trump attorney Todd Blanche asked Michael Cohen if he was “despondent” when the former president of Goldman Sachs Gary Cohn got a post in the White House but not him.
Cohen said no but Blanche confronted him with texts with his daughter about the situation, noting he was having a hard time just getting tickets to President Donald Trump’s inauguration in 2017.
Cohen confirmed that on the stand.
