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

Politics & Elections
4201

As Trump’s attorney, Todd Blanche walks Michael Cohen through the reimbursement of the alleged hush money payments, Trump is now paying attention and looking toward Cohen.

Trump is watching Cohen through this line of questioning about stealing the Red Finch money from the Trump Organization.

Blanche asks, “You did steal from the Trump Organization based upon the expected reimbursement from Red Finch.”
“Yes sir,” Cohen says.

Trump shakes his head with a smirk at this answer.

To cover up this $130,000 payment, “you lied to (Allen) Weisselberg about how much you needed for Red Finch?” Blanche asks. Correct, Cohen says.

“So, the conversation that you had with Mr. Weisselberg about the retainer agreement and the fact that there would not be one all took place in the meeting you had,” along with the meeting with Trump, Blanche asked

“Yes sir,” Cohen said.

“If you would have had one, would have it been between you and your client?” Blanche asked.

“Correct,” Cohen said.

“Who would that have been?” Blanche asked.

“Mr. Trump,” Cohen said.

Trump attorney Todd Blanche is now showing emails to Michael Cohen from Allen Weisselberg on January 31, 2017, with the subject: “Note and mortgage modification agreement for Trump Park Avenue Condominium.”

“Thank you. You never stopped on for a bro hug. Anyway please prepare the agreement discussed” so we can pay you monthly, Weisselberg wrote.

Trump attorney Todd Blanche pulled up an email from Allen Weisselberg to Jeff McConney, noting that the checks were signed off by Donald Jr. and Eric Trump. He asked why they signed them and not former President Donald Trump.

“Because they were the trustees,” Cohen said.

Attorney Todd Blanche confirmed with Michael Cohen that his email signature after Trump took office announced his title in every message he sent. “It always said personal attorney to President Donald J Trump."

Blanche continued, “His job changed — meaning President Trump’s job changed — your job didn’t.”

“Correct,” Cohen confirmed.

“You told everybody that was happening, Correct?” Blanche asked.

“Not everybody, but I was certainly proud of the role and I announced it,” Cohen said, confirming on follow-up questions that he told TMZ, the New York Times, and when he went on Sean Hannity’s show to announce it.

The jury is being shown Michael Cohen’s goodbye email to the Trump Organization dated January 27, 2017.

In the email, Cohen announces his new role as Trump’s personal attorney and notes he’d no longer be working with them at Trump Tower.

Trump attorney Todd Blanche asked whether Cohen continued representing Trump in legal matters after moving into his new role.

“You had a matter with Marc Kasowitz representing President Trump?” Blanche asked.

“Yes sir,” Cohen said.

Michael Cohen is answering a lot of questions with “yes, sir” and “correct” maintaining the same measured tone as he had the prior three days on the witness stand.

Trump attorney Todd Blanche is asking whether Michael Cohen helped figure out how to serve subpoenas on government agencies, like the State Department.

He showed Cohen an email that Trump leaned in to look at.

Blanche noted that Trump initially appointed Marc Kasowitz as his attorney to handle the Mueller investigation. Blanche asked if Cohen played a role in that?

“No sir,” Cohen says.

Blanche asked if Cohen was “happy, sad or indifferent” about the initial Kasowitz hire. Cohen said probably happy because he had a good relationship with him.

Michael Cohen is being asked about the work he’s done for Melania Trump.

Cohen says he met with Melania Trump in New York in March and April of 2017 over legal matters.

Attorney Todd Blanche confirms with Cohen that he helped Melania Trump with her Madame Tussauds’ negotiation in February, March and April of 2017.

Blanche says that these were all things that lawyers would do for a client.

“Your job was being President Trump’s lawyer, correct?” Blanche asks.
“Yes sir,” Cohen says.

rc: the defence is doing much better today. they are going though things a bit less scatter shot and are shading the points of the case and documents with doubt.

sorry, i keep forgetting to put:

from cnn updates:

Attorney Todd Blanche is moving on to Michael Cohen’s other consulting work.

Cohen said he made $4 million in 2017 from six other clients.

Cohen confirms that he was paid $50,000 monthly for a year by AT&T, while they were trying to acquire Time Warner.

Blanche confirms Cohen received $600,000 in all from AT&T. “And there’s nothing wrong with that, correct?” Blanche asks. Cohen stops for a moment, before saying, “I don’t believe so.”

4202

That’s the general feeling I got from this:

In my mind that was his way of saying “I know, I know but the boss is making me do it”

4203

Trump attorney Todd Blanche is going through a conversation Michael Cohen had with a friend who was in jail in New York, asking whether he insisted to the friend that Trump knew nothing about the payment to Stormy Daniels.

“I don’t recall specifically saying that, but it would have been what I would have said at that time,” Cohen said.

Cohen agreed that he recorded multiple conversations with reporters telling them that Trump knew nothing about the payment.

“You said it to family?” Blanche asks. “Correct,” Cohen said.

Blanche asked if Cohen recalled telling one reporter, “your wife and kids had just found out two weeks earlier.”

Cohen said he doesn’t remember but he wouldn’t be surprised if he said that at the time.

Blanche asked Cohen if before April 9, when the FBI raided his office and resident, he “had told anybody who asked that President Trump knew nothing about the payment at the time, correct?”

“That’s what I said, yes,” Cohen says.

“You told multiple people when it first leaked that President Trump knew nothing about the payment, correct?" he asked. Michael Cohen confirmed that was correct.

Blanche asked, “You even called Melania, the first lady, and told her that President Trump didn’t know about it.” Cohen said he told The New York Times’ Maggie Haberman on the record that Trump was not aware of the payment at the time.

Defense attorney Todd Blanche continues to review Michael Cohen’s other legal work.

Cohen said that he was paid $1.2 million from Novartis. Cohen agreed he spoke with them about 6 times.

Blanche asked if that’s “$200,000 a communication?”

“Correct,” Cohen said.

“Were there clients that you started talking to but ultimately didn’t agree to work with?” Blanche asked.

“Yes sir,” Cohen said, adding that “happened quite often.”

Blanche also asked about KAI, Korean Airspace Industries, where Cohen had a deal to be paid $100,000 a month for a year.

Cohen said it ended after six or seven months. He added that he had “approximately a dozen” communications with the company.

Blanche also walked Cohen through the other companies he consulted for in 2017, including BTA Bank, who paid him for two to three months, he says, and a client he met through Trump at Mar-a-Lago looking for help to restart a nuclear facility.

rc: interesting, msnbc is saying the jury is getting restless, less engaged, not doing the tennis match thing they do when they are engaged. huh…

4204

That could mean the defense has made their point, and they don’t feel like they need more. Or they’re not interested in this line of cross, as irrelevant to the case.

4205

Sounds like they just want Blanche to get on with it.

They already know Cohen is a sleaze, so it’s hard to see how much extra doubt is getting put into their minds. I guess they do want to draw things out as long as possible so there’s that.

4206

from cnn update:

Trump attorney Todd Blanche asked Michael Cohen to confirm he then met with Bob Costello on April 17 to discuss representing him.

Cohen pushed back and said, “I received communications from Jeffrey Citron asking to set up a meeting with him and Bob Costello in order to discuss possible representation of me.”

Blanche asked him to confirm though that they met on April 17 at Cohen’s hotel where he was living at the time.

“Yes they came to me,” Cohen said.

Cohen said he spoke with Costello 10 times on the phone, “maybe a few more.”

Blanche entered into evidence an email Costello sent Cohen on April 23, 2018: “Michael, I spoke with the person you asked me to and he said that he would find out exactly how the matter ended up in the SDNY and in particular who in Main Justice approved this.”

Cohen said the person he wanted him to speak to was Rudy Giuliani. Blanche pointed out that it was Cohen who was asking Costello to go to Giuliani for information.

More context: Blanche appears to be getting at the point that Cohen voluntarily was working with Costello more than Cohen is letting on (as was referenced in defense arguments over the Citron email about Costello this morning).

Defense attorney Todd Blanche is bringing up more emails Michael Cohen exchanged with Bob Costello. He wrote to Costello on May 15, 2018:

“As I have sated in the past, when the right time comes and now is not the right time, we will advance our conversations regarding this issue. Here are too many hands right now all with varying view points and ideas,” Cohen wrote. “You can always reach out to me directly but under no circumstances, do I want anyone communication on my behalf with anyone else,” the email continued.

Costello responded to Cohen on May 16 and concluded his email, saying, “I will not pester you. If you want to talk, you know how to reach Jeff or myself.”

Defense attorney Todd Blanche asks whether it would surprise Michael Cohen that he spoke to Bob Costello for more than nine hours over the course of a few months.

“No sir,” Cohen said.

“So would it surprise you to learn that you actually communicated on the phone either you calling Mr Costello or Mr Costello calling you 75 times?” Blanche asked.

“Seems excessive but (long pause) possible,” Cohen said.

Blanche asked Cohen who initiated more phone calls at the time, Costello or himself.

Cohen said “to the best of [his] recollection,” Costello reached out more than he did.

Cohen said he also met with Costello, “I believe once or twice” in person.

Trump slapped his attorney Emil Bove on the arm to lean in to talk to him.

Trump attorney Todd Blanche asked Michael Cohen to confirm even though he didn’t sign a retainer agreement with Bob Costello, it didn’t mean that those phone calls and meetings weren’t privileged.

“Correct,” Cohen says.

Cohen agreed the communications were privileged because of “anticipation of potential representation.”

Blanche showed more emails between Costello and Rudy Giuliani, including from April 2018 when Costello wrote that Giuliani had joined Trump’s legal team and he said his relationship with him “could be very very useful for you.”

In response to Costello, Cohen wrote, “Great news for Rudy. I know I owe you a call. I have been working with lawyers all day and just now coming up for air. I will try you tomorrow.”

“Did you stop making money when you plead guilty in 2018?” Trump attorney Todd Blanched asked

Cohen confirmed this.

Referring to the time he was Trump’s personal attorney and when he made money consulting, Blanche asked if that was the most money he’s ever made in an 18-month period.

Cohen said no, and after a pause, he said there was a time he made more than $5 million in a similar timeframe.

In between the time he pled guilty and the time he wrote his book, Blanche asked if Cohen didn’t have any income.

Correct, Cohen said.

Michael Cohen says since the fall of 2020, he has made about $4.4 million from podcasts and books.

Cohen says he’s made about $1 million in total from his two podcasts. He added that he earned about $3.4 million from the two books which he’s testified to previously.

The court is taking a short break this morning. The defense is expected to continue to question Michael Cohen when his testimony resumes after the break.

Cohen’s head was down as he passed by Trump’s table to leave.

rc: the defence has gone back to scattershot. defence previously said they would be done by the morning break, but they are going past.

i’m wondering if the judge scheduling closing for next week has changed their thinking.

the prosecution has quite a bit to do in redirect.

Judge Juan Merchan is back on the bench and the court is in session.

Michael Cohen walked past Donald Trump’s table without glancing over. Trump was speaking with his attorney Todd Blanche when he passed by them.

4207

Are there more days besides the usual Wednesday that the court is dark this week?

4208

yes, friday. i believe after thursday they are out until tuesday.

from cnn update:

Michael Cohen is asked about a run for Congress.

“Is that true?” Trump attorney Todd Blanche asked. “Yes, sir,” Cohen said.

Cohen confirmed he told a reporter one of the reasons he should run for Congress is he’s got the “best name recognition out there.”

“My name recognition is because of the journey that I’ve been on, is it affiliated with Mr. Trump, yes — not because of Mr. Trump,” Cohen said.

Trump smiled as Cohen said this.

“Your journey has been near daily attacks on President Trump, at least since 2020?” Blanche asked

“Sure,” Cohen said.

Blanche asked him to answer yes or no, not sure. “Yes sir,” Cohen says.

Blanche asked Cohen a series of questions confirming Trump’s trust in Cohen: “President Trump trusted you…trusted your counsel…his family trusted you,…his wife trusted you.” Each time, Cohen confirmed.

from msnbc:
you testified weisselberg grossed up for the 50% tax bracket, you didn’t claim that on your taxes did you?

objection! side bar.

4209

I’m not surprised and I would suspect that’s a bad thing for the defense. Cohen’s direct was long and I suspect the jury was willing to give the defense an equal amount of time on cross. But I also bet some (or all) of them hoped there was a chance they might be done before Memorial Day and this very, very long cross of Cohen that seems to have nothing to do with the actual case and all about Cohen as a person has definitively quashed that. Jurors shouldn’t take how they feel about the lawyers into consideration but they’re only human.

I remember the one criminal case I was a juror on the last witness for the prosecution (and effectively the last witness, because the only defense witness was the defendant and direct and cross combined was like fifteen minutes) was an expert witness who was so bad that we all got into the jury room for deliberation and were all like “What the hell was with that last witness?” Didn’t hurt the prosecution but it sure didn’t help it and it was maybe an hour total, not multiple days like this cross of Cohen.

4210

Er, what? (bolding mine)

4211

from cnn update:

Trump attorney Todd Blanche is revisiting the $420,000 payment to Michael Cohen.

Cohen agrees $150,000 is the Daniels payment and what he paid to Red Finch.

“You testified that Mr. Weisselberg told you that that was being grossed up because you’re in a 50% tax bracket?” Blanche asks.

“Correct,” Cohen says.

Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger objected, after which attorneys approached the bench for a sidebar.

Trump attorney Emil Bove and Trump chatted briefly after Bove returned from sidebar.

Trump smirked at what Bove said and shifted in his chair.

“Do you have a financial interest in the outcome of this case?” Trump attorney Todd Blanche asked

“Yes sir,” Michael Cohen said.

As this exchange was happening, Donald Trump turned toward the witness stand, with his arm perched on the back of his chair, looking intently at Cohen.

“Because if President Trump is convicted, that would benefit you personally and financially, right?” Blanche asked.

“No sir,” Cohen said.

Cohen said: “I talk about it on my podcasts, I talk about it on TikTok and they make money and that’s how I was viewing your question. Whether Mr. Trump is ultimately determined innocent or guilty is not going to affect whether I speak about it or not.”

Attorney Todd Blanche continues to press Michael Cohen on whether it would benefit him financially if Trump is found guilty.

“It’s better if he’s not, for me, because it gives me more to talk about in the future,” Cohen says.

Blanche confirmed with Cohen he’d like to get revenge on Trump and has said “revenge is best served cold.” Cohen confirms he meant it when he said it on his own podcast and now again in court.

“It’s true that you will lie out of loyalty, correct?” Trump attorney Todd Blanche asked.

“Yes sir,” Cohen responded.

Blanche ended Cohen’s cross-examination with this exchange.

defence is done with cross exam. now sidebar.

4212

Dear God! Cohen has admitted over and over that he lied about a lot of things. He served jail time FFS. I’m not there (obviously) but if I were a juror, I’d be tempted to run screaming from the room while pulling my hair out!

At some point the delaying tactic (if that’s at all a part of this) is going to backfire on the defense.

4213

yeah, that was odd. weisselberg doesn’t seem the bro hug type.

4214

cnn update:

Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger is now questioning Michael Cohen following the defense’s cross-examination.

Cohen has been on the stand for nearly 16 hours over the course of four days.

Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger corrects Michael Cohen’s testimony when he said he lied to Congress in 2019. Cohen says he lied in 2017, not 2019.

4215

Sometimes I wonder if the people who make the “Cohen was lying when he said Trump isn’t a criminal, therefore he must be lying when he says he is” people ever bother to think about their arguments. But I’m aware that it was never intended to be rational or coherent, just emotive.

4216

The Prosecution said they were done after Cohen. The Defense isn’t supposed to have witnesses unless Trump testifies. Why can’t they have closing arguments this week?

4217

I mean it’s a tried and tested trial tactic. Trying to get the jury to doubt the reliability of a witness is a pretty standard way to win the result you want, and showing they lied in the past is a good way to show that. The prosecution’s job in this case was always going to be to counter that.

The surprise to me is the two instances where they have been able to ambush the jury with instances of his unreliability as a witness. The “grossing up” today and the possibly misremembered call to Trump last week (the added detail about the prank caller is important IMO as it will stick in the jurors mind)

Though as always IANAL, maybe this is all just par for the course when you call someone as dodgy as Cohen (which I assume very often as upstanding completely honest citizens don’t tend to get involved in criminal conspiracies that they end up as witnesses to)

4218

cnn update:

Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger asked Michael Cohen if it was possible he talked to Donald Trump about the Stormy Daniels issue in October 2016 as well as the other matters proposed by defense attorney Todd Blanche on cross-examination.

Cohen confirms.

Hoffinger notes that the defense counsel brought up how busy he was in October 2016, asking if he was busy all the time. Cohen confirms he was.

“Were you too busy in October 2016 to finalize the Stormy Daniels payoff with Mr. Trump?” Hoffinger asks.

“No ma’am,” Cohen says.

“Were you too busy to get his approval to make that payoff?” Hoffinger asks.

“No ma’am,” Cohen says.

Michael Cohen was asked if he ever sent Allen Weisselberg a retainer agreement.

“No ma’am because there was no legal work that I was to be paid for. There was no representation agreement within which to send,” Cohen explained.

Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger followed up and asked if the $420,000 owed as reimbursement had anything to do with a retainer agreement.

“No, ma’am,” Cohen said.

Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger asked Michael Cohen what Red Finch did for Trump.

Cohen said Trump was polling low in the CNBC poll.

"And it upset him,” Cohen says.“And he had me come to his office and provide me a sheet of paper that showed it.”

"I reached out to Red Finch who assured me he was able to go through the acquisitions of IP addresses to create an algorithm that would ensure Mr. Trump would rise and rise significantly into this poll,” Cohen added.

Cohen is now looking directly at the jury as he’s answering Hoffinger’s question to explain the Red Finch situation. Cohen said Trump wanted to be number one in the poll but after Red Finch’s work, he ended up at nine.

The former Trump fixer said “despite cheating” Trump felt he didn’t get his money’s worth for the work.

Cohen added that Trump did not pay Red Finch because CNBC ended up not moving forward with this poll, “and so he didn’t feel he had gotten the benefit” for the services they had provided.

Michael Cohen was asked why he took a $50,000 pay back from former Trump Org. CFO Allen Weisselberg for Red Finch, even though he only paid the guy $20,000.

“For a long time, I had been telling him about the 50,000 so that I could collect it for the president of Red Finch,” Cohen said.

“I was angered because of the reduction in the bonus, and so I just felt it was almost like self-help. I wasn’t going to let him have the benefit (of) this way as well. I wasn’t going to correct the conversation I was having with Allen about it. I had not only protected him to the best that I could, but I had also laid out money to Red Finch a year and a half earlier and again $130,000 to have my bonus cut by two-thirds was very upsetting to say the least,” Cohen continued.

Hoffinger then asked, “but you admitted on cross that it was wrong.”

“It was,” Cohen says.

Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger is returning to the letter Michael Cohen’s attorney sent to the Federal Election Commission (FEC) in 2018 on the Stormy Daniels payment.

Cohen had testified under cross-examination that he said there was an “omission” in that letter, Hoffinger notes, and during direct that it was misleading and deceptive.

Cohen says, “What’s omitted is the fact that it was paid for by Mr. Trump or the Trump trust.”
“And did you intend for it to be misleading in that way?” the prosecutor asks.
“I did,” Cohen says.

Trump has a pen in his hand and is tapping the back of it on the paper in front of him on the desk.

Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger reads a line from his attorney’s letter to the Federal Election Commission (FEC), “The payment in question does not constitute a campaign contribution.”

“Was that a true statement?” she asks Michael Cohen.

“No ma’am,” he says.

4219

the judge wants there to be no big breaks giving the trial over to the jury. he wants it to be: closing, his instructions, deliberations. the holiday weekend throws a wrench in his plan. pushing it to tuesday has all three happening on one day, then the jury has trial.

4220

Well yes, but if I was on the jury…

Cohen’s past lies were in service to his boss. He lied to cover for him.
He went to jail for him. He paid the price of his lying.
Now, it seems he wants to clear the air. He wants the world to know what actually happened.

Basically, an underling lied to protect the mob boss, who had ordered a crime. Now the underling has flipped and is testifying against the mob boss. It’s really just that simple.

Yes, the underling lied in the past. To protect Trump. So he’s a big fat liar who protected Trump from his criming. OK. Now fast forward to today. He’s no longer protecting Trump from his criming. That’s the whole point of his testimony.