Donald Trump’s lawyer hit back against prosecutors, accusing their star witness – Michael Cohen – repeatedly of lying.
On the most tense day yet of cross-examination, Michael Cohen, Donald Trump’s former fixer, described talking to the former president directly about a hush-money payment to an adult-film star.
But attorney Todd Blanche all but shouted Michael Cohen’s testimony was “a lie.”
Records, he said, show Michael Cohen called Donald Trump’s bodyguard about a prank caller.
Todd Blanche’s alternate theory of the phone call was designed to sow doubt on Michael Cohen’s third day on the stand, as the jury watched the furious exchange with intense focus.
Following the heated moment, Todd Blanche stormed back to the defense table and sat down next to his client. When the judge announced an afternoon recess, there was a collective exhale in the room.
Donald Trump is charged with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, for allegedly disguising payments to Michael Cohen as legal expenses when they were in fact reimbursements for paying off film star Stormy Daniels, who claims she had an affair with him.
Prosecutors allege Donald Trump sought to keep damaging information from the public to protect his 2016 presidential campaign. The former president has pleaded not guilty to all counts and denied having an affair with Stormy Daniels.
On May 16, Michael Cohen maintained that his previous testimony was true, and that he spoke to Donald Trump about the payout to Stormy Daniels on a call on October 24, 2016.
Earlier this week, prosecutors asked Michael Cohen about the call to help establish Donald Trump’s alleged direct knowledge of the payoff scheme. Michael Cohen testified that he kept his boss aware during every step of the process of paying Stormy Daniels.
As the man at the centre of the payout, Michael Cohen’s testimony is crucial for prosecutors to prove whether or not Donald Trump had knowledge of the allegedly fraudulent reimbursement plan.
However, Michael Cohen’s criminal record, history of lying to Congress, and profane public criticism of Donald Trump makes him a flawed witness. In 2018, he pleaded guilty to federal campaign finance crimes over the hush-money payment, but maintains that he sent the money at Donald Trump’s direction.
The defense seized on Michael Cohen’s credibility issues for nearly two days and sought to paint him as a liar with a vendetta against Donald Trump.
On May 16, Todd Blanche played recordings from Michael Cohen’s podcast, Mea Culpa, where the witness expressed a desire to see the former president go through the booking process and said of Donald Trump: “I want this man to go down.”
Todd Blanche also confronted Michael Cohen with an X post where he called the former president “Dumbass Donald.”
