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.
Image source: Fulton County Sheriff’s Office
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.”
Prosecutors and Donald Trump’s attorneys delivered opening statements and the first witness was called on April 22 in the historic and unprecedented criminal trial of a former president.
“It was election fraud, pure and simple,” a lawyer told the jury during opening statements at the historic trial in New York.
Setting out the case for the defense, Donald Trump’s lawyer said his client had committed no crimes and that it was not illegal to try to influence an election.
“He is cloaked in innocence,” he added.
Donald Trump is accused of trying to cover up a $130,000 payment to adult movie star Stormy Daniels before he won the race for the White House back in 2016.
He has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records and also denies having an alleged affair with Stormy Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford.
At the start of the second week of the criminal trial in Manhattan – the first ever of a former US president – each side set out the case they will present to the jury. The first witness, tabloid publisher David Pecker, also took the stand briefly and will continue his testimony on April 23.
Prosecutor Matthew Colangelo told the court that Michael Cohen, Donald Trump’s former lawyer and confidant, worked with the Trump Organization’s chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, to “cook the books” at Trump’s direction.
Prosecutors alleged that the scheme to disguise how Michael Cohen was reimbursed for the payment to Stormy Daniels involved falsifying three forms of records – invoices, ledger entries and cheques.
Donald Trump said in his business records that those payments were “for legal services pursuant to a retainer agreement” with Michael Cohen, Matthew Colangelo told the jury.
Image source: Wikimedia Commons
Critically for this case, he said that Donald Trump was motivated to provide the payoff so voters did not learn of the alleged encounter with Stormy Daniels.
Prosecutors said that this cover-up should be considered election interference, which constituted a second crime. That elevated the charge of falsifying business records from a lower-level misdemeanour into a more serious felony.
They claimed the infamous Access Hollywood tape, which surfaced weeks before the 2016 election and showed Donald Trump bragging about being able to have sex with anyone because he is famous, had panicked his campaign.
“The defendant and his campaign staff were deeply concerned that it would irreparably damage his standing with female voters in particular,” Matthew Colangelo told the court.
But when Stormy Daniels came forward a day later alleging an affair with Donald Trump, it compounded the problem created by the tape, Matthew Colangelo alleged.
The trial is expected to last about another six weeks, but legal experts say opening statements are particularly important as an opportunity to shape jurors’ views on the case.
Court has wrapped up for the first day of Donald Trump’s long-awaited hush-money trial in New York.
It marks the first time that a US president – former or current – has faced a criminal trial.
Dozens of potential jurors have been excused after saying they cannot be impartial.
Jury selection is expected to continue for at least the rest of the week.
Donald Trump is accused of trying to cover up a $130,000 hush-money payment to adult movie star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 election – which he won.
Stormy Daniels claims she and Donald Trump had an affair in 2006, and she was then paid by Trump’s then-lawyer Michael Cohen to stay quiet about it.
Donald Trump is accused of falsifying his business records by saying the reimbursement money he gave Michael Cohen was for legal fees.
He faces 34 counts of fraud, but denies any legal wrongdoing – and also denies having an affair with Daniels.
Image source Wikipedia
The maximum penalty if Donald Trump is found guilty is four years behind bars, but experts say a much less severe penalty would be more likely.
Speaking outside court, Donald Trump said he was upset about possibly missing son’s graduation.
He said some “amazing things happened today”.
The former president then brings up how the judge may not let him go to his son’s high school graduation.
The judge told Trump they would make a call on that closer to the date.
He criticises the judge, and the case. And once again makes the unsubstantiated claim that it is “election interference”.
Donald Trump has repeatedly made these types of allegations regarding his legal troubles.
And with that, he walks away and takes no questions.
There were 96 people in the first panel of prospective jurors brought into the courtroom today.
In a matter of minutes, 63 were dismissed because they said they could not be impartial in Trump’s hush-money case.
Now that court has resumed, those 33 remaining people will be asked more questions and we will likely see more excused before the day is out. Then there are hundreds more still waiting to be called to the court room.
Finding an impartial jury in New York is going to take some time, probably more than a week.
It’s a blue state, meaning voters are largely Democrats.
Donald Trump’s relationship with the city, where he made a name for himself as a real estate tycoon.
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