Court Battles

Fiery cross-examination of Michael Cohen sees blistering Trump attorney questioning

Former President Trump’s ex-fixer Michael Cohen officially underwent long-anticipated, fiery cross-examination by his former client’s defense team Tuesday, culminating into the New York hush money trial’s main event.

Cohen, under direct examination by prosecutors, has implicated Trump more than any other witness over a $130,000 hush money scheme involving a porn actress and attempting to link Trump directly with what prosecutors deem as fraudulent business transactions

Follow below for recap from New York.

6 months ago

Trump acknowledges supporters from motorcade

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As the former president’s motorcade left the courthouse, he gave fist pumps as he passed by a small crowd of his supporters lined up on the sidewalk and cheering, some of whom were waving pro-Trump flags.

The building they were standing in front of? The courthouse where Sen. Bob Menendez’s (D-N.J.) corruption trial kicked off this week.

— Zach Schonfeld

6 months ago

Trump reads from document as he rips trial

Fiery cross-examination of Michael Cohen sees blistering Trump attorney questioning

Trump addressed reporters outside the courtroom for roughly 10 minutes after court adjourned for the day, bashing the Biden administration over immigration, inflation and foreign policy and attacking the hush money case.

Trump read from a document that contained quotes from pundits who were critical of the trial and supportive of the former president.

“We’ll be back tomorrow,” Trump said. “Again, we had a very good day. I think we’re exposing this scam for what it is.”

— Brett Samuels

6 months ago

Court adjourns

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The court has adjourned for the day.

The trial does not meet on Wednesdays, so Trump attorney Todd Blanche will resume his questioning of Cohen on Thursday morning.

Blanche indicated his questioning will take up most, if not all of Thursday.

“Yes — if I finish, it’s going to be at the end of day, I anticipate, your honor,” he said.

— Zach Schonfeld

6 months ago

Cohen acknowledges making more than $3 million from books

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Cohen acknowledged making more than $3 million from his two books.

“How much money have you made from ‘Revenge’?” Blanche asked.

After a long pause, Cohen responded, “I don’t know exactly but I would say around $400,000.”

Cohen then confirmed he made about $2 million from his book “Disloyal” in the first few months and then “maybe another million dollars” after that.

A legal analyst who works at Blanche’s firm had walked into the courtroom following the afternoon break with Cohen’s two books in hand.

— Zach Schonfeld

6 months ago

Blanche tries to pin down Cohen on leveraging cooperation to reduce sentence

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Trump attorney Todd Blanche has asked Cohen a series of questions about a Rule 35 motion, which allows criminal defendants to get their sentences reduced if they have provided substantial assistance in prosecuting another person.

Cohen met with special counsel Robert Mueller’s office during its investigation of connections between Trump’s 2016 campaign and Russia, as well as the Manhattan district attorney’s office in its investigation that culminated in last year’s indictment.

Blanche appears to be suggesting that Cohen was cooperating with the Trump investigations at least in part to get his own sentence reduced.

Cohen acknowledged that his attorneys had discussed with the district attorney’s office whether it would be willing to help write a Rule 35 motion.

— Zach Schonfeld

6 months ago

Cohen acknowledges he wants Trump convicted

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Trump attorney Todd Blanche raised Cohen’s public statements suggesting he wants to see Trump convicted.

“Do you want President Trump to get convicted in this case?” Blanche asked.

“Sure,” Cohen replied, after repeatedly refusing to give a direct answer.

— Zach Schonfeld

6 months ago

Blanche raises Cohen’s past statements hailing Trump

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Trump attorney Todd Blanche is bringing up Cohen’s statements praising his then-boss when he worked for Trump.

Blanche noted that Cohen had called Trump a good man who cares deeply about the country, even saying he’d take a bullet for Trump.

“I was knee-deep into the cult of Donald Trump,” Cohen said.

— Zach Schonfeld

6 months ago

Jurors learn Cohen’s podcast selling shirts with Trump behind bars

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Trump attorney Todd Blanche entered into evidence screenshots showing how Cohen’s podcast, “Mea Culpa,” sells shirts depicting Trump behind bars.

Cohen acknowledged it is “one item” in the merchandise store and that he wore the shirt during one of his recent TikTok livestreams

See the shirt here.

— Zach Schonfeld

6 months ago

Cohen’s words turned against him

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Trump attorney Todd Blanche is continuing to use Cohen’s public statements against him, now asking the witness about his recent TikTok livestreams.

“What’s the goal of doing that?” Blanche asked.

“Build an audience,” Cohen responded. “Create a community. To really vent, because I’ve been having a difficult time sleeping. So I found an out.”

After further prodding, Cohen did concede he charges people $5.99 per month for a subscription but insisted he doesn’t make a lot of money from his TikTok.

— Zach Schonfeld

6 months ago

Trump’s eyes closed as Cohen’s testy cross-exam begins

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Despite the testimony turning testy, Trump has continued to keep his eyes closed for most of Cohen’s cross-examination so far.

The jury has generally been stone-faced throughout the trial, but a few members have cracked smiles as Trump’s attorney raises Cohen’s social media posts and cable news appearances.

— Zach Schonfeld

6 months ago

Prosecutors pile on objections at start of blistering cross-examination

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Hoffinger, the prosecutor who conducted Cohen’s direct examination, has objected to Blanche’s questioning numerous times in the first minutes of his cross-examination.

Blanche has brought up numerous moments during the district attorney’s investigation when it seemed likely that Cohen had leaked information, but that information is not being shown to the gallery.

— Ella Lee

6 months ago

Trump attorney pokes at Cohen social media posts

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Blanche referenced to a post Cohen made April 23, after the trial had started, referring to Trump as a “dictator douchebag.”

“Sounds like something I said,” Cohen replied, causing a juror to crack a smile.

The Trump attorney also questioned whether the Manhattan district attorney had “repeatedly” asked Cohen to stop talking publicly about the case.

“They might have, yes,” Cohen said.

— Ella Lee

6 months ago

Cohen cross-examination off to a fiery start

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The cross-examination of Michael Cohen began just before 2:20 p.m. on Tuesday.

Trump attorney Todd Blanche’s first line of questioning, about whether Cohen knows him, has already gotten off to a fiery start.

Cohen confirmed he’s never met Blanche, but conceded he knows who the attorney is.

Blanche noted that, in April, Cohen called him a “crying little shit.”

“Sounds like something I would say,” Cohen said, drawing an objection that was sustained.

— Ella Lee

6 months ago

Cohen: Working for Trump ‘violated my moral compass’; direct concludes

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Cohen testified that he wishes he did not “lie” and “bully” others while working for Trump when asked about his regrets.

“Mr. Cohen, do you have any regrets about your past work and association with Donald Trump?” Susan Hoffinger asked, to which Cohen affirmatively replied.

“I regret doing things for them that I should not have — lying, bullying people in order to effectuate a goal,” Cohen said. “I don’t regret working at the Trump Organization. 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 — it violated my moral compass, and I suffered the penalty, as has my family,” he continued.

With that, prosecutors rested their direct examination of Cohen. After the lunch break, he’ll face cross-examination by Trump’s attorneys.

— Ella Lee

6 months ago

Cohen discusses podcasts, books

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Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger is having Cohen explain his various podcast and book ventures since pleading guilty, including how he regularly spoke about Trump.

Cohen said he wrote his book, “Disloyal: A Memoir: The True Story of the Former Personal Attorney to President Donald J. Trump,” while in prison to help with “time management.”

“It helps the time go by quicker,” Cohen said.

On cross-examination, Trump’s lawyers are expected to hit Cohen hard over his statements in the books and podcasts to portray him as out to get his former boss.

— Zach Schonfeld

6 months ago

Cohen clears up comments on 2018 tax prosecution

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Cohen confirmed that, since pleading guilty in 2018, he has made remarks expressing his belief that he should not have been prosecuted for tax crimes. But he said Tuesday that he does not dispute the facts of those underlying charges.

“I have constantly maintained that I do not dispute the fact that there was an error in the taxable amount,” Cohen said.

“What I do dispute and continue to dispute — for a first-time offender who has consistently paid taxes on his due date, never having been audited — that this would go immediately to a criminal charge,” he added.

He added that he was given 48 hours to make a decision on whether to plead guilty, or the Southern District of New York would file an indictment that included his wife.

The comments address remarks Cohen made while testifying during Trump’s civil fraud trial, in which he agreed under oath that he “committed perjury” when he pleaded guilty to the charges. The admission was made under cross-examination by Trump attorney Alina Habba, who has been watching Cohen testify in the hush money trial, too.

— Ella Lee

6 months ago

Jurors paying close attention

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The jury has been paying close attention to Cohen as he walks through his guilty pleas and subsequent prison sentence.

The New Yorkers have all been looking at their monitors when prosecutors display various documents, and their heads have moved back and forth to direct their gazes on whoever is speaking.

— Zach Schonfeld

6 months ago

Cohen testified despite DA inability to help with sentence reduction

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Cohen said he still agreed to testify in the Manhattan district attorney’s case against Trump, despite the office’s inability to help reduce his sentence.

Susan Hoffinger noted that Cohen and his attorneys had, at times, asked for a letter detailing his cooperating to assist with lowering his sentence. But the Southern District of New York declined to accept such letters, so the district attorney’s office did not provide them.

“And yet you’re still meeting with us?” Hoffinger asked.

“I am,” Cohen said.

— Ella Lee

6 months ago

Jurors learn about Cohen guilty pleas

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Jurors have now been told that Cohen pleaded guilty to federal campaign finance and criminal tax evasion charges.

Susan Hoffinger specifically pointed to five counts of evading income taxes and false statements to a financial institution — charges Cohen said were not related to Trump. She asked the ex-Trump fixer what pleading guilty to those crimes was like for him.

“Worst day of my life,” Cohen said.

— Ella Lee

6 months ago

Cohen: Daniels, McDougal payments made to protect Trump’s ‘chances of becoming president’

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Cohen testified that he made the $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels to ensure the story of her alleged affair with Trump would remain secret and “would not affect Mr. Trump’s chances of becoming president of the United States.”

He also said that, if Trump were not running for president, he would not have paid Daniels to stay quiet.

“On whose direction and on whose behalf did you commit that crime?” Susan Hoffinger asked.

“On behalf of Mr. Trump,” Cohen replied.

Asked about the deal with ex-Playboy model Karen McDougal and American Media Inc., Cohen testified that he helped coordinate her silence to ensure the “possibility of Mr. Trump succeeding in the election.”

“At whose direction and on whose behalf did you do that?” Hoffinger asked again.

“At the direction of Donald J. Trump,” Cohen said.

Cohen’s testimony confirms prosecutors’ theory of the case that the deals were struck to clear Trump’s path to the White House, and could help them convince jurors that Trump acted in furtherance of another crime: influencing the election.

— Ella Lee

6 months ago

Cohen says family led him to break from Trump

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Cohen says he ultimately decided “that it was about time to listen” to his family, rather than stay loyal to Trump by listening to attorney Robert Costello.

“I would not lie for President Trump anymore,” Cohen said, indicating he had changed his loyalty to his wife, kids and “the country”

— Zach Schonfeld

6 months ago

Prosecutors show evidence of ‘pressure campaign’ to keep Cohen in line

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Prosecutors are showing emails that, along with Cohen’s testimony, indicate people in Trump’s orbit were aiming to keep Cohen loyal as the FBI investigated him.

After Robert Costello offered to set up the backchannel between Cohen and Trump through Rudy Giuliani, the attorney continued to pressure Cohen with “constant calls” and lengthy emails. Cohen said he told the lawyer he was speaking with a boutique law firm instead, which angered Costello.

“This was part of the pressure campaign,” Cohen said, “that anyone is lying to you, that you are still regarded, the president still supports you, do not speak, do not listen to what any of the journalists” are saying.

“Don’t flip. Don’t speak. Don’t cooperate,” he added.

Cohen ended up retaining other attorneys, not Costello.

— Ella Lee

6 months ago

Cohen tells of setting up backchannel to Trump via Giuliani

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As Cohen was being criminally investigated for the hush money payment in 2018, he said attorney Robert Costello offered to set up a backchannel between Cohen and Trump through Rudy Giuliani, who at the time had become a part of Trump’s legal team.

The testimony confirms another allegation prosecutors outlined in Trump’s indictment last year.

Jurors are seeing various emails that Costello and Cohen exchanged in 2018.

— Zach Schonfeld

6 months ago

NY appeals court upholds gag order

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A New York appeals court affirmed the gag order against former President Trump in his hush money criminal case.

The order, imposed on Trump by Judge Juan Merchan, bars Trump from publicly commenting on witnesses, prosecutors, court staff or the judge’s family. It does not prevent him from attacking Merchan or Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg (D).

Trump has railed against his gag order as a violation of his First Amendment rights, arguing it prevents him from responding to political attacks being levied by high-profile witnesses and others.

“Justice Merchan properly determined that petitioner’s public statements posed a significant threat to the integrity of the testimony of witnesses and potential witnesses in this case as well,” the decision from the five-judge panel reads.

— Ella Lee, Zach Schonfeld

6 months ago

Trump’s entourage thins following break

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Trump returned from the morning break with a smaller entourage.

His former 2024 presidential primary rivals, Vivek Ramaswamy and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, and the lawmakers did not come back with the former president.

His children Eric and Lara Trump are still here, as is adviser Boris Epshteyn and legal spokeswoman Alina Habba.

— Zach Schonfeld

6 months ago

Cohen describes call with Trump after FBI raid

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Prosecutors asked Cohen to describe the 2018 FBI raid of his apartment, hotel room and office as part of a criminal investigation that later led him to plead guilty to federal charges.

The ex-Trump fixer said a knock at the door came at 7 a.m., and when he looked through his door’s peephole, he saw numerous people. He described feeling “concerned,” “despondent” and “angry.”

“Were you frightened?” Hoffinger asked.

“Yes ma’am,” Cohen replied.

After the raid, he said he got a phone call from Trump, who was president at the time.

“And he said to me, ‘Don’t worry. I’m the president of the United States. There’s nothing here,’” Cohen said. “‘Everything’s going to be OK. Stay tough — you’re going to be OK.”

He said it was the last time he spoke directly to Trump.

“I felt reassured because I had the president of the United States protecting me,” Cohen testified.

— Ella Lee

6 months ago

Prosecutors creep closer to Cohen’s guilty pleas

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As the Manhattan district attorney’s office questions Cohen, prosecutors are starting to allude to their star witness’s criminal record.

Hoffinger asked Cohen whether he lied to Congress in 2017 when questioned over a real estate deal in Moscow that Trump continued to work after announcing his bid for president. He said he did. In 2018, Cohen pleaded guilty to one count of making false statements to Congress for the fib.

Cohen also pleaded guilty to federal campaign finance and criminal tax evasion charges, but prosecutors have not yet raised those matters.

Defense attorneys for Trump are expected to highlight Cohen’s criminal record in an aim of undermining his credibility as a witness. Prosecutors must show the jury that Cohen can be trusted despite his criminal convictions.

— Ella Lee

6 months ago

Cohen tells jury he pressured Daniels into denying affair

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Cohen admitted he helped coordinate two of Stormy Daniels’s denials of an affair with Trump.

He testified that he knew the denials were “false” but wanted to get the matter “taken care of.”

He also said he pushed for the second denial because “persistent reporters” continued to investigate the matter, and he believed that another official statement “would be helpful in putting an end to it.”

— Ella Lee

6 months ago

Cohen lied for Trump ‘out of loyalty’

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Cohen testified that he spread false information on Trump’s behalf in order to shield him.

The lies he told were “out of loyalty and in order to protect him,” he testified, referencing the former president.

Hoffinger raised Cohen’s testimony before Congress over Russian connections to the former president’s campaign.

“Did you make false statements to Congress in 2017?” Hoffinger asked.

“I did,” Cohen replied.

The prosecutor also pressed Cohen over whether he pressured others involved in the hush money deal, such as attorney Keith Davidson, to lie about the payoffs. Cohen replied affirmatively.

“Why?” Hoffinger asked.

“In order to protect Mr. Trump,” he said.

— Ella Lee

6 months ago

Cohen says he did ‘minimal’ work for Trump in 2017

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Despite the $35,000 checks he received each month from Trump, Cohen said he did “minimal” work for his then-boss and wife Melania Trump in 2017, Trump’s first year as president.

He said he assisted with a matter involving former “The Apprentice” star Summer Zervos, who accused Trump of sexual assault, and believed he helped Melania Trump with trademark work or “Madame Tussauds agreements,” a reference to the wax museum in New York City.

He said he did not ask for compensation because he “didn’t expect to be paid.”

“It was very minimal work,” Cohen said.

The testimony cuts at the $35,000 monthly checks Cohen received that were documented as a legal retainer. Prosecutors — and Cohen — say the checks were reimbursements for the Daniels payment.

— Ella Lee