Michael Cohen finally wrapped up his testimony, after a cross examination that spanned 3 days and over 17 hours on the stand! Although there was a bit of clean-up for prosecutors to handle, there didn't appear to be any major punches landed by Todd Blanche, Trump's lawyer who handled the cross examination.
As Trump does before every day of court, he has an airing of grievances, usually about the "disgrace" of this trial, how he didn't do anything and even if he did, it wasn't a crime. Oh, and he always talks about how *cold* it is in the courtroom and how outside is so police covered that his thousands of fervent supporters cannot possibly get close enough to the court for him to see them.
This is disputed by non-delusional humans who are in the courthouse at the same time as Defendant Trump.
There was ONE protestor...but he was taunting Trump
ALL RISE!
Judge Merchan tells the court that it has “become apparent that we are not going to sum up tomorrow.” He informs both the prosecutors and the defense teams that closing arguments will happen the Tuesday after Memorial Day - May 28th.
Before the jury enters, Judge Merchan, Todd Blanche and prosecutor Susan Hoffinger reviewed evidence that the defense wants to use in their final hours of cross examination of Michael Cohen.
Another housekeeping item - the judge reviewed with both sides the defense application to have a witness testify about "certain phrases and definitions" related to federal election law. Name: Brad Smith. The judge ruled that legal analysis is off limits for an expert. The only way to do this is to allow both sides to have an expert on to talk about election law. Instead, the judge ruled that jury instructions are the best remedy. Smith can still testify, but only about the function and role of the FEC.
In the midst of Judge Merchan explaining his ruling, defense attorney Emil Bove tried to interject. Merchan was not amused, telling Bove "Just relax."
On to the witness. Michael Cohen takes the stand. The defense is trying to wrap things up, but they continue to slog through things that, frankly, are not relevant to this trial. The jury was disengaged at times and the disjointed, haphazard line of questioning is just...dragging.
And....Trump is completely asleep
Now, RedFinch, a technology company that Cohen hired to try to rig polls in Trump's favor in advance of the 2016 election. Cohen admits that he paid the firm $20,000 total - in CASH and in a brown paper bag. Cohen admits that he billed the Trump Org $50,000, keeping $30,000 for himself. The exchange:
BLANCHE: You stole from the Trump Organization, right?
COHEN: Yes, sir.
No honor among thieves.
Eric Trump, the bastion of honesty and truthfulness was UPSET THAT ANYONE WOULD STEAL! I mean, Eric Trump *only* believes in stealing from cancer patients. Eric Swalwell, my favorite member of Congress, was quick with the clapback:
Blanche gets Cohen to admit that once Trump became President (vomit sounds), Cohen continued to be his personal lawyer. This could give the defense the line of thought that the payments Cohen received for just payments for being his lawyer.
Blanche grills Cohen about how much money he makes and the source of his income. 2017: $4 million from consulting, $420,000 from Trump. 2018: $4 million. He continues to make $4 million a year since then, mainly from books and podcasts. It did come out that he is pitching a tv show called "The Fixer."
And....cross is done.
REDIRECT BEGINS!
First topic to cover: asking if Trump was too busy to negotiate the settlement with Stormy Daniels.
HOFFINGER: Were you too busy in October 2016 to get Trump’s approval on the Stormy Daniels payment?
COHEN: No, ma’am.
Now talking about Robert Costello (a name that will come up later in this round up). Costello is a lawyer that is deep in Trumpworld who tried to sweet talk Cohen and served as some sort of "legal advisor". Cohen is asked if he ever signed a retainer agreement with Costello. He did not, but conversations he had would still have attorney-client privilege even though Cohen never hired him.
Hoffinger does ask Cohen to confirm that he signed a waiver agreement with the SDNY in regards to Costello. Cohen states that “Costello sought to represent me in connection with the SDNY Investigation and presented me with a retainer agreement. I declined to sign the retainer agreement and informed him that I was already represented. . . . [A]t no time did I sign a retainer or otherwise agree to retain Costello, nor did I ever consider Costello … to be my attorney."
OH SNAP. Looks like a big sticking point by the defense just blew up in their faces regarding October 24th.
Prosecutors and defense lawyers are arguing about the admissibility of a photo of Keith Schiller and Trump taken on Oct. 24, 2016, at 7:57 p.m., which is a still photo taken from a C-SPAN video. Blanche doesn't want the photo admitted due to hearsay. He wants C-SPAN to come back to authenticate. This would mean FLYING A WITNESS back to New York to do this.
Prosecutors call their bluff.
....and defense backs down and agrees to allow the photo in.
LUNCH!!!
...and WE ARE BACK! I hope everyone got some fresh air on this beautiful day.
Cohen tells the prosecution that he has "no doubt" about having a conversation with Trump in which he was given the OK to make the hush money payments to Stormy Daniels.
Redirect ends by saying that his life "has been turned upside down" due to his affiliation with Donald Trump. He states that he has faced "attacks" after speaking out after Trump. He ends by summing it up: his life has been ruined, he lost his law license, business and financial security and his family’s happiness as a "direct result" of speaking out against Donald Trump.
Shout out to the Red Tie Terrorists:
Back to court. Re-cross. Nothing to report.
PROSECUTION RESTS! WE ARE IN THE HOMESTRETCH, GUYS.
First defense witness. Daniel Sitko, a paralegal from Todd Blanche's firm. He talks about charts refencing phone calls. He establishes that there were about 75 calls between Robert Costello and Michael Cohen. And...he is done.
Next up, Robert Costello, a lawyer who is SUPER MAGA and claims that he talked to Michael Cohen over 75 times and during those calls, Cohen told him that Trump was unaware of the payments to Stormy Daniels.
Prosecution objects. SIDEBAR! After some back and forth, the judge gives limits on what Costello can (and more importantly, cannot) testify about.
Costello is asked about a meeting he had with Michael Cohen on April 17, 2016 at the Regency Hotel in NYC. Costello testifies that Cohen was "absolutely manic" after his home and office were searched. He kept asking "what's my escape route?"
NUMEROUS objections from the prosecutor. All sustained. Costello is VISIBLY upset. He muttered "ridiculous" to himself on the stand.
Defense lawyer, Bove, redirects Costello. He asks if Cohen said if Trump was aware of the payment to Stormy Daniels. Costello said that Cohen said numerous times that Trump didn't know.
MORE SUSTAINED OBJECTIONS.
Costello exclaims "JEEZ" after another sustained objection and things go OFF THE RAILS....
Judge Merchan responded, curtly, "I'm sorry?"
...and we are FALLING OFF THE BRIDGE, GUYS
Judge Merchan clears the room to allow him the ability to ADMONISH ROBERT COSTELLO for his inability to control himself on the stand.
Judge Merchan says: "If you don't like my ruling, you don't say, 'Jeez.' You don't give me side eye and you don't roll your eyes."
YIKES
Costello gets it together. Everyone is back in the room. Questioning resumes. Talking about phone calls and messages. Not sure much happened here. Direct questioning ends.
Cross examination by prosecution begins. Hoffinger shows Costello an email from Jeff Citron, his partner. She asks directly if he and his partner thought getting Michael Cohen as a client would be a "good opportunity." Costello puts it on his partner, although he does acknowledge that this case would have been high-profile and generated publicity for him.
SIDE NOTE: Moments after Judge Merchan cleared the courtroom, Eric Trump tweeted that the judge “will not allow" Robert Costello to speak freely on the witness stand. He said: "The judges treatment of Bob Costello is truly disgraceful - he will not allow him to tell his story - the same story he told Congress - as he knows it will be devastating and end this sham trial."
BACK TO TESTIMONY:
Hoffinger is DRAGGING Costello. Rapid fire questions. She has him on his toes. He is being shown to be a bottom feeder who was relentlessly pursuing Cohen because he was desperate to land him as a client.
Asked if Cohen was a drama queen, he says this:
YIKES AGAIN.
Today is bonkerstown bananagrams. I can't even keep up. THIS IS THE DEFENSE CASE AND THEIR STAR WITNESS IS DELULU CRAZYPANTS.
....and scene. Court ends for the day. Unfortunately for us, Costello will be back on the stand tomorrow.
Now, time for a drink.
