How Trump’s lawyers tried to paint Michael Cohen as a liar

The much awaited cross-examination of Michael Cohen began with a shock-and awe opening meant to shatter the composure of the witness, but ended with the usual courtroom tedium and Cohen correcting Donald Trump’s lawyer on real estate. There were swear words, insults – ‘Cheeto-dusted villain’ is one – and questions about Cohen’s move from Trump loyalist to resistance crusader, and whether it was an awakening or self-serving scheme.

Many of Blanche’s early punches didn’t land, and had the effect of bringing Cohen’s wealth of character attacks on Trump, like calling him a con man he was ashamed to work for, into the record. Below are key takeways from the dramatic Day Two of Michael Cohen’s testimony, with one day left to destroy the credibility of the crucial witness.

Shock and awe opening shocked but didn’t leave a mark. Trump lawyer Todd Blanche tried to rattle Cohen from his first question when he told him: ‘You went on TikTok and called me a crying little [expletive] didn’t you?’ ‘Sounds like something I’d say’, Cohen responded dryly. But the comment led to an immediate ‘sidebar’ conference between the judge and lawyers. The judge announced that the question was stricken from the record – an immediate defeat for the defense. ‘Why are you making this about yourself?’ Judge Juan Merchan asked Blanche, according to a court transcript. Blanche may have hoped the question would have a psychological effect on Cohen even if it couldn’t remain on the record. But while Cohen was a bit off balance early in cross examination, he didn’t crumble.

Hot headed Cohen mostly keeps his composure. Cohen is known for attacking reporters, browbeating vendors, and threatening to crush adversaries in the courtroom. The personal injury lawyer didn’t dispute being called Trump’s ‘fixer.’ But he rolled out a new and improved humble demeanor during his direct testimony to prosecutors, and managed to keep his composure while under fire Tuesday. Sometimes he tried to avoid black and white answers when he got asked questions that put him in a bind, like if he wanted Trump to go to jail. ‘Sure,’ he responded casually, as if it weren’t something he had called for in books called Disloyal and Revenge, before being forced to go further. But jurors weren’t learning much they hadn’t already picked up Monday: that Cohen said he had transformed form a Trump superfan to someone hoping to help bring him down.

Trying to establish Cohen’s bias, Blanche pointed to a red flag: he was selling t-shirts picturing Trump in an orange jump suit behind bars. Cohen had sported it himself as recently as Wednesday. That might not quite fit with Cohen’s well-rehearsed answer that it was up to the jury decide Trump’s guilt or innocence. But instead of crumbling, Cohen put in a pitch for the shirt. ‘It’s part of the merch store,’ he said. He even gave directions for how a curious buyer might check it out. ‘If you go to the section that says mea culpa, this shirt is available for sale,’ he told Blanche.

Cohen’s withering insults of Trump make it into the record. Blanche’s effort to prove Cohen is biased or vindictive had the side-effect of putting a series of withering insults into the record. He was asked about calling him a ‘Cheeto dusted cartoon villain.’ Cohen said that ‘also sounds like something I said.’ He didn’t deny saying ‘I truly [expletive] hope that this man ends up in prison. Nor did he dispute saying people won’t be satisfied until ‘this man is sitting in his cell.’ Cohen didn’t recall, but said ‘I wouldn’t put it past me.’ And when Blanche brought up nice things about Trump – hailing him as compassionate and even writing that he was ‘obsessed’ with him, Cohen was able to answer by pointing to his conversion story. It was true at the time, he said. ‘That’s how I felt so yes it would be the truth,’ he responded to a list of accolades he gave Trump. Cohen had already gushed during direct testimony about his former pride working for Trump and his former coworkers. Another had Cohen saying before the jury that he had called Trump a ‘con man’ who he later was ‘ashamed’ he once worked for. ‘I said that, yes,’ he testified. That one lacked the alliteration of ‘dictator douchebag,’ another insult Cohen agreed sounded like it came from him.

Trouble establishing Cohen’s motive. Blanche tried several stabs at pinning a motive on Cohen that toppled his own narrative – that he was coming forward because his family told him his loyalty was to them and the country, not to Trump. One is that he wanted to knock time off his sentence. Cohen admitted to his lawyer trying to get a letter that would get him credit for cooperation. But he never had a cooperation agreement with prosecutors, per se, despite his efforts. He did get immunity for testifying before a grand jury, and he did have a series of meetings with prosecutors assembling cases against Trump. Some happened in prison, but others came after he was in home confinement in Manhattan due to the coronavirus pandemic. So he was forced to admit that he wanted to shorten his period of home confinement where he only got out three hours per day and needed to ask permission to leave.

But Cohen was willing to admit it. ‘I was looking for a reduction in the home confinement portion,’ he said. He complained that should have gotten credit for work he did and a class he took while in prison north of the New York City. Blanche repeatedly pointed to Cohen’s flurry of TV appearances. ‘Is it fair to say that you are motivated by fame? … Is it fair to say that you are motivated by publicity?’ he asked him. ‘I don’t know if that’s fair to say. I’m motivated by many things,’ was Cohen’s response. Cohen also revealed the big bucks he made writing Trump tell alls, with income of about $3.4 million. He said he wrote the first book in prison to help manage his time.

Some success tagging Cohen with past lies. Blanche had more success getting Cohen to cop to some past lies. One came in meetings with Special Counsel Robert Meuller during the Russia probe. He concealed information about his conversations with Trump about building a Trump Tower Moscow . It’s not a subject likely to endear either Cohen or Trump to the jury as Russia continues its brutal war on Ukraine. But it could establish that if Cohen would lie to investigators, he might lie in court. ‘You lied to them, right?’ Blanche asked him. ‘Yes the information I gave to them was not accurate,’ was how Cohen put it. ‘That brought a long semantic back-and-forth. Is not accurate information a lie?’ Blanche asked him. ‘It was inaccurate, yes,’ Cohen agreed, while still avoiding the word. ‘I don’t know if I would characterize it as a lie. It was inaccurate,’ he said, before finally relenting. ‘It wasn’t truthful. You want to call it a lie? I’ll call it a lie. I believe they’re the same thing,’ he said.

He also brought up numerous times when prosecutors were pleading with Cohen to stop speaking publicly about cases where he was meeting with the government. There were conversations he said he couldn’t recall, and some where tried to downplay the urgency of the warnings. As he described it, it was ‘probably better off if you don’t speak about it,’ is how Cohen put it. But he also had an answer for why he might ignore the admonitions, even while sitting in in home confinement. ‘I do have a First Amendment right. I can speak,’ he said. Trump could be seen with his eyes closed for extended periods during questioning. Blanche can hope Trump was snoozing when his lawyer questioned Cohen about real estate. Blanche mixed up some basic terms when asking Cohen about where he was living. ‘Instead of being in Otisville you were in your coop?’ Blanche asked Cohen, referencing his move from a New York prison to home confinement. ‘Condo,’ shot back Cohen, correcting him. ‘Understood,’ Blanche responded.

That came after Cohen had testified he still lives in a building bearing Blanche’s client’s name. ‘You still live on a building with Trump’s name on it, correct?’ Blanche asked him. ‘I do,’ said Cohen. Blanche didn’t get to finish his task, and left off with a question on Cohen’s complex back-and-forth with prosecutors. He still has work to do to bring up some of the most egregious parts of Cohen’s record. He and prosecutors have both mentioned that he pleaded guilty to lying to Congress . And prosecutors tried to get in front of complicating factors that have Cohen now saying he shouldn’t be prosecuted for tax offenses he pleaded guilty to. Based on the time estimate Blanche gave in court, that gives Trump’s legal team one full day in court to try to destroy the credibility of a former ‘fixer’ to keep him from reaching the goal he bragged about on TikTok : Seeing that Trump goes ‘goes right into that little cage which is where he belongs, in a [expletive] cage, like an animal.’ That was one insult that Cohen did recall saying.

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