It was a busy day in the courtroom as Michael Cohen testified again for hours before finally getting off the stand. With that the prosecution rested. A pair of defense witnesses briefly took the stand. With the jury excused the defense motioned for the judge to dismiss the case. After brief arguments about that the judge declined to rule, taking the motion under advisement.
Today’s summation.
-On continued cross examination Cohen admitted to stealing from the Trump Organization. He claimed costs of $50,000 from Red Finch, a vendor that helped the campaign rig an online poll in Trump’s favor. However, Cohen only paid Red Finch $20,000, pocketing the rest. That amount was then doubled as part of the grossing up to cover Cohen’s taxes, representing a $60,000 take from Cohen’s theft.
-The $20,000 Cohen paid Red Finch was in cash, in a literal brown paper bag.
-Cohen testified he told prosecutors about this theft but was never prosecuted for it.
-Trump’s attorneys tried to get Cohen to admit there was a retainer agreement with the Trump Organization, introducing a January 2017 email from Weisselberg telling Cohen to “Please prepare the agreement we discussed so we can pay you monthly.” However, Cohen testified again that he prepared no such agreement because there was no retainer agreement and the funds he was paid in 2017 were all payback for the Stormy Daniel payment he made.
-Cohen admitted he told people, even in private, that Trump knew nothing of the Stormy Daniels deal until Cohen himself got in trouble for that deal when the FBI seized his phones and computers.
-Trump’s attorney pressed Cohen to admit he had profited by turning on Trump. [NOTE: Cohen went to jail after turning on Trump and was never considered for a pardon unlike a string of Trump loyalists.] Cohen admitted to making $4.4 million on books and podcasts critical of Trump.
-Asked if he would financially benefit from a Trump conviction Cohen argued that he would benefit more from an acquittal “because it gives me more to talk about in the future.”
-Trump’s attorneys finally completed their cross examination of Cohen.
-On redirect, prosecutors focused on an October 24, 2016 call where Cohen claims he told Trump the Stormy Daniels deal was done. Defense counsel had undermined the claim showing texts before the call suggested Cohen’s concern was about harassing calls he received. On redirect, Cohen stated he told Trump the Stormy Daniels deal was finalized but that the brief call may have also discussed other things.
-On redirect Cohen again stated he never had a retainer agreement for the money he received from Trump in 2017: “There was no legal work that I was to be paid for.” Asked if the payments he received in 2017 had anything to do with any legal services he provided Trump, or members of his family, in that year Cohen directly answered, “No ma’am.”
-Cohen provided details of the poll they tried to use Red Finch to rig. The CNBC poll was for the most famous businessman in the last century. Trump was upset because “he was polling towards the very, very bottom and it upset him.” So Cohen hired Red Finch to raise Trump’s standing through bulk voting. When it didn’t work so Trump refused to pay the $50,000 bill because he finished 9th. Trump felt he lost “despite cheating” and refused to pay Red Finch.
-Cohen explained his inflated charge from Red Finch of $50,000, of which he pocketed $30,000 as something he rationalized at the time as “self help” because he was angry at not getting promised bonuses. On the stand today, Cohen admitted it was “wrong.”
-Cohen admitted his letter to the FEC stating his payment to Daniels was not for the campaign was false and that Trump knew it was false when Cohen submitted it. The same for a similar statement denying any connection to the campaign in a letter he drafted that Daniels signed. Cohen testified that Trump approved the substance of both these false statements.
-Cohen wrapped up by again testifying that Trump approved reimbursing him for the hush money payment to Daniels.
-After a very brief recross Cohen was done, and with is dismissal from the stand the prosecution rested.
-Defense briefly called a paralegal from their office who testified as to a chart prepared relating to calls from Cohen’s phone.
-Defense then called Robert Costello, an attorney hired by Trump ostensibly to represent Cohen after the FBI seized his phones and computers. Cohen previously testified he never trusted Costello to represent his interests, believing anything he told him would go straight to Giuliani and then to Trump.
-Costello testified that Trump knew nothing about hush money payments to Daniels. He also testified that Cohen told him many times that Trump had no knowledge of the hush money deal.
-Costello claimed that after being raided by the FBI that Cohen was suicidal and threatened to jump off the top of a building.
-At one point Costello’s inappropriate responses to the judge’s rulings resulted in the courtroom being cleared. “Are you staring me down right now? Clear the courtroom!” The judge admonished Costello for his lack of decorum for rulings from the judge he didn’t like (rolling the eyes and saying “geez.” Judge was pretty upset.
-Trial ended today with Costello still on the stand and he will resume under cross examination tomorrow.
-With the jury excused Trump’s attorneys motioned for the judge to dismiss the case arguing that critical elements of the crimes charged were not proven and that Cohen was not a credible witness.
-Prosecutors argued that the evidence the payment to Cohen was reimbursement for hush money was overwhelming and that a “record of concealment” was also overwhelming that spoke to Trump’s intent.
-The judge declined to rule on the Motion to Dismiss taking it under advisement but seemed reluctant to weigh in on the credibility of Cohen, viewing that as the province of the jury.
