Defense attorney Todd Blanche became frustrated and raised his voice when he tried Pressing Michael Cohen a self-proclaimed liar and ex-fixer Donald Trump tried to undercut the question — it wasn’t the fireworks many expected for Tuesday’s cross-examination, but it did make for intense questioning.
Cohen has already testified that he repeatedly lied for Trump.
“I regret doing things for him that I shouldn’t have done — lying to get my way, bullying people,” Cohen said. “I lost my moral compass.”
But during cross-examination, Cohen became more adamant.
“Was it a lie?” Blanche asked.
“It was not a lie. It wasn’t accurate. If you want to lie, we can lie. I believe that the information I gave them is inaccurate,” said Cohen.
“But you don’t testify that it is false?” Blanche replied.
“Of course I’ll say it’s a lie,” he finally admitted, keeping his cool and defying his well-earned reputation as a hothead.
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Cross-examination gets off to a rough start
Starting cross-examination, Blanche immediately objected and was quickly admonished by the judge.
“Mr. Cohen, my name is Todd Blanche,” Blanche Cohen said, then added, “you went on TikTok and called me a ‘crying little s—‘.”
Judge Juan Mercan called the lawyers to the bench for a discussion, out of the hearing of the jury and others in the courtroom.
“Why are you talking about yourself?” the merchant began. Blanche tried to claim that she wanted to show that Cohen was biased.
“It doesn’t matter if he’s biased against you or not; it doesn’t matter,” Merchan said. “The question is whether or not he had a bias against the defendant.”
He added: “Just don’t talk about yourself.”
Blanch continued her questioning — which bounced between topics for nearly two hours — and did not address any of Cohen’s testimony during direct examination by prosecutors.
Cohen can’t remember
After hours of detailed, impartial testimony, Cohen became more combative on cross-examination.
Cohen could not recall whether he had asked his attorneys to stop talking about the case or whether his talks with the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office would end in the press. When asked about Cohen’s 2021 television appearance discussing the investigation, he answered, “I go on television often.”
“What was I talking about? I don’t know,” he added.
After initially dodging a question about whether he was speaking to the press, and then being questioned, Cohen replied, “That sounds about right,” then “it is.”
Blanche said, “Let me be clear about this, yesterday you had very specific memories,” including of a 2016 phone call with Trump. However, Cohen can’t remember any conversations he had with his lawyer last year, Blanche said in disbelief.
The defense is investigating Cohen’s motive
In a wide-ranging cross-examination, Blanche reviewed the many investigations and public inquiries into Trump’s time in office: the Trump Moscow project, the Mueller report and the Steele dossier. Even Anthony Scaramucci made an appearance, Blanche Cohen asked about a visit from Scaramucci in which Cohen said he wanted out of prison early.
Earlier, Blanche insinuated that Cohen began to change his story as he sought a way out of federal prison and began meeting with federal prosecutors.
When Blanche sought early release from Cohen’s sentence, she tried to make it appear that she was interested in cooperating with the prosecution and asked the district attorney’s office to publicly announce that she was cooperating.
“I was looking for a reduction in house arrest not only in this case, but in the work I do,” Cohen said. “I wanted to be free, yes.”
Pressured to stay in the crease
Cohen spent the morning under direct examination by prosecutors before being cross-examined.
Cohen recalled the 2018 FBI raid on his home and office, where they seized his tax books and other documents and seized his phones, including one with Trump’s voice recording.
When asked by prosecutor Susan Hoffinger how she was feeling, Cohen said she was scared and hopeless. “How to understand that your life is upside down?” “I was scared … I wanted to make sure that Mr. Trump had my back, especially in matters related to him,” she said, turning to the jury.
He was reassured by Trump’s response. “Do not worry; I am the president of the United States of America. There is nothing here. Stay tough. You will be fine.”
“I was protected by the president of the United States … I stayed in the camp,” Cohen said.
As Trump tweeted, it was still part of the joint defense agreement About Cohen being “a good lawyer with a nice family.”
But Trump was also publicly wondering how ““Most people will hesitate if the government saves them from the problem.” Trump’s message is “Stay loyal. Don’t turn around,’ Cohen told the court. He said that he understood from this tweet that Trump did not want him to cooperate with the government.
But this mood quickly disappeared.
Cohen said he was inundated with calls from a lawyer with ties to Rudy Giuliani, who represented Trump at the time. Cohen told her he was considering hiring another attorney who was not part of the joint defense agreement.
“He was mad that I sat down with the other attorney and didn’t sit down with him and I had enough and I told him,” Cohen said.
Cohen soon decided to cooperate with prosecutors and said he and his family decided not to lie for Trump anymore.
My family “said to me, ‘Why are you clinging to this loyalty? What are you doing? We should be your first loyalty.’ Cohen testified. they.”