Adam Klasfeld
@KlasfeldReports
·
6h
Trump's lead attorney Todd Blanche resumes his cross with questions about Cohen's communications with Detective Jeremy Rosenberg from the DA's office.
Blanche wants to refresh Cohen's memory with communications that aren't in evidence — and slips.
He asks the court to put the materials available on the screen for the "defendant," before correcting himself and saying "the witness," i.e. Cohen.
Blanche wants to admit Cohen's texts with Rosenberg into evidence, and then Hoffinger springs up to ask Cohen whether the communications are largely redacted and therefore out of context.
They are, Cohen says.
Prosecutor: "We object."
Judge: "Please approach." (Sidebar)
After the sidebar, Justice Merchan sustains the objection.
The communications won't come in, but Blanche continues to ask about them. Another misstep.
Objection.
Sustained.
Q: Do you recall prior to the indictment being unsealed, the public learned that President Trump had been indicted?
A: Yes, sir.
Asked whether the detective confirmed to him that it "was done," Cohen says he doesn't understand the question.
Blanche asks: "Detective Rosenberg didn't tell you that they told the New York Times before they told you."
Objection.
Sustained.
Judge: "When you say 'they,' who are you referring to?"
Blanche wants to suggest that the DA's office gave the NYT the tip-off, but Cohen resists that.
The exchange seems to suggest the detective just gave a heads up of what the Times reported.
Asked whether Cohen said the DA's office "Goliath on his back," Cohen says that sounds correct.
Once again, Cohen agrees that he went on TV after the DA's office urged him not to do so.
Blanche plays audio of Cohen's enthusiastic reaction to the indictment on his podcast for the jury.
Blanche shows Cohen the Truth Social post by Trump calling Daniels a "Horseface" and Cohen a "convicted liar."
Asked if he responded to the post, Cohen says: "I don't have a Truth Social post, sir."
Blanche says he responded on "X," calling Trump "Dumbass Donald."
"Sounds correct," Cohen responds.
Blanche turns to Cohen's frequent testimony.
Q: Was the oath that you took every single time [...] the same oath that you took Monday morning?"
"Yes, sir," Cohen says.
Cohen agrees with Blanche that the oath doesn't change.
Blanche goes through Cohen's lies about the since-abandoned Trump Tower Moscow project. Cohen freely acknowledges it.
Unsaid by Blanche, these were undoubtedly lies to protect Trump.
It'll also undoubtedly come up on redirect.
That fact comes up now:
Q: Even at the time that you pled guilty [...] you said that you made those statements [...] out of loyalty to President Trump, correct?
A: Correct.
Not all of Cohen's charges were Trump-related, though, Blanche says.
The lawyer reviews the FBI's search of Cohen's home.
Cohen says he learned his then-business associate Gene Freidman was cooperating months after the search.
Blanche leads Cohen through his 2018 guilty plea — along with his swearing in. It's clear where this is going.
During Trump's civil fraud trial, Cohen said he lied then about being guilty of the tax evasion for the taxi medallions.
Cohen clarified his answer on direct examination and once again now, on cross. He says that federal prosecutors gave him 48 hours to accept or face a new indictment charging his wife.
Cohen:
"I never denied the underlying facts [of the tax offenses]. I just did not believe that I should have been charged by either of those two, or I should say six, offenses."
Cohen's answers here are much smoother than during Trump's civil fraud trial, when he was questioned by Alina Habba.
Cohen has been delivering crisp, clear, responsive answers, with a level volume and steady voice.
At least so far, he's not sounding defensive or going off on tangents.
Cohen:
"I believed that I should not have been charged — yes, sir."
But Trump's lawyer noted Cohen didn't say that in his book.
In his book, Cohen agrees, he said the charges were "100 percent inaccurate."
Cohen also agrees he said in a TikTok that the SDNY's federal investigation was the "most corrupt" in at least 100 years.
Blanche pushes this line of questioning until prosecutor Hoffinger objects. Sidebar.
After the sidebar, Blanche moves on to another topic: Cohen's interview on CNN.
Cohen agrees that he said at the time that "the lies of the prosecutors from the Southern District of New York would eventually be exposed."
Adam Klasfeld
@KlasfeldReports
·
5h
Analysis:
Since the civil fraud trial, Cohen distancing himself from the tax offenses were always going to be a pressure point on cross. Blanche keeps pushing it, and there's no new ground broken here.
But it may be new for the jury.
Cohen agrees he also harshly criticized the late-federal judge who sentenced him.
Q: You do believe Judge Pauley was in on it?
A: I do.
Cohen agrees he called Pauley and SDNY prosecutors "(expletive) animals."
Cohen repeats his view that the tax offenses should have been treated civilly, through a letter alerting him, before criminally charging him.
Cohen:
"I should not have been charged with a tax crime."
He agrees that he shouldn't have been charged with a HELOC (home equity line of credit) violation, for how he obtained the money to funnel to Stormy Daniels.
For the first time of cross, Cohen is reminded to answer only the questions posed to him rather than giving speeches.
That happened frequently during Trump's civil trial last year.
Cohen has been much more disciplined now, so far.
Cohen doesn't backpedal from his testimony that he lied to Pauley about believing he was guilty of the tax offenses.
Q: The reason you lied to a federal judge is that the stakes affected you personally?
A: Yes.
Cohen acknowledged his "mistakes" about his taxes to Congress, but Blanche notes that he didn't disclose his strident criticism about being charged with those offenses at the time.
"I don't believe I was asked the question," Cohen responds.
Q: Do you agree with me that lying under oath is not accepting responsibility?
A: Could you clarify your question?
Cohen:
"I accepted responsibility, and I was suffering the consequences as a result."
Cohen agrees criminal defendants get credit at sentencing for accepting responsibility.
Blanche says Cohen got that credit even though Cohen "lied."
Cohen says that judge's have a wide range of discretion over guidelines.
Cohen agrees that, at different times, he has blamed the bank, the prosecutors, the judge, and Trump for his downfall.
Q: Does the outcome of this trial affect you personally?
A: Yes.
Cohen agrees that there's nothing wrong in the taxi medallion business with having 16 LLCs. That's standard for that industry.
(Unclear what the purpose of that question is, unless Blanche is trying to blunt the sting of the shell companies in the Daniels/McDougal payoffs.)
Q: Do you know whether your wife ever found out what you did with the $130,000 and the HELOC [home equity line of credit]?
Objection.
Sustained.
Cohen said that his wife had no knowledge about the $130,000 HELOC transaction, apparently referring to the Stormy Daniels payoff.
Asked whether he was aware of deleting messages with his wife in the March 2018 time frame, Cohen says he wasn't aware.
Blanche presses the line of questioning with people other than his wife until Cohen notes Signal has an automatically disappearing messages feature.
In 2019, Cohen told Congress: "I have never asked for, nor would I accept, a pardon from President Trump." But Blanche noted that Cohen asked two lawyers about the possibility of a pardon.
Now, Cohen doesn't deny it:
"I wanted this nightmare to end."
Cohen notes that they corrected the "misstatement."
Asked whether that was because it wasn't true when he made it, Cohen agrees.
Morning recess.