CNN
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Donald Trump lawyer Todd Blanche raised his voice and flailed his arms at Michael Cohen, accusing the prosecution’s star witness and accusing him of constructing up a cellphone dialog with Trump simply earlier than he despatched $130,000 to Stormy Daniels’ lawyer in October 2016.
Blanche confronted Cohen with textual content messages he despatched with Keith Schiller – whom Cohen had mentioned put Trump on the cellphone – which had been unrelated to something having to do with Trump or Daniels.
It was essentially the most dramatic second of the cross-examination of the important thing witness within the hush cash case, and the clearest instance but of the protection’s effort to solid doubt on Cohen’s reminiscence of cellphone calls and different important interactions with Trump in 2016.
Court docket is off Friday so Trump can attend the highschool commencement of his son, Barron. Cross-examination of Cohen will resume Monday and it’s doable summations may start as quickly as Tuesday.
Listed here are the takeaways from Day 18 of the Trump hush cash trial:
It took a number of hours of cross-examination earlier than Blanche lastly turned to the proof instantly associated to the case.
Nevertheless it didn’t take lengthy for Blanche to make his largest rhetorical flourish – and maybe his largest blow to Cohen’s credibility – of the six-hour cross-cross examination up to now, specializing in an October 24, 2016, cellphone name that Trump’s bodyguard positioned to Cohen.
Below questioning from prosecutors on Monday, Cohen testified that he was reaching out to Schiller to talk to Trump that day as a result of he wanted “to debate the Stormy Daniels matter and the decision of it.”
However on Thursday, Blanche learn Cohen a textual content that he despatched to Schiller minutes earlier than that decision: “Who can I converse to concerning harassing calls to my cell and workplace the dope forgot to dam his quantity.”
“Name me,” Blanche mentioned Schiller responded.
Blanche says the texts present that at 8:04 p.m. Cohen texted Schiller the cellphone variety of {the teenager} prank calling him.
Blanche used the texts to problem Cohen’s account of the decision. “That was a lie, you didn’t speak to President Trump, you talked to Keith Schiller – you possibly can admit it,” he pressed.
Cohen calmly responded, “No sir, I don’t know that it’s correct.”
Cohen mentioned that a part of the decision was in regards to the prank name, whereas including, “I knew that Keith was with Mr. Trump on the time and there was extra probably than this.”
Blanche started pacing and waving his arms. His voice raised in quantity and tone and he started speaking shortly: “However now your reminiscence is you had been testifying in truth on Tuesday. A 1 minute, 36 second cellphone name and also you had sufficient time to replace Schiller about all the issues you had been having and in addition replace President Trump in regards to the standing of Stormy Daniels’ state of affairs since you needed to preserve him knowledgeable.”
“I all the time ran all the things by the boss instantly, and on this case, it might have been saying all the things had been taken care of, it’s been resolved,” Cohen responded.
Blanche continued to press on Cohen’s reminiscence. “Was it true for simply that cellphone calls, or was it true for different cellphone calls too?”
“You simply mentioned you don’t recall a cellphone name again in 2016. That’s not what you testified to on Tuesday,” Blanche mentioned, his voice crescendoing to a high-pitch simply earlier than the lunch break.
Within the afternoon, Cohen defended his reminiscence of his calls – arguing that whereas he’s had 1000’s of calls and didn’t keep in mind all the circumstances surrounding them, he did keep in mind the main points of essential ones.
“As a result of these cellphone calls are issues that I’ve been speaking about for the final six years. They’re they usually had been extraordinarily essential they usually had been all-consuming,” Cohen mentioned. “So whereas I didn’t know that it came about at 8:02 p.m., what I did recall is the dialog that I had had.”
Trump’s lawyer spent hours tediously transferring by inconsistent statements that Cohen has made over time to knock his credibility, though a lot of the content material he was elevating had little to do with the problems on trial.
Blanche questioned Cohen on a myriad of matters, together with the recanting of his 2018 responsible plea on tax prices, whether or not he wished to work within the White Home and what he’s mentioned a couple of pardon from Trump.
Blanche hammered Cohen with repetitive questions on his 2018 responsible plea, which Cohen has since mentioned was partially a lie underneath oath. Cohen mentioned he’s taken accountability for the fees like tax fraud that he pleaded responsible to on the time, however he says he nonetheless blames others and was the sufferer of a corrupt prosecution.
“You blame lots of people over time for the conduct that you simply had been convicted of?” Blanche requested.
“I blame individuals, sure,” Cohen responded.
Blanche additionally challenged Cohen on why federal and state prosecutors by no means took him on as a cooperator regardless of his responsible plea to marketing campaign finance prices in connection to the alleged hush cash scheme with Daniels.
Blanche steered Cohen was unreliable and solely acted like he’d taken accountability for the crimes when he pleaded responsible so as to get a lowered sentence.
Blanche additionally challenged Cohen on his needs to be in Trump’s White Home, as revealed in personal communications together with his daughter and folks like Pastor Darrell Scott, who Cohen requested to place in a superb phrase with Trump.
Nonetheless, Cohen maintained on the stand Thursday that he solely ever wished to be Trump’s private lawyer – the place he held till he grew to become the topic of a federal investigation.
Cohen additionally conceded on cross-examination that whereas he testified publicly to Congress that he by no means requested and would by no means settle for a pardon from Trump, he truly did search out a pardon from Trump by his lawyer and later informed lawmakers as a lot behind closed doorways.
On the stand, Cohen admitted he explored a pardon together with his legal professionals as a result of Trump “dangled” the concept of pardoning him and mentioned he “wished this nightmare to finish.”
Cohen navigated the confrontation with a cool method all day however largely informed the jury to imagine what he says now, not what he’s mentioned up to now, together with underneath oath.
For a lot of the week whereas Cohen has been on the witness stand, Trump has been taking within the trial together with his eyes shut.
Trump hardly reacted to Cohen’s testimony throughout a day-and-a-half of prosecutors’ questions, and he even appeared disinterested in the course of the first half of Blanche’s questioning of him.
Trump’s tuned-out physique language has appeared to change into a part of his technique this trial to not act out as he did beforehand in the course of the New York civil fraud trial final fall and the E. Jean Carroll defamation case in January.
However Trump’s demeanor shifted on Thursday afternoon as the eye turned to Cohen and the media. He sat up in his chair dealing with instantly towards Cohen as Blanche quizzed the witness about his conversations with New York Occasions reporter Maggie Haberman – who has come up beforehand within the trial within the type of a Trump tweet attacking her in 2018.
When Cohen informed Blanche he has recorded roughly 40 conversations with reporters over time, Trump turned to his lawyer Susan Necheles they usually each smirked on the response.
As for Cohen, he stored a relaxed demeanor all through the testimony, selecting his phrases fastidiously and talking slowly in his solutions, even when Blanche’s pacing sped up significantly. Cohen often requested Blanche to repeat inquiries to him, significantly after an objection from prosecutor Susan Hoffinger was overruled by the choose.
The distinction of Cohen’s strategy to his testimony was on show for the jury when Blanche performed a recording of Cohen on his “Mea Culpa” podcast from Could 30, 2023. The podcast Cohen spoke rather more quickly and with a healthy dose of pleasure when discussing the indictment.
“I really f**king hope that this man results in jail,” Cohen says on the podcast. “However revenge is a dish greatest served chilly, and also you higher imagine I need this man to go down and decay inside for what he did to my household.”
Earlier than leaving for the weekend, Merchan informed the legal professionals to be ready to offer summations on Tuesday – which means the jury may have the case as early as subsequent week.
Prosecutors informed Merchan they don’t have any different witnesses to name after Cohen is off the stand, and the protection mentioned it plans to name one marketing campaign finance knowledgeable, although that’s not set in stone.
Blanche mentioned the protection may nonetheless select to name extra witnesses to problem testimony, and Trump’s crew maintains it has not decided on whether or not the previous president will testify in his personal protection.
There’s additionally the chance, as CNN has reported, that former Cohen lawyer Bob Costello may seem. Costello made an impression throughout a Home Judiciary subcommittee listening to Wednesday the place he repeatedly attacked Cohen and mentioned “just about each assertion” Cohen made on the stand about Costello was a lie.
The opposite complicating issue is there are solely three days of court docket subsequent week main as much as the Memorial Day vacation.
“It’s not perfect for there to be a giant lapse” between summations and when the jury shall be given ultimate directions by the choose earlier than starting deliberations, Merchan informed the legal professionals on Thursday.
Merchan didn’t say what that will imply for subsequent week’s schedule – an early begin or going later was one possibility, he steered – but it surely all signifies that the choose believes the jury may find yourself starting deliberations subsequent week.