An inveterate liar driven by an unquenchable thirst for revenge: at Donald Trump’s criminal trial, his lawyers sought to paint the worst possible portrait of Michael Cohen, his former confidant who became number one accuser, during cross-examination mercilessly Thursday.
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The one who described himself as the man of bad tricks, capable of “lying” or “intimidating” on behalf of his former boss, is the last piece of the puzzle deployed by the prosecutors of the new justice system. Yorkist to convince the jury that Donald Trump had approved the hidden payment of $130,000 to porn actress Stormy Daniels, at the very end of the 2016 presidential campaign.
AFP
Expenses covered by Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, and disguised according to the accusation as “legal expenses” in the accounts of the Trump Organization when they were reimbursed to him in 2017. Hence the lawsuits for accounting falsifications which could earn Donald Trump the first criminal conviction of a former president of the United States.
But Michael Cohen is not worthy of belief, wanted to demonstrate the defense lawyer, Todd Blanche, under the eyes of the former president and a group of Republican elected officials who came to support even in the courtroom their presidential champion.
AFP
The lawyer questioned Cohen at length about his lies to Congress in Washington in 2017, separate facts from the current trial, to which Michael Cohen pleaded guilty in 2018 and was sentenced, along with other crimes, to a sentence of prison which landed him behind bars for 13 months.
“I agreed to take my responsibilities,” replied the former adviser to Donald Trump.
“Take down” Trump
Then, after recounting other episodes where Michael Cohen would have come to terms with the truth, the defense insisted on the ego injury that the witness would have felt, when, once Donald Trump entered the White House on the 20 January 2017, he had not been recruited there.
The defense also highlighted the countless attacks by Michael Cohen against his former boss since he was caught by the justice system and turned against him. “You better believe in my will to bring this man down,” he says in a podcast in 2020.
The tone rose again when lawyer Blanche sought to demonstrate that Cohen had “lied” during his testimony earlier in the week, saying that he had kept Donald Trump informed by telephone that the Stormy Daniels affair was buried.
A little shaken, Michael Cohen still reiterated his version of the facts.
Since April 15, the trial has forced the Republican candidate for the 2024 presidential election to sit and listen to the debates in silence, in a courtroom with dated decor at 15e floor of the Manhattan courthouse.
The stakes of the trial are enormous, because Donald Trump will be convicted or acquitted by the jurors in the middle of the presidential campaign. The jury should probably decide before the first televised debate on June 27 between Joe Biden and Donald Trump.
Even sentenced to prison, Donald Trump could continue to campaign and appear before voters on November 5.
During nearly eight hours of hearing Monday and Tuesday – Wednesday is the judicial break day – the billionaire’s ex-personal lawyer incriminated him at length.
Cohen claimed to have acted at Trump’s direction when he paid porn actress and director Stormy Daniels through a shell company in late 2016 to buy her silence about a sexual relationship she claimed to have had in late 2016. 2006 with the businessman, then already married to Melania Trump.
To ensure, he said, “that the story would not come out, and would not affect Donald Trump’s chances of becoming president of the United States.”
In a calm tone, unlike the tempestuous and excessive man described by certain witnesses, Mr. Cohen also reiterated that Donald Trump had validated his reimbursement in 2017, when he was in the White House.
AFP
Many other protagonists were also called to the stand, such as the former boss of a tabloid, who had “bought” other scandals to prevent them from tarnishing the Republican candidate.
In front of the Manhattan courthouse, some demonstrators flew penis-shaped balloons bearing photos of New York magistrates considered hostile to Mr. Trump, who has already been heavily financially sanctioned in two civil trials.
