The verdict in Donald Trump’s hush money trial likely hinges on the testimony of star prosecution witness Michael Cohen over the past two weeks. So did the former president’s longtime lawyer, fixer and alleged partner-in-crime – who is also a convicted felon and perjurer – seem truthful enough to convince all 12 jurors to convict Trump?
Cohen was likely convincing to jurors that Trump signed off on paying porn actress Stormy Daniels $130,000 to silence her extramarital affair claim just before the 2016 presidential election and to covering it up as legal expenses, according to many legal experts, including former prosecutors and defense lawyers.
Trump lead defense attorney Todd Blanche didn’t visibly rattle Cohen or get him to display his infamously volatile temper. However, some of the same analysts say Trump’s defense team exposed the prosecution’s key weakness: that they are relying on the testimony of a vengeful former employee with a major ax to grind against his former boss.
Karen Friedman Agnifilo, the chief assistant district attorney in Manhattan until 2021, told USA TODAY that Cohen succeeded in corroborating “essential” elements of the prosecution’s case, including testimony by other witnesses, what happened during key meetings and phone calls and reams of “irrefutable items” like business records about the payments in question. “In the end,” she said, “I think he turned out to be an excellent witness.”
Cohen’s testimony took on added importance Tuesday, when Trump’s legal team rested their case without the world’s most famous defendant taking the stand to refute Cohen. That means the defense’s cross-examination of Cohen was its only opportunity undermine his credibility and blow holes in his version of events.
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‘So important to connecting the dots’ to Trump
In order to prove that Trump committed felonies, prosecutors need to go beyond that he merely falsified business records and demonstrate that he did so in order to commit or conceal another crime.
Cohen described in detail multiple conversations he had about the payments with Trump and with Trump Organization Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg, including a key meeting with both where the plan was sketched out on paper.
Cohen also testified about how he took out a home equity loan to borrow the money to make the payment to Daniels himself, buttressing financial records showing that he transferred the money to her lawyer less than two weeks before the election. He also told jurors that he and Weisselberg personally explained to Trump how Cohen “was going to front the money for it.”
Trump, Cohen testified, “was appreciative,” and replied, “Good. Good. Don’t worry, you’ll get it back.”
“Michael Cohen is so important to connecting the dots of all what all of the other witnesses have said, of all of the other documents,” including one financial record supporting prosecutors’ contention that Trump was in on the scheme. Kristy Greenberg, a former top New York federal prosecutor and MSNBC legal analyst told the network.
Proving Trump’s ‘knowledge and intent’
Cohen told jurors that after federal agents searched his home looking for evidence in 2018, Trump called him and said he was the president of the United States – and that he’d take care of him.
Cohen also provided tangible evidence, including a recording in which he and Trump discussed the hush money payment, Cohen orchestrated via National Enquirer to former Playboy Model and alleged Trump mistress Karen McDougal.
“All those things are really important to show Donald Trump’s knowledge and intent,” said Greenberg.
But some attorneys say that Cohen’s biography made him an inherently untrustworthy witness.
Cohen acknowledged on the stand that he pleaded guilty in 2018 to several federal charges, which included tax evasion, campaign finance violations and lying to banks to obtain improper loans and to the government to avoid paying taxes. He served less than half of his three-year sentence in federal prison, saying at the time that he took “full responsibility” for his acts and that “blind loyalty” drove him to cover up the president’s “dirty deeds.”
“Michael Cohen’s testimony is blowing up in the faces of Alvin Bragg and Matthew Colangelo,” Mike Davis, a former Republican chief counsel on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said on X, formerly Twitter, referring to the Manhattan district attorney overseeing the case and the lead prosecutor trying it. “Cohen is a convicted serial perjurer and a disbarred attorney who has changed his story several times.”
Changing his story?
Underscoring his importance, the defense’s cross-examination of Cohen lasted about eight hours, much longer than the entire case put on by the defense.
Defense lawyers Blanche and Emil Bove − both former federal prosecutors − accused Cohen of stealing from Trump, which Cohen admitted, making up conversations with Trump, lying about the business transactions in question and hating his former boss so much that he would do anything to help get him convicted.
After Cohen testified that an October 2016 call with Trump’s bodyguard Keith Schiller was about paying Daniels to stay silent, Blanche said the conversation was about something else involving a teenage prankster.
“That was a lie!” Blanche said, raising his voice. Cohen maintained that the call was about both, prompting former prosecutor Greenberg to say on MSNBC that Blanche “landed a blow” with that exchange. However, Greenberg noted that Cohen remaining composed was to his benefit.
Blanche also asked Cohen about saying on his podcast that he wants Trump to be convicted. “Sounds like something I would say,” Cohen responded.
But, Cohen added, “I would like to see accountability. It’s not for me – it’s for the jury and this court.”
Former federal prosecutor and CNN legal analyst Elie Honig said Blanche forcing Cohen to have to explain what happened on the phone call with Schiller was “devastating” for Cohen’s credibility in the eyes of the jury.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a star cooperating witness get his knees chopped out quite as clearly and dramatically as what just happened with Michael Cohen,” Honig said on CNN. “This goes to the heart of the allegation.”
More:Trump lawyer Todd Blanche to Michael Cohen: ‘That was a lie!’: Hush money trial recap
Undermined by prior social media posts
Chris Timmons, a legal analyst and former prosecutor in the Cobb County District Attorney’s Office in Georgia, agreed that Cohen had been a good witness for the prosecution, despite his baggage.
“I think his testimony went well in terms of, ‘Do they believe he made the hush money payments and was that at Trump’s direction?’ I think he probably established that point,” Timmons said.
But he said Cohen’s actions before the trial – including some social media posts trashing Trump that were introduced at trial – could undermine his credibility by making him seem biased.
“He sort of shot himself in the foot, and the jury’s going to remember it, by making Twitter comments that he wanted this guy (Trump) to burn in hell,” Timmons told USA TODAY. “So while he probably did a good job on the stand, a lot of the things that he did exterior to the courtroom are probably going to hurt him.”
After Cohen was finished and prosecutors rested their case, the defense team asked the judge to dismiss the case on the grounds that Cohen’s testimony had been so thoroughly discredited that the jury shouldn’t even consider rendering a verdict.
Judge Juan Merchan appeared very skeptical of Blanche’s claim that Cohen’s testimony had no merit.
“You said his lies are ‘irrefutable,’” he told Blanche. “But you think he’s going to fool 12 New Yorkers into believing this lie?”
