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“Mr. Cohen, my name is Todd Blanche and we have never met. You went on TikTok and called me a whiny little shit, didn’t you? » The opening of Michael Cohen’s cross-examination on Tuesday May 14 was misleading. We expected heavy fire from Donald Trump’s main lawyer. It was a simple match. Bordered by the prosecution’s questions, the billionaire’s former advisor had delivered long testimony as a repentant, loyal henchman, protecting the candidate in 2015 and 2016 before the presidential election against compromising revelations. In the afternoon, Todd Blanche launched into the destruction of the witness’s credibility, without any warm-up, but also without a clear guideline.
“Do you want President Trump to be convicted in this case? » asks the lawyer. ” Of course “, answers Michael Cohen. Todd Blanche insists on the contrast between Mr. Cohen’s recent vindictive remarks and his past loyalty to Trump, like a spurned lover. Was he obsessed with his boss when he worked alongside him, starting in 2006? “I admired him enormously. » He even read his book, The Art of the Deal. And his many laudatory remarks about him? “I was then up to my neck in the cult of Donald Trump. »
Then Todd Blanche addresses his indictments, his guilty pleas, prison, his contacts with federal and New York justice, in order to highlight his questionable motivations – fame, money, a reduced sentence – in his crusade against his former boss. Michael Cohen, skillful and focused, avoids answering directly. He sometimes prefers formulas like “that sounds right” or “that sounds like something I would say”.
Yes, Michael Cohen lied
Once the jury was dismissed, shortly after 4 p.m., Judge Merchan asked the parties if they thought they would finish with the witness at the end of the only day of hearing scheduled this week, Thursday. Todd Blanche felt that this deadline should be suitable. Will a day of respite inspire a clearer strategy? The lawyer never addressed, on Tuesday, the payments made to Stormy Daniels, then the checks signed in 2017 by Donald Trump to the attention of Michael Cohen, the heart of the case.
In the morning, deputy prosecutor Susan Hoffinger had skillfully defused some of the expected attack on the witness by addressing his vulnerabilities. Yes, Michael Cohen lied. He lied to Congress, to journalists, to the courts. He lied up and down and especially across the board, for years, but in the service of his ” boss “Donald Trump. “I violated my moral compass and I paid the price”dared the witness.
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