WASHINGTON — After years of criticizing Donald Trump, the president&#8217;s former lawyer, Michael Cohen, is admitting that he was &#8220;pressured&#8221; and &#8220;coerced&#8221; by Alvin Bragg and Letitia James to testify against Donald Trump.
In an astonishing <a href="https://substack.com/home/post/p-184816368">Substack post published Friday evening</a>, Cohen writes that he &#8220;felt pressured and coerced to only provide information and testimony that would satisfy the government’s desire to build the cases against and secure a judgment and convictions against President Trump.&#8221; He said the feeling began from his very first meetings with the lawyers working with Bragg and James, New York&#8217;s attorney general. 
Specifically regarding James, he said he felt &#8220;compelled and coerced to deliver what they were seeking.&#8221;
&#8220;Letitia James made it publicly known during her 2018 campaign for attorney general that, if elected, she would go after President Trump,&#8221; Cohen writes in the post. &#8220;Her office made clear that the testimony they wanted from me was testimony that would help them do just that. Again, I felt compelled and coerced to deliver what they were seeking.&#8221;
In a Friday night phone conversation, Donald Trump told The Daily Wire that this was further proof that it was a &#8220;very corrupt investigation&#8221; that Cohen testified in. Trump has long held that Cohen is a liar, and was only cooperating to get his prison sentence reduced.
Cohen writes about the two trials in which he testified against Donald Trump: the first, a civil action brought by the New York attorney general&#8217;s office accusing Trump of fraudulently inflating his assets to get favorable loans. The second case was a criminal action by the Manhattan District Attorney&#8217;s Office alleging that Trump falsified business records related to hush money payments to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal to influence the 2016 presidential election.
The jury found Trump guilty in both cases.
<div id="attachment_1029249" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-michael-cohen-says-he-was-coerced-and-pressured-by-bragg-james-to-testify-against-trump/former-trump-lawyer-michael-cohen-testifies-before-house-oversight-committee-4" rel="attachment wp-att-1029249"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1029249" class="wp-image-1029249 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/GettyImages-1127745676-864x576.jpg" alt="" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/GettyImages-1127745676-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/GettyImages-1127745676-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/GettyImages-1127745676-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/GettyImages-1127745676.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" /></a>Michael Cohen, former attorney and fixer for President Donald Trump, prepares to testify before the House Oversight Committee on Capitol Hill, February 27, 201,9 in Washington, DC.  (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)</div>
Cohen served prison time after he pleaded guilty in 2018 to multiple crimes, including lying to Congress. He also <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/michael-cohen-admits-to-stealing-while-on-stand-at-trumps-nyc-trial" target="_blank" rel="noopener">admitted</a> during Trump’s hush money trial that he stole tens of thousands from the Trump Organization in 2017.
In his Substack article, Cohen notes that a federal appeals court just revived the president&#8217;s effort to undo his hush money conviction. He reflects that silently letting the record stand without proper context feels like complicity, prompting him to speak out.
&#8220;I am not writing this to defend Donald Trump, nor to relitigate his conduct,&#8221; he writes. &#8220;That ground has been plowed endlessly, often loudly, and rarely thoughtfully. I am writing because I have seen this system from the inside, not as an observer or analyst, but as a central subpoenaed participant. When courts now revisit questions of jurisdiction, immunity, and evidentiary boundaries, they are not engaging in sterile procedural debates. They are exposing how justice is pursued, how power is applied, and how outcomes are shaped well before verdicts are rendered.&#8221; 
Cohen writes that he first met with prosecutors from the Manhattan DA&#8217;s office in August 2019, three months into his three-year prison sentence. He was released in September 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic and for good behavior and allowed to serve out the rest of his term at home until November 2021.
<div id="attachment_1029251" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-michael-cohen-says-he-was-coerced-and-pressured-by-bragg-james-to-testify-against-trump/former-trump-lawyer-michael-cohen-testifies-before-house-oversight-committee-5" rel="attachment wp-att-1029251"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1029251" class="wp-image-1029251 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/GettyImages-1127745692-864x576.jpg" alt="WASHINGTON, DC - FEBRUARY 27: Michael Cohen, former attorney and fixer for President Donald Trump is sworn in before testifying before the House Oversight Committee on Capitol Hill February 27, 2019 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/GettyImages-1127745692-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/GettyImages-1127745692-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/GettyImages-1127745692-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/GettyImages-1127745692.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" /></a>Michael Cohen, former attorney and fixer for President Donald Trump is sworn in before testifying before the House Oversight Committee on Capitol Hill February 27, 2019 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)</div>
He says he continued meeting with prosecutors after his release in the hope that his home confinement and supervised release would be shorter because he was cooperating. He also writes that the reason he cooperated with the prosecutors from the Manhattan DA’s office was that he wanted to get out of prison and home to his family. 
&#8220;During my time with prosecutors, both in preparation for and during the trials, it was clear they were interested only in testimony from me that would enable them to convict President Trump,&#8221; he wrote. &#8220;When my testimony was insufficient for a point the prosecution sought to make, prosecutors frequently asked inappropriate leading questions to elicit answers that supported their narrative.&#8221; 
Cohen says that he also felt coerced and pressured into giving answers that supported the narrative from James, as her office made it very clear to him that they wanted testimony that would help them go after Trump.
&#8220;Letitia James and Alvin Bragg may not share the same office or political calendar, but they share the same playbook,&#8221; he writes. &#8220;Both used their platforms to elevate their profiles, to claim the mantle of the officials who &#8216;took down Trump.&#8217; In doing so, they blurred the line between justice and politics; and in that blur, the credibility of both suffered.&#8221;
As for why he is speaking out now, Cohen says he has &#8220;witnessed firsthand the damage done when prosecutors pick their target first and then seek evidence to fit a predetermined narrative.&#8221; 
&#8220;I have lived inside that process,&#8221; he wrote. &#8220;I have suffered from that process. And as courts now reconsider where the Bragg and James cases belong, how they were brought and how they were tried; that experience is relevant. More today than ever before.&#8221; 
&#8220;When politics and prosecution become indistinguishable, public trust erodes; not just in individual cases, like mine and/or Trump’s, but in the system itself,&#8221; he concludes. &#8220;That erosion serves no one, regardless of party, personality, or power.&#8221;

Michael Cohen Appears Before New York Grand Jury While Speculation Over A Trump Indictment Grows

BREAKING: Michael Cohen Says He Was ‘Coerced’ And ‘Pressured’ By Bragg, James To Testify Against Trump

Alvin Bragg

Donald Trump

Letitia James

Michael Cohen

<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/donald-trump">Donald Trump</a>’s ex-lawyer <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/michael-cohen">Michael Cohen</a> got ruthlessly trolled on <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/tiktok">TikTok</a> during a livestream as he tried to speak seriously about the election results and viewers kept inserting the “turkey face” filter onto his head.
“Can we stop with that? All right? I don’t like the stupid turkeys,” Cohen said while covering the camera with his hand. “Let’s just knock that stupid sh** off please.”
“I did. I said I was leaving,” he continued, talking about his vow to leave the country if Trump won as one follower added the “laser eyes” filter. “And then the following day – get that through your dumb heads – the following day, I turned around and I said that there is no chance in the world that I’m leaving my country,” Cohen said as the turkey face filtered reappeared. “Thank you very much. All right? I’m not leaving anywhere. You leave. This is my country.”
The turkey briefly disappeared then came back as Cohen kept covering the screen and trying to deliver his message in a serious tone. “And I have every right, every single right, within which to turn around — would we stop, so we can – all right, two seconds or we’re gonna end up blocking this idiot,” he said as a giant pompadour hairstyle and and glasses filter appeared over his face.
Cohen made a disgusted sound and shook his head as a cowboy hat appeared next.
The video went viral on multiple social media platforms, with most viewers commenting on how hilarious they found the whole thing.
“Maybe I have the sense of humor of a 10 year old but this is the funniest video I&#8217;ve seen probably all year,” Daily Wire podcast host Matt Walsh <a href="https://x.com/MattWalshBlog/status/1854750309328863500">shared</a> on X.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Maybe I have the sense of humor of a 10 year old but this is the funniest video I&#39;ve seen probably all year <a href="https://t.co/YWq8i71b6x">https://t.co/YWq8i71b6x</a>
&mdash; Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) <a href="https://twitter.com/MattWalshBlog/status/1854750309328863500?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 8, 2024</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Cohen had been discussing comments he made in September indicating that he would leave the United States if Trump won the presidency, which his former boss did do in a landslide victory on Tuesday.
<a href="https://www.amiracist.com/?_gl=1*jtghwp*_gcl_au*ODQ1NjYzNTg2LjE3Mjg5MDk3OTE.*_ga*MTc2NzM0NDQ2NS4xNzI4OTA5Nzkx*_ga_CZKR9ZYKJP*MTczMDEyMDgwOS40OS4xLjE3MzAxMjA4MzkuMzAuMC4w" target="_blank" rel="noopener">MATT WALSH’S ‘AM I RACIST?’ NOW STREAMING ON DAILYWIRE+</a>
“I’m out of here. I mean, I’m already working on a foreign passport with a completely different name,” Cohen <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4898134-michael-cohen-donald-trump-2024-election-flee-usa/">told</a> MSNBC’s Nicolle Wallace at the time.
“I don’t know how it’s going to work, as far as dealing with my wife and my children,” he continued. “I certainly don’t want them moving to where I’m looking to go.”
Cohen pleaded guilty in 2018 to multiple crimes, including lying to Congress, and served prison time. He <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/michael-cohen-admits-to-stealing-while-on-stand-at-trumps-nyc-trial">admitted</a> earlier this year during Trump’s hush money trial to stealing as much as $60,000 from the Trump Organization in 2017 by not reimbursing an IT firm he had hired to rig polls.

Turkey head

Former Trump Attorney Michael Cohen Trolled With ‘Turkey Face’ Filter During Livestream

Former Trump Attorney Michael Cohen Trolled With 'Turkey Face' Filter During Livestream

Celebrities

TikTok

Turkey

U.S.

viral video

Jurors returned a guilty verdict on Thursday in <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/donald-trump" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Donald Trump</a>&#8216;s hush-money trial in New York, marking the first time a former U.S. president has been convicted of a crime.
The decision is the culmination of a weeks-long courtroom battle in which Trump claimed he was the target of a &#8220;<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/michael-avenatti-claims-he-is-willing-to-testify-in-trump-hush-money-trial" target="_blank" rel="noopener">political persecution</a>&#8221; as he runs another campaign for a second term in the White House. The former president was found guilty on all 34 charges brought in the trial.
Legal experts <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/05/29/trump-if-convicted-hush-money-trial-new-york/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">doubt</a> the 77-year-old Trump will end up being incarcerated, though the Secret Service <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/secret-service-prepares-for-possibility-of-trump-going-to-jail-report" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reportedly</a> coordinated with local jail officials just in case. Possible alternatives to imprisonment include probation or community service.
Sentencing has been <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/judge-sets-trump-sentencing-date-four-days-before-gop-convention" target="_blank" rel="noopener">scheduled</a> for July 11, just days before the Republican National Convention is set to be held in Milwaukee. Trump, who is the presumptive GOP nominee, <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2023/04/06/trump-running-for-president-prison-00090931" target="_blank" rel="noopener">can still run</a> for the presidency if he ends up behind bars.
In response to the guilty verdict, Trump <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-responds-to-guilty-verdict-with-fiery-statement" target="_blank" rel="noopener">delivered remarks</a> in which he called himself an &#8220;innocent man&#8221; and declared that the &#8220;real verdict&#8221; will happen on November 5, which is Election Day.
At the heart of the case brought by Manhattan District Attorney <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/alvin-bragg" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Alvin Bragg</a> were <a href="https://manhattanda.org/district-attorney-bragg-announces-34-count-felony-indictment-of-former-president-donald-j-trump/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">34 felony counts</a> of falsifying business records to conceal damaging information around the 2016 election as part of a “catch-and-kill” scheme.
Prosecutors accused Trump of improperly masking reimbursements to repay his former lawyer, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/michael-cohen" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Michael Cohen</a>, for a $130,000 payment to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/stormy-daniels" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Stormy Daniels</a> in exchange for her silence on an alleged extramarital affair by classifying them as legal expenses.
Trump has denied that the affair with Stormy Daniels ever happened and pleaded not guilty to the charges. His lawyers <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/ny-v-trump-defense-says-prosecutors-did-not-meet-burden-proof-former-president-innocent" target="_blank" rel="noopener">argued</a> there was no intent to defraud or influence the 2016 election.
The trial began last month and featured nearly <a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-trial-hush-money-trial-closing-arguments-ed9e28cd63502c0949e9fafcc6f0a991" target="_blank" rel="noopener">two dozen witnesses</a>, including Cohen and Stormy Daniels. Cohen <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/michael-cohen-admits-to-stealing-while-on-stand-at-trumps-nyc-trial" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pleaded guilty</a> in 2018 to multiple crimes, including lying to Congress, and served prison time.
Former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker, former White House aide Hope Hicks, and former federal prosecutor Robert Costello also testified. Trump himself did not take the stand.
Closing arguments took place on Tuesday after both sides rested their case last week and jury deliberations began on Wednesday. The 12 jurors made a couple of requests for information, including to rehear some witness testimony and the judge&#8217;s jury instructions.
<a href="https://onelink.to/dwapp" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" aria-describedby="sk-tooltip-9096" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://onelink.to/dwapp&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1716990157394000&amp;usg=AOvVaw33qQydjIo8bet419amChif">CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILYWIRE+ APP</a>
At a news conference on Thursday, Bragg <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prEPxOIl8yg" target="_blank" rel="noopener">thanked</a> the jurors for performing a service that he described as &#8220;literally the cornerstone of our judicial system.&#8221;
Commenting on the work of the prosecution, the district attorney said, &#8220;I did my job. Our job is to follow the facts and the law without fear or favor, and that’s exactly what we did here.”
Bragg and Judge Juan Merchan, who presided over the trial, have faced intense blowback from Trump and his allies.
Republicans in the House opened an <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/house-republicans-launch-probe-into-manhattan-das-unprecedented-abuse-of-office-to-target-trump" target="_blank" rel="noopener">investigation</a> and filed <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/stefanik-files-complaint-over-trump-hush-money-case-questions-whether-judge-selection-was-random" target="_blank" rel="noopener">complaints</a>, raising concerns about potential bias and misconduct tainting the case. With the judge, they set their focus on past donations to groups supporting Democrats and his daughter working as a political consultant for Democratic candidates.
Merchan <a href="https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2024/04/15/trump-hush-money-criminal-trial/no-merchan-recusal-00152227" target="_blank" rel="noopener">refused to recuse</a> himself and issued a gag order meant to stop Trump from commenting publicly on jurors, witnesses, and others linked to the case. Trump claimed the gag order <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-blasts-hush-money-case-ahead-of-jury-selection-attack-on-america" target="_blank" rel="noopener">violated</a> his First Amendment rights and continued to speak out, resulting in <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/05/06/trump-trial-takeaways-hush-money-gag-violations/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">thousands of dollars in fines</a>.
Three other criminal matters on the state and federal levels hang over Trump as he seeks re-election this year, prompting the former president to say he is the victim of a politically motivated <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-accuses-democrats-of-running-a-gestapo-administration" target="_blank" rel="noopener">&#8220;witch hunt.&#8221;</a> It is not clear whether any of those will reach the trial stage before the November election.
Despite all the court battles, Trump <a href="https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/polls/president-general/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">remains competitive</a> in polling for the presidential race.
On Tuesday, President <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/joe-biden" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Joe Biden</a>&#8216;s campaign held an event outside the Manhattan courthouse with actor Robert De Niro, who <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-responds-to-de-niros-perturbed-courthouse-presser-looked-so-pathetic-and-sad?topStoryPosition=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">claimed</a> American freedoms “will perish from the Earth” if Trump wins the election.
Trump shot back, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-responds-to-de-niros-perturbed-courthouse-presser-looked-so-pathetic-and-sad?topStoryPosition=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">saying</a> the De Niro &#8220;looked so pathetic and sad out there.&#8221; His adviser, Jason Miller, said, &#8220;President Trump’s numbers continue to rise, and the best that Biden can do is roll out a washed up actor.&#8221;

Former President Donald Trump’s Hush-Money Criminal Trial

VERDICT: Trump Found Guilty On All Charges In Hush-Money Case

Trump Found Guilty In Hush-Money Case

2024 Election

Crime

New York

Politics

Stormy Daniels

The presiding judge in <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/donald-trump" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Donald Trump</a>&#8216;s hush money trial in New York dismissed the jury for the rest of the day on Wednesday, meaning a verdict will have to wait.
Jurors are expected to resume deliberations at 9:30 a.m. ET on Thursday.
In the hours leading up to the dismissal, jurors made two requests.
The first note they sent to the judge was to ask for transcripts of witness testimony from former Trump lawyer <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/michael-cohen" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Michael Cohen</a> and former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker.
A second request asked to rehear the judge&#8217;s jury instructions, which is <a href="https://x.com/AnnaBower/status/1795909272020086940" target="_blank" rel="noopener">expected</a> to be resolved on Thursday.
The trial, which began last month, has featured jury selection, opening arguments, testimony from nearly two dozen witnesses, and closing arguments. Jury deliberations began on Wednesday.
At the heart of the case brought by Manhattan District Attorney <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/alvin-bragg" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Alvin Bragg</a> are <a href="https://manhattanda.org/district-attorney-bragg-announces-34-count-felony-indictment-of-former-president-donald-j-trump/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">34 felony counts</a> of falsifying business records to conceal damaging information around the 2016 election.
Trump is accused of improperly masking reimbursements to repay his former lawyer, Cohen, for a $130,000 payment to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/stormy-daniels" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Stormy Daniels</a> in exchange for her silence on an alleged extramarital affair in 2006 by classifying them as legal expenses.
If a guilty verdict is ultimately dealt, Trump will become the first former U.S. president to have been convicted of a crime. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges and denied the affair with Stormy Daniels.
<a href="https://onelink.to/dwapp" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" aria-describedby="sk-tooltip-9096" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://onelink.to/dwapp&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1716990157394000&amp;usg=AOvVaw33qQydjIo8bet419amChif">CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILYWIRE+ APP</a>
Legal experts <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/05/29/trump-if-convicted-hush-money-trial-new-york/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">doubt</a> the 77-year-old Trump will end up being incarcerated, though efforts have <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/secret-service-prepares-for-possibility-of-trump-going-to-jail-report" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reportedly been made</a> to coordinate with the Secret Service just in case.
The presiding judge is <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2024/05/28/trump-merchan-sentencing-prison-00151613" target="_blank" rel="noopener">expected</a> to schedule a separate hearing to determine a sentence. Possible alternatives to imprisonment include probation or community service.
Trump has also been trying to fend off three other criminal matters ahead of a potential 2020 rematch against President Joe Biden in November&#8217;s White House contest.
Biden&#8217;s campaign hosted an event outside the courthouse at which actor Robert De Niro <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-responds-to-de-niros-perturbed-courthouse-presser-looked-so-pathetic-and-sad?topStoryPosition=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">claimed</a> that American freedoms “will perish from the Earth” if Trump wins the election.
Some last-minute <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/legal-experts-slam-judge-in-trump-hush-money-case-over-outrageous-jury-instructions" target="_blank" rel="noopener">controversy</a> began on Wednesday with the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/05/29/nyregion/judge-trump-hush-money-trial-jury-instructions.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">jury instructions</a> that Merchan gave right before deliberations began, prompting Trump to say the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-blasts-rigged-trial-after-jury-instructions-mother-theresa-couldnt-beat-these-charges?topStoryPosition=2" target="_blank" rel="noopener">trial was &#8220;rigged.&#8221;</a>

Former U.S. President Donald Trump

No Quick Verdict In Trump Hush-Money Trial As Jury Is Dismissed After First Day Of Deliberations

Former President Donald Trump blasted the &#8220;rigged&#8221; trial against him on Wednesday, speaking to members of the press after Judge Juan Merchan gave the jury instructions in his Manhattan hush-money case.
Trump, who has pled &#8220;not guilty&#8221; to all of the charges against him, complained that the trial had been set up in such a way that even a saint could not expect to be acquitted.
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
🚨BREAKING: Trump addresses the media as the jury begins to deliberate in the New York &#8220;hush money&#8221; trial:
&#8220;Mother Theresa could not beat these charges&#8230;this whole thing is rigged. The Judge is so conflicted he can&#8217;t breathe.&#8221;
&#8220;I took a big lead in the polls over the last few… <a href="https://t.co/gVaU2ZBKJc">pic.twitter.com/gVaU2ZBKJc</a>
— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) <a href="https://twitter.com/charliekirk11/status/1795847094844162477?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 29, 2024</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Reporters asked Trump as he exited the courtroom on Wednesday how he felt about the coming verdict, and he made it clear that he still believed the entire trial to be unfair.
&#8220;I would say in listening to the charges from the judges, as, you know, very conflicted and corrupt because of the conflicting — very, very clearly, Mother Teresa could not beat these charges. These charges are rigged. The whole thing is rigged,&#8221; the former president said.
&#8220;The whole country is a mess between the borders and fake elections. And you have a trial like this where the judge is so conflicted he can’t breathe,&#8221; Trump continued. &#8220;He’s got to do his job. And it’s not for me, that I can tell you. It’s a disgrace. And I mean that Mother Theresa could not beat those charges. But we’ll see. We’ll see how we do.”
Trump went on to point out that other prosecutors had passed on the case seven years earlier, after which Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg (D) waited until the run-up to a presidential election to move forward with the case.
<a href="https://onelink.to/dwapp" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" aria-describedby="sk-tooltip-9096" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://onelink.to/dwapp&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1716990157394000&amp;usg=AOvVaw33qQydjIo8bet419amChif">CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILYWIRE+ APP</a>
&#8220;Then they have a protest with Robert De Niro yesterday who is a fool, a broken down fool. He got MAGA&#8217;d yesterday. He got a big dose of it,&#8221; Trump concluded. &#8220;Remember, November 5, the most important day in the history of our country. In the meantime, this trial is rigged.&#8221;
While he awaits the verdict, at least a one of the legal analysts on CNN believes that Trump has a fighting chance to beat the charges. <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/cnn-legal-analyst-pans-trump-prosecution-as-hush-money-trial-wraps-they-fell-way-short" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Defense attorney</a> Randy Zelin told anchor Kate Bolduan on Tuesday that the prosecution &#8220;fell way short&#8221; of meeting the burden of proof, saying that there was &#8220;reasonable doubt all over this case.&#8221;

Trump Blasts ‘Rigged’ Trial After Jury Instructions: ‘Mother Theresa Couldn’t Beat These Charges’

Trump Blasts 'Rigged' Trial After Jury Instructions: 'Mother Theresa Couldn't Beat These Charges'

Courts

trial

The presiding judge&#8217;s conduct on Tuesday during closing arguments at former President <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/donald-trump" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Donald Trump</a>&#8216;s hush-money trial in New York City made for an &#8220;otherworldly&#8221; experience, according to George Washington University law professor <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/new-level-of-denial-jonathan-turley-rips-into-wapos-last-defense-of-russian-collusion" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Jonathan Turley</a>.
Turley <a href="https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2024/05/28/turley_trump_courtroom_was_otherworldly_judge_allowed_jurors_to_believe_trump_violated_federal_election_law.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told</a> Fox News host Sean Hannity that Judge Juan Merchan allowed prosecutors to discuss former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen&#8217;s <a href="https://apnews.com/article/north-america-donald-trump-us-news-ap-top-news-michael-cohen-74aaf72511d64fceb1d64529207bde64" target="_blank" rel="noopener">plea deal</a> in a way that implicated his old boss—despite orders not to let that influence the jurors who begin deliberations on Wednesday.
&#8220;What I saw in that courtroom was really otherworldly,&#8221; Turley said. &#8220;I really attempted to give the judge the benefit of doubt on many occasions, but what I saw today was, frankly, outrageous.&#8221;
&#8220;At one point, the prosecutor actually said that Michael Cohen committed federal election violations upon the orders of Donald Trump,&#8221; Turley added. &#8220;Now, Merchan has given an instruction that the jury is not to supposed to attribute Cohen&#8217;s plea deal as an issue of guilt towards Trump.&#8221;
&#8220;So the defense objected and Merchan just overruled it and allowed the prosecutor to repeatedly state that the federal election violations by Trump are a fact and there is not any dispute to that and Merchan just sat there,&#8221; Turley said.
Trump faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to allegedly cover up payments in a bid to conceal a tryst with adult film star Stormy Daniels as part of a “catch-and-kill” scheme to influence the 2016 election. Trump denies the affair and pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Continuing his critique of the judge, Turley quipped that Merchan was &#8220;as useful as a ficus plant in that courtroom&#8221; as he waited for a &#8220;sign&#8221; that the judge was listening to what prosecutors were saying during the closing arguments.
<a href="https://onelink.to/dwapp" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" aria-describedby="sk-tooltip-9096" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://onelink.to/dwapp&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1716990157394000&amp;usg=AOvVaw33qQydjIo8bet419amChif">CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILYWIRE+ APP</a>
At one point, Turley explained, prosecutors said former White House aide Hope Hicks &#8220;burst into tears&#8221; because she knew her testimony during the trial &#8220;destroyed&#8221; Trump&#8217;s defense. &#8220;Really? How do you know that?&#8221; Turley asked rhetorically.
Turley also noted a prosecutor &#8220;basically started to testify&#8221; when saying that &#8220;catch-and-kill techniques&#8221; like what Trump is accused of employing &#8220;are just not used in media or politics.&#8221; Turley added, &#8220;That&#8217;s not in the record. He was giving testimony. There&#8217;s no expert for that.&#8221;
&#8220;Hillary Clinton killed and planted cases in that very election,&#8221; Turley went on. &#8220;Some of the most outrageous hoaxes were perpetrated by the Hillary Clinton campaign with an enabling media. In fact, many of those reporters listening helped the Hillary campaign do that.&#8221;
&#8220;That&#8217;s what was so otherworldly about today,&#8221; Turley said. &#8220;And I can&#8217;t imagine a jury member going into deliberations and not assuming that it is an established fact that federal election law violations have occurred.&#8221;

House Judiciary Committee Holds First Impeachment Inquiry Hearing

Turley Recalls ‘Otherwordly’ Experience At Trump Hush-Money Trial

Turley Recalls 'Otherwordly' Experience At Trump Hush-Money Trial

Jonathan Turley

Judge

New York City

CNN legal analyst Randy Zelin, a defense attorney, told CNN anchor Kate Bolduan that he did not believe the prosecution had come anywhere close to meeting its burden in the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/how-the-trump-trial-has-backfired-spectacularly-on-the-democrats" target="_blank" rel="noopener">hush-money trial</a> against former President Donald Trump.
Bolduan set Zelin up for the question, noting that in every court case, the burden of proof rests on the prosecution — and the prosecutor&#8217;s ability to prove the case &#8220;beyond a reasonable doubt&#8221; to the jury.
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
🚨CNN LEGAL ANALYST ADMITS BRAGG&#8217;S TEAM &#8220;FELL WAY SHORT&#8221; ON GETTING TRUMP!
&#8220;They fell way short&#8230;There is reasonable doubt all over this case,&#8221; CNN legal analyst Randy Zelin said.
Bragg definitely doesn&#8217;t want you to share this! <a href="https://t.co/FUZ8Dks2ZH">pic.twitter.com/FUZ8Dks2ZH</a>
— Bo Loudon (@BoLoudon) <a href="https://twitter.com/BoLoudon/status/1795525019461914799?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 28, 2024</a></blockquote>
&#8220;The burden of proof is an important one to remind everyone: It’s on the prosecution, right? They need to prove beyond reasonable doubt that he commit — that Donald Trump broke the law. And you think after listening to all of this, you think they fell short,&#8221; Bolduan began. &#8220;How?&#8221;
&#8220;They fell way short, because let’s start with reasonable doubt. What is reasonable doubt? And it’s not simply a doubt based upon reason,&#8221; Zelin began.
&#8220;Any time a human being needs to make an important decision in life, if you have enough information, for example, doctor says you need open heart surgery. ‘Doc, go ahead and schedule. I don’t have a reasonable doubt.’ Conversely, if I say, ‘I appreciate it, but I need a second opinion, I need more information,’ that is having a reasonable doubt. There is reasonable doubt all over this case,&#8221; he continued.
<a href="https://onelink.to/dwapp" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" aria-describedby="sk-tooltip-9096" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://onelink.to/dwapp&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1716990157394000&amp;usg=AOvVaw33qQydjIo8bet419amChif">CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILYWIRE+ APP</a>
Zelin went on to name several of the prosecution&#8217;s key witnesses and explain why he did not think they had made the case against Trump in a credible way.
&#8220;How did Michael Cohen get away with stealing $30,000? Hold a pity party for him — made $4 million on this, thought he’d be chief of staff. He’s a fixer! If the plumber comes to my house to fix my leak, I could be home. That doesn’t mean I know how he’s doing it and what it’s taking to be fixed,&#8221; Zelin said, suggesting that Trump may have hired a &#8220;fixer,&#8221; but still could have been unaware of the methods <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/jim-jordan-mark-meadows-demand-michael-cohen-be-ashe-schow" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Cohen</a> had employed.
&#8220;Stormy Daniels, let’s hold a pity party for her. Why do we need to know whether or not the former president wore a condom or not?&#8221; he continued. &#8220;It’s simply about: Did the former president know that books, his records, false entries for legal fees — Michael Cohen was his lawyer — getting intent to cover up the election or to protect his family? It’s everywhere. Everywhere!&#8221;

Closing Arguments Begin In Former President Donald Trump’s Hush Money Trial

CNN Legal Analyst Pans Trump Prosecution As Hush-Money Trial Wraps: ‘They Fell Way Short’

CNN Legal Analyst Pans Trump Prosecution As Hush-Money Trial Wraps: 'They Fell Way Short'

Former President <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/donald-trump" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Donald Trump</a>’s legal team began giving final arguments to a Manhattan jury on Tuesday morning as the trial over alleged hush-money payments comes to a close. 
Trump’s defense argued that government prosecutors had presented no evidence of a criminal conspiracy, largely dependent on unreliable testimony from ex-Trump lawyer Michael Cohen. Trump faces 34 counts of falsifying business records over alleged payments to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal.
During his testimony earlier in the trial, Cohen admitted that he <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/ex-lawyer-for-former-president-donald-trump-testifies-that-he-secretly-recorded-him-before-2016-election" target="_blank" rel="noopener">secretly recorded</a> Trump and that <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/michael-cohen-admits-to-stealing-while-on-stand-at-trumps-nyc-trial" target="_blank" rel="noopener">he stole</a> tens of thousands of dollars from the Trump Organization.
“You cannot convict President Trump,” Trump lawyer Todd Blanche <a href="https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/trump-hush-money-trial-05-28-24/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>. “You cannot convict President Trump of any crime beyond a reasonable doubt based on the words of Michael Cohen.”
Blanche added that the secret recording Cohen made did not actually show Trump discussing payments to McDougal, as the prosecution had argued. &#8220;You don&#8217;t know about the integrity of this file and this recording,&#8221; he told the jury. 
The lawyer also argued that Cohen did not tell Trump about a $130,000 payment to Daniels.
&#8220;There’s no way that you can find that President Trump knew about this payment at the time it was made without believing the words of Michael Cohen, period. And you cannot — you cannot — believe his words,&#8221; Blanche said. 
Blanche also argued that the government was trying to create a criminal conspiracy over documents filed in 2017 when the alleged conspiracy was supposed to aid his 2016 presidential campaign. 
<a href="https://onelink.to/dwapp" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" aria-describedby="sk-tooltip-9096" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://onelink.to/dwapp&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1700760801843000&amp;usg=AOvVaw2PQrVSrJfhxNb4LcARqniG">CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILYWIRE+ APP</a>
&#8220;The charges relate to documents in 2017, and the government wants you to believe that President Trump did these things with his records to conceal efforts to promote his successful candidacy in 2016, the year before,&#8221; Blanche said “Every campaign in this country is a conspiracy to promote a candidate, a group of people working together to help somebody win. You have to find that this effort was done by unlawful means.&#8221;
Trump, who has said that the charges brought against him are an attempt to interfere with his 2024 presidential campaign, has been limited in speaking out about the trial due to a gag order placed on him by Judge Juan Merchan. 
In a Truth Social <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/112515382786192165" target="_blank" rel="noopener">post</a> on Monday, Trump called the gag order placed on him illegal and unconstitutional and said the whole prosecution was “the Biden White House at work.” 
The Biden campaign <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/biden-campaign-taps-robert-de-niro-to-rant-against-trump-outside-ny-trial-us-govt-will-perish?topStoryPosition=1">held</a> a press event with actor Robert De Niro outside the courthouse on Tuesday, during which the actor railed against the former president.

Trump’s Defense Targets Michael Cohen In Closing Arguments For New York Hush-Money Trial

Manhattan

Unlike the national news media, I haven&#8217;t spent a lot of time covering the day-to-day happenings in the Donald Trump criminal trial in New York. There&#8217;s a few reasons for that.
First of all, everyone (regardless of politics) already understands that the trial is a farce. It&#8217;s a criminal proceeding over an alleged bookkeeping error that was supposedly made many years ago, which harmed no one. The idea that the leading presidential candidate should be imprisoned on this basis — even if these charges were somehow proven in court beyond a reasonable doubt — is laughable. In the third world, they at least invent plausible-sounding charges before they throw political dissidents and opposition leaders in jail. But in this case, we&#8217;re left with &#8220;falsifying business records in the first degree.&#8221; It sounds like something Michael Scott would accuse one of his employees of doing. It&#8217;s laughable on its face.
The other problem with going into any great detail about this case is that it risks legitimizing the proceedings. This is why CNN has panels of 25 guests every night, breaking down all of the testimony in excruciating detail. They want people to think of this trial as serious and fair — something worth analyzing at a technical level. But it&#8217;s not. There&#8217;s no reason whatsoever to accept the premise that this proceeding is anything more than a show trial, brought by a partisan prosecutor in one of the most partisan jurisdictions in the country, before a clearly unfavorable judge. 
Today, however, I&#8217;m going to make an exception to my general approach to this trial. Because at this stage, it&#8217;s important to highlight what an unmitigated disaster it&#8217;s been for the Democratic Party, with less than six months to go until the election. It&#8217;s actually comical, as you&#8217;ll see in a second. 
At a minimum, from a purely political perspective, this trial — and the decision to make this case the first Trump prosecution — has backfired so spectacularly that it&#8217;s been a clear net positive for Trump and his campaign. That&#8217;s why Donald Trump was able to hold a massive rally in the Bronx last night — not exactly a traditionally pro-Trump part of town. And right now it&#8217;s all but certain that this is the only criminal trial Trump will face before the election, so there&#8217;s no real hope for Democrats to salvage their strategy of using lawfare to swing the vote.
The collapse of the prosecution&#8217;s case was sealed with the testimony of their star witness, former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen. It was always clear — as even the most partisan CNN panelists have admitted on-air — that without Cohen, there is no case. He&#8217;s the one claiming that Trump ordered him to pay hush money to a porn star to protect Trump&#8217;s campaign, and that Trump also tried to reimburse him through fake invoices for legal services.
<h4><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-1375-member-exclusive" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH: The Matt Walsh Show</a></h4>
There are no cameras allowed in the courtroom, because in New York, judges do everything they can to imprison presidential candidates in secret. Fortunately, we do have transcripts of the proceedings, and a handful of YouTube channels have conducted dramatic readings of Cohen&#8217;s cross-examinations by Trump&#8217;s defense team. One of those channels is called &#8220;Good Lawgic.&#8221; It&#8217;s run by a lawyer and it&#8217;s known for its legal analysis, so they&#8217;re perfect for the job. They understand how absurd Cohen&#8217;s testimony is, so they have a hard time keeping a straight face.
I&#8217;ll go in chronological order throughout the testimony, so you can get a sense of how things escalated — or rather, spiraled out of control for the prosecution. Let&#8217;s start with Michael Cohen claiming that Trump&#8217;s team had secretly reimbursed him, in part, for the hush money payment.
For context, Michael Cohen had previously testified that he made around $420,000 a year from the Trump organization. That was his consistent pay, year after year. But in this testimony, Cohen attempts to claim that one year, his $420,000 salary was actually a partial reimbursement for the hush money payment. Watch:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="001 Cohen says he wasnt paid salary but paid loan" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/TSNfd3kVFBM?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Cohen says he wasn&#8217;t paid his normal salary; was paid for the loan.
In case it&#8217;s not clear, everything after the re-enactors started laughing wasn&#8217;t the actual testimony. They couldn&#8217;t even get through the transcript because the claim they were reading was too absurd.
Cohen&#8217;s saying that the Trump Organization didn&#8217;t pay him $420,000 because that&#8217;s what they always paid him. Instead, Cohen is claiming that during that particular year, the Trump team paid him $420,000 because they were giving him the hush money loan repayment and then doubling it, and then adding a bonus because they were feeling generous.
In other words, Cohen is claiming that this secret arrangement, which allegedly involves funneling a lot of money to a porn star and then reimbursing Cohen, just so happens to add up to Cohen receiving the same pay he&#8217;d normally receive.
In order to sell a story like that to the jury — a story that doesn&#8217;t make much sense — you need to have a very trustworthy, unimpeachable witness. But in the next few minutes, Cohen made it clear he&#8217;s not only untrustworthy — he&#8217;s also done something far worse than anything Donald Trump is accused of doing. Watch:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="002 Cohen I stole from Trump organization" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/6i7yYPXKo-U?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
This is the prosecution&#8217;s star witness admitting on the stand to willfully stealing tens of thousands of dollars from his employer, and not paying it back. By any measure, that&#8217;s a lot more serious than falsifying a business record. But New York prosecutors never had any interest in investigating Michael Cohen for that theft. Instead they gave him immunity to testify.
That wasn&#8217;t because Michael Cohen had any kind of credibility prior to this trial. Even before he admitted on the stand to stealing from his employer, Cohen previously lied to both Congress and the Justice Department. Additionally, Cohen had told numerous reporters — in recorded calls, on the record — that Trump had nothing to do with the hush money payment. He admitted that during his cross-examination as well:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="003 Cohen admits Trump had nothing to do with the hush money" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/FWW_4FLY6iU?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Cohen admits Trump had nothing to do with the hush money.
These are conversations that Cohen recorded, sometimes secretly, in which he affirmed again and again that Trump had nothing to do with these payments. And Cohen apparently didn&#8217;t only tell that story to reporters. A defense witness, Robert Costello, also testified that Cohen told him in 2018 that Trump &#8220;knew nothing&#8221; about the $130,000 payment he made to Stormy Daniels.
Throughout the trial, Trump&#8217;s defense team outlined why Cohen has a motive to change his story and lie about Donald Trump. One of the main reasons is that he was apparently upset that Trump didn&#8217;t give him a job in the White House. Getting left on the sidelines like this seems to have caused some problems in the relationship. Earlier in the trial, Trump&#8217;s lawyers played audio tapes of Cohen saying the trial, &#8220;fills me with delight&#8221; and that he felt, &#8220;giddy with hope and laughter&#8221; imagining both Trump and his family in prison.
In court, in front of the jury, Cohen essentially said the same thing. He admitted on cross-examination to saying that he wanted revenge against Donald Trump:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="004 Revenge" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/pTfJvmN3Sv8?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Again, this is the man the prosecution&#8217;s case depends on. Without his testimony, they have no chance of convicting Donald Trump, even if they manage to prove the existence of falsified records. Cohen&#8217;s testimony is the link between Trump and those records. And there&#8217;s no reason to believe anything he says.
In a sane jurisdiction, the judge would have issued a directed verdict by now. The case would be dismissed and the prosecutors would be sanctioned for attempting to imprison the leading candidate for president on the basis of testimony from a witness who&#8217;s clearly been discredited.
But it&#8217;s not clear what will happen next, because this case is being tried in New York, with a clearly pro-prosecution judge and an electorate that overwhelmingly supported Joe Biden in the last election. Still, there are signs that there is some political diversity on the jury. During jury selection, eight jurors said they read the New York Times, while one juror said he gets his news from Truth Social. In a political show trial like this, that&#8217;s as good a sign as any that there might be a hung jury, because it&#8217;s hard to imagine a Truth Social user voting to convict Donald Trump.
At the same time, the judge is doing everything he can to encourage the jury to convict. Under New York law, in order to convict Donald Trump of felony falsification of business records, the jury needs to unanimously agree that Trump falsified documents in order to conceal a separate crime. But the judge recently ruled that the jury doesn&#8217;t need to unanimously agree about what that &#8220;separate crime&#8221; was. The prosecution certainly hasn&#8217;t suggested anything.
As far as I can tell, it seems like the idea is to suggest that Trump was trying to conceal some kind of campaign finance violation — which is a notoriously confusing area of law. That&#8217;s why the defense wanted to put a campaign finance law expert on the stand. But the judge prevented the defense from doing that. Instead, the judge allowed Michael Cohen to strongly imply Trump had violated campaign finance law, without explaining how.
This was a predictable problem from the moment New York prosecutors unveiled their criminal complaint against Trump, which listed 34 felony counts — all of them saying Trump had concealed some other crime. But the complaint never mentioned what that other crime was.
Everyone assumed the prosecution would eventually get around to explaining that part. Well, they&#8217;ve just rested their case. And still have no idea what that other crime is. Apparently the jury doesn&#8217;t have to figure it out, either.
For all the talk about how Donald Trump is a &#8220;threat to the rule of law&#8221; and &#8220;democracy,&#8221; this trial is easily the single most lawless, vindictive and undemocratic prosecution that&#8217;s been brought in modern history. They&#8217;re trying to imprison the man who could very well be the next president on the basis of a crime they can&#8217;t even define, based on the testimony of a witness who admits he&#8217;s a liar who&#8217;s out for revenge.
If there&#8217;s any upside, it&#8217;s that prosecutors in New York have managed to thoroughly discredit not only themselves, but every other effort to imprison Donald Trump. 
Thanks to Alvin Bragg, now everyone can see these prosecutions for what they are.

Former President Donald Trump’s Hush Money Trial Continues In New York

How The Trump Trial Has Backfired Spectacularly On The Democrats

Court

Matt Walsh

Opinion

An attorney for former President Donald Trump&#8217;s ex-lawyer and &#8220;fixer&#8221; <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/michael-cohen" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Michael Cohen</a> claimed that he was more credible because he told the truth about the times he had been dishonest in the past.
Danya Perry sat down on Monday with former White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki, who now works for MSNBC, and argued that her client&#8217;s willingness to come clean about the things he had lied about in the past made him more believable in the present — particularly with regard to his testimony in the hush money trial against Trump in Manhattan.
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Michael Cohen&#8217;s lawyer to <a href="https://twitter.com/jrpsaki?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@jrpsaki</a> on his testimony in court:
&#8220;The takeaway here is that he has made his peace with his admittedly checkered past&#8230; And he was also truthful about the many lies and mistakes he&#8217;s made along the way.&#8221;
Tune in to <a href="https://twitter.com/InsideWithPsaki?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@InsideWithPsaki</a>. <a href="https://t.co/hYXbNvtX1Y">pic.twitter.com/hYXbNvtX1Y</a>
— MSNBC Public Relations (@MSNBCPR) <a href="https://twitter.com/MSNBCPR/status/1792720042410561559?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 21, 2024</a></blockquote>
Psaki brought up the fact that Robert Costello, another attorney who had previously advised Cohen, had been called by the defense to cast doubt on his testimony &#8212; and was only able to do so because Cohen had, years ago, waived his attorney-client privilege.
&#8220;Years ago, he waived his attorney-client privilege when it comes to Robert Costello,&#8221; Psaki said. &#8220;Do you regret that? Should he regret that?&#8221;
&#8220;I don&#8217;t think there were any blows that landed,&#8221; Perry replied. &#8220;I think Michael testified exactly what that relationship was and why he stayed at arms&#8217; length from Bob Costello. I think the jury saw that on full display today.&#8221;
<a href="https://onelink.to/dwapp" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" aria-describedby="sk-tooltip-9096" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://onelink.to/dwapp&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1700760801843000&amp;usg=AOvVaw2PQrVSrJfhxNb4LcARqniG">CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILYWIRE+ APP</a>
&#8220;I think Michael has been nothing but forthright with this prosecution team,&#8221; Perry continued, arguing that everything the defense was using to &#8220;discredit&#8221; Cohen was based on information that he himself had volunteered in the past. &#8220;Some of the so-called &#8216;aha&#8217; or &#8216;gotcha&#8217; moments were given to the defense care of Michael Cohen.&#8221;
&#8220;The takeaway here is that he has made his peace with his admittedly checkered past. &#8230; And he was also truthful about the many lies and mistakes he&#8217;s made along the way,&#8221; she added.

Cohen’s Lawyer Says Telling The Truth About Lying Makes Her Client Credible

Jen Psaki

Media

MSNBC

Judge Juan Merchan cleared the courtroom on Monday as the Manhattan hush money case against former President Donald Trump continued with defense witness Robert Costello.
Costello, an attorney who had previously advised former Trump attorney — and star prosecution witness — Michael Cohen, was brought in by the defense team to cast doubt on Cohen’s testimony. But as the trial proceeded, Costello’s demeanor apparently got under Merchan’s skin.
CNN anchor Jake Tapper described the scene on Monday afternoon, saying, “What’s going on is, Costello is really expressing disdain for Judge Merchan’s ruling. Costello shakes his head as if he were exasperated when Merchan sustained an objection from the prosecution about one of the questions. At another time, when the prosecution objected, Merchan told the lawyers to approach the bench and Costello could be heard saying on the microphone, ‘Ridiculous!&#8217; Then, at another time, there was another objection that was sustained, Costello lets out a, ‘Jesus!&#8217;”
Tapper went on to explain that Merchan, by then clearly upset with Costello, first scolded him and then ordered the entire courtroom cleared.
“[He] told Costello in a raised voice when he told the jury to leave, ‘Mr. Costello, you’re to remain seated.’ The jury leaves, then Costello, after another sustained objection, Costello rolls his eyes, lets out an audible sigh, side-glances the judge. The judge says, ‘I want to discuss proper decorum in my courtroom.’ The judge says, ‘You don’t give me a side eye, and you don’t roll your eyes. If you don’t like my ruling, you don’t say geez, you don’t say, strike it.’ Costello holds a long stare at the judge. The judge asks, ‘Are you staring me down?!’ Then the judge says, ‘Clear the courtroom!’”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
President Trump: &quot;This is a Witch Hunt. This is an attempt to&#8230;damage [Biden&#39;s] political opponent. That&#39;s all this is.&quot; <a href="https://t.co/FYhH5a0rMW">pic.twitter.com/FYhH5a0rMW</a>
&mdash; MAGA War Room (@MAGAIncWarRoom) <a href="https://twitter.com/MAGAIncWarRoom/status/1792666088389611523?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 20, 2024</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Costello was reportedly called to discredit Cohen’s testimony, but if CNN legal analyst Elie Honig is correct, Cohen may have already discredited himself by admitting in court that he stole some $60,000 while working for Trump. Honig pointed out more than once that larceny in that amount was actually a more serious crime than the charges facing Trump.

Angry Judge Merchan Clears Courtroom Over Trump Witness

CNN legal analyst Elie Honig slammed the Manhattan District Attorney&#8217;s Office and the grand jury that oversaw the criminal prosecution of former Trump lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen a few years ago, saying that because they gave him a &#8220;free pass&#8221; on a crime that is more serious than the charges against former President Donald Trump, it undermined his credibility as a witness.
Cohen admitted on Monday during Trump&#8217;s trial that he stole $60,000 from the Trump Organization in 2016 and that he allegedly informed &#8220;multiple prosecutors&#8221; but was never charged for it.
Honig said that it was going to be difficult for the prosecution to fix Cohen&#8217;s credibility with the jury after he admitted to the crime.
&#8220;It is the fact, Michael Cohen did steal this money and what makes that really so important &#8230; is it&#8217;s not as if Michael Cohen was just stealing on the side, that&#8217;d be bad enough,&#8221; Honig said. &#8220;The problem is he was stealing from the exact reimbursement at issue in this case. So, the prosecution&#8217;s core argument is Donald Trump knew what that $420,000 was all about. He was totally read in on it. Turns out Michael Cohen was stealing from him within that $420,000.&#8221;
Honig noted that Cohen cannot be charged after admitting to the crime &#8220;because the statute of limitations has run out.&#8221;
&#8220;But it&#8217;s a very fair question to ask, gee folks of the jury, they gave him a free pass,&#8221; He said. &#8220;He committed larceny. It&#8217;s a higher degree of a felony than what Donald Trump is charged with. Yet they gave Michael Cohen a free pass even though he&#8217;s now admitted that he stole what amounts to $60,000. It goes to his credibility, it goes to his relationship with the D.A.&#8221;
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
CNN legal expert Elie Honig on Michael Cohen&#8217;s admission that he stole $60,000 from the Trump Organization:
&#8220;They gave him a free pass. He committed larceny, it&#8217;s a higher degree of a felony than what Donald Trump is charged with. Yet they gave Michael Cohen a free pass even… <a href="https://t.co/BhzKcr1VAx">pic.twitter.com/BhzKcr1VAx</a>
— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) <a href="https://twitter.com/RealSaavedra/status/1792638089812234366?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 20, 2024</a></blockquote>

Celebrity Sightings In New York City – Mary 20, 2024

CNN Analyst: Cohen’s Admitted Crime Undermines Credibility, Raises Questions About His Relationship With Prosecutors

Menu