Thread by @stewartbishop

Welcome back to the Michael Cohen show, conveniently taking place at the Manhattan trial of Donald Trump. Think of the worst, yet creative, insult you’ve got and imagine Cohen saying “sounds like something I would say.” That's pretty much what cross has been like thus far.

Cohen is arguably the prosecution’s star witness in this trial, but as you know, he’s got a few credibility issues, having pled guilty to lying to Congress and whatnot.

Trump counsel Todd Blanche has been taking Cohen to task for his never-ending stream of Trump criticism, and the fact that the now-disbarred lawyer has made a fair amount of money trashing his former employer, in podcasts, books and elsewhere.

Cohen did not dispute that he has called Trump a "dictator douchebag," a "little animal" who belongs in "a fucking cage," and a "Cheeto-dusted cartoon villain."

But hey, we’re only at a half a day of cross, so we’ll see what happens. Michael Cohen and Stormy Daniels (who also testified) kinda have the same issues. They’ve both admitted to lying, and later making money off of turning on Trump, yet it’s complicated.

For Cohen, he used to be a hardcore Trump loyalist, and on Tuesday, he did not deny this in any way, explaining that he was "knee-deep into the cult of Donald Trump" at the time.

A number of GOP pols are on hand today, including US Reps Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., Lauren Boebert, R-Co., Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla. and Bob Good, R-Va.

Both Stormy and Cohen say that yes, they have made money off of their critiques of Trump, but say there were other reasons for their actions. Fear, family etc.

Cohen is back on the stand. Trump counsel Todd Blanche is asking about whether a detective leaked word of the indictment of Trump before it was unsealed, and told Cohen about it.

Cohen says he learned about it in the NY Times. He doesn't recall hearing it from the detective.

Blanche plays clips of Cohen’s podcast Mea Culpa for the jury, from last year when the indictment was handed up. Cohen says Trump is “about to get a taste of what I went through, and it's not fun.”

“I truely fucking hope this man ends up in prison,” Cohen says in the audio.

"You better believe I want this man to go down and rot inside for what he did to me and my family," Cohen says in the recording.

Cohen again confirms that he pled guilty to lying to Congress about Trump's Moscow business and today admits to lying to Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s office about the same subject matter. He confirms that his misrepresentations to Mueller’s team went unpunished.

Cohen also confirms that he copped tax evasion and lying to a bank (unrelated to this case). Blanche asks Cohen if he felt pressured to plead guilty in that action.

"Yes," Cohen says.

“As I stated previously, I was provided 48 hours on which to accept the plea or the Southern District of New York was going to file an 80-page indictment that included my [wife],” Cohen says.

Cohen says he doesn't dispute the underlying facts, but they weren't criminal. He confirms that he's said prosecutors knew he wasn't guilty and that the late SDNY Judge William Pauley was in on it.

Cohen's voice is getting raspy, as Blanche hammers away at the fact that Cohen has admitted to lying under oath.

Cohen is being asked about his now-former taxi business. Cohen owned several taxi medallions (permits) in New York and Chicago and clarifies some aspects of the business under questioning by Blanche.

“Thanks you,” Blanche says.

“You’re welcome,” Cohen replies.

Back from a break, ADA Josh Steinglass is telling Justice Merchan that Blanche was being misleading when he was asking Cohen about the time when Trump’s indictment became public.

Justice Merchan explicitly allowed the DA to disclose the existence of the indictment before it was unsealed on March 30,2023.

Steinglass wants the judge to give the jury an instruction on this matter to clear it up. Justice Merchan punts.

That takes me back, we were waiting on that thing for weeks.

Blanche asks Cohen about his testimony in the trial over New York Attorney General Letitia James civil fraud claims against Trump.

Cohen confirms that he testified that he refused a so-called 5k1 letter from federal prosecutors.

A 5k1 is a magic letter that makes prison time disappear. Prosecutors file such things for cooperating witnesses, asking for leniency from the sentencing judge in light of the cooperator’s assistance to the government.

“The 5k1 concept was given to my lawyer, that was after I had already pled. I turned around and said I’m not interested, so let’s not even talk about it,” Cohen says.

Blanche is trying to get Michael Cohen to say that he was bummed for not getting a gig in the Trump administration. Cohen denies this, he claims that all he ever wanted was the job as Trump's personal attorney.

Previously, Cohen testified that he only wanted to be offered a White House role like chief of staff. He didn't actually want the job, it was just an ego thing, he says.

Blanche keeps at it, but Cohen doesn't bite.

“It was always supposed to be personal attorney to President Donald J. Trump,” Cohen says.

Ok, quite the exchange there before we broke for lunch.

Blanche asks Cohen about Oct. 2016, when Cohen was receiving a stream of harassing phone calls. Eventually, the alleged harasser failed to block their number from showing on Cohen’s end.

Turns out it was a 14-year-old kid. Cohen called Trump security guy Keith Schiller about it. 

“Who can I speak to about harassing calls to my home and office,” Cohen tells Schiller, and texts him the kid’s number.

Blanche suddenly raises his voice and starts talking very fast, accusing Cohen of falsely testifying on Tuesday that when he called Schiller that day, Schiller handed the phone to Trump and he and Cohen discussed part of the Stormy Daniels matter.

“That was a lie, wasn’t it,?” Blanche asks. 

Cohen says there were multiple things going on at the same time. Blanche keeps at it.

Cohen says his testimony was in part based on his review of phone records and documents.

“That’s not what you testified on Tuesday when you said you remembered the call!” Blanche says.

Back from the break, and the New York Times' Maggie Haberman comes up again. She’s the author of the 2022 book Confidence Man: The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America, which chronicles Trump’s life before he ran for president.

She's also been covering this trial.

Cohen says he had a good relationship with Haberman and sometimes gave her tips. Haberman previously worked for the New York Post and the New York Daily News.

When there was a negative story and a reporter asked for comment, Cohen says he would always advise Trump before responding. Blanche balks at this answer and presses further.

If he had not, Trump "would probably blow up at me and it would be the end of my job,” Cohen says.

Blanche turns to the National Enquirer and its former publisher American Media Inc., which was helmed by David Pecker, and former Playboy model Karen McDougal, who was paid $150,000 by AMI for the rights to her story of an affair with Trump.

In a so-called “catch and kill,” Pecker, a Trump ally, published nothing about McDougal’s account. Blanche suggests that Trump wasn’t actually worried about the McDougal story becoming public, but it's unclear what that's based on.

The jury has previously heard a conversation between Cohen and Trump, which the former man recorded, which was about the hush money paid to McDougal. AMI had paid her off, and there was for a time a plan for Trump to buy the rights to the story from AMI.

TRUMP: So, what do we got to pay for this? One-fifty?

COHEN: … funding. Yes. Um, and it’s all the stuff.

TRUMP: Yeah, I was thinking about that.

COHEN: And, I spoke to Allen about it, when it comes time for the financing, which will be-

TRUMP: Wait a sec, what financing?

COHEN: Well, I’ll have to pay him something.

TRUMP: [UNINTELLIGIBLE] pay with cash ...

COHEN: No, no, no, no, no. I got it.

TRUMP: ... check

Blanche gets Cohen to confirm that Trump paid for lots of things in cash.

Blanche again asks Cohen about his recollection of various phone calls. Cohen agrees that he’s probably made tens of thousands of calls since 2016. Blanche challenges the notion that Cohen could recall particular calls out of so many.

“These phone calls are calls I’ve been talking about for the last six years, and they were extremely important,” Cohen replies.

The jury is sent home early for today and it sounds like this thing could be over as soon as next week.

Trump counsel Emil Bove talks about an election law expert they intend to call to the stand, but it sounds like that will be the only defense witness, unless Trump testifies.

Cohen is on track to conclude his testimony on Monday.