Defense attorney Todd Blanche stands making the “swearing in” hand gesture when cross examining Michael Cohen, as Donald Trump, left, looks on with Judge Juan Merchan presiding, Thursday, May 16, 2024, in New York. (Elizabeth Williams via AP)
The lead attorney representing Donald Trump, 77, in his New York City hush-money trial searched for lies, discrepancies and contortions to put in front of jurors as the ex-president’s onetime right-hand man, Michael Cohen, 57, returned to the stand on Thursday morning.
Piercing the credibility of the state’s star witness is crucial to the defense and attorney Todd Blanche appeared to make some slight headway during a series of questions about Cohen’s own legal woes.
During one such interaction, the witness admitted he previously lied to a federal judge under oath, more than once, in order to dispense with tax fraud charges because “the stakes” affected him “personally.”
Cohen has long expressed disdain for the way his income tax issues were handled by the Southern District of New York.
Typically, in such cases, the IRS alerts a taxpayer of an issue and there is an effort to work through the process using fines, fees, and interest. Not so in Cohen’s case. He was criminally charged and ultimately pleaded guilty to five counts of willful tax evasion in August 2018.
The judge overseeing his case, William H. Pauley III, has since died. But Cohen has not been shy about his feelings toward the deceased jurist and the prosecutors who lumped the tax-related charges in with the charges over the fraudulent home equity loan he secured for the hush-money payment to Stormy Daniels, 45, in October 2016.
In response to a question from Blanche, Cohen said he thinks the judge in his case was “corrupt,” according to a report by Newsweek reporter Katherine Fung. In response to another question, Cohen agreed he has called Pauley and the prosecutors “f–––––– animals,” according to a report by Just Security fellow Adam Klasfeld.
“I have stated, again, that I don’t dispute the facts of the case but that I should not have been prosecuted,” Cohen said.
While a plea deal that leaves a defendant grumbling is not uncommon, Blanche aimed to seize on the alleged prosecutorial strong-arming in Cohen’s case to paint the witness as unreliable and intrinsically unwilling to accept responsibility for his own actions.
The first acknowledged lie from Cohen came when Blanche asked him: “Nobody induced you or threatened you to plead guilty, correct?”
A long pause followed before the witness essayed his long response, according to a report by MSNBC personality Katie Phang.
“I was provided with 48 hours within 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 replied. “I elected to protect my family.”
In the end, however, he did admit he lied about being induced to plead.
“You know what perjury means?” the defense attorney asked the witness at one point, according to a report by WPIX reporter Henry Rosoff. Cohen replied that yes, he did understand the concept.
Blanche also elicited a second, acknowledged, under-oath fib.
During Cohen’s sentencing hearing, the witness accepted responsibility. This was at least the second admitted lie to Pauley.
Trump’s attorney then brought the exchange to a head — by eliciting testimony that Cohen received a sentencing reduction for accepting responsibility when he was still being less than truthful.
“Again, when you got the credit at sentencing for accepting responsibility you got credit even though you lied to the judge when you plead guilty?” Blanche reportedly pressed, getting to the point.
Cohen replied with an answer about the wide berth of discretion that judges have over sentencing, clarifying that he did not know what, exactly, Pauley’s exact determination was based on in his case.
“Do you think Judge Pauley would have liked to know that you had lied to him?” Blanche asked.
After some back-and-forth, the witness conceded the point.
“I’m certain he would have,” Cohen said.
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