Trump trial: Cohen faces Trump team grilling over past lies, recollections
The defense questioned Trump's former lawyer on Day 18 of the hush money trial.
Former President Donald Trump is on trial in New York City, where he is facing felony charges related to a 2016 hush money payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels. It marks the first time in history that a former U.S. president has been tried on criminal charges.
Trump last April pleaded not guilty to a 34-count indictment charging him with falsifying business records in connection with a hush money payment his then-attorney Michael Cohen made to Daniels in order to boost his electoral prospects in the 2016 presidential election.
Top headlines:
- No decision yet about Trump testifying
- Defense argues Cohen's lack of retainer agreement was not an issue
- Defense accuses Cohen of lying about Trump phone call
- Defense challenges Cohen on past perjury
- Cohen says Trump approved payment of $420K, paid monthly
- Jury hears secret recording of Trump discussing payment
What to know about the hush money case
READ MORE: Here's what you need to know about the historic case.
Defense questions Cohen about disparaging Trump
Restarting his cross-examination, defense attorney Todd Blanche asked Michael Cohen if he had been following the progress of the trial.
"I have made comments about the jury selection," Cohen said.
"On April 23, so after the trial started, you said that you had actually heard what a witness had testified about?" Blanche asked.
"Possible yes," Cohen replied.
"Do you recall saying on TikTok on April 23 and that's when Mr. Pecker was still on the stand that from everything you have heard David Pecker has corroborated everything you have been saying for six years?" Blanche asked.
"Somebody called me and told me that Mr. Pecker had corroborated what I'd been saying for a long time," Cohen said.
Under questioning, Cohen conceded that, while the trial has been ongoing, he has said disparaging things about former President Trump.
"You referred to President Trump as a dictator douche bag, didn't you?" Blanche asked.
"Sounds like something I said," Cohen answered.
Blanche asked Cohen if he commented that Donald Trump belongs in a "little cage ... like a f------ animal."
"I recall saying that," Cohen said.
Trump, at the defense table, has been leaning back in his chair and listening with his eyes closed.
Cohen cross-examination gets off to a combative start
With court resuming after the lunch break, Michael Cohen has retaken the stand for cross-examination by the defense.
Questioning has gotten off to a combative start.
"You know who I am, don't you?" defense attorney Todd Blanche asked Cohen.
"I do," Cohen said.
"In fact on April 23 you went on TikTok and called me a crying little s--- didn't you?"
"Sounds like something I would say," Cohen said, prompting some laughter in the overflow room.
The prosecution objected, prompting a conference at the bench.
The question was stricken from the record and cross-examination resumed.
'I regret doing things' for Trump, Cohen tells jury
Michael Cohen testified about the fallout from his work for Trump, telling the jury he is no longer a lawyer.
"I lost my law license as a direct result of this," he said.
He said he wrote his book, "Disloyal," to "pass the time" in prison, then wrote his second book, "Revenge," which he described as a "forensic dissection of the prosecution ... against a critic of the president."
The jury then saw a 2023 social media post by Donald Trump about "convicted liar and felon" Michael Cohen.
Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger questioned Cohen about Trump suing him in Florida for half a billion dollars -- and for the first time in a while, Trump, at the defense table, opened his eyes, took notes, and passed them to his attorney Todd Blanche.
Cohen told the jury that he regrets what he did for Trump.
"I regret doing things for him that I should not have. Lying. Bullying people in order to effectuate a goal," Cohen said. "I don't regret working with the Trump Organization, as I expressed before some very interesting great times."
"But to keep the loyalty and do things that he had asked me to do -- I violated my moral compass, and I suffered the penalty, as has my family," Cohen said.
Trump appeared to have his eyes closed for the majority of Cohen's last answer. The prosecution completed its direct examination of Cohen, and the court recessed the lunch.
Trump listens as Cohen describes prison sentence
Michael Cohen said that after he pleaded guilty to campaign finance charges related to the Stormy Daniels payment -- as well as other tax charges -- he served 13 months in federal prison before being sent to home confinement during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Trump, sitting at the defense table, had his eyes closed as Cohen testified about his time in prison.
Cohen then testified that he was sent back to prison after he declined to sign an agreement that would have prohibited him from speaking or writing publicly.
"Didn't seem like a federal document," Cohen said, adding that it did not include any numbers and included several typos.
Cohen suggested he was sent to solitary confinement around the time he was writing his book, prompting a sustained objection from defense lawyers.
Asked about the tax charges, Cohen told jurors that while he agrees his tax filings had an "error," he believes he was treated unfairly by prosecutors.
"I have constantly maintained that I did not dispute the fact there was an error in the taxable amount -- in the tax that was due," Cohen said.
"What I did dispute, and I continue to dispute, is for a first-time offender … never having been audited, that this would go immediately to a criminal charge. From the day that we found out, I was given 48 hours within which to plead guilty" -- or face an eighty-page indictment that would have included charges against his wife, he said.
"And I was going to protect my wife," Cohen said.
Defense accuses Cohen of lying about Trump phone call
Defense attorney Todd Blanche accused Michael Cohen of lying about a phone call Cohen testified he had with Donald Trump on Oct. 24, 2016.
Blanche read texts between Cohen and Trump aide Keith Schiller on that date, in which Cohen asked Schiller, "Who can I speak to about harassing calls to my phone and office?"
According to Blanche, Schiller asked Cohen to call him at 8:02 p.m.
"This is the call that you testified about on Tuesday that you had a conversation with President Trump?" Blanche said.
Cohen, who testified on Tuesday that he had called Schiller to speak with Trump, agreed.
Nearly shouting, Blanche alleged that Cohen lied during his testimony on Tuesday.
"That was a lie," said Blanche, adding that Cohen texted Schiller the phone number of the 14-year-old prank caller at 8:04 p.m.
"Part of it was the 14-year-old, but I knew that Keith was with Trump at the time," Cohen responded.
"That was a lie. You did not talk to President Trump that night," Blanche said, raising his voice. "You can admit it."
"No sir, I can't," Cohen said. "Because I'm not sure that's accurate."
"This jury doesn't want to hear what you think happened," Blanche said.
Trump, at the defense table, appeared engaged and furrowed his eyebrows.
The jury was then shown text messages from that evening between Cohen and Schiller, which Blanche suggested prosecutors omitted from their exhibit.
"Mr. Cohen, you just said that you don't recall a phone call ... on Tuesday you testified that you remembered the phone call," Blanche shouted, again growing animated and speaking quickly.
Cohen stood by his testimony, saying he spoke to both Trump and Schiller.
"Based upon what was going on and based upon the other messages regarding the Stormy Daniels matter, yes I believe I was telling the truth," Cohen said.
Judge Merchan subsequently recessed the court for lunch.