Lies, loyalty and a gag order upheld: Tuesday's Trump hush money trial takeaways

Donald Trump’s attorneys began grilling prosecutors’ star witness in his hush cash trial Tuesday, portraying former legal professional Michael Cohen as a media-obsessed liar who’s decided to see the previous president behind bars.

Cohen endured intense questioning by protection legal professional Todd Blanche after offering pivotal testimony tying the presumptive Republican presidential nominee on to the hush cash scheme on the coronary heart of the case.

Trump’s former fixer will return to the witness stand Thursday for extra cross-examination earlier than prosecutors relaxation their case alleging a scheme to illegally affect the 2016 election by silencing girls who alleged sexual encounters with him. Trump denies that he had intercourse with the ladies and denies wrongdoing within the case.

Here are some key takeaways from Tuesday’s proceedings:

ALL OF COHEN’S LIES

Prosecutors confronted Cohen’s historical past of falsehoods head-on in an try to get forward of a problem Trump attorneys are seizing on to assault the now-disbarred lawyer’s credibility. Prosecutors additionally sought to color Cohen as a faithful Trump loyalist, whose crimes had been dedicated on the previous president’s behalf.

Under questioning from prosecutor Susan Hoffinger, Cohen admitted that he lied to Congress throughout an investigation into potential ties between Russia and the 2016 Trump marketing campaign. Cohen pleaded responsible as a part of particular counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation, admitting that he lied, amongst different issues, in regards to the variety of occasions he spoke with Trump about an actual property challenge in Moscow.

Hoffinger additionally requested Cohen about considerations that he could have lied on the witness stand on the former president’s civil fraud trial final yr. In that trial, Cohen insisted he didn’t commit tax evasion, and stated he had lied to the choose who accepted his responsible plea on the cost in 2018.

Cohen advised Hoffinger he didn’t dispute the information of his responsible plea, however that he didn’t suppose he ought to’ve been charged with a criminal offense “as a first-time offender who always paid his taxes on the due date.”

Cohen additionally advised jurors he lied repeatedly for Trump, together with after Cohen paid porn actor Stormy Daniels $130,000 to maintain her from going public proper earlier than the 2016 election along with her claims of a sexual encounter with Trump.

Asked by Hoffinger why he would accomplish that, Cohen stated: “Out of loyalty and in order to protect him.”

NO LONGER LOYAL

Cohen described to jurors how his life and relationship with Trump had been upended after the FBI raided his workplace, house and lodge room in 2018. That would result in Cohen pleading responsible to federal fees and implicating Trump within the hush cash scheme. Trump was by no means charged with any crime associated to that federal investigation.

Asked by the prosecutor how he felt on the time, Cohen stated: “How to describe your life being turned upside-down? Concerned. Despondent. Angry.”

Initially, Cohen stated he felt comforted as a result of Trump, who was within the White House on the time, assured him to not fear. Trump’s attorneys had been additionally persevering with to pay his authorized charges and he remained a part of a joint-defense settlement with Trump and his attorneys, he testified.

But his household finally satisfied him to activate Trump, Cohen stated.

“My family, my wife, my daughter, my son, all said to me: ‘Why are you holding onto this loyalty? What are you doing? We’re supposed to be your first loyalty,’” Cohen advised jurors.

After Cohen’s responsible plea, Trump bashed him on Twitter, writing: “If anyone is looking for a good lawyer I would strongly suggest that you don’t retain the services of Michael Cohen!”

DEFENSE’S TURN TO GRILL

Trump’s workforce opened their cross-examination by urgent Cohen about important feedback and vulgar social media posts he’s made in regards to the former president for the reason that trial started. The protection’s questions Tuesday didn’t handle the information on the coronary heart of the case however had been designed to painting Cohen as a Trump-fixated loyalist who, spurned by his ex-boss, is now on a mission to get fame and revenge.

“Is it fair to say you’re motivated by fame?” Blanche, Trump’s lawyer, requested Cohen.

“No sir, I don’t think that’s fair to say,” Cohen replied. Later he added — in response to a query about whether or not he was motivated by publicity — that he’s “motivated by many things.”

Blanche requested Cohen to hear by way of headphones to an October 2020 podcast episode by which the previous lawyer stated Trump must put on handcuffs and that “people will not be satisfied until this man is sitting inside a cell.”

Cohen advised Blanche he didn’t recall saying that, however added: “I wouldn’t put it past me.”

Blanche additionally pressed Cohen on whether or not he needs to see Trump convicted within the case. Cohen initially hedged, saying: “I would like to see accountability. It’s not for me. It’s for the jury and this court.”

But requested once more, Cohen responded: “Sure.”

GAG ORDER UPHELD

While jurors had been listening to testimony from Cohen, Trump suffered one other authorized blow when an appeals court docket upheld a gag order that limits what he can say in regards to the case.

Trump had challenged the gag order, which bars the previous president from commenting publicly about jurors, witnesses and others linked to the case, together with the choose’s household and prosecutors aside from District Attorney Alvin Bragg.

The appeals court docket dominated that Judge Juan M. Merchan “properly determined” that Trump’s public statements “posed a significant threat to the integrity of the testimony of witnesses and potential witnesses.”

Trump challenged restrictions on his potential to remark about Matthew Colangelo, a former Justice Department official who is part of the prosecution workforce, and Merchan’s daughter, the top of a political consulting agency that has labored for Trump’s rival Joe Biden and different Democratic candidates.

Trump’s attorneys argued the gag order is an unconstitutional curb on the presumptive Republican nominee’s free speech rights whereas he’s campaigning for president and preventing felony fees. The choose has fined Trump for repeatedly violating the gag order and has warned the previous president that future violations might ship him to jail.

TRUMP’S SUPPORTERS

Limited by what he can say publicly in regards to the case, Trump has been joined on the courthouse by a rising entourage of Republican supporters who echo his complaints in regards to the prosecution. U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson was the most recent to take action Tuesday, attacking the authorized system as “corrupt” and the case in opposition to Trump a “sham.”

It was a hanging second, underscoring Trump’s political energy at the same time as he stands trial on felony fees.

In remarks to reporters outdoors the courthouse, Johnson slammed Cohen as a person who has “trouble with the truth” and is “clearly on a mission for personal revenge.” Painting Trump because the sufferer of a politically motivated authorized system, Johnson stated the case is “not about justice.”

“The people are losing faith right now in this country, they’re losing faith in our system of justice,” Johnson stated. “I came here again today on my own to support President Trump because I am one of hundreds of millions of people and one citizen who is deeply concerned about this,” he stated.

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Associated Press reporters Jill Colvin in New York and Colleen Long and Lisa Mascaro in Washington contributed.