Michael Cohen will return to the witness stand in a New York courtroom for a third day of questioning by Donald Trump’s lawyers on Monday, in what could be the final day of testimony in the first criminal trial of a former president.
One possibility that could prolong the trial would be for Trump to take a stand in his own defense. Trump said before the trial began that he would “absolutely” testify. He has since softened that stance, and his lawyer, Todd Blanche, told the judge the last time they were in court on Thursday that he still didn’t know whether Trump would take a stand. Court was not in session Friday so Trump could attend his son’s high school graduation.
Blanche questioned Cohen, Trump’s former personal lawyer, throughout Thursday and part of Tuesday, pressing him about inconsistencies in some of his past statements about Trump and his admitted falsehoods on Trump’s behalf over the years.
“This is a lie!” Blanche barked at Cohen at one point after he challenged him about his account of having spoken to Trump on the phone at a specific time about the hush-hush agreement he had struck with adult film star Stormy Daniels in the weeks leading up to the election. 2016.
Cohen had previously testified that he had contacted Trump through Keith Schiller, his bodyguard, at 8:02 pm on October 24, 2016, to “discuss the Stormy Daniels matter and its resolution.”
Blanche confronted Cohen with a text message he sent to Schiller at 7:48 a.m., saying, “Who can I talk to about calls to my cell and office, idiot forgot to block one of them.” Schiller responded with a message saying “call me” at 8:02 a.m., which Cohen did immediately.
Blanche noted that the call lasted 96 seconds and that at 8:04 p.m., Cohen texted Schiller the phone number of a 14-year-old boy who he complained was prank calling him. Blanche suggested that the real purpose of the conversation was to talk about the teenager.
“In fact, you were talking to Mr. Schiller about the fact that you were receiving harassing phone calls from a 14-year-old boy, correct?” Blanche asked.
“Part of it was the 14-year-old, but I know Keith was with Mr. Trump at the time and there was more to it than potentially just that. That’s what I remember based on the documents I’ve reviewed,” Cohen responded, adding that he believed who “was telling the truth” about the moment.
“We are not asking for your belief. This jury doesn’t want to hear what you think happened,” Blanche retorted.
Cohen, 57, is a key witness in Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s case against Trump and the only one to directly link Trump to the alleged business records falsification scheme.
Cohen paid Daniels the $130,000 in exchange for a non-disclosure agreement that prevented her from speaking about her allegation that she had a sexual encounter with Trump a decade earlier, after they met at a celebrity golf tournament. Trump denies her claim.
Cohen said Trump authorized the deal and assured him he would pay him back.
Prosecutors say Trump did this in a series of payments falsely recorded as legal expenses in an attempt to hide their true motive. He was charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records and pleaded not guilty.
Prosecutors made clear to jurors in their direct examination that Cohen had a history of lying publicly, and took testimony about his 2018 guilty pleas to several criminal charges, including some related to paying Daniels and another to lying to Congress. Cohen said he lied to protect his then-boss, Trump.
Cohen began testifying last week, and by the end of the day Thursday, he had been on the witness stand for more than 14 hours.
Blanche estimated Thursday that there were still two hours of questions left for Cohen, who prosecutors said was their last witness. Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger is then expected to ask her questions about the redirected exam, which will likely be followed by more questions from Blanche.
It’s unclear how many witnesses Trump’s lawyers will call, if any. Blanche suggested that she could call former Federal Election Commission Chairman Bradley A. Smith to testify about election laws, but he also said no. He also said he could call other witnesses, whom he did not identify in the public hearing. He said the witnesses’ testimony would be brief if they testified.
Prosecutors said if the defense ends up calling Smith, they could name a witness to rebut his testimony. Their expert would also be brief, they said.
The state judge presiding over the case, Juan Merchan, told both sides they should be prepared to present closing arguments on Tuesday. The schedule from this point on is a bit hazy – court will not be in session on Wednesday due to a juror scheduling issue, and an alternate juror will have to leave by 1pm on Thursday due to a scheduling issue. . Merchan said there would be no court on Friday or the following Monday, which is Memorial Day.
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