Former White House Communications Director Alyssa Farah Griffin said Thursday that she was surprised to hear Michael Cohen say in court that he never looked forward to a White House job, during his testimony in former President Trump’s criminal trial. in Manhattan.
“My jaw dropped when I heard him deny that,” Farah Griffin told CNN, responding to the line of questioning on Thursday, as Trump’s former personal lawyer and former fixer took the stand to testify against him for the third time this year. . week.
Farah Griffin, who worked in the Trump administration, said Cohen never told her personally that he wanted to work in the White House, but she said it was “widely known and believed.”
“I worked for several Republican legislators at that time, several of whom would go into administration, including Mick Mulvaney as OMB director, and that was widely known and believed. Now, Michael Cohen never told me firsthand, ‘I’m going to the White House, I want to,’” said Farah Griffin.
“But it was widely discussed that he was looking for attorney general or White House counsel. I mean, there are dozens and dozens of people in Washington who could corroborate that,” she added.
In Manhattan court on Thursday, Trump lawyer Todd Blanche repeatedly asked Cohen if he expected to be offered a position in the White House once Trump took office in 2017.
Blanche twice asked Cohen if he “really wanted” to work in the White House, to which Cohen responded, “No, sir.”
“Did you expect to be named White House chief of staff, not just considered, but named White House chief of staff?” Blanche said.
“No, sir,” Cohen replied.
The matter came up during the prosecution’s cross-examination on Monday. Cohen acknowledged that he was disappointed when Trump did not include him in the pool of candidates for the White House chief of staff post after the election.
“I didn’t want the role. I did not believe the role was right for me or that I was competent to be chief of staff. I just wanted my name to be included,” Cohen said.
He added: “It was more about my ego than anything else.”
Cohen also indicated that Reince Priebus, who eventually took over as chief of staff, offered Cohen that he could be assistant general counsel in the White House, but he did not want the position.
Cohen is the prosecution’s star witness in the Manhattan criminal case that accuses Trump of falsifying 34 business records over a secret $130,000 payment Cohen sent to a porn star to keep her quiet about an alleged affair with then- 2016 candidate.
Zach Schonfeld and Lauren Sforza contributed.
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
