29 mins ago
Mr. Blanche asked Mr. Cohen about his desire to work at the White House. Mr. Cohen had told prosecutors in earlier testimony he had conversations with a lot of people about working for President Trump in the White House, and would have liked to been considered for the chief of staff position.
“I would have liked to be considered for ego purposes,” Mr. Cohen said.
34 mins ago
Mr. Blanche continued to question Mr. Cohen about his efforts to reduce sentencing. Mr. Cohen confirmed he had met with various prosecution teams and the meetings did not result in a cooperation agreement.
“Since you’ve been released from prison, technically, you have made several attempts to be released from your supervised release early, correct?” Mr. Blanche asked.
“Correct,” Mr. Cohen said. He confirmed he has made multiple motions in court since his case was reassigned to a new judge.
44 mins ago
Attorneys conferred with the judge regarding Mr. Blanche’s line of questioning on the date of the unsealing of the indictment. Prosecutors argued it had left an impression on the jury there was something improper, and the judge allowed Mr. Blanche to elicit testimony about the date it was unsealed.
“Why don’t we see if you are able to address it properly,” Justice Merchan told Mr. Blanche.
Jurors have said they cannot work next Wednesday, so court with not be in session May 22.
1 hour ago
Mr. Cohen had previously stated “I have never asked for, nor would I accept a pardon from President Trump.”
He confirmed in court he never asked for one, before affirming he asked his attorneys to explore the possibility.
“I never asked for it,” he said.
1 hour ago
Mr. Blanche questioned Mr. Cohen’s intention to take “responsibility” with his guilty plea, pointing to his ongoing efforts to reduce his sentences.
“You agree with me that neither you nor your lawyer told Judge Pauley that you had lied to him?” Mr. Blanche said.
“That’s correct,” Mr. Cohen said.
1 hour ago
Mr. Blanche questioned Mr. Cohen about his pleading guilty to tax evasion and submitting false statements to a bank.
“Now, no one put pressure on you to make false statements or lie under oath, correct?” Mr. Blanche asked.
Mr. Cohen repeated his explanations that he only had 48 hours to take a guilty plea before an indictment would be brought, and his wife would have been charged. He said he didn’t believe he should have been criminally charged. During direct examination, prosecutors had given Mr. Cohen the opportunity to explain an incident last fall when he testified he lied during his guilty plea, and Mr. Cohen said he did not dispute the underlying facts but did not believe he should have been charged.
2 hours ago
Mr. Blanche asked Mr. Cohen about the oath he swore every time he was deposed, and Mr. Cohen confirmed it was the same oath. He confirmed he is instructed during this process that he cannot make a false statement, and it would be a federal crime.
“You lied about the Moscow Project, correct?” Mr. Blanche said.
“Yes sir,” Mr. Cohen said.
2 hours ago
Mr. Cohen confirmed he spoke about it on his podcast as well.
“I want to thank the Manhattan DA’s office and their fearless leader Alvin Bragg … What an embarrassment it is to the office of the presidency!” he said in a podcast episode.
“That wasn’t the first time you said we wanted President Trump to get a taste of what you went through,” Mr. Blanche said.
2 hours ago
Mr. Cohen did an interview with CNN the same day the indictment was unsealed, and said on TV that the case was like “David and Goliath.” He made the remarks before the indictment was unsealed after learning about it in a New York Times article.
“Now that was at the same time that the Manhattan DA’s office was telling you not to do TV, correct?” Mr. Blanche asked.
“Correct,” Mr. Cohen said.
2 hours ago
Defense attorney Todd Blanche continued questioning Mr. Cohen, asking about the process by which Mr. Cohen’s phones were given to the district attorney’s office.
Mr. Blanche sought to introduce texts sent to Mr. Cohen by detectives from the district attorney’s office who picked up his phones, and prosecutors objected.
Mr. Cohen confirmed the texts were sent around the time he testified before a grand jury in this case. Mr. Cohen had asked for a heads up about an indictment of President Trump.
2 hours ago
Lawyers are in a long sidebar with Justice Merchan, discussing the schedule for the remainder of the trial.
There was wide anticipation among reporters gathered outside the courthouse this morning about how quickly Michael Cohen’s cross-examination and re-direct will wrap up, on the last day of prosecution testimony, and whom the defense might put on the stand in the trial’s remaining days.
“I apologize for all the whispering but I think we’re ready to get started,” Justice Merchan said.
3 hours ago
More allies are expected to show up in court to support President Trump on Thursday, with Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) spotted as President Trump gave morning remarks to the press corps.
He said his poll numbers were “through the roof” despite having campaigning limited by the trial, and blasted the prosecutors and judge for what he claimed was political motivations.
“A lead person from the DOJ is running this trial, so this is a Biden trial,” he said.
3 hours ago
President Trump has appealed his gag order to the state’s top court, the New York Court of Appeals.
Earlier this week, the appellate division of the New York Supreme Court denied President Trump’s appeal of the gag order imposed by Justice Juan Merchan.
5 hours ago
Michael Cohen will return to the witness stand for cross-examination as prosecutors say they plan to call no more witnesses.
Mr. Cohen is the prosecution’s most critical witness, as he is the only one that has testified about personal knowledge of former President Donald Trump’s knowledge and involvement of an alleged payment scheme to influence the 2016 elections.
President Trump was charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records for 11 checks cut to Mr. Cohen, which prosecutors allege were falsely categorized as legal expenses in order to hide payment to an adult film actress to prevent stories about an alleged affair from being published on the eve of the 2016 presidential elections.
Original News Source Link – Epoch Times
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