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Evidence that Cohen stole from Trump Org. a "bomb dropped in the middle of the prosecution's case"
From CNN's Antoinette Radford
CNN legal analyst Elie Honig described revelations from Monday that Donald Trump's former attorney Michael Cohen stole from the company as a "bomb dropped right in the middle of the prosecution's case."
During the ongoing cross-examination, it was revealed that Cohen stole tens of thousands of dollars from the Trump organization.
"You can see what the defense spent their weekend doing," said CNN's Kaitlan Collins.
CNN's Laura Coates said she was surprised this evidence was coming out on the third day of Cohen’s testimony, and that the prosecution did not get on the front foot to “take the sting out” when it had a chance during direct examination.
“We’re talking about 420,000 – it’s not 15 bucks,” Coates said.
Coates said the stealing evidence goes to the heart of the case, arguing that if the defense “can establish Michael Cohen as somebody who is not to be trusted about the amount of money as well, then they might be able to establish that Donald Trump had no idea about what he was truly paying.”
Some context: In court today, it was revealed that Cohen gave RedFinch $20,000 and kept $30,000 for himself.
RedFinch is a political organization that Cohen said helped the Republican party goose bogus internet polls about which candidate was in the lead, and provided fans for Trump’s announcement of his candidacy in June 2015.
Cohen says he did not "specifically tell" Trump about 6 consulting clients
"It was Mr. Trump who introduced the CEO of AT&T to me, that's how I ended up retaining them as a client," Michael Cohen said.
Trump attorney Todd Blanche said that's not what he asked, he wanted to know if Cohen ever told Trump about the six consulting clients.
"I did not specifically tell President Trump that, no," Cohen says.
Blanche asked if Trump was frustrated when he eventually found out about Cohen's consulting agreement with AT&T.
Merchan sustained an objection to this question.
Defense moves on to Cohen's other consulting work
Attorney Todd Blanche is moving on to Michael Cohen's other consulting work.
Cohen said he made $4 million in 2017 from six other clients.
Cohen confirms that he was paid $50,000 monthly for a year by AT&T, while they were trying to acquire Time Warner.
Blanche confirms Cohen received $600,000 in all from AT&T. "And there's nothing wrong with that, correct?" Blanche asks. Cohen stops for a moment, before saying, "I don't believe so."
Cohen confirms he received 9 checks of $35,000 each in 2017
Trump attorney Todd Blanche walked through the payments Michael Cohen received again, asking "How much were you paid" directly by Trump in 2017.
"Nine checks," Cohen says, $35,000 apiece.
Cohen confirms the other two checks came from the trust."
"You continued to get paid all 12 months?" Blanche asks.
"Yes sir," Cohen says.
Cohen asked about work he's done for Melania Trump
Michael Cohen is being asked about the work he's done for Melania Trump.
Cohen says he met with Melania Trump in New York in March and April of 2017 over legal matters.
Attorney Todd Blanche confirms with Cohen that he helped Melania Trump with her Madame Tussauds' negotiation in February, March and April of 2017.
Blanche says that these were all things that lawyers would do for a client.
"Your job was being President Trump's lawyer, correct?" Blanche asks.
"Yes sir," Cohen says.
Cohen says he didn't play a role in appointing Kasowitz
Trump attorney Todd Blanche is asking whether Michael Cohen helped figure out how to serve subpoenas on government agencies, like the State Department.
He showed Cohen an email that Trump leaned in to look at.
Blanche noted that Trump initially appointed Marc Kasowitz as his attorney to handle the Mueller investigation. Blanche asked if Cohen played a role in that?
"No sir," Cohen says.
Blanche asked if Cohen was "happy, sad or indifferent" about the initial Kasowitz hire. Cohen said probably happy because he had a good relationship with him.
Cohen maintains measured tone as defense cross-examines him on the witness stand
Michael Cohen is answering a lot of questions with "yes, sir" and "correct" maintaining the same measured tone as he had the prior three days on the witness stand.
Jury is shown Cohen's goodbye email to Trump Org.
The jury is being shown Michael Cohen's goodbye email to the Trump Organization dated January 27, 2017.
In the email, Cohen announces his new role as Trump's personal attorney and notes he'd no longer be working with them at Trump Tower.
Trump attorney Todd Blanche asked whether Cohen continued representing Trump in legal matters after moving into his new role.
"You had a matter with Marc Kasowitz representing President Trump?" Blanche asked.
"Yes sir," Cohen said.
Cohen talks about being proud of his role as former President Trump's personal attorney
Attorney Todd Blanche confirmed with Michael Cohen that his email signature after Trump took office announced his title in every message he sent. “It always said personal attorney to President Donald J Trump."
Blanche continued, “His job changed — meaning President Trump’s job changed — your job didn’t.”
“Correct,” Cohen confirmed.
"You told everybody that was happening, Correct?" Blanche asked.
"Not everybody, but I was certainly proud of the role and I announced it," Cohen said, confirming on follow-up questions that he told TMZ, the New York Times, and when he went on Sean Hannity's show to announce it.
