Defense attempts to undermine Michael Cohen’s credibility, depicting him as a serial liar seeking vengeance

President Trump addressed the press alongside his lawyer Todd Blanche after court let out for the 18th day of trial.

Trump claimed the court was “rushing” for the trial to finish before the election in order to hurt his political campaign. He then called the trial “a scam.”

“I just want to thank all the lawyers involved because they’ve been really working hard,” Trump said. Referring to his opponents, he added, “They want me to spend my time and my money and I’m willing to do it because ultimately we have to fight for the Constitution.”

Trump did not answer any questions from reporters.

Judge Merchan stopped the proceedings for the day. The cross-examination of Cohen is not over; defense attorney Todd Blanche seemed to have been getting ready to move into a different line of questioning after asking Cohen about the $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels.

There will be no court tomorrow, May 17, because Trump will be attending his son Barron’s high school graduation.

After returning from break, defense lawyer Todd Blanche went into cross-examining Cohen about the $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels.

Blanche continued to ask Cohen about his relationship with reporters and referred to Cohen’s conversations with ABC News journalist John Santucci, who, at the time, was also interested in the Daniels story.

Blanche then pulled up the non-disclosure agreement Cohen used with Daniels and had Cohen confirm it was a “perfectly legal contract.”

📸 Big picture: The $130,000 hush money payment Cohen made to Daniels is at the center of the prosecution’s criminal case against Trump, and any questions the defense can raise about it for the jury could be pivotal in its quest for an acquittal.

After a 10-minute break, the court is back in session. Judge Merchan updated the room on next week’s schedule, given an alternate juror has a 1:30 p.m. conflict on Thursday, and said the court plans to play it by ear instead of making a decision today.

Under cross-examination, Cohen was pressed about the September 2016 conversation he secretly recorded of him and Trump discussing the hush money payment to former Playboy model Karen McDougal.

The jury heard a tape of the recording earlier in the trial.

Trump’s defense attorney Todd Blanche asked Cohen whether he knew it was unethical for a lawyer to record a conversation with their client.

Cohen agreed, adding that such a recording is permitted under the crime-fraud exception.

“Just so I understand, you surreptitiously recorded your client so you could play a privileged recorded communication between you and your client with a third party?”

“That’s correct,” Cohen replied.

The court has been dismissed for the afternoon recess. Judge Merchan asked for a representative from each side to join him in the robing room to talk to a juror who said they had a conflict next Thursday afternoon, which could affect the court schedule.

Since the trial is not being televised and news photographers are permitted only 45 seconds to take still photos prior to the start of each day, the only images from inside the courtroom during Michael Cohen’s testimony are courtroom drawings, including those by noted sketch artist Jane Rosenberg.

One shows Cohen on the witness stand being cross-examined by Trump’s defense attorney Todd Blanche while Judge Juan Merchan looks on and the former president listens with his eyes closed.

Another shows Merchan and lawyers from both sides during a sidebar as Trump sits at the defense table, again with his eyes closed.

Trump lawyer Todd Blanche asked Cohen about the positive stories he planted in the press about himself and Trump leading up to the 2016 election.

Cohen claimed that reporters would either contact him or someone at the Trump Organization for comments on stories. Cohen alleged that he would collaborate with Trump to come up with a response because, if Trump didn’t like the story, “it would cause him to blow up” at Cohen. According to CNN, Trump shook his head “no” in the courtroom while hearing the testimony.

Diving into his relationship with the press, Cohen claimed he had a “close relationship” with New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman and said he recorded around 40 phone calls with several journalists before the 2016 election. He testified that he did not tell the journalists he was recording the calls. New York is a “one-party consent” state, which means that you can legally record phone calls if you have permission from one of the parties.

📸 Big picture: Blanche is trying to argue that Cohen, considering his relationship with journalists, would give interviews and statements to the press without consulting Trump, which Cohen denied. By doing this, Blanche is attempting to convey to the jury that Cohen would make decisions independently of Trump — including the hush money payment to Daniels.

Court is back in session after a lunch break, and Michael Cohen is back on the stand.

According to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s indictment against Trump, Cohen paid Stormy Daniels $130,000 through a shell company in exchange for her silence about an affair she claims she had with Trump in 2006.

Prosecutors claim that Daniels initially tried to sell her story about the affair to American Media Inc., the parent company of the National Enquirer, and AMI executives alerted Cohen.

During the first day of his testimony, Cohen alleged that he paid Daniels $130,000 days before the 2016 election under Trump’s direction and with a promise for reimbursement. The prosecution claims that Trump then falsified business records to reimburse Cohen.

Trump has denied the allegations against him.

Before court broke for lunch, Todd Blanche went over call logs between Cohen and Trump’s former bodyguard Keith Schiller.

Cohen testified earlier this week that he made a call to Schiller in October 2016 to speak to Trump and confirm the hush money payment to Stormy Daniels.

Blanche questioned Cohen about a series of “harassment calls” Cohen claimed he received around the same time. Referring to text messages between Cohen and Schiller, Blanche pointed to a message exchange where Cohen said a 14-year-old prank-called him. In the message exchange, Schiller asked Cohen to call him.

According to the logs, the call Cohen made to Schiller was less than two minutes long. Blanche argued that the call was too short for Cohen to have both explained the prank call and shared confirmation about the hush money payment.

📸 Big picture: Blanche is trying to argue that the call Cohen claims was him informing Trump about the hush money payment to Daniels was actually about him dealing with a prank caller.

Judge Merchan has called for a lunch break. When court resumes around 2 p.m. ET, Michael Cohen is expected back on the witness stand to face more cross-examination by the defense.

Cohen has so far testified for more than 10 hours over three days.

Under cross-examination by the defense, Cohen confirmed text messages with his daughter that showed he was having a hard time getting tickets for Trump’s 2017 presidential inauguration.

📸 Big picture: Cohen insisted he was not “despondent” about not being offered a position in the Trump White House. The defense is using text exchanges with his family members to suggest he was.

During the morning break while speaking to reporters, Rep. Matt Gaetz called Cohen a liar “who committed these lies for his own benefit” and described the case against Trump as the “Mr. Potato Head of crimes, where they had to stick together a bunch of things that did not belong together.”

Gaetz and others, including Reps. Anna Paulina Luna and Ralph Norman, criticized Judge Merchan’s daughter, who formerly worked at a progressive consulting firm and is a Democratic fundraiser.

The criticisms, which echo what Sens. J.D. Vance and Rick Scott and Speaker Mike Johnson said earlier this week, are statements the court’s gag order forbids Trump from saying himself.

Trump attorney Todd Blanche asked Cohen about whether he wanted a job in the Trump White House, referencing Cohen’s 2019 testimony that he didn’t want one. However, witness Keith Davidson testified earlier in this trial that he thought Cohen was genuinely interested in the role.

Cohen insisted that he didn’t seriously want the chief of staff role but wanted to be considered “for ego purpose,” which he said in court earlier this week.

📸 Big picture: Blanche is trying to suggest that Cohen really wanted a White House role and is vindictive against Trump because he was never considered nor offered one. Blanche tried to suggest Cohen is downplaying his interest during testimony by referring to text messages Cohen exchanged with his daughter at the time of the election, once Trump won.

Court has resumed after a short break.

Judge Merchan announced that court will not be in session next Wednesday because the jurors will not be available. A sidebar with the judge earlier this morning may likely have been about scheduling issues and discussing whether the court could be in session next Wednesday, which is usually the day of the week the trial has a break.

Because of this, the New York Times suggests that the trial could continue past Memorial Day weekend.

The court is taking its midmorning break. When it resumes, Michael Cohen is expected to continue his testimony under cross-examination.

Attorneys for Donald Trump have filed court documents indicating that they will ask New York’s Court of Appeals, the state’s highest court, to weigh in on the gag order that has been imposed on him during his hush money trial.

Earlier this week, a New York appeals court denied a motion by Trump’s defense team to lift the gag order, which was issued by Judge Juan Merchan to prevent the former president from attacking witnesses and court employees or commenting on the jury.

Trump’s attorneys submitted court filings on Wednesday indicating they will appeal. According to CNN, the Court of Appeals clerk’s office said it had not received the Trump team’s motion as of Thursday morning.

Trump defense attorney Todd Blanche’s questioning is attempting to portray Cohen as someone who has committed crimes independent of his loyalty to Trump.

By going through the list of people Cohen admits to blaming over the years, Blanche aims to paint a pattern of how Cohen not only lies under oath but also regularly shifts responsibility off himself and onto others.

Continuing with his cross-examination, Trump defense attorney Todd Blanche pressed Cohen about his previous lies under oath. In 2018, Cohen was charged with perjury for lying during testimony to the House Intelligence Committee.

“You lied under oath, correct?” Blanche asked

“Yes sir,” Cohen replied.

Cohen also acknowledged he lied in his 2018 testimony to special counsel Robert Mueller.

📸 Big picture: The defense wants to portray Cohen as not only vengeful but also someone who has repeatedly lied under oath and could easily do so again. The prosecution tried to get out ahead, questioning Cohen prior to cross-examination about his lies to Congress and the special counsel.