Posted on 10/27/2023 7:23:26 AM PDT by Red Badger
After the first day of Michael Cohen’s testimony, President Donald Trump told reporters that he would be returning to court on Wednesday.
In 2019, allegations made by disgraced lawyer Cohen spurred the attorney general’s office to investigate President Trump.
At the center of the case are the Statements of Financial Condition (SFC) for the Trump Organization from 2011 to 2021.
On Tuesday, Cohen said that he personally altered together several of those statements with Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg under the direction of his former boss.
Cohen, Trump’s former personal lawyer and one-time executive vice president of the Trump Organization, will continue to testify against his former boss.
He is testifying in the ongoing get-Trump civil trial in the case New York Attorney General Letitia James brought against the 45th president.
James is seeking $250 million in damages to be paid to the state of New York.
The NY AG is also hoping for the barring of President Trump and his adult sons from holding executive business positions in New York.
Don Jr. and Eric Trump are co-defendants in the case.
On September 26, New York Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron had already ruled in a pretrial summary judgment that President Trump is liable for fraud.
Trump’s defense attorney Alina Habba picked up a cross-examination of Cohen on Wednesday morning.
Cohen’s cross-examination continued with Trump’s legal team questioning him about the times he lied under oath.
Trump’s attorneys said the judge had asked Cohen 50 questions when he made his guilty plea.
The questions sought to ascertain that Cohen understood that he could only make this plea if he was truly guilty.
Cohen argued that he could not speak to the judge’s state of mind.
Justice Engoron then called an off-record sidebar with the attorneys.
“You lied more than once in federal court, correct?” Engoron asked Cohen.
“Correct,” Cohen said.
However, Cohen then started to walk back his previous claims.
Cohen said that he was not lying to the Permanent Select Committee when asked whether he was asked to inflate numbers.
“Not that I recall” Cohen previously told the Committee.
On Tuesday, however, Cohen said they never “overtly” said it that way.
He then continued to testify that he had lied to the Committee.
“You’re now saying that Mr. Trump did not direct you to inflate the numbers on the statements of financial condition,” defense attorneys asked.
Cohen did not answer until the judge compelled him to.
“I stand with that response. ‘Not that I recall,’” he said.
“So Mr. Trump never directed you to inflate the numbers on the financial statements?”
“Correct,” Cohen said, backtracking on what he said on Tuesday.
In response to Cohen’s admission, the defense requested that the case be brought to an end.
The radical judge then denied the defense’s request.
Prosecutors then questioned Cohen about his prior convictions where he pleaded guilty, and tried to enter his plea document into evidence as a consistent prior statement.
The defense objected, arguing that their documents were entered as a foundation to impeach the witness, whereas the prosecution was trying to “rehabilitate” a discredited witness.
The judge criticized both sides for “micromanaging” little details when they had a big case to go through.
Defense attorneys asked, again, for the case to be dismissed.
They argue, rightly so, that Cohen is an unreliable witness.
“Absolutely denied,” the judge said.
“This case has evidence, credible or not, all over the place.
“There’s a 200-page complaint … with evidence all over the place.”
The judge added that he did not consider Cohen a key witness.
“There’s enough evidence in this case to fill this courtroom,” he said.
He asked attorneys on both sides to stay and then dismissed everyone else, ending the trial for the day.
Gonna be a whole lot of “walking back”.
obama judges don’t care
All of these Trump lynch mob trials are bullsh*t. More BS than Rolling Stone has published since it came out.
Bad obnoxious immoral unethical partisan judge. This is what we have in America.
Gosh. I’m beginning to think that this Cohen fellow may not be very honest.
No such thing as “walking back” in court. He lied under oath… again. Witnesses can always be impeached by felonies of moral turpitude, especially his perjury conviction, and he perjured himself again in this case. In the judge’s ultimate decision he will say he gave no weight to the testimony. Not to worry… cohen will continue to be the media’s go-to guy when they’re looking for someone to slam Trump
If I recall, Engoron has already had 2 rulings on this case kicked back on appeal. How bad does a judge have to be before he is discredited and dismissed?
This judge is off the rails. Completely unprofessional, sleazy and I suspect neurotic at a very minimum. There is no jury so Trump is going to have to win this on appeal as the judge/prosecutor’s verdict is a foregone conclusion.
Cohen said that he personally altered together several of those statements.
Has MSNBC or CNN offered him a job yet.
Keep laying the foundation for the appeal...
The whole reason is to keep Trump tied up in court in several different places simultaneously, New York, DC, Miami and Atlanta.
So he won’t have time to campaign for POTUS. That’s all this is about.
This judge is just looking for any excuse to jail Trump, or, barring that, confiscate the Jet....................
"Correct," Cohen said, backtracking on what he said on Tuesday.
This case is over whether the judge admits it or not.
Cohen was Trump's attorney. The prosecution could only breach Trump's attorney-client privilege on the basis of its claim that Trump and Cohen were co-conspirators in a crime.
Cohen's testimony here basically turns the entire case on its head and makes it a waste of time -- because it will never hold up on appeal. In fact, his testimony is so damaging to the case that it would be reasonable to ask if Cohen was working to undermine these cases from the start.
True, case is over in the end. Now the GA case will be more difficult to over turn the corrupt nature of that trial.
That's a completely biased judge right there. Grounds for appeal? Judge is directly stating the 'evidence' is true. I can't think of a single reason why this judge shouldn't be removed from this case.
I'm not a lawyer though, so what do I know?
How much does Trump really need to campaign? Most people who are not going to vote for him will never vote for him regardless of what he says or does. Same goes for those who will vote for him, even if they have to write him in.
How is Cohen not a key witness?
should have been a jury trial, this is a travesty with a biased judge.
““There’s a 200-page complaint … with evidence all over the place. ... There’s enough evidence in this case to fill this courtroom,” he said.”
Real judges don’t speak like that.
This joke of a judge should be disbarred, impeached, and removed from the bench.
L
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