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Todd Blanche asks Michael Cohen about the frustration from the Trump campaign in 2016 when he would go off message.

Cohen says he was not part of the campaign, he was a "surrogate."

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Todd Blanche asked whether Michael Cohen "worked very hard" to get positive stories into the press about Donald Trump and the things he was doing.
"Yes," Cohen says.
Blanche then asks if Cohen also worked very hard to make sure there were positive stories about him at times.
"Yes sir," Cohen replies.
Blanche asks Cohen about how he worked with journalists both for positive stories and for negative stories.

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Trump attorney Todd Blanche turns his questioning to a website Michael Cohen created in 2011, shouldtrumprun.com
Cohen confirmed the website was a "stunt" but confirmed that he personally worked with The National Enquirer on a story after they conducted a poll that showed readers responded positively to the idea of Trump running for president.
Cohen also confirmed The National Enquirer then wrote a positive story about Cohen for starting shouldtrumprun.com.

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Yet we couldn't have a break in the trial for Trump to attend his sons HS graduation..

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Donald Trump's attorney Todd Blanche is asking Michael Cohen about his relationship with New York Times reporter, Maggie Haberman.
He confirms he feels he's had a strong relationship with her and that they've known each other for 20 years.
Haberman is in the courtroom.

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BMX Bandit said:

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Yet we couldn't have a break in the trial for Trump to attend his sons HS graduation..

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They are off for the graduation

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aggiehawg said:

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Trump attorney Todd Blanche asked Michael Cohen whether he recorded phone conversations with reporters.
Cohen said he wouldn't characterize it as "a lot."
Blanche asked him how many.
Cohen said about 40 phone conversations.
Trump turned and exchanged a smile with his attorney Susan Necheles at this response.
Cohen said he stopped recording calls with reporters after the 2016 presidential election.
Blanche asked him to clarify that he didn't record calls with reporters in 2017 and 2018.
Cohen said, "I would have to check"
"We'll check together in a minute," Blanche said.

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LOL. The old adage for lawyers about never asking a question to which you don't know the answer.

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Donald Trump is leaning forward to read the texts between New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman and Michael Cohen that are being shown on the screen.

Trump is paying attention to this line of questioning. He's almost smirking.

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Defense attorney Todd Blanche asked Michael Cohen, "by the way did you tell people you were recording them?"
"No sir," Cohen replied.
Blanche followed up and asked if people asked Cohen if he was recording them and he told them he wasn't.
"I don't remember that specifically. It's not illegal in New York," Cohen said.
Trump has his body shifted toward the witness stand as he's listening.

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Trump attorney Todd Blanche asks Michael Cohen whether there are 95 "secret recordings" on his cell phone, which Cohen confirms.

Cohen recalls one of the recorded conversations was with former CNN President Jeff Zucker.

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aggiehawg said:

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Defense attorney Todd Blanche asked Michael Cohen, "by the way did you tell people you were recording them?"
"No sir," Cohen replied.
Blanche followed up and asked if people asked Cohen if he was recording them and he told them he wasn't.
"I don't remember that specifically. It's not illegal in New York," Cohen said.
Trump has his body shifted toward the witness stand as he's listening.

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Trump attorney Todd Blanche asks Michael Cohen whether there are 95 "secret recordings" on his cell phone, which Cohen confirms.

Cohen recalls one of the recorded conversations was with former CNN President Jeff Zucker.

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TexAg1987 said:

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aggiehawg said:

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Defense attorney Todd Blanche asked Michael Cohen, "by the way did you tell people you were recording them?"
"No sir," Cohen replied.
Blanche followed up and asked if people asked Cohen if he was recording them and he told them he wasn't.
"I don't remember that specifically. It's not illegal in New York," Cohen said.
Trump has his body shifted toward the witness stand as he's listening.

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Trump attorney Todd Blanche asks Michael Cohen whether there are 95 "secret recordings" on his cell phone, which Cohen confirms.

Cohen recalls one of the recorded conversations was with former CNN President Jeff Zucker.

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Gonna piss off CNN now.

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Trump attorney Todd Blanche asks Michael Cohen whether there are 95 "secret recordings" on his cell phone, which Cohen confirms.

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TexAg1987 said:

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aggiehawg said:

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Defense attorney Todd Blanche asked Michael Cohen, "by the way did you tell people you were recording them?"
"No sir," Cohen replied.
Blanche followed up and asked if people asked Cohen if he was recording them and he told them he wasn't.
"I don't remember that specifically. It's not illegal in New York," Cohen said.
Trump has his body shifted toward the witness stand as he's listening.

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Trump attorney Todd Blanche asks Michael Cohen whether there are 95 "secret recordings" on his cell phone, which Cohen confirms.

Cohen recalls one of the recorded conversations was with former CNN President Jeff Zucker.

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Gonna piss off CNN now.

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BMX Bandit said:

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Trump attorney Todd Blanche asks Michael Cohen whether there are 95 "secret recordings" on his cell phone, which Cohen confirms.

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there was a thread here once about secretly recording phone calls. I was surprised how many were okay with it.

its a sleezy practice in my opinion. not surprised cohen does it so often

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Michael Cohen is asked about the ethics of recording a conversation with Donald Trump.
After referencing the September 2016 recording that the jury heard, attorney Todd Blanche asks, "You understand that it is not ethical for a lawyer to record a conversation with their client."
Cohen agrees and then adds that recording a client conversation 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?" Blanche asks.
"That's correct," Cohen said.

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rump attorney Todd Blanche is now turning to the 2015 Trump Tower meeting and former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker.
He asks Cohen about his testimony that the power of the tabloid was its placement in supermarkets.
"Had you ever told anybody that, before your testimony this week?" Blanche asks.
"Not that I recall," Cohen says.
Blanche then suggested to Cohen, "You learned about what David Pecker testified about in this trial," implying he heard the line from Pecker.
Cohen disputed that assertion.

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The name Keith Schiller has come up in testimony several times during the hush money trial against Donald Trump but notably, the jury won't hear directly from Trump's former bodyguard.
The prosecution "may have tried to talk to him and they don't know exactly what Keith Schiller is going to say," Jeff Swartz, a former Florida judge, said on CNN, adding Schiller still is loyal to Trump and "he obviously has made that clear."
The defense has shown messages between Cohen and Schiller about prank calls Cohen received in October 2016. Shortly after these messages, the defense argued Cohen and Schiller talked on the phone about the prank calls, not the Daniels payment as Cohen previously testified.
Schiller was not on the witness list and is not expected to be called.
He's not the only person involved who isn't in court. Other witnesses have described former Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg as being at the center of the hush money payments to Karen McDougal and Stormy Daniels.

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"The real problem is that if you don't put him on, he's another empty chair that goes along with Weisselberg," Swartz said on CNN. "These people know things, these people were part of things. Why didn't the state put them on? Why weren't they witnesses."

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During direct questioning from the prosecution, Cohen said Trump told him to meet with Weisselberg to work out how he was going to be reimbursed for the hush money payment to Daniels. He also said Weisselberg told Cohen he would be paid $420,000 over 12 months the payments that are at the center of the criminal charges.

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Now defense attorney Todd Blanche turns to American Media Inc.'s payment to former Trump Tower doorman Dino Sajudin to suppress his false claim that Trump had an alleged love child with a maid.
Blanche asked, "Money was paid to keep the story from getting out but the story was false, correct?"
"I believe so, yes," Cohen says
"Do you have any doubt in your mind it's false? Blanche asks.
"No sir," Cohen says.

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Michael Cohen is speaking in an even, slow tone, but is a bit halting at times as if he's choosing his words carefully.

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Todd Blanche asks Michael Cohen about his testimony that if the false story about the Trump Tower doorman came out it would have a "significant" impact on the campaign.

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"But the president didn't share your view, did he?" Donald Trump's attorney Todd Blanche asks.
'I'm not sure I agree with that," Cohen said.
"Didn't you previously tell the government that President Trump said he didn't think this story would hurt him?" Blanche asks.
"I would need to see that document please," Cohen says.

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Blanche then asks if Trump didn't "initially" think the story would hurt him.
Cohen agrees, "Initially, yes."

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Todd Blanche has moved to the September 2016 recording of the conversation between Michael Cohen and Donald Trump.

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Trump attorney Todd Blanche is once again challenging Cohen about his specific memory of phone calls a key issue regarding his recollection of discussing the Stormy Daniels story with Donald Trump.
Blanche asks how many calls Cohen was getting each day in 2016.
Cohen says 100, and Blanche says, for the purpose of a hypothetical, he'd go with 50 per day.
"So we're talking about, conservatively, 14,000 calls a year in 2016 and 2017?" Blanche asks. Cohen confirms.
So, Blanche continues, when Cohen testified on Monday and Tuesday about specific conversations he had with people including former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker, former editor Dylan Howard and President Trump, "You were not testifying from a specific recollection of that phone call, were you?"
Cohen insists that he was, "because these phone calls are things that I have been talking about for the last six years." They were "extremely important and all-consuming," so while he may not recall certain specific details, he remembers the overall conversation, Cohen continues.
Why this matters: Trump's defense has repeatedly challenged Cohen's memory of discussing the Stormy Daniels deal with the former president in an October 2016 phone call, which is a key piece of testimony for the prosecution.
The defense is highlighting the sheer number of calls Cohen was fielding at the time, and have tried to point out inconsistencies in his memory of other calls. They've also grilled Cohen about whether he's only recalling things based on materials shown to him by prosecutors.
Cohen says he has used the documents to "jog his memory," but not relied on them wholesale.

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Michael Cohen's former attorney Bob Costello could be called by Trump's defense team as a witness during their case, according to a source familiar with the defense team's strategy.

Costello testified Wednesday in front of a House Judiciary subcommittee, consistently criticized his former client and said said "virtually every statement" Cohen made on the stand about Costello was a lie.

Following the testimony, Trump's team reached out to Costello.

For weeks, there was a general consensus among Trump's defense team that Costello would not be called to testify during his hush money criminal trial.

According to several sources familiar with the matter, there has been a change in mentality around Costello being called as a witness. Sources also say his name has been mentioned a number of times in recent conversations about the defense. Plans are fluid however, and nothing has been finalized.
Costello previously appeared as the only defense witness before the grand jury investigating the case in March 2023.

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Michael Cohen discussed how he dealt with stories about Trump in the media and he detailed some of the 95 secret recordings he had on his phone.
Here are the highlights of his testimony:
Relationship with the media: Cohen answered a series of questions on how he dealt with the media.

• Cohen testified that he worked hard to get positive stories about Trump in the news. He said the former president would "blow up" if he didn't get positive stories in the press.
• Cohen said he recorded about 40 phone conversations with reporters and stopped after the 2016 election.
• He confirmed he has a strong relationship with New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman.

Recordings: Cohen said he didn't tell people he was recording them, which is not illegal in New York, as it's a one-party recording consent state. Here are some key points:

• Cohen revealed there are 95 recordings on his cell phone.
• One of the recorded calls was with former CNN President Jeff Zucker.
• He recorded a September 2016 conversation with Trump and the defense questioned the ethics of recording a call with a client.

Stormy Daniels story reaction: Cohen said Trump said he was worried about what his family would think and "the brand" when a post about Stormy Daniels went up on the gossip site thedirty.com.

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They're taking a break in the courtroom.
The judge has asked an attorney for both sides to join him in the robing room.
He wants them present to talk to a juror who said they have an appointment next Thursday afternoon, which could affect proceedings.

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“unveiling of “The Diks of Hazard”
Alvin Bragg, Judge Engoron, Judge Merchen, Jack Smith. pic.twitter.com/qs1j8IlfBa

— Scott LoBaido (@ScottLoBaido) May 16, 2024

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Michael Cohen says he got an identity theft call from a bank that cut off the 2016 recording with Donald Trump.

He testifies that although he and Trump continued speaking after he got the call, he did not restart the recording.

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aggiehawg said:

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Michael Cohen says he got an identity theft call from a bank that cut off the 2016 recording with Donald Trump.

He testifies that although he and Trump continued speaking after he got the call, he did not restart the recording.

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Tramp96 said:

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aggiehawg said:

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Michael Cohen says he got an identity theft call from a bank that cut off the 2016 recording with Donald Trump.

He testifies that although he and Trump continued speaking after he got the call, he did not restart the recording.

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Well that sure in convenient.

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Has it been documented what the number was that called him? I'm sure it was a bank as I'd have to believe he's been coached by the prosecution on this matter.

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Trump seems in good spirits smiling with his attorneys before the jury enters.

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Defense attorney Todd Blanche resumes his cross-examination of Michael Cohen, by saying, "I want to talk for a few minutes about the $130,000 payment you made to Stormy Daniels."

"Yes sir," Cohen says.

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aggiehawg said:

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LOL.

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Blanche asks Michael Cohen about the interest of ABC News in Stormy Daniels' story, inquiring about who Keith Davidson was speaking to at the news outlet about the story.
"I'm actually blanking on his name," Cohen says, before remembering it was John Santucci.
Cohen said Santucci "used to come to the office quite a bit."
So when Cohen heard ABC News through Santucci was fighting for Daniels' story, he recalls he was surprised.
"I was shocked that John Santucci actually did, I meaning he had spent quite of bit of time following the Trump campaign and then of course he denied that they were involved," he said.

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Todd Blanche asks whether Michael Cohen believed that Stormy Daniels was extorting Donald Trump.

Judge Juan Merchan overrules an objection.
"Yes, I recall making a statement like that," Cohen says. "That they were extorting Mr. Trump."

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Now referring to the settlement with Stormy Daniels, attorney Todd Blanche asks, "Make no mistake, this was a completely legal binding contract, correct?"
"Yes sir," Michael Cohen says.

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Blanche referenced the agreement between "Peggy Peterson" and "David Dennison" pseudonyms for Donald Trump and Daniels asking whether these sorts of agreements are common.
"A non-disclosure agreement, an NDA, a settlement between two parties, happens all the time?" he asks. "Yes," Cohen says.
When asked, Cohen confirms he still understands it to be a proper, legally binding contract.
"And there's nothing illegal about a settlement contract between two parties, both of whom have lawyers?" Blanche also asks. Cohen agrees.

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Sharpshooter said:

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aggiehawg said:

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LOL.

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Shallow Deep; but, allowed.

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Casual Cynic said:

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So why would the records be falsified to cover up a completely legal agreement?

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