The prosecution has rested its case in former President Donald Trump’s criminal trial in New York. The main action came with the conclusion of the testimony of Trump’s former attorney, Michael Cohen.
AILSA CHANG, HOST:
The prosecution has rested its case in former President Trump’s criminal trial in New York. The main action of the day came with the conclusion of the testimony of Trump’s former personal attorney, Michael Cohen. NPR’s Andrea Bernstein was in the courtroom and joins us now. Hi, Andrea.
ANDREA BERNSTEIN, BYLINE: Hey, Ailsa.
CHANG: OK, so when we left off last week, I know that the defense seemed to believe it had caught Michael Cohen in a lie, right? Like, this is when he was saying he spoke to Trump at a key moment in arranging the payoff to Stormy Daniels. How did prosecutors handle that?
BERNSTEIN: Yeah, that’s right. So when Cohen testified for the prosecution, he said he’d made a call to Trump’s bodyguard, Keith Schiller, at about 8:00 on the evening of October 24, 2016, to get Schiller to pass his phone to Trump, so Cohen could tell him he was about to finalize the payment for Stormy Daniels. But defense attorney Todd Blanche brought into evidence text messages that showed Cohen and Schiller texting about a 14-year-old prankster right about that time. Blanche called Cohen’s testimony a lie.
Today, prosecutors entered into evidence a photo showing Trump and Schiller together at a rally minutes before the call took place. And then prosecutor Susan Hoffinger asked Cohen if he had a number of conversations with Trump during this period about the payoff to Stormy Daniels – answer, yes. She asked some in person, some by phone, some longer, some shorter – the answer was yes to all, 20 conversations all told, Cohen said. Any doubt Mr. Trump gave you the final sign off? No doubt, Cohen said.
CHANG: All right. Well, backing up just a little bit, did the defense shake Cohen in other ways?
BERNSTEIN: Well, I’d break (ph) it into three categories. No. 1, Cohen was doing a lot in October 2016, everything from arranging various private business deals to handling a matter for Tiffany Trump, Donald Trump’s younger daughter. So how could he really remember talking to Donald Trump about Stormy Daniels? No. 2, Cohen is making money through books, podcasts and even potentially a proposed TV show called “The Fixer.” And No. 3, Cohen was doing some legal work for Donald Trump.
CHANG: All right. So how did Cohen respond to all of that?
BERNSTEIN: He was preternaturally calm, saying, yes, sir; no, sir. I did lie. I did do these unsavory and sometimes illegal things. But also, he held firm. He kept Trump informed every step of the way of the payoff. Trump approved the payoff. He approved the reimbursement plan. He signed his name to all those checks for $35,000. He was in on everything, Cohen said. Interestingly, the defense did not ask Cohen at all about a meeting with Donald Trump and his chief financial officer, where they discussed the reimbursement scheme, according to Cohen, or about a meeting in the White House where Cohen said they discussed the payments.
CHANG: OK, so what happened then in the testimony?
BERNSTEIN: So after eliciting testimony from Cohen that his entire life and his family’s had been turned upside down – Cohen seemed to choke up when he said this – the prosecutor stood and said, Your Honor, the people rest. The defense called Robert Costello, an attorney who Cohen believed was pressuring him to stay on Team Trump. Interestingly, while the defense was trying to prove – or to disprove rather a pressure campaign, Trump brought with him today a giant entourage, among them, Chuck Zito, the former head of the Hells Angel motorcycle gang, and Bernie Kerik, the former NYPD commissioner who went to prison for tax fraud and obstruction of justice and who Trump pardoned.
CHANG: Right.
BERNSTEIN: At one point in the questioning of the lawyer, Robert Costello, Costello said audibly, after Judge Juan Merchan has substained (ph) an objection, geez. And Judge Merchan said, excuse me? And Costello said, strike it, strike it. Then the judge sent the jury out of the room and said, you don’t give me the side eye. You don’t roll your eyes. Are you staring me down now? At which point he cleared the court room before questioning resumed. His testimony continues tomorrow. And we learned next week – we learned today that the case goes to the jury next week.
CHANG: Oh, little drama today. All right, that is NPR’s Andrea Bernstein in New York. Thank you so much, Andrea.
BERNSTEIN: Thank you.
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