It's fascinating stuff.
And I
have to say, I'm still kind of reeling
from the revelation that Michael Cohen
stole money from the Trump Organization
and that wasn't
at least to my knowledge,
that the prosecution didn't get
that get that out earlier,
because it's not as though
the prosecution's
going to be helped by further
evidence that Michael Cohen
is a shady character.
I mean,
let's I'll
get to the newest stuff in a second.
But like I mean, what's this you
what's your reaction to that news?
Because that was just kind of stunning.
I'm shocked
that we are hearing it
for the first time on day three
of cross-examination of Michael Cohen
that the prosecution
did not take the sting out,
did not find it,
because it goes to
the heart of the actual case.
It's not just about establishing him
as a liar.
They've done that.
The prosecution fronted that.
We knew that he has convictions.
But going to the heart
of what you were telling your employer
about what
money you were owed
and the extent of it,
we're talking about $420,000.
We've already seen the paper.
This is like 15 bucks.
15 bucks.
And I mean, if
if you go to the table,
you can break down
what was already known.
We've known about what
the breakdown of the money is.
$130,000 to Daniels and her attorney.
You've got $50,000. That's Redfin.
This is important here.
This was mentioned today
that he only gave Redfin $20,000
and he handed them in a brown paper
bag, by the way, just in case.
And just one quick note.
Redfin
is this political organization
that apparently,
according to Michael Cohen,
helped them goose these bogus Internet
polls about
which candidate
is in the lead, etc., etc..
And also,
according to Lanny Davis, provided
adoring fans for Trump's announcement
of his candidacy in June 2015.
Really important point to add why,
they say, is they only got 20,000 of it.
And even though the bill was for
50 $50,000 and you have $180,000,
which is again,
the double of these two combinations,
and then a bonus for Cohen,
remember
all that we have so far to link
Donald Trump to these payments
in part
is a statement that quote unquote,
he approved it.
We also know
we have said
that we have information
about where the checks were,
how it was signed.
But remember, Mcconney,
that was one of the controllers
of the Trump organization taking notes
from Allen Weisselberg
about the money payment.
So this is part of
what we're talking about.
Why this is so important here
is because
the heart of the matter
is that Donald Trump was complicit
cause to have this happen
and knew about the money
that was going and why.
If they 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 suggest
that Donald Trump
had no idea what he was doing.
So this is
one of the things that's going on
right now
is Todd Blanchard
saying you stole
from the Trump
Organization based on this expected
reimbursement from Redfin.
In other words, he's
telling the Trump Organization,
I need $50,000 to pay off Redfin.
And he actually only gives
Redfin's $20,000.
He pockets the other $30,000
to cover up this $130,000 payment.
You lied to Weisselberg
about how much you needed
for Redfin's plan to ask, correct?
Cohen says
Blanch is focused
on the retainer agreement.
So the conversation that you had with Mr.
Weisselberg
about the
retainer agreement
and the fact that there would not be what
and the fact that there would not be one.
All took place in the meeting
you had along the meeting with Trump
planning to ask. Yes, sir, said Cohen.
If you would have had one,
would you have had more between
you and your client
planning to ask correct this?
Cohen
Who would that
have been planning to ask Mr.
Trump? Cohen said.
Just now, showing
emails to Cohen from Allen Weisselberg
on January 31st, 2017
with the subject Note
and Mortgage Modification Agreement
for Trump Park Avenue Condominium.
Thank you.
Weisselberg says to him,
You never stopped on for
stop by for a bro hug.
Anybody? Please.
Anyway, please
prepare the agreement discussed
so we can pay monthly.
Weisselberg writes
points, pulls up an email
from weisselberg to Jeff Mcconney.
That is the his right hand man.
Weisselberg's right hand man
that Laura was just talking about,
noting that the checks
were signed off
by donald trump
jr and eric trump asking
why they signed and not trump
because they were the trustees,
Cohen said.
Blanch confirms with Cohen
that his email signature
after Trump took office
announced his title
and every message he sent,
it always said Personal attorney
to President Donald J.
Trump plans continued his job change
meaning President Jobs change,
jobs change years didn't.
Cohen are correct, Cohen confirmed.
So this is a I suppose, like
a fruit of the of the poison grape.
I'm botching the metaphor,
but the idea like you are saying,
they are basing this entire thing
on these on these these
these memos, these bills.
That's the documentary evidence
that people like Lanny Davis been saying
you don't have to support.
You don't have to believe
Michael Cohen believe these fellows.
And now we find out there's bogus stuff
in these bills, too,
that Donald Trump
might not have known about,
certainly didn't know about.
And that's why
this is to use another metaphor.
This is a bomb.
This is really important.
This is a bomb dropped
in the middle of the prosecution's case.
Two reasons.
One, Michael Cohen
was stealing from Donald Trump.
He was lying to people
about what he was doing with money.
He pocketed at least the $30,000
by lying to Weisselberg
twice, really, by the way,
because remember, they double
that to avoid taxes.
So $60,000, which, by the way,
this is crushing
to the prosecution's credibility
because the prosecution did not ask
Michael Cohen about that on direct.
And they haven't made him
plead guilty to larceny, which this is.
Which this is. So let's start with that.
The other reason it's
so important
is the money
that Michael Cohen
stole from under Donald Trump's nose.
By his own admission today,
by his own
admission, was part of the $420,000
that Michael Cohen was reimbursed
for Stormy Daniels.
So the heart of the prosecution's case
is that whole setup
where they were going to repay
Michael Cohen $420,000
to reimburse it for Stormy Daniels.
That was all done
for start to pay Stormy Daniels.
Trump knew it.
Trump knew every penny.
That's why he's guilty.
Now it turns out
Trump is getting robbed by his own guy.
Yeah, I mean, my question here is
why has no one coached
Michael Cohen
or why does Michael Cohen
not say when asked on this on cross?
I don't recall.
I mean, isn't that kind of the universe?
Apparently, he does recall,
though, and has a right to lie.
But Tim, is this is this
I mean, we've been wondering all along.
All you need is
one juror
to say, I have reasonable doubt.
What's your
I mean, what's your assessment
of whether or not
any reasonable juror
would have reasonable doubt
based on this information?
I think this is significant.
For reasonable doubt purposes,
you now have two major issues.
You know, one of the phone calls
that wasn't,
you know, what he originally talked about
and the calculation of the money,
that wasn't
what he originally talked about.
And it's not only, you know,
going to his credibility,
but it also goes to Alvin Bragg's
officer's credibility,
because how did they not get this out
ahead of time?
The exact thing and no idea.
And you have two different things.
You know,
when it comes to the the Schiller call,
they're going to argue the jury.
How did they not know that?
Why did we have to bring it up?
We got it from
the texts that we got
from Discovery from them.
And apparently Michael
Cohen said they never asked him about it.
They didn't figure it out.
Now, he says COHEN
Cohen says he has told
multiple prosecutors
with the DA's office about it.
Correct, Assuming that's true.
And we don't
you know, again,
we don't know if that's true,
But he's saying he told them about it.
They didn't bring it up.
This is
this is worse
because this is something
that he discussed with prosecutors.
Prosecutors knew that the evidence
they were putting on was tainted
by this additional crime
and they didn't talk.
I have a devil's advocate question here.
Is it possible
that the prosecution
can come back and redirect
and and somehow tie
what looks like him
just flatly stealing money
from the Trump Organization
to him
paying himself back
in order to cover up the crime?
That's alleged in this case,
They have to make every effort
to rehabilitate Michael Cohen.
They have to do so.
They also had to rehabilitate
to two terms point as well,
their larger credibility
that they may have.
A juror could be thinking,
why didn't I hear this before?
You're giving me a witness.
You've told me about this person.
You left out
that after going through 90 minutes
of all the different documents.
But I want to refocus
everyone for a second on
what the government has to prove
and why this is such a bombshell
as we've been talking about.
Go to the tabloid on this
because a check
that they have to actually prove,
everyone bring out the tabloid.
They have to prove that there
was an intent to defraud.
Here is the part.
Here is the biggest part of this.
If you are the defendant in this case,
this is what they have to prove.
You made and caused a false entry
in the business records.
If Michael Cohen was the one to falsify
the number of documents there that he did
not was not aware
of what he was actually spending
or what he was actually paying.
Well, then you've got an issue.
Remember, this is all coming down
to 11 checks to Cohen, 11 invoices
submitted by Cohen
and then 12 entries in Trump's ledger.
Now, one thing that they can do
in the direct
on the actual rehabilitation
and certainly in jury instructions
is that you have the ability
to give an instruction in New York
law that talks about intentionally
aiding
the law in New York defines it
as you may have caused somebody to do
or that you may be liable
if you were the one in some respect
or another to actually help
somebody to do the crime itself.
This is important,
but you have to make sure
that you can still prove
that there was the intent
to defraud the intent to modify.
If Michael Cohen
was the one to falsify it.
You're saying political decision
that Trump had to make
for his defense counsel.
On the one hand,
they spent a great deal of time
in his books, right.
Talking about
how he was one to sign the checks.
No detail is too small to consider.
Here's what every any billionaire knows.
You run a business this way.
You have to know what's really going on
inside of your business.
Well, he has to admit the
they of his defense
that he was hustled by Michael Cohen.
He did not know what was going on that
so he had a problem.
I just have to say,
this is prosecutorial malpractice.
This is a failure by prosecutors
to either know this
and not raise it
with Michael Cohen on his direct
or to not know it,
which would be Michael
Cohen's lying right now.
And here's just we don't know that yet.
That they have not that they
that they've truly failed to rebuild.
I mean, to call it
misconduct is quite a sweeping
misconduct.
It's
to not bring it up.
It's a
not if you're a juror
and you're sitting there
and you're thinking,
well, we're about this trial's
almost over
and we're finding out that this document
that is the crux of the matter has
the term is fruit of the poisonous tree,
which is a doctrine
that I'm not referring to
because that has to do
with like an illegal search.
But the idea that this is
this is what the case
is about, this document
and what you're telling me
that there's lies in here
from Michael Cohen
that you didn't tell me about until now.
Exactly.
And to be clear,
I said malpractice,
meaning terrible practice, not unethical.
That would be misconduct.
The crux of the prosecution's
case is Donald Trump
knew what that $420,000 was for.
It was for Stormy Daniels.
Michael Cohen. Read him in on all of it.
He was fine with it.
Turns out
Michael Cohen was stealing
from Donald Trump within that $420,000.
And Donald Trump
not only did no,
he certainly never
would have agreed to be robbed
by Michael Cohen.