Trump's Lawyer Utterly Tanks During Additional Questioning Of Michael Cohen At Trial

[Tom of Temecula]

Well, things were going seemingly quite poorly for Trump lawyer Todd Blanche this Thursday as questioning of former Trump ally Michael Cohen continued amid the ongoing New York City trial of the ex-president on charges of falsifying business records.

Legal expert Norm Eisen was among those providing updates. “OMG, Blanche asks if can approach and discuss all the objections sustained,” Eisen relayed after a series of objections from prosecutors received the judge’s backing. “Judge: (quietly, shaking head) no.Smackdown. Blanche is not up for this.”

Earlier portions of Cohen’s time under questioning specifically from Trump’s defense team also went poorly for Donald’s lawyers, with — again — Blanche being upbraided by the judge after some of his initial questions focused on alleged animosity from Cohen towards… Blanche, rather than the defendant (Trump). The judge put Blanche on the spot at the time, insisting that the questions needed to focus someplace other than alleged bias against the lawyers.

“I did not think it could get worse that Tuesday’s start to cross for Blanche,” Eisen added. “Maybe its not worse, but it ain’t much better. He needed to come out swinging, impose his will on Cohen, rattle him & make impression on jury. Not happening.”

https://bipartisanreport.com/2024/05/16/trumps-lawyer-utterly-tanks-during-additional-questioning-of-michael-cohen-at-trial/

[Irish_Dem]

1. The judge already admonished Blanche for making it personal.

Then Blanche does it again today.

And Blanche has been widely criticized for his bad cross examination
and he is doing the same thing again today.

There is something really wrong with Blanche.
I don't know what it is.

[Johonny]

2. Maybe he hates Trump and wants him convicted :)

[Irish_Dem]

5. I am beginning to wonder the same.

He is supposed to be a good attorney.
And he is deliberately doing the opposite of competent legal work.
Even when the judge keeps trying to help him.

[ms liberty]

11. I wonder if this is the strategy the defendant is demanding. It fits his style of "warfare"

Which is how he (the defendant) views this whole revolting mess. "They hit me, I hit back harder" isn't that his go-to shtick that he's bragged about for years?

[Irish_Dem]

12. Yes but Blanche keeps making it about himself, not Trump.

This is not what Trump would want.

[ancianita]

32. Blanche is making it about Cohen's lying under oath elsewhere. In summation he will pitch that even Cohen's

Last edited Thu May 16, 2024, 01:40 PM - Edit history (1)

testimony in this trial, based on his lies to Congress and elsewhere, is not to be believed.

But Blanche fails to disprove the smoking gun document.
If he tries to impugn Cohen's testimony, one can still suppose that the smoking gun document Cohen was maybe/maybe not present for, the document itself is still grounds enough for a common sense verdict of guilty.

Prosecution should be able to best judge whether or not Cohen's testimony will convince the jury of his honesty under oath.

[chicoescuela]

24. Isn't the defense's theory is that it only takes one juror?

Seems to me that this might work for tsf.

[Irish_Dem]

26. That is a risky strategy.

Hoping for just one wayward jury member.

It would have been a better strategy just to do a good job and
rebut the witnesses in a professional straightforward way.

[chicoescuela]

28. I agree with you but the facts of the case don't seem to favor tsf.

[Irish_Dem]

29. They had a better chance of flipping one jury member

by doing a good job refuting the prosecution witnesses.
They could have at least tried to create reasonable doubt.

Instead of looking like fools and humiliating themselves.

[Traurigkeit]

35. Donald John Trump HAS NEVER raised its tiny hands to hit a Male or Strong Confident Female. A born and raised Coward

[NanaCat]

41. But he has raised his hands to a male

At the military academy where he attended high school, Donny grew taller, more muscular and tougher. Struck with a broomstick during a fight, he tried to push a fellow cadet out a second-floor window, only to be thwarted when two other students intervened.

{snip}

A fierce competitor, Trump could erupt in anger, pummeling another boy or smashing a baseball bat if he made an out, two childhood neighbors said.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/young-donald-trump-military-school/2016/06/22/f0b3b164-317c-11e6-8758-d58e76e11b12_story.html

No paywall: https://archive.ph/xEkHC

[Traurigkeit]

45. I've a bridge in Brooklyn I can sell you

[Wonder Why]

22. He doesn't think Trump's check will be honored by the bank?

[Irish_Dem]

27. That might explain Blanche's constant sour look.

[NanaCat]

42. My mum's attorney in his defence lawyer years

Would take only cashier's checks from certain clients. You know, forgers, counterfeiters, confidence game hucksters, and so on.

[Traurigkeit]

46. ex-presidents that have 7 or more bankruptcies in their past and future

[Talitha]

8. "There is something really wrong with Blanche. I don't know what it is."

He's doing exactly what Dump tells him to?
That's all I can think of.

[Irish_Dem]

9. Yes one possibility.

A strong one.

But Blanche could at least pretend to give a good defense from time to time.

And the fact he keeps making the case personal looks like he is a flawed
human being and attorney.

[SleeplessinSoCal]

33. could it be a ploy for mistrial?

Also Convictions can be overturned if there was bad legal representation

If there is a book of dirty legal tricks, they have it.

[Irish_Dem]

39. I have wondered about this too.

Now that he has gone against specific judge instructions this theory is more plausible.

[SleeplessinSoCal]

47. Because we have become so misinformed and pitted against each other

The whole country has learned how to cheat the law and Roy Cohn the heck out of our system. Crooks, cheats and thugs instead of asking what you can do for your country. And after the pandemic nearly destroyed our sanity and ability to discern good advice from bad, we are just spinning our wheels.

[Irish_Dem]

49. Good points.

Yes the US is descending into chaos, division, violence.
This is the result of a deliberate strategy on the part of the PutinGOP.

Putin of course wishes to weaken the US and is using a divide and conquer strategy.
The GOP is only too happy to help Putin, they want permanent power and access to all
US financial assets.

[SleeplessinSoCal]

50. I pick up on various positive reports in rural areas

i.e. when purchasing a home for under $250,000 you qualify for no down payment.

https://www.usa.gov/buying-home-programs

Building under infrastructure bill (Build Back Better) noticeable in rural areas.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Build_Back_Better_Plan

As well as the IRA: https://www.forbes.com/sites/kensilverstein/2023/08/20/the-inflation-reduction-act-gives-rural-america-renewed-faith-and-jobs/?sh=1da313eb21dd

And will it help change minds to stand up for democracy? Doubtful, as it's pure emotion, zero facts.

https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2024/04/05/white-rural-rage-myth-00150395

[wnylib]

36. But why would tfg tell Blanche to focus on things that

Cohen said about Blanche?

I can only think of one reason, but it's far-fetched. Trump might claim that the "unfair" gag order prevented his attorneys from focusing on Trump. He might say, "The trial was rigged. My lawyer couldn't talk about what Cohen said about me or focus on how untrustworthy Cohen is because of the gag order." Then he might try to appeal by claiming that the judge handicapped his lawyers from giving a full defense, so the the conviction should be overturned (if he's convicted).

But Merchan is telling Blanche to focus on Trump, not himself, so that gag interference claim about in his defense wouldn't hold up.

[johnnyfins]

34. Heh. Maybe Blanche is laying back because

The fix is in?

[Irish_Dem]

40. The evidence is so strong it is hard to imagine

How the outcome could be tampered with.

But this is trump
So anything is possible.

[Beartracks]

3. "make impression on jury" -- Well, he may have done THAT.

====================

[Rebl2]

4. If found

guilty (tfg) will appeal and say he had bad representation, in other words lousy lawyers.

[Irish_Dem]

6. Trump may have a point.

His attorneys have been awful.

Many of us here with no legal training could have done a better job
and we despise Trump.

At the very least we would not be pissing off the Judge all the time.

[haele]

17. That's what I suspect. The "since we can't delay, we can appeal right after" defense.

Problem with that, he needs to have lawyers standing by to be able to appeal immediately after, or he risks some time in jail. It's a strategy that might work in a mobster's mind.
I hope Blanche got his money in advance for being a fall guy; TFG never pays "losers", no matter how much work and reputation they give him.

Haele

[EYESORE 9001]

7. I wonder if rump will call for a mistrial

Perhaps shart blanche is wielding incompetence as a weapon.

[onenote]

16. He won't. This has been addressed multiple times.

For example: https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=18937775

[Wednesdays]

10. FWIW, CNN's legal staff is thinking Cohen's testimony is falling apart

"He goes off the rails": Cohen's testimony may undermine the case, legal analysts say

From CNN's Antoinette Radford

Donald Trump's defense has frustrated his former attorney, Michael Cohen, after questioning about his testimony in his own previous criminal trial.

Cohen was sentenced to three years in prison in December 2018 for crimes that included arranging payments during the 2016 election to silence women who claimed affairs with Trump after the President’s onetime “fixer” attributed his offenses to “my duty to cover up his dirty deeds.”

On the stand today, Cohen called US District Judge William Pauley III "corrupt."

CNN legal analyst Elie Honig said Cohen’s frustration while discussing the charges against him are where he begins to come apart under questioning.

“This is where he loses it. He goes off the rails. The fact that he plead guilty to tax and bank fraud makes him so angry. He can’t hide it in his public appearances," Honig said.

“He’s pretty calm and casual about the other stuff, but this sets him off.”

CNN’s Laura Coates also suggested that the jury may start to question Cohen as a result of this cross-examination.

Legal analyst Adam Kaufmann added that the defense was undermining how Cohen comes across to the jury.

Speaking to CNN, Kaufmann noted that Cohen was essentially saying “everyone in the world. Everyone in this system was corrupt – except me. The judge, the prosecutors, it was all out to get me. And that’s not going to fly with the jury.”

He said the tactic made Cohen come across as defensive, which "really undermines the ‘I lied before, I was bad before but now I’ve fessed up to everything I’ve done, I’ve owned it'" explanation.

https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/trump-hush-money-trial-05-16-24/index.html

If the jury thinks Cohen is lying, the whole trial goes down the tubes.

[Mr.Bill]

14. Not really.

To believe Cohen is lying they would have to believe a number of other witnesses are also lying. I don't think that would happen. When ten people tell the same story you don't think well, one of them might be lying, so I don't believe any of them now.

[meow2u3]

23. The jury would have to ignore all the corroborating evidence to find Trump not guilty

or hang the jury.

[Boomerproud]

43. The media is saying Cohen had a bad day.

He's being "grilled".

[Kaleva]

48. Which sources?

[Vinca]

13. I need to be talked off the ledge. Some legal talking head said something this morning about the

Last edited Thu May 16, 2024, 12:32 PM - Edit history (1)

checks Trump signed not being business records because they were from a personal account. It's not illegal to pay off porn stars and if the case hinges on the falsification of business records, doesn't the Great Orange Criminal ending up walking on this?

[sybylla]

19. They set up phony LLCs to handle the payments and claim tax deductible expenses.

This hid the fact that these payments were for the hush money scheme that were also hiding truth from the voting public, which is what the big legal issue is here.

It's business fraud. It's election interference. Trump, his accountant, and Cohen made this all happen. It's what Cohen already served time for (plus contempt).

The origin of the funds does not matter as NDAs are legally fine.

[colorado_ufo]

20. It all turns on intent.

It doesn't matter if Trump reimbursed him with antique furniture. The intent was to cover it up to assist his campaign.

[InstantGratification]

21. I think that is reading too much into the fact that it was refered to as the "DJT" account

That doesn't make it a personal account, that just makes it an account within the Trump Org that only he could access. (which was the testimony the 2 Trump Org accountants gave earlier in the trial) If it were an actual personal account, there would have been no need to account for it in Trump Org books.

[ScratchCat]

15. They've reached the final stages of desperation

Where they are likely angling for a mistrial to delay a guilty verdict on Trump's record.

[live love laugh]

18. The defense is bankrupt. Which is why the red ties despomob is targeting the trial now.

[Blue Owl]

25. Suck it, Sick Fuck

[a kennedy]

30. all I keep thinking of is just one gawd damn juror can tank this whole trial.

🤬 🤬 🤬

[captain queeg]

31. I'd love to see the jury only taking a couple hours deliberation when the time comes.

You know TSF will appeal, but it would make statement that his guilt is so obvious.

[Traurigkeit]

38. Take no more than 1 hour or include a good lunch hour too.

[Traurigkeit]

37. There is still - Redirect

[Boomerproud]

44. Here's hoping that goes well. The prosecutors have been doing a good job.

Nt