Trump’s Attorney Made Swiss Cheese Out of Michael Cohen’s Testimony, Raising Questions of Perjury
Former President Donald Trump’s defense attorney rebutted Michael Cohen’s testimony during a brutal cross-examination Thursday, which has legal commentators raising the possibility Cohen again committed perjury.
Defense attorney Todd Blanche confronted Cohen on his past lies under oath, including to Congress and a federal judge, asking him whether he took the same oath before testifying then as he did to testify in this trial: a pointed question aimed to raise doubts about his current claims. Cohen’s prospects took a turn for the worse in the final few minutes before lunch break, when Blanche point-blank accused Cohen of lying when he testified Tuesday that he had called Trump’s bodyguard, Keith Schiller, on Oct. 24, 2016, to discuss the matter of paying porn star Stormy Daniels.
“That was a lie!” Blanche nearly shouted at Cohen. “You did not talk to President Trump on that night,” Blanche said. “You talked to Keith Schiller.”
Blanche pointed to text messages Cohen sent minutes before the call asking how he should handle a 14-year-old’s harassing phone calls to him, to which Schiller responded “call me.”
Cohen said he believed he also spoke to Trump. Blanche pushed back, asking how that was possible on a call that only lasted just a minute and 36 seconds. (Read more from “Trump’s Attorney Made Swiss Cheese Out of Michael Cohen’s Testimony, Raising Questions of Perjury” HERE)
Photo credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr
