Judge hands Trump 'pure gold' by attacking key witness in hush money case: analysis

Michael Cohen, the lead prosecution witness in Donald Trump's upcoming criminal hush money trial, was publicly chastised Wednesday over accusations of perjury in a motion that could prove "pure gold" for the former president's legal team, according to a new analysis of recent court filings.

New York federal Judge Jesse Furman Wednesday denied Cohen's request for an early end to his "supervised release" following his prison term on tax evasion charges, and cited his recent testimony in Trump's civil fraud trial to explain why.

"It is perverse to cite the testimony... as evidence of Cohen’s 'commitment to upholding the law,'" writes Furman. "At a minimum, Cohen’s ongoing and escalating efforts to walk away from his prior acceptance of responsibility for his crimes are manifest evidence of the ongoing need for specific deterrence."

The testimony in question saw Cohen fielding character attacks in October from Trump's attorney Alina Habba, who grilled the former fixer on his 2018 guilty plea in U.S. District Judge William Henry Pauley's courtroom.

“Did you lie to Judge Pauley when you said that you were guilty of the counts that you said under oath that you were guilty of?" Habba asked. "Did you lie to Judge Pauley?"

“Yes,” Cohen replied.

Furman wrote of Cohen's testimony: “It gives rise to two possibilities: one, Cohen committed perjury when he pleaded guilty before Judge Pauley or, two, Cohen committed perjury in his October 2023 testimony."

In the latter case, Justice Arthur Engoron ruled Cohen's testimony was credible before issuing his $464 million ruling for civil fraud liability against Trump.

In the former case, Cohen has completed his prison sentence and, after Furman's ruling, must continue to check in with a federal probation officer until November 2024.

While this new ruling may appear a simple inconvenience, the Daily Beast noted Wednesday that Cohen is slated to return to court as a witness in Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's criminal case against Trump.

Bragg has accused Trump of falsifying business records to cover up $130,000 in cash channeled to adult film star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 presidential elections. Cohen is expected to testify about $420,000 he received as reimbursement for handling the hand-over.

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"[The ruling] calls into question the trustworthiness of the man who will serve as the Manhattan District Attorney’s lead witness just weeks before the former president faces his first ever criminal trial in New York City," writes Jose Pagliery.

"Furman’s timing is pure gold for Trump’s legal team, which is sure to employ the federal judge’s order at the former president’s upcoming trial...as an attempt to undermine Cohen’s reliability as a witness in front of jurors."

In a statement shared with Raw Story, Cohen’s defense attorney E. Danya Perry highlighted the positive — noting Furman opted not to pose sanctions over Artificial Intelligence-generated cases mistakenly cited in court records — and rebutted the negative.

"That characterization, although not a judicial determination, is both factually inaccurate and legally incorrect," Perry argued. "Judge Furman did not have a front seat to the testimony at the lengthy trial before Judge Engoron, who emphatically declared that 'Michael Cohen told the truth.'"

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