Donald Trump's criminal defense team in the criminal hush money cover-up case in New York is likely to fall into a "trap" set by his ex-Trump lawyer Michael Cohen and the prosecution, a former prosecutor said on Sunday.
Trump is facing allegations that he falsified business records to hide a payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels, purportedly for the purpose of quieting her ahead of the 2016 presidential election. The jury is set to hear closing arguments this coming week, with Trump's defense hinging on an argument that his former attorney and "fixer" Cohen is not a credible witness.
But that tactic could prove to be a problem for Trump, according to former federal prosecutor Glenn Kirschner, who calls the dilemma "The hidden trap for Trump’s defense team in Michael Cohen’s testimony."
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"By his own admission at trial, Cohen has lied, cheated and stolen — including from the Trump Organization. That may seem like a problem for the prosecution. Yet in my experience, it is anything but. The very fact that Cohen himself admitted to his prior lies and criminal activity may very well lead the jury to credit his testimony and use it to convict Trump," the expert wrote.
He added that Cohen as "a nearly perfect cooperating witness."
"He was in direct communication with the bigger criminal fish. He even had a covert audio recording that helped prove Trump was involved in the corrupt scheme to hide damaging information for political advantage," Kirschner wrote for MSNBC Sunday. "Cohen testified that he committed crimes at the direction of Trump and, importantly, for the benefit of Trump."
He goes on to describe that a "perceived weakness" of Cohen, namely that he stole $30,000 from Trump while employed by him, is something he "would turn into a strength."
"In closing arguments, defense attorneys frequently fall into a trap of urging the jury to disbelieve a cooperating witness’ testimony that incriminates their client but believe the same testimony when it incriminates the witness," he then added. "The defense attorney likely will tell the jury, 'You can’t credit Cohen’s testimony because he’s a thief, having stolen from the very person he, as an attorney, was supposed to zealously represent.' That argument carries some superficial appeal."
This, Kirschner concluded, is how he would refute the argument.
"Ladies and gentlemen, who is it that proved to you that Michael Cohen stole $30,000 from the Trump organization? It was Michael Cohen himself, in his sworn testimony! And here’s the important part — Cohen’s testimony about his theft was uncorroborated. No other witness came in here and testified about it. There was no audio recording exposing it. There were no business records confirming it," the expert wrote. "So the defense is telling you to credit Michael Cohen’s uncorroborated testimony when he tells you he stole $30,000 from Trump. Yet, when Cohen’s testimony is corroborated by other witnesses — by audio recordings, by phone records, by business ledger entries, and by Trump-signed checks falsely purporting to be reimbursement for legal services — when Cohen is corroborated eight ways to Sunday, the defense urges you to disbelieve his testimony?"**
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