Donald Trump was pronounced guilty on Wednesday of all 34 charges in the New York criminal election interference case, also known as the hush-money case. His former fixer and attorney, Michael Cohen, who was a star witness in the case, shared his thoughts on the trial outcome.
‘Relieved’:
Commenting on the verdict, Cohen said he was “relieved.” In an interview with MSNBC, he said, “This is a six-year process within which for accountability to finally be had.”
Cohen emphasized that justice was not denied despite the lawsuit running for eight years. He sees the verdict as one of “accountability.” “It’s exactly what America needs right now. We need for accountability to be had by all those that break the law, because, as we like to continuously state, no one is above the law,” he added, saying Thursday’s verdict demonstrates that.
Impact On Trump:
Reflecting on how Trump might feel about the verdict, Cohen recalled his own feelings when Judge William Pauley sentenced him to 36 months in prison in late 2018. “You don’t feel good. Sentencing is terrible,” he said.
Cohen said he took a plea to protect his family. “I did what I had to protect my family,” he added. He noted that with Trump, it was very different. “Donald didn’t let it go in order to protect his family. He took it all the way,” he added. Cohen also criticized the disrespect shown by Trump and his lawyers toward Acting Justice of the New York State Supreme Court Juan Merchan, who presided over the case.
“I believe a lot of the antics that went on in the courtroom, whether it was by [Todd] Blanche or by Donald himself with the eye closing, the leaning back, the total disregard for the jury, I don’t think he engendered any positive feelings by anyone,” he said.
Trump’s Influence On Defense Strategy:
Cohen expressed a low opinion of Trump’s lawyer Blanche, calling him a “SLOAT” or “stupidest lawyer of all time.” He said, “You cannot listen to your client when you are trying to create a defense, a defense that is as important as this one is, the very first president of the United States, former president, to ever be charged with a crime, let alone convicted now on 34 counts.”
“It was definitively the stupidest lawyer of all time, worse than some of the other ones that he has in his orbit,” he added.
Cohen said that someone like his lawyer Danya Perry would never have listened to Trump’s desire for retribution or his desire to control how the case would proceed.
Hush-Money Case Vs. Other Criminal Cases:
Cohen acknowledged that while the hush-money case is substantively important, it does not hold equal weight to other cases such as the theft of nuclear secrets, the Mar-a-Lago document case, or the January 6 insurrection. “Nevertheless, this is an important case. It is a legitimate case,” he said.
Cohen would have preferred that New York District Attorney Alvin Bragg had brought the case a year earlier. “It’s an important case. It’s a relevant case. It is an illegal act that any one of us would have already been prosecuted for,” he said, adding, “And, again, since no one is above the law, Donald needed to be held accountable, just like any of us, just like I was held accountable.”
The former Trump attorney also mentioned that Trump had asked some Republicans who showed up at the court to pass a law whereby he cannot be held legally accountable for any crime. “I have never heard of anything like this. It’s — he has his own set of constitutional rights that none of us are afforded,” he said.
Cohen also suggested that Trump might fail this time in creating violence. “I don’t believe that the American people are as invested in him as he believes…..So no one’s going to go out there and do something stupid, especially, let’s say, here in New York,” he said.
Cohen concluded by predicting Trump’s reactions following the guilty charges. “He’s just going to blame everybody other than himself,” the ex-attorney said. “It’s the — Judge Merchan is corrupt, Judge [Arthur] Engoron is corrupt, Michael Cohen is a liar, a felon, just a rat, and everything else that he has been calling me for over six years. He does not understand the concept of accountability.”
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