If you wanted to know the details of the hush money case against Donald Trump, you could have watched CNN’s dramatic table reads from the court transcript. There’s not enough bourbon in the world to get me to sit down for that. The case was a shambles from day one, where one doesn’t need a law degree to know this case would be a circus. The jury pool was tainted, and Stormy Daniels, whom Trump was allegedly paying for her silence regarding a past tryst, revealed during the trial that she could communicate with ghosts. You cannot make this up. The former president reportedly falsified business records to cover it up because this rendezvous could have impacted the 2016 election.
Despite this being viewed as a bombshell trial that could impact the 2024 election, law professor Jonathan Turley highlighted an interesting and puzzling development: the testimony of former Trump attorney and noted liar Michael Cohen is where the prosecution intends to rest its case. It’s peculiar because Turley added that District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s team never fully argued the crime for which Trump is accused. Cohen is a disastrous witness, and even other publications quoited multiple attorneys and legal observers who knew Cohen’s credibility was a serious issue. Turley went line by line shredding Mr. Cohen and, in a way, the prosecution’s case (via Jonathan Turley):
On Tuesday, the prosecution surprised many by suddenly announcing that it would rest its case against former president Donald Trump with the completion of testimony by Michael Cohen.
It was surprising because the prosecution never clearly stated the crime that it was proving, the elements of that crime, or even why denoting payments related to Stormy Daniels were not properly recorded as legal expenses.
Indeed, the only thing the prosecutors proved was that, in the pantheon of dishonesty, there are liars, pathological liars . . . and Michael Cohen.
[…]
Cohen has lied to Congress, courts, special counsels, the IRS, the banks, and virtually every creature that walks or crawls on the face of the Earth.
Notably, his past conviction for business and tax fraud were not taken in the interests of Trump but himself.
When he admitted on the stand that he lied during his prior plea agreement, that was not to assist Trump who he had already denounced. It was to advance his own interests.
There is every indication that Cohen is still lying.
Cohen repeatedly said that he could not remember even recent calls after recounting calls from eight years ago with crystal clarity. He said that he could not remember key exchanges and statements. However, these paled in comparison to other glaring moments.
Take, for example, his testimony on his unethical decision to secretly record a Sept. 6, 2016 telephone call with Trump.
It was a breathtaking betrayal that most lawyers would not contemplate, let alone carry out.
[…]
After telling the jury that he has dedicated his life to righting the wrongs of Trump and holding him accountable, he admitted that he repeatedly acted to undermine the prosecution in order to make a buck.
Told by prosecutors to stop doing public interviews, Cohen did not care. He did roughly two dozen television appearances and recorded hundreds of podcast episodes.
[…]
No sane prosecutor would rely on Cohen, let alone make him the entirety of their case.
The prosecutors did not even bother to show that Trump was responsible for or knew about how the payments were recorded on ledgers and business records.
They also just shrugged away the need to show why denoting these payments as “legal expenses” was fraudulent — or what the correct description might be.
Those details might be demanded in any other courtroom, but this is New York and the defendant is Donald Trump.
Newsweek included attorneys who were very aware of Cohen’s issues:
Attorney and legal analyst Michael Moore previously told Newsweek in an email that the prosecution's case largely rests on Cohen and they need to bolster his credibility to "have him as the sole witness to prove beyond reasonable doubt that Mr. Trump knew anything about how the expenses listed in the state business records were being categorized. Without that link, they have little more than Trump signing checks."
Former federal prosecutor Michael McAuliffe previously told Newsweek that "Michael Cohen is a complete mess as a witness for the prosecution," adding that his previous comments about Trump and "often bizarre publicity stunts" make him "less and less useful as a source of credible evidence.
Well, he engaged in the same stunts, folks. Of course, Newsweek also included attorneys who thought Cohen did well on the stand, which, again, is shattered by Cohen’s credibility issues and a possible instance of perjury:
Another possible point of perjury. Cohen testified Tuesday that a Oct. 24 phone call was to speak to Trump. However, Branche revealed that, in a Cohen text to Keith Schiller, Donald Trump's former bodyguard, Cohen asked Schiller about harassing calls from an alleged 14-year-old…
— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) May 16, 2024
And this is why such cases have often never seen a courtroom. It’s why most end in a plea agreement, often with little to no jail time. This trainwreck also happens when you overcharge and elevate misdemeanors as felonies. It was a political stunt by Democrats, where their lawfare ended up making Trump a sympathetic figure of sorts, as more Americans view this trial as a sham. Special Counsel Jack Smith’s trials concerning the mishandling of classified documents and January 6 were postponed indefinitely. The Georgia RICO case has been derailed by glaring ethics allegations on behalf of Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, whose fate regarding whether she can continue during this trial remains in limbo.
The Left came out guns blazing, but Trump has remained ahead of them all.