Recent developments in the hush money trial have indicated that former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen, the prosecution’s star witness in the case, stole from the Trump Organization. The admission from Cohen is another strike against his credibility as a witness, which has come into question throughout his testimony.
In light of the stunning discovery, CNN’s Jake Tapper noted that he was “still reeling” from the surprising “revelation.” The CNN host stated, “Yeah, no, it’s it’s fascinating stuff. And I have to say I’m still kind of reeling from the revelation that Michael Cohen stole money from the Trump Organization.”
He further indicated that he was surprised the prosecution didn’t address the matter earlier, as it is anything but helpful for their case against Trump. Cohen has already been framed as a “shady character” throughout the trial, where his credibility has been questioned.
“And that wasn’t, at least to my knowledge that the prosecution didn’t get that get that out earlier. Because it’s not as though the prosecution is going to be helped by further evidence that Michael Cohen is a shady character. I mean, that’s I’ll get to the newest stuff in a second but like I mean, what what’s your what’s your reaction to that news? Because it’s just kind of stunning,” Tapper said.
CNN anchor and chief legal analyst Laura Coates commented on the developments regarding the former Trump lawyer. She echoed Tapper’s sentiment, voicing her surprise that the prosecution didn’t acknowledge Cohen’s theft earlier.
“I’m shocked that we are hearing it for the first time on day three of cross examination of Michael Cohen at the prosecution did not take the sting out did not front it because it goes to the heart of the actual case. It’s not just about establishing him as a liar. They’ve done that the prosecution front did that,” she commented.
Cohen admitted that he stole from the Trump organization by pocketing $30,000 from a $50,000 reimbursement to a tech company, Red Finch. Reportedly, Cohen gave the firm $20,000 in a brown paper bag, keeping the rest for himself. The segment proceeded to highlight the details of the breakdown between the Stormy Daniels payment, the reimbursement to the tech company, and the payments to Cohen, which all amount to roughly $420,000. Watch the segment below:
“We knew that he has convictions, but going to the heart of what you were telling your employer about what money you were owed, and the extent of it, we’re talking about $420,000 … you can break down what we already know we’ve known about what the breakdown of the money is $130,000 to Daniels and her attorney. You’ve got $50,000 that’s Redfin. This is important here. This was mentioned today that he only gave Redfin $20,000 and handed to them in a brown paper bag. By the way, just thinking about that is,” she added.
The legal analyst later discussed how Cohen’s characterization as an untrustworthy individual could undermine the prosecution. The defense could argue that Donald Trump was unfamiliar with the scheme’s details.
She continued, “Why this is so important here is because the heart of the matter is that Donald Trump was complicit cause to have this happen and knew about the money that was going and why if they can establish like we’ll call it somebody who is not to be trusted about the amount of money as well, then they might be able to suggest that Donald Trump had no idea what he was true.”
Note: The featured image is a screenshot from the embedded video.
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