Michael Cohen may have 'torpedoed' case against Trump
Former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen testifies to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Feb. 27, 2019.
Legal experts and analysts have been left stunned by a decision by Michael Cohen, a coming witness in President Donald Trump's New York City trial over business records, to cash in on the situation by talking about the case testimony on social media and accepting "gifts."
"He is a convicted perjurer and fraudster whose current 'defense' of his fraud convictions is that he wasn't telling the truth when he pled guilty," former Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrews McCarthy explained to Fox News.
"It's a major problem for prosecutors."
Cohen is supposed to be the prosecution's star witness against Trump, who is facing 34 counts brought by DA Alvin Bragg. They stem from Cohen's payments to a porn star in order to keep her silent about an alleged affair with Trump, an affair both have denied happened.
Cohen paid her $130,000 and apparently was reimbursed by Trump's corporation, and the allegations are that those expenditures were misreported, a misdemeanor. However, Bragg has turned them into felonies because he claims they were committed in furtherance of another misdemeanor. The circumstances already had been reviewed by multiple prosecutorial agencies, and all rejected the premise there was a case there.
Fox reported Cohen now may have "torpedoed" the case against Trump because he's been "ranting" about it on TikTok "while fundraising." And all before he is supposed to testify in the case.
ABC noted that Cohen's actions "could be a problem."
Cohen has been on the social media platform to talk about the case, and the program allows viewers to give him "gifts" as they watch. Those online tokens then can be converted into money.
"It’s a problem for prosecutors because they chose to build a case on a witness with a track record of bad conduct and deep bias and, not surprisingly, he can’t help himself but continue to act in character," McCarthy said.
Even Michael Avenatti, a longtime Trump critic, suggested Cohen, "through his marcissism and his ego may have just torpedoed the case against Trump," he told Fox, from federal prison.
"Never underestimate this guy's ability to screw something up due to his ignorance and arrogance. He's dumber than a box of rocks. The state can't win the case without him and because of his conduct in reviewing trial testimony in violation of the court's order, which just admitted to when speaking with ABC, the court must strike him as a witness, declare a mistrial, or both," he said.
"He had no business commenting on other witnesses' testimony."
In fact, most courts discourage witnesses from discussing anything with each other before all their testimonies are completed. Often courts ban it entirely.
Fox reported Cornell Law School professor William A. Jacobson said it was just one more in a series of conflicts.
"Michael Cohen has many pre-existing conflicts of interest when it comes to Donald Trump, calling into question his objectivity and veracity. Profiting off the trial adds another conflict to that pile. Whether it's the straw that breaks the camel's back when it comes to the jury remains to be seen, but it certainly is fodder for cross-examination," he said.
And former Georgia prosecutor Chris Timmons told Fox the last thing a prosecutor wants is a witness "to be talking about the case in a forum other than the courtroom."
"If I'm the prosecution, I'm on the phone right now saying, 'Stop what you are doing – right now,'" said defense attorney Jeremy Saland, formerly of the Manhattan DA's office.
At one point Cohen promised to "cease commenting on Trump and this matter," but he later went back to live discussion about it, ABC said.
Constitutional expert Jonathan Turley, who has testified as an expert on the Constitution before Congress and represented members in court said, "You have someone who is making money, campaigning against Trump and attacking him on this trial, and the judge is letting him speak but not for the president to respond.
"This is an individual that was just recently hit by a judge saying that he is a serial perjurer, that he is gaming the system. This has been the long story of Michael Cohen, which is a story of a legal trainwreck. I was a critic of his when he was still representing Trump. And his practice has always been thuggish, and he has often had a serious problem with telling the truth … how could you put that individual on the stand and take the oath is going to be really something to watch. If lightning doesn’t strike the courthouse, I will be very surprised."
The Washington Examiner reported prosecutors are relying on Cohen's word to link Trump to various payments.
But, it said, "Cohen pleaded guilty in 2018 to lying to a bank, evading taxes, violating campaign finance laws, and lying to Congress. He was sentenced to three years in prison and eventually blamed Trump for encouraging his criminal activity."
ABC opined that Cohen's rants apparently don't violate any court order, but experts warn that it hurts his "already-blemished credibility."
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