Michael Cohen, Trump's only witness Bob Costello had 'substantial credibility issues': CNN analyst
Both Michael Cohen, one of the prosecutors' star witnesses in New York's criminal case against former President Trump, and Bob Costello, the presumptive GOP nominee's only witness, have "substantial credibility issues," a CNN legal analyst said Tuesday.
"I only think there was two witnesses that I found with substantial credibility issues. Costello, as I just said, and of course, Michael Cohen — whether one fully believes him or not, the guy has serious credibility issues. Maybe Stormy Daniels, but I didn’t find anything too outrageous about what she said," CNN's Elie Honig said. "I think the jury is going to be focused on, really, Michael Cohen above and beyond all else."
Costello, a former legal adviser to Cohen, took the stand Tuesday and testified that Cohen told him "numerous times" he had nothing on Trump. Trump is on trial in Manhattan after pleading not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records related to alleged hush money payments made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 presidential election.
Costello was scolded by the judge for deriding one of his rulings during his testimony, leading to the courtroom being temporarily cleared. Honig said Costello might have left a "bad taste" in the jury's mouth and argued it was a "terrible way to end this" for the defense.
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"Michael Cohen’s testimony is 100 times more important to this case than Bob Costello’s testimony," Honig added. "We know he lied to everyone. He made a bunch of money off this, turns out he stole from the Trump Org. So the question is, can they live with it? Can you live with it based on the other evidence?"
After the prosecution rested its case Monday, the defense called two witnesses to testify, Costello and paralegal Daniel Sitko, before resting its case the next day. Judge Juan Merchan dismissed the jury until after Memorial Day.
Honig said Costello wasn't credible because said the prosecution "contradicted Bob Costello with his own emails."
Honig had argued Monday that Cohen, Trump's former fixer, admitting to stealing from the Trump Organization was actually a "more serious" crime than what Trump is on trial for.
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"The fact that he was ever charged with larceny is important because stealing $60,000 through fraud, which would be larceny in New York State, is more serious of a crime than falsifying business records," he said.
Cohen said during cross-examination Monday that he stole thousands of dollars from the Trump Organization by overstating how much he paid a tech company that provided services for the business.
The admission stunned several media pundits on CNN and MSNBC, who were surprised the revelation didn't come out during the prosecution's questioning of Cohen.