‘You Went on TikTok and Called Me a Crying Little Sh*t’: Trump’s Lawyer Begins Cross of Michael Cohen in Wild Fashion
AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson; AP Photo/Seth Wenig, Pool
Todd Blanche began his cross-examination of Michael Cohen by reminding the former attorney for Donald Trump of some disparaging comments he made on social media.
Cohen served as Trump’s lawyer for a decade before being sentenced to prison on multiple convictions. One of those related to a $130,000 hush money payment he made to Stormy Daniels, who claims she had an affair with Trump in 2006. Prosecutors say Trump arranged for Cohen to buy her silence ahead of the 2016 election and that Trump later reimbursed his lawyer and then some.
The former president has been charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records to conceal the alleged payment. He has pleaded not guilty to all counts and denies having had a sexual encounter with Daniels.
Katie Phang of NBC News was in the courtroom on Tuesday for Cohen’s cross-examination and relayed the following account on social media (note that this transcript is not official and has been edited for punctuation and clarity):
BLANCHE: Mr. Cohen, my name is Todd Blanche, and you and I have never met. You went on TikTok and called me a “crying little shit.”
COHEN: That sounds like something I would say.
PROSECUTION: Objection.
JUDGE: Sustained.
[…]
BLANCHE: You referred to Trump as a “dictator douchebag”?
COHEN: Sounds like something I said.
BLANCHE: You said he should go back to “where he belongs, in a fucking cage like a fucking animal.” You recall saying that?
COHEN: I recall saying that.
Phang further reported that Blanche asked Cohen about his former attorney, Lanny Davis, which the prosecution objected to because they said it violates attorney-client privilege.
She also posted this exchange:
BLANCHE: You also talked on [your podcast] Mea Culpa your desire to see Trump get convicted in this case?
COHEN: Sounds like something I’d say.
BLANCHE: Have you regularly commented on your podcasts that you want President Trump convicted in this case?
COHEN: Yes, probably.
BLANCHE: Do you have any doubt?
COHEN: I would like to see accountability, [but] it’s not for me, it’s for the jury and this case.
Elsewhere during his testimony, Cohen apologized for having worked for Trump.
