CNN’s Elie Honig Predicts the Blistering, Point-By-Point Attack On Michael Cohen Likely to Come from Trump Legal Team

CNN’s Elie Honig had a good idea of whom former President Donald Trump’s defense would target in their opening statement on Monday: former “fixer” and convicted felon Michael Cohen.

CNN was outside the New York City courthouse where opening statements in Trump’s hush money trial were taking place. And down in Washington, DC, CNN’s panel of legal experts predicted what the jury would hear from both sides. Honig had a solid idea of where the defense would go, and he presented a blistering argument against Cohen’s credibility as a witness:

So first of all, they’re going to argue they have to prove their case. The prosecution bears the burden of proof, not just probably, not just more likely, but beyond a reasonable doubt. And the defense is going to argue they cannot do that. The defense is going to argue this is an ancient, decrepit, sort of dragged up out of the depths paperwork case from eight years ago, and they’re going to say it’s built on the back of a proven admitted liar, Michael Cohen. Michael Cohen will be a central focus of both openings today, but especially the defense.

They’re going to say, “This is a guy who doesn’t just hate Donald Trump, doesn’t just spew venom at Donald Trump, all day. He does it for a living. That’s his job right now, is to hate Donald Trump. So he is as biased as a witness can get,” the defense will say. And they will say, “This is a guy who has lied to Congress, to courts, to the IRS, to DOJ. And he’s such a liar that he piles his lies on top of lies because he pled guilty to all those lies. And now he says he was lying when he pled guilty to those lies. So, folks on the jury, you cannot convict another human being and potentially take away his liberty based on the word of Michael Cohen.” That’s a little bit of a preview of what I think we’re going to see from the defense.

Watch the video above via CNN.