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Michael Cohen is the key witness in the hush money trial against Donald Trump. A legal expert now doubts his credibility.
New York – Has Donald Trump intentionally concealed hush money payments to porn actress Stormy Daniels? Former lawyer Michael Cohen is the only witness who directly links the ex-President of the United States to this alleged plan.
His questioning in the ongoing criminal trial in New York was therefore eagerly awaited – and is now being hotly debated. His cross-examination will continue on Monday morning (May 20th) and, according to the judges, the trial will soon come to an end. Legal expert Gregg Jarrett publicly questioned the credibility of the key witness on the conservative TV station Fox News on Saturday.
Key witness in the trial against Donald Trump “stumbled, fumbled and mumbled”
During his interrogation in former President Donald Trump’s hush money trial, Cohen “stumbled, fumbled and mumbled,” which he said was “devastating” to the prosecution’s case. The comments relate to how Cohen responded to questions from Trump’s defense team about phone records and text messages.
Cohen claims he spoke to Trump on the phone about the hush money payment to Daniels before personally transferring the money. During the interrogation it was now doubted whether the phone call with Trump actually took place. Trump’s defense presented a text message between then-Trump bodyguard Keith Schiller and Cohen as counter-evidence. According to the Trump defense, the phone call was not about the hush money payments, but rather about harassing calls that former Trump lawyer Cohen received. In addition, Cohen did not speak on the phone with Donald Trump, but with Keith Schiller. The one-minute conversation was also far too short to discuss a complex hush money strategy.
Hush money trial in New York: “Without Cohen there is no case against Trump”
For Fox News legal expert Jarrett, the case is clear. “It was shown that he [Cohen] lied to the jury in the courtroom about a critical conversation he vowed to have about Donald Trump’s payment to Stormy Daniels,” the former defense attorney and author said, according to Newsweek is known for his pro-Trump stances.
In Jarrett’s view, Cohen’s testimony “requires the standard jury instruction that if you find that a witness is lying to you about something, you may disregard the entire testimony of that witness.” The 12-member jury is in favor responsible for deciding whether the former president is guilty or not of the 34 crimes charged. “Without Cohen, there is no case against Donald Trump, no one else ties him to any of the bogus crimes alleged in the indictment,” Jarrett said.
Key witness Michael Cohen was formerly Donald Trump’s lawyer
Key witness Michael Cohen, a former Trump lawyer who is now a vocal critic of the former president, is a disbarred attorney who previously pleaded guilty to tax evasion, bank fraud, campaign finance violations and lying to Congress. He recently testified for the prosecution and was then cross-examined by Trump’s defense team for two days.
Trump is accused of leading up to the US election In 2016, he was accused of falsifying business documents in connection with hush money payments to porn actress Stormy Daniels. Trump, the presumptive presidential candidate republican for the 2024 US election, last month became the first former president in US history to stand trial in a criminal case. Following an investigation by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office, Trump was indicted in March 2023 on 34 counts of falsifying business records.
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