- Michael Cohen cross-examination delivers bombshell moment on Thursday
- Trump left court with a swagger after reportedly grumbling about his defense
- READ MORE: Cohen describes journey from ‘knee deep in cult of Trump’
Donald Trump‘s defense lawyer accused star witness Michael Cohen of lying about a crucial phone that tied the former president to a cover-up around hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels in a dramatic exchange Thursday.
Defense lawyer Todd Blanche delivered his blow just before the lunch break, offering evidence that the key conversation was actually about a prank caller and not, as Cohen claimed three days earlier, about a $130,000 payment for Daniels’ silence.
It created an ‘aha’ moment just as the case barrels towards its conclusion; the sort of pin-drop shock common to courtroom TV dramas but rare in real life.
And it undermined Cohen’s testimony that he personally talked to Trump about plans to hide the hush money, a claim that is central to the case.
Having reminded the 12 members of the jury that Cohen had a history of lying to courts and laying the foundations of the idea that he was an unreliable witness, Trump’s lawyer Todd Blanche took the court in an unexpected direction.
He brought up text messages and call logs to show that Cohen had been plagued by nuisance calls in October 2016.
The prankster was unmasked when they forgot to hide their caller I.D.
Cohen told them they would have to explain themselves to the Secret Service. The caller responded by saying they were only 14 years old.
Cohen then messaged Trump’s bodyman, Keith Schiller, shortly before 8pm on Oct. 24 to ask who he could talk to about the prankster and how to handle the matter, according to a message read to the court.
Schiller was always at Trump’s side and was often the conduit for phone calls to the boss.
Call logs show that Cohen made a call at 8:02pm that lasted only 96 seconds—which meant it could not have been about Daniels, said Blanche.
By Rob Crilly
