‘Are you staring me down?’ the judge asked Robert Costello.
Former President Donald Trump’s attorneys called Robert Costello, an attorney who advised witness Michael Cohen, to testify in the former president’s New York trial on Monday.
Judge Juan Merchan ruled Mr. Costello could testify about “two prior inconsistent statements“ connected to Mr. Cohen’s earlier testimony in the case. The judge said that he did not want it to become a ”trial within a trial.”
Mr. Costello testified that he met with Mr. Cohen in April 2018 for several hours, adding that Mr. Cohen told him that President Trump was not involved in the payments that prosecutors say were illegally labeled. Mr. Cohen said otherwise last week, accusing the former president of directing him to make the payments to an adult film performer.
“I swear to God, Bob, I don’t have anything on Donald Trump,” Mr. Cohen said, according to Mr. Costello, who has previously made similar claims in public about his former client. ”Michael Cohen said numerous times that President Trump knew nothing about those payments. That he did this on his own. He repeated that numerous times,” he continued to say.
Mr. Costello, who at one time worked at the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of New York, said he considered Mr. Cohen as his client. He said he had offered to represent Mr. Cohen soon after the former lawyer’s home and office were raided by federal officials.
He testified that Mr. Cohen told him, “I don’t understand why they’re trying to put me in jail” regarding nondisclosure agreements, and he disclosed that he’d arranged one with Stephanie Clifford, also known as adult film performer Stormy Daniels.
One of the former president’s attorneys, Emil Bove, then asked him: “Mr. Costello, did you ever put any pressure on Michael to do anything?” He responded: “No.”
At one point, Judge Merchan admonished Mr. Costello after he made several audible negative reactions to the judge’s rulings on objections from the prosecution team. He asked the jury to leave and then criticized Mr. Costello as Mr. Costello glared at him. He asked: “Are you staring me down?” adding: “Clear the courtroom.”
