Donald Trump's lawyers on Tuesday, May 14, got their first stab at Michael Cohen, the former president's confidante-turned-foe, trying to paint him as a money-hungry, untrustworthy narrator.
But the first two hours of defense attorney Todd Blanche's questioning packed less of a punch than expected, even as senior Republican allies increasingly politicized the proceedings by showing up to support Trump – who is again running for the White House but forced to sit through his own criminal trial, the first of any former US president.
His most high-profile entourage to date turned out for the trial, including House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson and pro-Trump politicians vying to be on the defendant's vice-presidential shortlist.
But the focus was squarely on Cohen, who served as Trump's "fixer" for years and described himself as a repentant former surrogate who was "knee-deep into the cult of Donald Trump." Trump is accused of falsifying business records as he reimbursed Cohen for a $130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election when her account of a sexual encounter with the then-Republican nominee could have doomed his campaign.
The prosecution questioned Cohen all day Monday and all morning Tuesday before turning him over to Team Trump. The cross-examination started off combative – but quickly turned tepid and convoluted.
Defense lawyer Todd Blanche's first question was stricken from the record after he asked Cohen if he had called him an expletive on TikTok. "Why are you making this about yourself?" the judge asked Blanche, according to a transcript of the sidebar that jurors did not hear.
After that, Blanche was largely deferential to Cohen, who despite having a reputation for a temper was mostly measured as he answered a laundry list of questions whose overall purpose was not particularly clear.
The defense will resume Thursday morning – there is no session Wednesday – and it's possible they're saving their heat for when the jury has had some rest. A number of jurors appeared increasingly weary over the course of Blanche's approximately two hours of cross-examination after the lunch break, with a couple letting out yawns and wiping their eyes.
Even some court officers guarding the aisles couldn't quite hold their composure. "Almost there," one weary officer quipped to another as the afternoon crawled to the finish line.
Cohen, 57, is crucial to the Manhattan district attorney's case. Right out of the gate Trump's lawyers have sought to undermine his credibility, and it's expected they'll try to drive that point home Thursday. Cohen spent 13 months in jail and another year and a half under house arrest after pleading guilty in 2018 to lying to Congress and committing financial crimes.
Speaking to prosecutors he said Trump had reassured him after FBI agents, seeking evidence of the bank fraud and hush money payments at the heart of the case, raided his hotel room and office in April 2018. "Don't worry, everything's going to be fine, I'm the president of the United States," Cohen recalled Trump saying. "I felt reassured because I had the president of the United States protecting me," Cohen testified.
But in a poignant moment under direct questioning, he said his dedication to protecting Trump frayed when his family voiced exasperation, asking "why are you holding on to this loyalty?" "We are supposed to be your first loyalty," Cohen said his family told him. "It was about time to listen to them."
"To keep the loyalty and to do the things that he had asked me to do, I violated my moral compass, and I suffered the penalty, as has my family," Cohen testified.
In a bid to cast him as disgruntled and out for blood, Blanche on Thursday asked Cohen several times whether he wanted to see his former boss convicted. Cohen at first equivocated – saying "accountability" was the goal. "I'm just asking you to say yes or no," Blanche asked again. "Do you want to see president Trump convicted in this case?" Cohen then flashed a bit of his blunter side. "Sure," he said.
Cohen was asked to listen through headphones to a snippet of his podcast, as was Trump while sitting at the defense table. Blanche asked Cohen if he recalled an October 2020 episode in which he said Trump needs to wear handcuffs and that "people will not be satisfied until this man is sitting inside a cell."
"I wouldn’t put it past me," Cohen testified. "Is it fair to say you’re motivated by fame?" Blanche asked. "No sir, I don't think that's fair to say," Cohen said. "I'm motivated by many things."