Lawyers for Donald Trump in the New York fraud case tried to falsely implicate Michael Cohen again in emails to Judge Arthur Engoron, who was presiding over the New York fraud trial. It backfired again.
Judge Engoron was so infuriated that he issued a blistering email.
Allen Howard Weisselberg, former chief financial officer of the Trump Organization, was reported to have lied in Engoron's courtroom during his testimony, prompting the District Attorney's office to explore perjury charges. Raw Story explained on Wednesday that this isn't the first time Weisselberg has been purportedly caught in a lie, the first of which being in Michael Cohen's case.
In the messages from Trump's attorneys, they attacked the judge's demand for information on the perjury as “unprecedented, inappropriate and troubling." They then tried to turn it around on Cohen.
READ ALSO: Weisselberg may have perjured himself a second time — and Michael Cohen wants answers
The New York Times article about Weisselberg's plea deal "simply does not provide any principled basis for the Court to reopen the record or question the veracity of Mr. Weisselberg's testimony in this case,” Trump's lawyer, Cliff Roberts, wrote in the letter to Engoron. They chastised Engoron for paying attention to the news and believing the Times article.
Engoron never said he believed the report; rather, he asked about it and asked that information be provided to him about whether it was true.
Further, he blasted the lawyers for having the temerity to challenge his request for information about someone who reportedly lied in his courtroom during a proceeding under which he was presiding.
Instead of directly answering whether or not the story was true, Roberts responded with legalese amounting to claiming Cohen lied in court.
Cohen never lied in Engoron's court, rather he lied when he accepted his plea agreement in the hush money case. Cohen has been open about it, flagging that the Southern District of New York forced him to take the false plea deal or they would go after his family.
Trump frequently conflates that with Cohen admitting to lying about the facts in the fraud case, which is false. He even went so far as to claim that Cohen had "recanted" his entire testimony. That is also false.
Engoron was not amused: "Your invocation of Michael Cohen's testimony and veracity is completely out of bounds. You have already submitted your post-trial briefs and made your final arguments. I am not reopening the case, but if someone pleads guilty to committing perjury in a case over which I am presiding, I want to know about it."
"The facts continue to speak for themselves," Cohen told Raw Story on Thursday. "Allen Weisselberg lied again to the court which we know to be true based upon him pleading guilty to the offense."
