Watch: Michael Cohen lawyer spars with ex-Trump attorney over legality of hush money
May 13, 2024
Michael Cohen's lawyer, Lanny Davis, and a former Donald Trump attorney got into it on CNN Monday morning while the former Trump "fixer" was on the stand.
Tim Parlatore, who briefly worked for Trump during the classified documents case, claimed that there is no real proof of anything in the case other than Cohen's word against Trump's. The only testimony they'll be able to rely on is from those saying Trump is a micromanager.
That isn't entirely the case, as several witnesses back up Cohen's story.
Trump is accused of falsifying business records to cover up a hush money payment to actress and director Stormy Daniels.
Cohen's lawyer, Lanny Davis, recalled descriptions made by others who frequently described Trump as talking "like the Godfather in signals, in code." Meanwhile, Trump avoided writing anything, such as emails or text messages.
Read Also: Michael Cohen: Trump mastered the art of the dodge to avoid accountability — until now
"But there was one moment when I was going through this evidence where I was startled to see that Trump violated his rule and met with David Pecker and Michael Cohen to agree on this catch-and-killl system," Davis explained.
It was the first time there was a record with a third party involved: David Pecker.
"It's at the very least that's one time that Trump makes the mistake of not speaking in code, not nodding his head ... the way we see in Godfather movies," continued Davis. "He is directly connected to the catch-and-kill by meeting with David Pecker, and later on, we have him on tape, as you know, with Michael Cohen talking about that deal, and it's the second time that it didn't rely on codes."
That's when Parlatore stepped in to remind the panel, "All of this is not illegal, right? None of it's illegal."
The accusation is that these catch-and-kill schemes were conducted out of fear that they would hurt Trump's campaign. That would mean they were unreported campaign expenditures.
"If the U.S. Attorney's office had gone after his campaign finance case, then yes, they would have corroboration, but they didn't," said Parlatore. "Trump was the president at the time this case unfolded in 2019. The Justice Department has a rule that they don't indict a sitting president. This is all about what happened between Michael Cohen and [CFO Allen] Weisselberg as to the booking of the payments, that's it."
Davis cut in to "respectfully disagree."
"I constantly hear that it's not illegal to pay hush money. That's not what this case is about," Davis explained. "David Pecker said it was about the campaign. Hope Hicks says that was about the campaign. There is no doubt that the money was being paid for political reasons, and it's because of the political motivation that makes it a crime."
Parlatore began talking over CNN host Jake Tapper, repeating that the hush money isn't a crime.
"No, it's the political motivation that makes it a crime," Davis insisted.
"He's not charged with that," Parlatore said. "The U.S. Attorney's Office rejected that."
"The political motivation is the crime of the campaign finance violation, I respectfully disagree with you," said Davis. "And nobody seems to think this was about Melania. There's testimony that it's what that was about."
Parlatore cut in to say that the question is whether Trump knew about "how they were cooking it." Davis explained that's the second part of the charges.
Watch the video below or at this link.
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