Legal expert trashes Trump lawyer's first question for Michael Cohen
May 14, 2024
Donald Trump's Manhattan hush money trial began the afternoon session on Tuesday with cross-examination of Michael Cohen — and, right out of the gate, the defense lawyer wanted to ask about insults.
Todd Blanche, who has taken a back seat to Trump's other lawyer, Susan Necheles in recent days, began his questions by asking, "Mr. Cohen, my name is Todd Blanche and I have never met you. You went on TikTok and called me a crying little s--t."
Cohen said it sounded like something he would say.
Read More: Michael Cohen: Trump mastered the art of the dodge to avoid accountability — until now
"Blanche is coming in hot," said MSNBC co-host Chris Jansing. "This is an interesting strategy."
Andrew Weissmann, the top prosecutor for special counsel for former FBI director Robert Mueller, said that he disagreed with beginning the questioning that way because the case has nothing to do with Blanche personally.
"I'm not a fan of the choice that was made to open that way," Weissmann explained. "I think defense lawyers have — it's an honorable thing to be a criminal defense lawyer. It's an important role in our system. It's important to hold the state to its burden."
Weissmann called it far "too personal" for Blanche to "inject himself into the case" by promoting his own "credibility and demeanor."
"You [also] don't want to start cross-examination with something the judge is going to sustain an objection to and a sidebar," said Weissmann. "I don't think that's a good look. Here, there's so much to work with. I think that is not a great choice."
Criminal defense attorney Duncan Levin agreed it was a "very risky strategy right out of the gate."
"He's there trying, right out of the gate, to get under his skin," Levin said of Blanche's questioning of Cohen. "That's what they have to do. Look how composed. Cohen has to be one of the most prepped witnesses ever. He's been working at that direct."
In the direct questioning by prosecutors, Cohen was "like a choir boy," Levin said. "Very polite. Concise."
He said that Blanche is working to get a reaction to Cohen.
"They know they've got to get under his skin today and they are out of the gate doing it," Levin described. "I don't know whether it's going to work or not work. Whether he knows that he has to stay composed, it is a very personal line of attack. And it puts the lawyer at play."
See the discussion in the video below or on the link here.
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