Michael Cohen's Testimony Offers 'Nothing New' to Convict Trump
On Monday, conservative attorney, legal scholar, and commentator Jonathan Turley weighed in on the day's testimony by Michael Cohen in the ongoing New York trial of former President Donald Trump. Mr. Turley's comments about Cohen were, to say the least, sharply pointed.
Michael Cohen apparently wants a reality show but, if his testimony Monday is any indication, reality is about to sink in for not just Cohen but the prosecutors and the court.
In stoking interest in his own appearance, the former Trump counsel promised the public that they should be “prepared to be surprised.”
Thus far, however, Cohen has offered nothing new and, more importantly, nothing to make the case for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
Just before he took the stand, the New York Post revealed that Cohen has been peddling a reality show called “The Fixer,” including working with Colin Whelan, who helped create “Joe Exotic: Tigers, Lies and Cover-Up.” Whelan appears interested to stay within that genre.
The Cohen pitch came with a cheesy promo video where he promised viewers, “I am your fixer.”
Mr. Fix-It, as Jonathan Turley maintains, hasn't done anything to fix Alvin Bragg's case against the former President.
With the prosecution’s case almost over, Bragg needed Cohen to clearly state that Trump intentionally committed fraud to conceal some still poorly defined crime.
The problem is that Cohen only confirmed that Trump knew he was going to pay for the nondisclosure agreement and that it would be buried before the election. None of that is unlawful.
Nondisclosure agreements are certainly legal; in my previous career as a corporate consultant, having worked with a lot of startups, I've probably signed hundreds of them. Whether there really was an assignation between the former president and the former porn star is irrelevant; if the Trump organization was willing to shell out some money and have an NDA to make the problem go away, there's nothing unlawful about that.
Also, while Alvin Bragg is spending time and taxpayers' dollars on this farce, crime is spiking in the Big Apple, pro-Hamas activists are taking over trains, and the city's prosecutors aren't willing to do anything about it.
You would think that Alvin Bragg would have more important things to worry about than political prosecutions.
Mr. Turley concludes:
Absent a sudden epiphany in his final testimony on Tuesday, Merchan should rule in favor of a directed verdict — that is, throwing the case out before it goes to a jury. If he instead sends this farcical case to the jury, it is Merchan, not Cohen, who may have a better claim to a reality show as the ultimate “Fix It Man.”
That's the interesting bit. I'm not an attorney, nor do I play one on television, but it sure seems like Merchan's behavior in all things Trump up to this point makes the odds of a directed verdict slim or none. But farce this case is and farce it will remain, regardless of Merchan's actions, and the voters are watching.
Post a Comment