Politics
WATCH: CNN Legal Panel Agrees That Michael Cohen’s Testimony Has Only Boosted Trump
Prosecutors in former President Donald Trump’s hush money case are already losing in the court of public opinion as analysts at the left-leaning CNN continue to voice doubts about the strength of their case.
A panel of legal experts on host Jake Tapper’s show agreed on Tuesday that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has dug himself into a hole, relying too heavily on circumstantial evidence and failing to produce hard evidence that the former president is guilty of any crime. Criminal defense attorney Bill Brennan, who has previously represented Trump, said Michael Cohen’s testimony plays right into the hands of Trump defender Todd Blanche.
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“This witness is perfect for Todd Blanche, and all the people second-guessing each and every question, sit down, get your popcorn now, let Mr. Blanche do his job,” Brennan told host Jake Tapper, the Daily Caller reports. “And the judge will charge to this jury, Jake, that if a witness has a bias, or a skin in the game, you take that testimony with caution. The witness is supposed to say they robbed the bank, they drove the car, it was blue and it was raining out. Not I want him in jail, I got a little silly little tee shirt on. This Cohen is reprehensible.”
Homeland security lawyer Carrie Cordero agreed, saying there is a strong argument to be made that the prosecution “hasn’t met its burden in this case.”
“I think there‘s a good argument in favor of doing that,” Cordero told Tapper in response to his question about whether the defense should rest its case. “Unless they really think that there‘s something that comes out from Michael Cohen‘s testimony, I think at this point there would be a strong argument for the defense to just stand up and say, look, the prosecution hasn’t met its burden in this case. Here’s all the things that they have to prove. They haven‘t gotten there. And it’s time for everybody to go home. I don‘t know that they’ll do that, but I think there’s an argument in favor of that.”
WATCH:
While legally laughing away the prosecution might be a “baller move” by Blanche, as Tapper characterized it, former Trump attorney Michael van der Veen said the defense may instead choose to be more prudent by introducing more witnesses to make their case. “I think he’d like to push, push, push and get as many witnesses on as he can, but I think the strategy is probably right,” van der Veen stated in response. “This case hasn’t gone in the way I think it was billed to go in. So as the days go on and this case looks weaker and weaker, I think it‘s probably less that they have to put on for defense.”
Cohen, who served prison time for lying to Congress, saw his credibility torn apart by Trump’s lawyers during cross-examination on Tuesday. He was forced to admit instances of lying while purportedly defending Trump as his attorney, offering the jury reason to doubt that he is solely motivated by justice in speaking out against his former boss. Legal experts like Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz have gone so far as to claim that Cohen may even have lied again on the stand.
“I’ve been doing this 60 yrs and I can’t find the crime, but today I could find the crime committed today in the courtroom by Michael Cohen! Lies occurring right in front of us directly to the jury!” Dershowitz told Fox News host Sean Hannity Monday night. “Good lawyers don’t put people on the stand who they know are going to lie… we’re going to see lie after lie after lie on cross [examination]… I hope the lawyers on this jury see through it and realize he’s trying to sell this jury a bill of goods.”
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