Michael Cohen was actually whining about a 14-year-old prank caller when he claimed to have had a key conversation with Donald Trump about the hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels, the ex-president’s attorney argued during a fiery moment in court Thursday.
The heated exchange about a phone call placed on the eve of the 2016 election came during a second day of a grueling cross-examination at Trump’s Manhattan criminal trial — in which defense lawyers continued trying to paint Cohen as a lying turncoat out for revenge against his ex-boss.
“We are not asking for your belief. This jury does not want to hear what you think happened!” Trump lawyer Todd Blanche said loudly as Cohen, 57, testified he believed he’d been telling the truth about the call.
Cohen testified Monday that he phoned Trump’s bodyguard Keith Schiller, who he knew would be with Trump, on Oct. 24, 2016, to discuss finalizing the Daniels deal days before wiring her lawyer $130,000.
But Blanche introduced evidence that Cohen on the same day threatened to call the US Secret Service on a teenage prank caller, and griped to Schiller about it.
Cohen then claimed Thursday that he’d discussed both subjects during the one minute, 36-second phone call with Trump.
“Part of it was about the phone calls [with the prankster], but I knew that Keith was with Mr. Trump at the time, and it was more than potentially just this,” he testified — prompting an incredulous Blanche to raise his voice to a high-pitched yelp.
“You had enough time in that one minute and 36 seconds to update Mr. Schiller about all the problems you were having with this harassing phone call and also update President Trump on the status of the Stormy Daniels situation?” Blanche screeched.
“That was a lie, you can admit it!” he yelled.
“I believe I was telling the truth,” the salt-and-pepper-haired Cohen, 57, wearing a black suit and honey mustard yellow tie, calmly replied.
Cohen’s text messages with the prankster were shown to the jury — with the kid begging for mercy after Cohen said he’d reported the harassment to the Secret Service.
“I DIDNT DO IT,” says a text message from the teen on October 24, 2016.
“Im 14,” another text read. “Please… don’t….do this.”
“This number has just been sent to Secret Service for your ongoing and continuous harassment to both my cell as well as the organization’s main line,” Cohen had written the prankster in a message.
Cohen’s credibility is important to the case because the prosecution in part hinges on his account that Trump ordered him to pay Daniels to silence her story about having sex with the real estate mogul on the eve of the 2016 election — and that the presumptive GOP presidential nominee had the “intent” to hide a damaging scandal from voters.
Trump’s lawyers have spent much of their more than seven hours of cross-examination over two days ripping Cohen for his long history of past lies under oath — which he claimed he did on behalf of Trump — and other misdeeds that had nothing to do with the ex-president.
Cohen admitted during the morning session Thursday that he sent his lawyer fake legal decisions generated by artificial intelligence as part of his failed bid last year to get off early from supervised release on his guilty pleas to campaign finance and other crimes in Manhattan federal court.
The disbarred attorney told jurors he found the phony cases after using a “Google AI” tool that “created a whole bunch of phantom results because AI wants to please the user.”
He then handed them to his lawyer, who included the fake rulings as “legal precedent” for why Cohen should be released early.
“The three cases that you gave to your lawyer were not real cases, correct?” Blanche asked Cohen.
“Correct,” Cohen replied.
Cohen also testified that he once wanted Trump to pardon him while Trump was president — despite telling Congress that he never asked for such a deal in 2019.
“At that present moment, it was true. I wanted this nightmare to end,” Cohen testified.
Blanche also asked Cohen in the morning if he was miffed after being cut out of a spot in Trump’s White House.
Cohen admitted that he wanted to be considered for a cabinet post “for ego purposes,” but claimed he didn’t actually want to be named Trump’s chief of staff.
Trump, 77, slumped in his chair with his eyes closed at the defense table in Manhattan Supreme Court for most of the morning as Blanche grilled Cohen about his history of lies.
But he perked up a bit in the afternoon, opening his eyes and looking directly at Cohen when his lawyer amped up the theatrics, gesturing and raising his voice while addressing Trump’s former “fixer.”
Blanche notched a small win in the afternoon when he got Cohen to confirm that Trump was worried about a story about his alleged affair with Playboy model Karen McDougal getting out in part because he worried about the impact it would have on his family.
Both Cohen and former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker have testified that the main reason Trump wanted to bury both McDougal and Daniels’ story was because of fears that it could hurt his presidential campaign, a key part of the prosecution’s case.
Trump arrived at the defense table Thursday morning with a stack of papers in front of him, with the top sheet featuring a list of quotes casting him in a positive light.
“Voters told MSNBC the cases have increased their support for Trump,” read one favorable quote at the top of the page, which was visible in press pool photographs.
Trump later read from the quotes to reporters and TV cameras in the courthouse hallway.
“It was a fascinating day… and it shows what a scam this whole thing is,” he said.
Cohen appeared to be a bit weary by the end of the day, his voice growing more hoarse by the hour.
Before leaving the room, he took huge gulp of water from a plastic cup next to him, followed by another.
He then glanced to his left at the jury, before taking a third sip, and finally, one more, downing the rest of the cup.
His cross-examination will resume Monday morning.
