The MeidasTouch Podcast - Trump Lawyer Makes ROOKIE MOVE at KEY TRIAL MOMENT

Episode Date: May 20, 2024

MeidasTouch host Ben Meiselas reports on Donald Trump’s lawyer Todd Blanche conclusion of the cross-examination of Michael Cohen that did not go very well for Trump. This is sponsored by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at https://BetterHelp.com/MEIDAS today to get 10% off your first month and get on your way to being your best self! Visit https://meidastouch.com for more! Join us on Patreon: https://patreon.com/legalaf Remember to subscribe to ALL the MeidasTouch Network Podcasts: MeidasTouch: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/meidastouch-podcast Legal AF: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/legal-af The PoliticsGirl Podcast: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-politicsgirl-podcast The Influence Continuum: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-influence-continuum-with-dr-steven-hassan Mea Culpa with Michael Cohen: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/mea-culpa-with-michael-cohen The Weekend Show: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-weekend-show Burn the Boats: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/burn-the-boats Majority 54: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/majority-54 Political Beatdown: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/political-beatdown Lights On with Jessica Denson: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/lights-on-with-jessica-denson On Democracy with FP Wellman: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/on-democracy-with-fpwellman Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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without even leaving the kiddie pool. Whatever groceries your summer calls for, Instacart has you covered. Download the Instacart app and enjoy $0 delivery fees on your first three orders. Service fees, exclusions, and terms apply. Instacart, groceries that over-deliver. Donald Trump's lawyer, Todd Blanch, committed so many rookie mistakes during the cross-examination of Michael Cohen. I mean, sure, he got a few shots in here and there, but that's what's supposed to happen on a cross-examination. But by all accounts, the cross-examination was boring. It was meandering. Todd Blanch had lost the jury and kind of lost the plot. Let me just give you a few other perspectives of people who are in the courtroom and intimately familiar with the

day-to-day happenings. And again, I have multiple sources in the courtroom as well, which is reflected in my reporting. But let's take a look at other sources. This is Ann Bauer, a great reporter. She writes, Blanche's cross-examination is over, finally. Folks, I've said it before and I'll say it again. Todd Blanche, Trump's lawyer, has many gifts as an advocate, but it was a huge mistake on the part of the defense not to put Emile Bove on for this cross-examination. Blanche landed a few punches, sure, but they were overshadowed by the meandering, circuitous nature of his cross-examination. It's no surprise that my colleagues in the courtroom today report that some jurors looked downright bored, rubbing their eyes and shifting their seats.

Adam Klasfeld writes, multiple jurors rub their eyes. Another reporter in the courtroom. Multiple jurors rub their eyes. Others have been resting their heads on their hands, using their fists or fingers as platforms. They still appear to be paying attention to the evidence. However, even as the questionings start to drag, Katie Fang writes, from inside the courtroom, we're getting reporting that the jury is having a tough time staying alert for this cross-examination by Blanche. Jurors are rubbing their eyes and shifting in their seats. I don't blame them. Once again, Todd Blanche has lost the plot here.

With cross-examination, you get in and out. Dragging it out for many hours doesn't make any sense. And he didn't just drag this on for many hours. He dragged this out for many, many days. And then he made this point that seemed to help Michael Cohen. This is the type of thing that the prosecution would do when they conclude their direct exam. Here's how Script News says it went down. Blanche says, and your testimony, this is Todd Blanche to Cohen, and your testimony remains the same as you gave last Tuesday. You remember having a conversation with candidate Donald Trump

about Stormy Daniels? Michael Cohen, yes. Todd Blanche, no doubt in your mind, Michael Cohen, yes. Todd Blanche, I have no further questions. And that was before the redirect. Again, that's a very strange way to end your cross-examination there. Now, this show is sponsored by BetterHelp. We all carry around different stressors, big and small. And personally, I've been pretty stressed lately with everything going on in the news. When we keep these stressors bottled up, it can start to affect us negatively. Therapy is a safe space to get things off your

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Visit betterhelp.com slash Midas today to get 10% off your first month. That's betterhelp.com slash Midas. B-E-T-T-E-R-H-E-L-P dot com slash M-E-I-D-A-S. There was this moment on Friday that lots of people were talking about where there was a minute 36 second phone call that Michael Cohen had with Keith Schiller, Donald Trump's bodyguard. And there were some contemporaneous text messages from the time of this phone call from, I think it was October of 2016, where Cohen and Schiller were talking about some 14-year-old kid who was harassing them and harassing the campaign. And then Todd Blanche went to Cohen like, you're lying, Mr. Cohen.

When your phone call was with Blanche, you weren't talking about Stormy Daniels. You were talking about this 14-year-old kid who was harassing the campaign. And Cohen was like, well, I mean, it could have been about both. And I think that it would be very easy for me to have a minute, 36-second conversation where I can talk about two topics, talk about this kid, and then say, hey, oh, and by the way, I've got everything lined up on this Stormy deal. Don't worry about it. Things are going as planned. But corporate media turned this into a big moment because Todd Blanche started like yelling at Michael Cohen on the stand and was saying, you lie, you lie. And then like the media viewed that as a Perry Mason moment. By the way, the prosecution objected to Todd Blanch yelling at Michael Cohen,

and the objection was sustained. So the question or the yelling, that portion was stricken. There was another moment in court today that corporate media is also getting just completely wrong. As part of the reimbursements that Michael Cohen had requested, Michael Cohen admitted that when it came to this entity that Cohen was also paying off for Donald Trump, that Cohen got an extra $30,000 from Trump that actually was never paid to this vendor. And the corporate media turned this into this like big moment and said, oh, so Michael Cohen's admitting to, you know, stealing from Donald Trump. This is, you know, this is so bad and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. You know, this entity was called Red Finch. And let's just take a look. This is from Abby Phillips from CNN. She goes, finally, an answer I've been waiting for. What was Red Finch doing for Trump that he owed them $50,000? According to Cohen, they were purchasing IP addresses to game a CNBC poll of the most famous business people.

Trump initially wasn't doing well in the poll, and it upset him. You know, and then before that, though, what Andy Fella, what Laura Coates had said, CNN's Laura Coates, said on Michael Cohen admitting from the witness stand that he stole from the Trump organization, that this is possibly fatal because Cohen only paid Red Finch $20,000, but then sought $50,000 in reimbursement for Donald Trump. Quite the contrary, as Adam Klassfeld points out very succinctly in one of the many paradoxes of the trial, Michael Cohen's admission under oath that he stole $30,000 from the Trump organization may be damaging to the defense because it was a falsely claimed reimbursement

and Team Trump's position is that the money wasn't a reimbursement. Remember what Donald Trump's defense is here, and this is why this is such a mistake, a rookie mistake, fatal mistake, and that corporate media is not picking it up because they just don't know how to cover criminal trials and they don't know what's going on in this criminal trial. Trump's defense is that they were paying Michael Cohen for services rendered so that they were paying Cohen. These $35,000 checks that were coming into Cohen were for actual legal services that Cohen was providing. Trump's other defense that Todd Blanch and others were putting on is that none of this happened. Donald Trump didn't

have anything to do with Stormy. Donald Trump didn't have anything to do with Karen McDougal. All of this is false. And that all this was a payment for was a payment for Cohen's legal services, not a reimbursement to Michael Cohen. And then later on, Cohen basically said, oh, this is a reimbursement because Cohen wants to get famous off of it. That's basically what the defense's position is. Well, if the Red Finch was a actual, if it was fraudulent, then why would Donald Trump be paying him for legal services? If Michael Cohen went rogue and did all of these things he wasn't supposed to do, why was Donald Trump paying him $35,000 a month for things that he wasn't

supposed to do at all? So it fundamentally undermines any of the defense, what Michael Cohen's saying. Michael Cohen is admitting that he engaged in bad conduct in the past. The fact that he is admitting to the, and that happens in criminal cases where you have criminal co-conspirators. Michael Cohen is a criminal co-conspirator. He's admitting that. We're in 2024. Now this is conduct he engaged in in 2016. And he's going through the mistakes that he made in the past. And as part of his mea culpa that he feels bad for these mistakes and he did wrong, but these were reimbursements

to michael cohen they weren't legal services that were paid this is a falsification of business record case and so you know as i look at it this was a fairy a fairly bland cross-exam of michael cohen um as ann bauer said sure he landed a few punches, but this was not some great cross-exam at all. And that's where we are. And it just further confirms that these were reimbursements to Cohen. And the case is about falsification of business records of changing reimbursements to legal services. So anyway, there you have it. Michael Cohen's cross exams come to an end.

Redirect has come to an end. Redirect kind of cleaned it up again. I don't know what's in the jury's minds. I don't, I can't predict the outcome of this trial, but I could just tell you from all of my sources and the sources I'm sharing for your people in the courtroom, this was not a great cross-exam at all. Landed a few punches, mostly cleaned up on redirect, and that's where we're at right now.

Keep you posted as we learn more. Thanks for watching. Love this video? Make sure you stay up to date on the latest breaking news and all things Midas by signing up to the Midas Touch newsletter at MidasTouch.com slash newsletter.