Michael Cohen is asked to reflect on his time with Trump. “I don’t regret working at the Trump Organization,” Cohen says. But, he says, in order to stay in Trump’s good graces and obey his orders, “I violated my moral compass, and I suffer the penalty.”
Jonathan Swan
Again and again, the prosecutor Susan Hoffinger is asking Cohen to explain why he lied to this person or that person. She’s preparing the jury for a likely brutal cross-examination. But it is a lot of lying for the jury to hear about.
Maggie Haberman
Susan Hoffinger goes to a place seemingly aimed at thwarting Todd Blanche on cross-examination: she asks if Cohen has sought a reduction for his sentence, and if he asked the district attorney’s office for help.
Kate Christobek
Cohen pauses before turning to the jury to talk about his family. He says he discussed with his family what he should do and they said: “Why are you holding onto this loyalty? What are you doing? We’re supposed to be your first loyalty.”
Jesse McKinley
It’s striking to me how many of Michael Cohen's interactions had to do with emotions, and more specficially, insecurities. He has testified about trying to please Trump and wanting to make sure he felt “loved” by Trump.
Maggie Haberman
We still haven’t had anything directly tying Trump to the structure of the false business records outside of Cohen’s words on the stand, which the defense will aggressively challenge.
Kate Christobek
Michael Cohen ended the first portion of the morning session by saying that it was his understanding that Trump wanted him to refrain from cooperating with the government and “certainly not to provide information or flip.”
Jonah Bromwich
Cohen is reading tweets from April 2018 in which Trump defended him and attacked reporters. Trump says in the tweets that he doesn’t see Cohen making up stories, “despite the horrible Witch Hunt and the dishonest media!”
