Serial perjurer Michael Cohen--never a great prosecutorial choice for a star witness--appears increasingly compromised. Cohen first took the witness stand in the Trump "hush money" trial yesterday. His performance, predictably, was praised by the New York Times ...and panned by the New York Post.
This morning, under cross-examination, Cohen is losing credibility, and the wheels on Attorney General Letitia James' already creaky legal vehicle look fit to fall off. Cohen admitted today to meeting with the New York A.G. to discuss legal action against Trump as early as 2018.
The admission carries profound implications. Cohen's sentence was reduced and he was released from prison soon after meeting with the New York Attorney General. He served little over a year of his three-year sentence behind bars, and was released to home confinement through a "Covid precaution" ruling.
Cohen was sentenced to prison in December 2018 after pleading guilty to campaign finance charges and lying to Congress, among other crimes. In all, he spent about 13 1/2 months behind prison walls and a year and a half in home confinement...His time was further reduced through good behavior.Cohen, who reported to prison in May 2019, was released to home confinement after about a year as authorities released low-security-risk inmates during a coronavirus outbreak in federal prisons.
--LA Times
The Appellate Division of the New York Supreme Court speaking publicly about many aspects of the case. Trump has called the gag order unconstitutional, and railed against it today on a midday break. He quoted Michael Avenatti, who wrote that Trump should be able to respond to accusations made against him. He further riffed on the gag order, tossing in a dig at Joe Biden:
"Think about it: you ask me questions, I'm not allowed to respond, they're the easiest questions that could possibly be asked. Only a guy like Biden couldn't answer those questions."
The next avenue for legal recourse for Trump's team would be to appeal the gag order to the New York Court of Appeals.