(RepublicanNews.org) – Michael Cohen, former lawyer to President Donald Trump, recently started testifying about Trump in his ongoing Manhattan hush-money case, revealing several damning details about Trump and his alleged involvement in the hush-money scheme.
Cohen’s testimony initially seemed to prove the prosecution’s allegations against the former president, but after Trump’s defense team cross-examined Cohen, legal experts believe the testimony could help the former president. The cross-examination marks a pivotal moment in Trump’s ongoing criminal case and could see Cohen face charges of perjury due to his contradictory statements.
Cohen shared information about a call between himself and the former president in which he claims the two discussed the payments to adult film actress Stormy Daniels. After Trump’s legal team started their cross-examination of Cohen, the former attorney confirmed the call related to a different topic and didn’t focus on the hush-money payments. Cohen’s initial discussion about the phone call started after he took an oath, meaning his contradictory statement about the call’s details could result in criminal charges.
Cohen’s inconsistent testimony could result in a hung jury or even an acquittal and highlights Trump’s current advantage over the case’s prosecutors. Trump’s legal team cited the inconsistencies between Cohen’s two stories about the phone call as proof of the former attorney’s untrustworthiness and called for jurors to disregard his testimony as prosecutors couldn’t validate it. According to a professor from NYU Law, if Cohen’s testimony concluded the case, a jury would likely find Trump innocent of the charges against him.
Trump seemed in high spirits after his legal team started cross-examining Cohen. The former president claimed his defense attorneys proved that Cohen’s claims weren’t legitimate and that the entire case against him amounted to a “scam.” Cohen is one of the prosecution’s main witnesses in the hush-money case, so any doubts regarding his credibility could seriously hinder the prosecution’s attempt at proving Trump’s guilt.
Following the first day of Cohen’s cross-examination, the judge overseeing Trump’s hush-money case announced that the lawyers should have their closing statements ready by May 21st, which means the case could conclude within the next few weeks. Trump remains confident that the jury will find him innocent of the hush-money charges and maintains his innocence regarding the alleged scheme.
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