That’s finally it for the day.
During the cross-examination of former Trump attorney Michael Cohen, attorney Todd Blance was maddeningly recursive and disjointed in his questioning. Blanche began and dropped lines of questioning before they seemed to go anywhere and sometimes tossed in singleton questions unconnected to anything he had been speaking about before. He also racked up an impressive score when it came to objections and sidebars.
The biggest moment of high drama came just before lunch, when Blanche jumped on Cohen over a possible disconnect between his claim that a phone call was about telling bodyguard Keith Schiller and Trump about his payment to Daniels when texts on the same evening suggested that Cohen talked to Schiller about his irritation with a 14-year-old prankster.
Opinions varied over whether Blanche came off as forceful or just shrill, but he seemed to give up any momentum after lunch by constantly returning to that call with questions that seemed highly repetitive.
Some observers seemed to feel that Cohen appeared defeated in the afternoon session, as he admitted to a long string of past lies and tried to follow Blanche through convoluted questions. Others remarked that Cohen remained calm on the stand, only growing irritated during questions about tax charges that Cohen still obviously believes were not deserved.
Only occasionally did Blanche’s questions brush up against the matters at the heart of the case—Trump’s knowledge of a scheme to repay Cohen for the hush money he provided to adult film star Stormy Daniels.
At the end of the day, attorneys stepped before Justice Merchan as the defense sought to gain more leeway for a potential rebuttal witness. When that was over, the schedule for what’s still to come became more clear.
Friday: No trial because Trump requested this day off to attend Barron’s graduation. Whether he goes or not is an open question.
Monday: Cohen will once again be on the stand for cross-examination, but Blanche expects that he has less than an hour remaining. So re-direct of Cohen should begin around the morning break. Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger indicated that redirect is expected to take under an hour, so there is a good chance Cohen could be off the stand by lunchtime.
The defense has mentioned two possible rebuttal witnesses: Bradley Smith, a finance law expert, and Bob Costello, a former attorney for Michael Cohen. However, what the defense wants Smith to do is talk about whether or not the law over falsifying documents is applicable in this case, and Merchan isn’t going to let them do that. What they want from Costello is more testimony about how Cohen is a liar. It seems really unlikely that much of what may have passed between Cohen and Costello would be allowed into trial.
So the benefit of calling these witnesses rather than just facing the jury and saying that prosecutors have failed to prove their case may be minimal.
Blanche refused to say whether Trump would testify. But that seems about as unlikely as Trump’s golf scores.
Both sides have been told to prepare for closing arguments on Tuesday. However, the jury can’t work on Wednesday, so Merchan may hold off on final instructions until Thursday morning.
Things are close, folks. Get prepared.