Below is my column in the New York Post on the first day of the examination of Michael Cohen. He is expected to start his cross examination today. How bad will it be? After lying to Congress, courts, banks, and most everyone else, it will be bad. Years ago, Cohen threatened a journalist and told him “what I’m going to do to you is going to be f—ing disgusting.” Well, that bad. On cross examination, Cohen faces a reckoning of biblical proportions.
Michael Cohen apparently wants a reality show but, if his testimony Monday is any indication, reality is about to sink in for not just Cohen but the prosecutors and the court.
In stoking interest in his own appearance, the former Trump counsel promised the public that they should be “prepared to be surprised.”
Thus far, however, Cohen has offered nothing new and, more importantly, nothing to make the case for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
Just before he took the stand, the New York Post revealed that Cohen has been peddling a reality show called “The Fixer,” including working with Colin Whelan, who helped create “Joe Exotic: Tigers, Lies and Cover-Up.” Whelan appears interested to stay within that genre.
The Cohen pitch came with a cheesy promo video where he promised viewers, “I am your fixer.”
His first post-Trump client, Bragg, may have to disagree.
Cohen had only one advantage for Bragg: His notoriously flexible morals and ethics, which allows him to say most anything to support his sponsors.
With the prosecution’s case almost over, Bragg needed Cohen to clearly state that Trump intentionally committed fraud to conceal some still poorly defined crime.
The problem is that Cohen only confirmed that Trump knew he was going to pay for the nondisclosure agreement and that it would be buried before the election. None of that is unlawful.
On his reality show promo, Cohen tells viewers that he is now there to fix their problems because “the little guy doesn’t usually have access to people with my particular set of skills.”
Those skills seem to have escaped all of the witnesses who were compelled to work with him.
Witnesses detailed how Cohen was ridiculed as someone “prone to exaggeration” and unprofessional.
Former Trump associate Hope Hicks said that Cohen was constantly trying to insinuate himself into the campaign and that he “used to like to call himself Mister Fix It, but it was only because he first broke it.”
Cohen only succeeded in confirming that he put together this payment and advised Trump to go forward with it.
He assured him that it would effectively kill the story before the election.
None of that is illegal. The “Fix it man” assured Trump that he fixed it and now wants Trump to go to jail for following that advice.
In the course of that representation, Cohen also admitted to taping his client without his knowledge, a breathtaking breach of trust and confidentiality.
This is the man who, according to Stormy Daniels’ attorney, Keith Davidson, expected to be Trump’s Attorney General.
Davidson said that Cohen was “depressed and despondent” and “I thought he was going to kill himself” when he realized that he would not be made a cabinet member.
Cohen contradicted Davidson and insisted that he only wanted to be Trump’s personal lawyer.
He also admitted that he was unaware that the publisher of National Enquirer, David Pecker, had long killed negative stories about Trump and other celebrities for decades.
Cohen has yet to fix the problem for Bragg.
More importantly, he has added to the problem for Judge Juan Merchan. Many of us have ridiculed this case as devoid of any criminal act.
Indeed, Merchan has allowed the prosecutors to proceed without clearly stating what crime was being concealed.
It is not even clear why paying one’s lawyer a lump sum for his services and costs (including the NDA payment) was not a “legal expense” or how it was supposed to be entered on a business ledger.
Absent a sudden epiphany in his final testimony on Tuesday, Merchan should rule in favor of a directed verdict — that is, throwing the case out before it goes to a jury. If he instead sends this farcical case to the jury, it is Merchan, not Cohen, who may have a better claim to a reality show as the ultimate “Fixer.”
Jonathan Turley is an attorney and professor at George Washington University Law School.
New day. New bizarre, arbitrary claim about the Trump (lawfare) case.
Now we’re being hoodwinked to believe that the statute of limitations on the misdemeanors “is 5 years.”
That is false.
The statute of limitations on those misdemeanors is *2* years: New York law CPL § 30.10(2)(a), a “prosecution for a misdemeanor must be commenced within two years after the commission thereof.”
Then the hoodwinker wonders why Trump’s lawyers did *not* try to have the case dismissed on the grounds of an expired statute of limitations.
They did. In February. The policy “judge,” Merchan, simply ignored NY law.
OT Oxford Debate on Populism
Here is part of a recent debate on the subject of whether populism (personified by Trump) is a “danger to democracy.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFmjgbdNNgw
In an earlier part of the debate, our own Nancy Pelosi makes a complete fool of herself.
I watched this the other day and Winston Marshall shows why Columbia, Harvard et al are useless institutions. That young man is so well spoken and bright.
I would like to address the obsession that some of the denizens of this blog have about the statute of limitations having expired for the charges against Trump.
The statute of limitations has not expired. For these charges the limitation is 5 years. Trump committed these crimes in 2016, so shouldn’t the SOL have expired in 2021.
NO!!. In NY the SOL clock stops running, or is “tolled” to use the legal term, when the accused leaves the state for an extended period. Trump very publicly moved his official permanent residence to Florida in 2019. At that point 3 years had run. When he moved, the clock stopped running.
The statute governing tolled limitations states that the accused must be continuously absent for the clock to stay stopped. Well, you may say, Trump intermittently visited NY after 2019 and that he was not continuously absent, therefore the clock continued to run. The NY Appeals Court has addressed this issue and has held that intermittent returns to the state do not constitute an abrogation of the “continuously absent” criteria. They also ruled that if the accused makes such intermittent returns then the clock starts running again every time they return and stops again when they leave. For example, if he returns for a day, then the clock runs for that day. If he returns for a week, the clock runs for that week.
In order for Trump to avoid prosecution he must show that he was physically present in the state of NY for a cumulative period of 2 years after he moved to Florida. He obviously cannot do this, therefore the SOL had not expired at the time the charges were made.
Very simple.
The tolling of a Statute of Limitations when someone moves out of state reflects an earlier time when it was difficult to sue someone residing in a distant state. That is no longer the case with “long-arm jurisdiction” and internet data. So, it will happen that Trump will challenge the constitutionality of this kind of open-ended limitations period.
Long-arm jurisdiction has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with criminal cases.
Long-arm jurisdiction has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with the statute of limitations.
Long-arm jurisdiction ONLY applies to civil cases.
The constitutionality of the tolling of SOL, as described above, has been challenged repeatedly and is always upheld.
“The constitutionality of the tolling of SOL, as described above, has been challenged repeatedly and is always upheld.”
False – what NYS did is relatively new – though other states are following.
There have been very few cases, what has changed – what NY has changed, is that it is no longer necescary to prove that an accused fled the jurisdiction to toll the SOL.
To my knowledge all the cases thus far (aside from the traditional cases of fleeing, which has been the law for decades) have been people who MOVED out of the state, did not maintain residence, did not have businesses ties to the state, did not pay taxes in the state, but FULLY left the state – aside from occasionally returning to visit people.
Regardless what you are highly unlikely to get even an appeals court to buy is a case like this were prosecutors did not even consider prosecuting, or considered and rejected it – not because of the location of the accused, but because the case sucked.
The appelate courts are NOT going to decide that when it is the decisions of the prosecutor that caused the SOL to run, that a new prosecutor or one who has cchanged their minds gets a new oportunity after wasting the first, because a defendant is technically out of state much of the time – but available and maintaining multiple strong ties to the state.
Sorry Edward but tolling of the SOL in criminal cases is quite common today. My wife deals with it frequently. MORE frequently than in the past. The equivalent of the NY appealate decision is being mirrored in state after state.
But the language that ATS cited is relevant. Even today the statute is being told for people who COMPLETELY leave the state.
It remains tolled – even if they come back to visit their relatives.
But the case law is UNIVERSALLY for people who do not have multiple residences – who when they leave a state the COMPLETELY leave.
To my knowledge no courts – including NY has ever tried to claim that a person that maintained a residence and businesses in the state, and filed taxes in that state, had tolled the SOL by living much of the time in a different residence.
I beleive Turley has addressesed this in the past.
There are two HUGE problems Bragg has claiming the SOL has not expired.
The first is that the State of NY was aware of the conduct they are charging as a crime in 2017. They did not investigate it at that time.
SOL tolling occurs when the ACCUSED makes it hard for the state to move forward. NOT when the state does not go forward because there is no crime.
The 2nd is that there is not a person in the world that can claim to have been less able to make themselves unavailable that Trump.
In addition to residing in FL and NY he also was at one of the most conspicuous residences in the entire world 1600 Pennsylvania Ave Washington DC.
The SOL is tolled when the accused is unavailable, Not when every person in the country knows exactly where he is.
This is incorrect as a matter of law and as a matter of fact.
The SOL is tolled when the accused leaves the state for the purpose of evading law enforcement.
The SOL is tolled when the accused is hiding.
Neither of those are true.
As a matter of FACT Trump was NOT continuously absent from NY while he was president.
For a significant portion of his presidency he maintained NYC as his primary residence.
But even today NYC remains – though not likely for long, a residence of Donald Trump.
Continuously out of state means exactly that, If you maintain a legal residence in a state – even if that is not your primary residence
taking the steps the law requires to maintain residency in that state – then you are NOT continuously absent.
Regardless the SOL is not something that prosecutors (and left wing nuts) get to game.
You do not understand both in this case and more generally how the law works.
Laws are required to be narrow and specific – because the objective is NOT to make as much as possible illegal, but as LITTLE as possible.
The objective of SOL’s is to protect the DEFENDANT, and Tolling the SOL is not accomplished by innocent acts of the defendant (charged with a non-crime). The SOL is tooled when the Defendant DELIBERATELY makes themselves unavailable.
I do not think there is a sufficient period in Trump’s entire life that he made himself unavailable.
From 2017 to the moment – Bragg knew EXACTLY Where to Find Trump.
When Bragg indicted Trump and charged him – Bragg did NOT go down to FL to extradite Trump.
He did not need to Trump remains a NYC resident.
This is an incredibly stupid argument.
By YOUR idiotic legal interpretation ANYONE that maintains several residences and moves between them – will have tolled any SOL anywhere.
I would separately note that in most states the SOL can not be tolled unless there is an active investigation.
Bragg waited until AFTER the SOL expired to try to investigate and prosecute this case.
SOL’s are tolled when the accused deliberately makes choices that make it harder or impossible for the alleged crime to be investigated or prosecuted.
If Bragg tries this idiotic claim – he will have another constitutional problem that will cost him the case on appeal.
Of course at this point the question is not will this be overturned on appeal – should Bragg managed to get a biased court to convict, but which of dozens of reasons will reselt in reversal.
The NY appeals court has NOT ruled that people who maintain a residence in a state are continuously absent.
“For these charges the limitation is 5 years.”
No. It’s *2* years: New York law CPL § 30.10(2)(a), a “prosecution for a misdemeanor must be commenced within two years after the commission thereof.”
Since you got that so egregiously wrong, the rest of your comment can be ignored.
Dear Anonymous: thank you for your well-written and reasoned commentary, but ther problem is that somewhere in MAGA media, they’re hyping the claim that the statute ran. The disciples believe it–they believe everything MAGA media pundits tell them–just like they fell for the Big Lie–they still believe it and no amount of recounts, investigations or audits will convince them otherwise. So, when informed people like you explain the law to them, which proves that the MAGA pundit is wrong–well, that makes you a liar. They cannot be dissuaded.
This is just one example of the extent of the damage MAGA media is doing to America–and, to what end? The salve the ego of a malignant narcissist, liar and con man who wants to be dictator, who wants a “get out of jail free” card to avoid prosecution for stealing classified documents, starting an insurrection and causing 5 deaths. That ego craves power, attention, adulation. MAGA media exists to promote someone who promises to take away health care from millions of Americans, to let the oil industry draft Executive Orders deregulating emissions and other environmental protections, to ban all abortions, to eliminate the Department of Education, cut Social Security Medicare, Medicare and food stamp assistance. He actually intends to execute all federal prisoners, regardless of the status of their appeals, to deport aliens, even those legally seeking asylum and waiting for hearings. In the meantime, instead of allowing them to work and support themselves and their families, he wants taxpayers to pay for concentration camps. There are also massive tax cuts for the wealthiest individuals and corporations, plus tariffs–all of which will drive inflation. He would also take away aid to Ukraine so Putin can “win”, and give Israel whatever killing materials it wants–which Netanyahu will use to kill as many Palestinians as he can, all of which will destabilize the Middle East for several lifetimes because Arab countries aren’t going to stand for all-out genocide of the Palestinian people. Trump in office again would be a disater of bibllican proportions, even without consideration for the vengeance he will try to get on his perceived enemies–endless “investigations”, fake “prosecutions”–it goes on and on.
Just this morning I posted a comment about Sec State Blinken and how he is just a self-hating Jewish appeaser of the left in order to ingratiate himself with those he has been trying to appeal to his entire life. I bring this up now because in my as usual awesome comment (sarc) I said that the Sec State should go back to playing his guitar, growing his pony-tail, smoking a bowl and being a cringeworthy James Taylor imposter…and today the Secretary of State, OUR SECRETARY OF STATE, pulled out his guitar and “jammed” at a Ukrainian night club. This is in Ukraine, the place that Biden and Blinken wanted to arm so badly that they lied about also arming Israel only to turn around and pull the arms for Israel.
hullbobby said: “today the Secretary of State, OUR SECRETARY OF STATE, pulled out his guitar and “jammed” at a Ukrainian night club.”
Just as long as he didn’t make a side trip to Slovakia yesterday to “confer” with Ukraine war proponents ;-/ BTW, I wonder if Victoria Nuland has spent any time there since her alleged departure from the Deep State apparatus.
Shooter Of Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico Identified
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/slovakias-populist-prime-minister-robert-fico-has-been-shot
There are a few people that go by Anonymous that actually make good comments but there are also a bunch of “Anonymous” idiots that are trying to get the site to end the comments section with their juvenile, moronic and nasty comments.
To all of the decent people going by Anonymous I say that you can end this ugliness by just creating a name which would make it easier to ignore the idiots.
That’s Floyd Estovir as Hullbobby beseeching us to use real names. What a joke!
Nothing worse than a moron with a thesaurus…except an Anonymous moron with a thesaurus.
I understand your point and I would be happy to post with a username. Is there a way to do this without having a WordPress account? I’m not really in the market for more spam e-mail so I’m reluctant to get an account. I’d be happy for any help or advice. Sincerely.
I do have a wordpress account, and do not get spammed
without an account enter you junk email account and enter a username. I do that if I post something from phone or tablet, when traveling
Easy. When I first began reading & commenting here, I did not know the site was built with WordPress, and I saw nothing on the jonturley.org site specifying that, or anything about creating an account. Furthermore, I jealously guard my privacy, and do not create ANY on-line accounts unless strictly necessary, and when I do, I include the absolute minimum about of PII possible. OTOH, I am also very much annoyed by the abuse here by trolls posting as “Anonymous”. The answer to your question is that you can (and I do) complete the comment form with the same “name” and (anonymized) “email address” every time I comment (using the same values each time). Does this comply with the wishes of site management? Probably not, but it provides just as much validation and authenticity to my comments as an actual WordPress account built over made-up information (the only way I would ever create one) would. YMMV
Some who wish to think they know what Cohen said need to read this.
—–
“Cohen told his lawyers back in 2018 that he had concocted himself the hush-money scheme that Trump is charged with and had no incriminating evidence against the former president.
“Cohen kept on saying: ‘Guys I want you to remember, I will do whatever the F … I have to do, I will never spend one day in jail,’” Costello recalled. “I even said to Cohen at one point: ‘Michael, now is the time to tell the truth and cooperate if you want your legal problems to disappear.’
Cohen would again reply: “I swear to God, Bob, I don’t have anything on Donald Trump.”
Cohen in 2018 told his defense team that he concocted the scheme to take out a home equity loan to pay porn star Stormy Daniels $130,000 in return for her silence about an alleged affair with Trump and that the former president didn’t know about the details.
Cohen told his defense team he arranged the payments because he saw it as “a way to ingratiate himself with Donald Trump and save embarrassment for Melania because he knew that Donald Trump was very concerned about not doing anything to embarrass Melania,”
https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/all-things-trump/michael-cohens-ex-lawyer-provides-counter-story-congress-habitual?utm_source=breaking&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter
Notes: https://justthenews.com/sites/default/files/2024-03/CohenUSAttorneyInterviewNotes.pdf
Alan, everyone seems to agree that Michael Cohen is a scheming liar with no moral compass. But explain why an old money heir like Donald Trump would retain a lawyer like Cohen for 10 odd years.
Cohen is amoral. Lots of attorneys are amoral.
Not a crime to retain or employ them, unless they commit crimes, which in this case Cohen did but after Trump had long ago fired him.
Peter, when one hires a lawyer, one doesn’t always know if they are good or honest. Trump fired Cohen, and to date, I don’t remember one illegal thing Cohen did for Trump. Look at Fannie Willis and Bragg. How did they get their positions? I know. The Democrat Party is crooked. Some Republicans are as well, but the party is not as crooked as the Democrats.
I have hired many attorneys in my lifetime. Some were excellent, most were mediocre or poor, and some seemed crooked, but these things are found out after a period of time when one fires them. When one observes the comments, whether one agrees with the opinions or not, one can see that the most dishonest people come from the left.
A paragon of christian values.
grab em by the pussy
have sex with a porn star while your wife is breast feeding your new born baby
bury your ex wife at your golf course for tax reasons
call wounded veterans losers
have a year long sexual relationship with a playboy bunny while your married to wife number 2
insinuate your VP should be killed if he doesn’t keep you in power after losing an election
Ahh yes, christian values.
Did the bible catch on fire in his hands?
Did Gabriel blow his horn?
Did the red sea part? How about the Hudson River?
Well at least mister christian values Mike Johnson was there to cheer on trump having sex with a porn star. Indeed christian values.
“have sex with a porn star” That phrase seems to show up frequently in recent comments by our Resident Trolls. Someon at the DNC seems to believe that this phrase will shame some Republican voters into deserting Trump. Very unlikely. The future of the country is at stake. Unless the sex was involuntary, it doesn’t make the slightest difference compared to the enormity of the damage Democrats are causing to our country and cvilization.
Ahh yes , judge others by getting all your information from the National Enquirer.
O T RFK Jr.
Trump has apparently started a campaign of insults directed to RFK Jr. https://www.forbes.com/sites/mollybohannon/2024/04/28/trump-calls-rfk-jr-a-left-lunatic-as-both-sides-fear-his-impact-on-election/?sh=4397a34ffcca He also has refused to commit to debate RFK Jr.
IMO, this is a mistake. He should be trying to overcome the lie that he is an authoritarian figure. Debate is one way of proving a commitment to democracy. Refraing from insulting every other candidate is another way. Trump should acknowledge the obvioius truth that RFK Jr. is a serious and rational person who may have something valuable to say to the public and even to Trump.
Ronald Reagan did not shy away from debating John Anderson in 1980, even though Anderson was reckoned to someone who could out-debate or even embarrass Reagan. Reagan did well in the debate, and only improved his standing with the public. Doubters could see that he was not a lightweight and he was not afraid.
Trump does not only need to consider the election, which he will almost certainly win, but also governing afterwards. To succeed he must have the trust of people who did not vote for him. The RFK Jr. supporters could be a valuable source of support after 1/20/25.
Did Gabriel blow his horn?
I think I missed it.
Trial is a miscarriage and perversion of justice; it should never have been allowed to be brought.
Lawless judges and prosecutors have accumulated far too much unchecked power, and the outcome of this farce will be a conviction of a private citizen for a non-crime by a lawless jury.
The singular American failure is the judicial branch with emphasis on the Supreme Court.
There is a strong case to be made that the anti-federalists were right to fear an unaccountable judicial branch.
The singular American failure is the judicial branch, with emphasis on the Supreme Court.
So what? The jury will convict Trump of murder, treason, sexual assault, among other crimes and sentence him to life in prison w/o parole. Just because they have no evidence is no reason to suppose he’ll be freed. He’s a prisoner of America’s undisputed and unrecognized fiercest enemy> our traitorous lefy-wing.
Patricia, are you related to Margot Ballhere, Mistress Addams or Upscale Suburban Woman?
At least she has the courage to post under her own name, and not Anonymous.
REGARDING ABOVE:
That’s Floyd James Estovir posing as Rick Adkinson to call someone a ‘coward’ for not using their name.
Floyd has changed names so many times no one has a clue what his real name could be.
And ‘yes’ Floyd has used Margot Ballhere, Mistress Addams and Upscale Suburban Woman. So you can bet he’s also Patricia, or he wouldn’t have responded here as he did.
If they do send Trump to prison, it will not end well for the USA.
MAY 14, 2024
GUN CONTROL ELITE POLITICIANS REBRAND ‘BITTER CLINGERS’ FAUX PAS AS ‘POOR SOULS’
Today’s gun control politicians are making it clear. It’s not just guns they despise. There are two other primary obstacles to civil disarmament that they loathe.
One is the Second Amendment itself. The other, well, it’s you – the gun owner…..
Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) was rebuked as an “elite” at an Oxford Union debate on April 25 when she said that certain Americans are “poor souls who are looking for some answers.” Their biggest sin, according to the Speaker Emeritus, is not bowing to the orthodoxy of the gun control elite.
“These poor souls… are looking for some answers,” Rep. Pelosi said. “We’ve given them to them, but they’re blocked by some of their views on guns… they have the three Gs: Guns, Gays, and God.”
Rep. Pelosi didn’t think that was enough. She said, “cultural issues cloud some of their reception of an argument that really is in their interest.”
https://www.nssf.org/articles/gun-control-elite-politicians-rebrand-bitter-clingers-faux-pas-as-poor-souls/
Poor Nancy. No wonder Pelosi was banned from receiving Communion in the Catholic Church by her San Francisco Archbishop.
Well, so much for that.
“Bumbling Biden’s” campaign went full negative and fell on its face with the American electorate.
Biden depraved the government, destroyed “the economy, stupid,” skewed international relations, and corrupted the judicial branch with lawfare.
Now the DNC will be forced to bail on Biden and fetch Moochhell.
Turley must be so proud Trump mentioned Turley’s name the other day, but chalk up another Turley failure, Lets see, the Durham investigations, Hunter Biden, of course Hillary. Time again and again Turley hype’s talking points from FOX, because they know and he knows Trump supporters’ could care less about facts or the law, when it comes to DJT.
Oops!
“Special counsel John Durham concludes FBI never should have launched full Trump-Russia probe”
– CNN
_________
“Judge rejects Hunter Biden’s bid to delay his June trial on gun charges”
– PBS NEWSHOUR
______________________
A LIVING HELL
“[I was] sure [that I was going to win the 2016 presidential election].” “[I thought that the race] was going to be a close, hard-fought campaign [but that I would come out on top].”
“No, we didn’t cry that night, [I needed to] be strong for my family and my friends and my supporters.” “I would’ve won but for Jim Comey’s letter.” “That stopped my momentum, and it really caused enough people to move away from me. Some moved to Trump. Some moved to third parties. Some didn’t vote. The net effect was pretty clear.”
“WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!”
– Hillary Clinton, Excruciatingly Looping Her Loss Ad Infinitum
What do you think these things were about ? Bagging big game ? Or getting to the Truth ?
Everything you mentions revealed damning truths about those on the left.
But unlike democrats – No one has Hillary Clinton in the docks for trying to illegally influence and election.
Great try. Jonathan is overcome with shame at how accurate you are.
Don’t gamble for a living, kid.
We have idiots, morons, boobs and finally fishface
JT has gone full obfuscation. I do not understand why as he once had a pretty good position. But his defense of the obsurd is so half ass, where did his brains go. JT, you will be the next AG, give it up.