After his disastrous testimony in Manhattan, Michael Cohen lost even hosts and legal analysts at MSNBC and CNN. MSNBC legal correspondent Lisa Rubin described Cohen as a “fabricator, liar or forgetful person.” CNN’s Anderson Cooper discussed how the testimony was “devastating for Michael Cohen’s credibility.” CNN’s legal analyst Elie Honig said that Cohen had his “knees chopped out” by the defense. All of that was before Cohen admitted that he committed grand larceny in stealing tens of thousands from the Trump company. Most analysts honestly expressed disgust at the admission and expressed shock that he was not prosecuted. The question is whether anyone could find a way to excuse grand larceny to spare viewers in the echo chamber. That is when host Lawrence O’Donnell stepped forward.
So to recap. Here is what Cohen said under oath under questioning by Trump’s lawyer Todd Blanche:
Blanche: “So you stole from the Trump Organization, right?”
Cohen: “Yes, sir.”
Not much ambiguity but Cohen went on to explain that he intentionally inflated costs to just pocket tens of thousands of dollars. He admitted it was theft, plain and simple.
For O’Donnell, it is not that simple. He rushed outside to assure MSNBC viewers that everything is fine and that this is just a form of what Cohen laughingly called “self-help.”
“Cohen [was trying] to rebalance the bonus he thought he deserved, & it still came out as less than the bonus he thought he deserved & the bonus he had gotten the year before.”
It would have been more convincing if O’Donnell, a self-proclaimed socialist, had just called it a redistribution effort from the super-rich to the rich.
However, there was a sense of desperation in O’Donnell’s interview in offering viewers an assuring alternative explanation. Larceny did not fit with the past coverage lionizing Cohen. For many viewers, O’Donnell’s account relieved them of the need to question the basis for the prosecution of Trump.
We will have to wait to see if O’Donnell’s defense is picked up in the nearby trial of Sen. Robert Menendez (D., N.J.). It appears that taking those gold bars and other gifts may have been just an effort of Menendez to secure a bonus that he believed was warranted from his public service. It would also mean that anyone who was denied a bonus or received less from their employer can simply steal the difference.
There is a serious aspect to the O’Donnell statement. It is not clear if O’Donnell actually believes that Cohen was justified in stealing this money. However, he does show the level of self-delusion or denial that is common with many citizens who cannot see beyond the identity of the defendant. These are the same citizens who elected candidates like Letitia James as state attorney on a pledge to bag Trump for something, for anything. These are the same citizens who voted roughly 90 percent against Trump in Manhattan. These are the same citizens that are likely represented by some on this jury.
That may explain why the Trump team decided to take the risk of a “kill shot” witness like Robert Costello. Some of us believe that this case is already fatally flawed and that no reasonable jury could convict Trump. Indeed, I cannot see how any reasonable judge could deny a directed verdict. However, the Trump team does not want to wait for a long appeal. Costello comes with a risk of opening up issues on cross examination, particularly the involvement of Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani.
The fact is that the jury has MSNBC viewers and some who likely hold the same bias as O’Donnell. For them, what most of us see unfolding in Manhattan may not be what they see. They may only see one person in the courtroom and it is not any witness.
oh, that larry is just awful- except he was right
Not much difference between a NYC jury and a 1950s Selma, Alabama jury.
Agree
“Some of us believe that this case is already fatally flawed and that no reasonable jury could convict Trump”. And that, in a nutshell, is exactly why America is circling the drain. There is nothing ‘reasonable’ about todays far left wingers. They are haters, and they have an unprecedented level of entitlement, and a need to virtue signal to anyone who will listen. They could care less about the evidence…there will be at least a few TDS drenched New York leftists on that jury who will vote to convict, no matter what….they are incapable of doing otherwise.
Hate is the key word here. And Hate is very destructive. Just look at the past 4 years. If it were a lowly secretary trying to make ends meet, who decided to “adjust” the books, it would be called embezzlement or how about the employee who changed the direction of the insurance payments from the company bank account to his/her bank account.
Lawrence O’Donnell, psycho-extraordinaire, is the very reincarnation of Russian anarcho-communist Sergey Nechayev.
https://youtu.be/z_Yw8Uh9Yuk
2020 fake election interference Hunter Biden laptops were real, he made millions of dollars from China & our other adversaries.
2020 fake election results, changed voting laws no signature verification required on ballots.
2024 Fake Trump trials orchestrated by Biden’s DOJ/FBI.
2024 Election interferences once again by Americans, censorship & not by Russia
10 years Trump, his advisors, his supporters, his voters being silenced, harassed & jailed they still have nothing on us. I believe trashing Trump for 10 years has paid off for the DNC, especially in NY democrat courts.
Is there any legal recourse for Trump if NYC finds him innocent? Compensation? Sue others who sued him over lies & not evidence? Trump & his supporters character are tarnished for what? Power, lies, & greed?
It seems Turley and much of the right wing want everyone to go off on tangents in all matters Trump of questioning everyone else who might have done something wrong but not Trump. Here he wants us to be distracted by a payment from Trump to Cohen. It is neither here nor there for whether Trump did what he is accused of doing in this trial.
Similarly, in Georgia, Turley (and right wing judges) want you to get distracted on a romance involved DA Fani Willis rather than whether Trump is guilty of what he is accused of doing.
In other trials, they want to distract you from Trump’s taking of classified document, lying about it and refusing to give them back by asking something about Clinton’s cat.
Or they want you to not focus on the insurrection but instead on whether a President can be theoretically immune from having Seal Team 6 assassinate his political opponent.
Let’s focus on Trump. He clearly did what he is accused of doing, he has no factual defense and he will likely be convicted next week.
Bubba it is actually QUITE relevant.
It severely undermines the claim that Trump had hands on involvement with Cohen’s activities.
If he did – he would have known that Cohen was stealing from him.
This case is a dud.
If you accept every single alleged fact by Cohen – aside from spin you have no crime.
It is not illegal to pay for NDA’s, it is not fraud to call that a legal expense, or reimbursement to a lawyer, or a retainer on your private records.
It would not be illegal if you did so to the IRS.
It is not even questionably wrong to do any of this.
What has come out in this trial is that While Trump may have delegated the authority to Cohen to quiet embarrasing stories
which appears to be one of the few legal things that Cohen did, Trump was NOT himself involved.
Trump did not write Micheal Cohens invoices. He did not review them, he did not post payments to the books.
The only thing he did in this case was sign checks. Checks that said nothing more than pay to the order of Micheal Cohen.
EnMoron, James and Merchan actually tanked the thinnest reed of this case months ago, when they Fitted up WeiselBerg multiple times.
The central character to the alleged false represenations on these various records is Weiselberg.
And Prosecutors can not call weiselberg because James and Merchan have assured that the moment he is on the stand he is taking the 5th.
They have fitted him up for prosecution every time he has testified. Merchan threatened to throw him in jail for the rest of his life already.
Weiselberg will not testify for the prosecution or for the defense.
And he is the only person who could connect Trump to this idiotic argument that these private records were somehow a deliberate fraud.
So in the end Bragg has not even proven Trump was involved in the non-crime of deciding how payment to Cohen was to be recorded.
The prosecution not only did not prove their case – the case was non-existant from the start and got worse with each witness.
The damage here goes much further than Bragg and Merchan.
Trump has put the NY courts an trial – an New York lost.
This undermines both politically and legal every prior trial.
This undermines the remaining untried lawfare cases against Trump.
This exposes the political nature of the prosecutions.
No unbiased prosecutor ever would have gone forward with this case.
And that stink taints ALL the other cases.
And that Sting taints Biden.
You have Trapped Trump in New York for weeks for a star chamber trial and
You, the left, democrats, the courts, Biden are all the losers.
Trump has campaigned effectively in New York and New Jersey.
Democrats hope has always been that they could turn a key corner and cause Trumps support to collapse.
But that dangers is bidirectional.
Failing to “get Trump”
is likely to create accellerating momentum in Trump’s favor.
There are stories that Wealthy Donors have cut Biden off.
Trump outraised Biden by $25M in the last month.
Despite the Trial – Trump’s national polls barely blinked and have recovered.
The swing state polls showed gains.
A 5 way race has Trump winning beyond the margin of error.
Biden has been forced to agree to debates.
He has the advantage of low expectations, and Trump has given him every condition he wanted.
Trump has agreed to debate Biden with both hands tied behind his back gagged and Blindfolded.
Because Biden is that weak, and that desparate.
Because Trump can not possibly lose, and Biden must win.
The first debate is the earliest ever – because Biden wanted it early. Biden needs to shore up support among DEMOCRATS fast, to thwart efforts to dump him at the convention.
This trial was democrats campaign strategy – and you have LOST.
My expectation is that as summer progresses, this is going to get worse.
A failure in NYC makes it even harder for the cases that are already stalled to move forward.
This case proved how WEAK and stupid your claims that Trump is a criminal are.
That undermines ALL of your cases. It makes all of them look weak.
My expectation is that slowly more blue states are going to shift away from Biden.
This could easily end up resembling Reagan Carter.
In other trials, they want to distract you from Trump’s taking of classified document, lying about it and refusing to give them back by asking something about Clinton’s cat.
Bubba this one bit of your post is an excellent example of doing, precisely what you are railing against.
YOU are the one being distracted. . . . . by all the lawfare.
Trump did exactly what every single President since Ford did when leaving office. Took documents that were "marked Classified". IF the National archives had a problem, there was ONLY one path. Negotiate with the out going President.
Democrats and their lawfare goons went after Trump. They got a warrant that is illegal.
Bubba YOU are the one distracted, away from the facts.
I think we have already seen a President assassinate a US citizen with immunity. That would be Barrack Obama and his drone strikes. While going after an Al Qaeda 9/11 participant, he killed his son that was with him. The kid was 14 years old and a citizen of the United States. You have it completely wrong, the prosecution has zero evidence connecting Trump to their facts. None, Cohen’s word that he discussed it with him, that was evidenced as a lie. What a joke!
Killing of Abdulrahman al-Awlaki
Death and aftermath
According to the United States government, Abdulrahman al-Awlaki’s father, Anwar al-Awlaki, was a leader of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.[2] Anwar al-Awlaki was killed by a CIA drone strike several days before his son’s death.[3]
The U.S. drone strike that killed Abdulrahman Anwar al-Awlaki was conducted under a policy approved by U.S. President Barack Obama.[4][5][6]
– Wiki
“Here [Turley] wants us to be distracted by a payment from Trump to Cohen. It is neither here nor there for whether Trump did what he is accused of doing in this trial.”
Leftists love to excuse evil, when doing so satisfies a desire.
Here, they’d have us believe that larceny is not relevant to a witness’ credibility.
Which DNC office are you employed by.??.Beautiful rendering of the Progressive talking points sent out every morning by Vox, and the other Red Diaper Baby
K Street, lunatics
If you’re new to this blog it won’t take you long to figure out that the defenders of Lawrence O’Donnel on this blog are composed of equally crazed far leftists who continue to make comments about facts with no attribution other than their own minds. One even stated that she was working with her subordinates at Langley (CIA headquarters) in a post. In effect she was stupid enough to out herself. She goes under the alias of Anonymous. If theirs anything that should scare the hell out of you that should be it. Keep it in mind when you read her posts. She probably typed the letter for the 51 intelligence heads who said the laptop was Russian disinformation and she has never redacted her claim that it was from the Russians. Like O’Donnell she must live with a piece of ice cold coal in the center of her heart. You should spit her from your mouth.
Dems doing Dem things…and it ain’t pretty.
Jonathan: There was a lot of excitement in DJT’s trial yesterday. And it wasn’t just the contentious testimony of Robert Costello. DJT’s acolytes continued to stream into the courtroom to show their support for the criminal defendant. Among them was one person who few recognized. He’s not a MAGA Republican congressman. It was Chuck Zito. Say who?
Zito founded the “New York Nomads”–the NY chapter of the Hells Angels that the DOJ considers an organized crime syndicate. Zito has a long criminal record, doing prison time from 1985-1998 on drug conspiracy charges, He is also linked to the infamous Gambino Mafia crime family.
So why would DJT welcome Zito’s appearance at the trial? That’s because DJT has a long association with criminal biker gangs going back to the 2016 campaign. He addressed a biker’s rally then. The “Bikers for Trump” took part in the J. 6 insurrection. The were the foot soldiers for DJT’s attack on the Capitol. That’s why DJT welcomed Zito’s support.
There’s one big take away from the trial so far. DJT loves to project the “tough guy” image. In this trial he has taken a page out of the Mafia playbook and what he learned from Roy Cohn who always told DJT to “Attack, Attack and “Attack” the judge, the prosecutors, the witnesses, etc. DJT learned the lesson well. We saw that on full display in this trial. DJT’s MO is to act like a Mafia Don who is criminally prosecuted. Threaten the judge, the judge’s daughter, the prosecutors and the witnesses. I think Todd Blanche doesn’t like playing the role of “Roy Cohn”. But he’s stuck with a client who thinks he can dictate trial tactics. That I think will be a losing strategy.
That’s a lot of stuff, with zero sourcing. Its Dennin. no sources. = its all a lie.
Actually it is pretty much nothing.
Some dude that Dennis alleges the DOJ is after but has not charged with anything showed up at the courthouse.
Dennis does not grasp how badly this has gone.
The failure of the left to make a case here, has undermined ALL other cases.
Trump has successfully tied ALL of these cases together with a bow and sold them all as election interferance – not real criminal prosecutions.
The Willis case blew up spectacularly.
The FL case is going horribly.
And even the MSM now thinks the Bragg case is Dead (outside of O,Donnel)
Dennis can beleive through his deathbed that these cases were all serious. No one can stop him.
But Trump has won the political battle. Overwhelming majorities of people see them as deliberate and morally WRONG lawfare.
Dennis is busy Smearing Blanche.
The FACT is that Trump’s attorney’s were MASTERFULL, and Bragg’s were FOOLS.
We do not know if this will get to a jury – increasingly I think the odds are it will not.
Merchan’s conduct has been so abysmal, that it may not be worth the reputational damage to allow an appeals court to ever rule on this.
Even the MSM understands this case has FLOPPED.
Regardless, Blanche, Bove, and Neschelle were masterful. This is a career making case – and an unbelievably complex one in several ways. They not only had to do well int he trial – they had to win politically.
One of the things that Dennis and the left fail to grasp about all their lawfare is that Trump is in a position where what is most important is not whether he wins or loses in court, but whether he wins or loses in the court of public opinion.
That makes the case much more complicated.
This is your big take away from this trial – that some Biker that DOJ has targeted supports Trump ?
You keep telling us that Trump’s lawyers are going to turn on him.
Trump lawyer Trusty who YOU claimed was now hostile to Trump testified in the house last week. His testimony was Damning.
Having served over 20 years as a US attorney, he testified that NEVER had he seen such unethical conduct as DOJ/Smith engaged in in the MAL case. Trusty is no longer representing Trump – because in the tank judge Berrel Howell improperly breached attorney client priviledge and forced him to testify against Trump. DOJ/SC got NOTHING – except removing Trusty from the case.
But NOW he is free to speak.
However Micheal Cohen’s lawyer – Costello was free to speak – both in the house and at this trial.
Cohen released Attorney client privilege as a requirement for his cooperation agreement with SDNY.
And Costello destroyed Cohen.
Prosecutors tried to thwart costello’s testimony with constant objections – which Merchan sustained without ever bothering to find out why.
There is pretty much no witness whose testimony is more admissible than a rebuttal witness to the credibility of a prosecution witness.
And Merchan went nuts – atleast partly in front of the jury. Because Costello allegedly commented under his breath or rolled his eyes.
Merchan needs to grow up and get over it. I do nto know if Costello actually did anything – he is an unbeleiveably experienced prosecutor whose legal credentials are superior to everyone in that courtroom, but lets presume that he was quietly disrespectful of the judge.
They jury will pick up on that and that undermines the witness. When the judge becomes combative with a witness like Costello, that undermines the Judge with the jury.
“However, there was a sense of desperation in O’Donnell’s interview in offering viewers an assuring alternative explanation. Larceny did not fit with the past coverage lionizing Cohen. For many viewers, O’Donnell’s account relieved them of the need to question the basis for the prosecution of Trump.”
This is also a textbook example of Cognitive Dissonance at work. A person deeply believes something, and it is important to them. Then Reality happens to disconfirm that belief. Rather than admit, “I was wrong!”, and change the false belief, one simply goes on to invent new justifications to continue the erroneous belief. O’Donnell was already far down that path before this example.
This is the same thing that you see from some of the Shills here, like DeMac. They have gone so far down the path of Delusion, that they have broken their own minds. What else would account for Democrats embracing the castration of young boys, and cutting off the breasts of young girls? Democrats have become mentally ill and evil.
Turley, keeping a handful of your MAGA cultists and their many, many sock puppets is not worth the mocking you have already got and will receive by your stand that Trump is above the law. That iceberg is out there, and your steaming full speed ahead.
The prosecution has conducted its Trial of Trump.
The judge has not spoken on Blanche’s request for a directed verdict.
Nor has the Jury spoken
But the public has – including the left wing nut MSM.
This trial was a disaster.
For Bragg, for Merchan, for democrats for Biden
for NY, for the courts, for the left.
Trump has won on the law, on the facts, in public opinion.
You have had your star chamber trial.
You have had it with a biased jury
a corrupt judge, a series f witnesses that are execrable beyond belief
You have lost in the court of public opinion,
You have lost even in the left wing bubble.
There is even a possibility that in the tank corrupt judge
Merchan will toss this rather than be excoriated for the rest of his life for this sham.
And if not – there is a better than even possibility of a hung jury or even an acquital.
But now even a conviction is a LOSS for team lawfare
This was a total disaster and that disaster taints ALL the lawfare against Trump, and Taints all those involved.
Micheal Cohen did not just burn himself to ashes.
He Burned Merchan and Bragg and Colangelo, and James and the DOJ and Biden.
Cohen and Daniels will undoubtedly make a fortune off of this. Especially if Trump is elected.
Though Cohen could yet face further prosecution – not because he has committed other crimes – but because he failed uterly to “get Trump” and because the stench of his failure fell on Democrats engaged in lawfare.
“If you lie down with dogs, you get up with fleas”
I agree that this case has turned out to be a disaster for the prosecution..l also agree that the judge has committed numerous reversible errors in the course of the trial. But two factors stick in my mind: First, this is a case before a jury of New York ers,a venue where 98 percent of the voters went for Biden in 2020. Second,,, my understanding from numerous legal experts including many experienced trial lawyers, is that the judge has been shockingly biased in favor of the prosecution and prejudiced against the defense in his conduct of this case. A judge is supposed to be even handed, much like an umpire in a baseball game, calling balls and strikes, but not so this judge. He has not tried to hide his preference.
Given these two factors, the judge’s bias and the fact that this is a New York City jury, it seems to me that, despite the weak case of the prosecution, there still could be a conviction in this case.
Isn’t it time for your next vaccine booster? You should make sure you get them all and exercise vigorously to assure they work!
… and the next one will be even MORE ” Safer & Effectiv-er “!
“he (O’Donnell) does show the level of self-delusion or denial that is common with many citizens who cannot see beyond the identity of the defendant. These are the same citizens who elected candidates like Letitia James as state attorney on a pledge to bag Trump for something, for anything. These are the same citizens who voted roughly 90 percent against Trump in Manhattan. These are the same citizens that are likely represented by some on this jury.”
These “citizens” are also known as “Democrats.”
It would come as no surprise that you would love to see the jury walk in with red hats on. Your disdain for the law is apparent.
Fishy, your disdain for the law is apparent
by you thinking this was a legit trial, not lawfare.
Fishy DON’T think. Fishy shills for the Democrats. Fishy will never provide any worthwhile commentary, which I why I pretty much ignore he/she/it and its compatriots.
That itching you feel, is the fleas you have gotten from lying down with Cohen and Daniels and Bragg and James and EnMoron and Carrol, and Colangelo.
As a self-proclaimed socialist it comes as no surprise that O’Donnell justifies theft.
Bingo!