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Things couldn’t have gone worse for witness Michael Cohen on Monday. After days of shaky testimony, the disbarred lawyer and convicted felon took the stand yet again during cross-examination from the defense.
Cohen shockingly admitted to defense attorney Todd Blanche that he had allegedly stolen around $30,000 from the Trump Organization in 2016, as reported by RSBN. The implications of Cohen’s admission are myriad. He was already a weak witness to begin with due to his long history of admittedly lying.
Cohen’s statement on the stand that he stole from the Trump Organization while working as the president’s attorney further casts a shadow on his tepid credibility, signaling good news for President Trump.
As the trial enters the final phases of testimony, final arguments will be prepared, and presiding Judge Juan Merchan will get ready to deliver instructions to the jury.
Jury instructions will be integral in this case, as pointed out by Trump spokeswoman and attorney Alina Habba. She noted last week that there has been plenty of “confusing” testimony in the Manhattan case, which would make the jury instructions even more important.
She told Fox News, “We’ve heard evidence come in on the case that should not have come in. We’ve heard testimony that is outside of the realm and scope of this case. The issue I have is, even with limiting instructions, it’s not really going to un-ring the bell and the jury’s heard it.”
The prosecution and the defense could question Cohen again after today’s cross-examination, but according to Breitbart, that is not likely to happen. It is also not expected that President Trump will be called to the witness stand before the close of the trial, although it’s not impossible.
The trial schedule for the case this week will be exceptionally short because of the upcoming holiday weekend. The New York Times reported that the court will adjourn on Wednesday. After Thursday, the court will not reconvene until after Memorial Day.
This means the closing arguments will likely be delivered next week, followed by jury deliberation. President Trump has been charged with 34 counts in the so-called “hush money” case, which essentially boils down to reimbursements paid by his company’s accounting department to disgraced ex-lawyer Michael Cohen. The payments were made while Trump was sitting in the White House.
Habba explained in May, “This is about how they booked something at Trump Tower in the accounting department, whether they should have put ‘legal expense.’ That’s it! And you want to show me that Donald Trump, who was sitting in the White House, had any idea about that OR that it was done incorrectly? Both things, I haven’t seen.”
The chaotic and seemingly incriminating testimony from Michael Cohen and salacious but unimportant witness from porn actress Stormy Daniels has likely helped Trump’s defense. Their shadowed details and Cohen’s admittance to stealing from Trump on Monday is extremely damaging for the prosecution.
Americans can likely expect to see the trial wrap up over the next two weeks, hopefully with a verdict to follow quickly.