As the Washington Post reports, this week in the criminal trial of former President Donald Trump on charges related to a “hush money” payment to porn star Stormy Daniels, concealed by allegedly criminal accounting sleight-of-hand, turned to Trump’s former attorney-turned blood enemy Michael Cohen, who orchestrated the payoff and described over the last two days the whole plot to quiet Daniels and cook the books:
While Trump’s defense team said it has nearly a day’s worth of additional questions for Cohen, there were other signs that the first trial of a former U.S. president is barreling toward the finish line.
Prosecutors told New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan on Tuesday that Cohen would be their last witness, and defense lawyers signaled they may call no witnesses — though they continued to hold out at least the theoretical possibility that Trump may testify.
With each passing day, it becomes more clear that Cohen’s testimony will be the most important in the month-long trial. [Pols emphasis]
Michael Cohen lost everything as his long and loyal service to Trump unraveled, went to jail and lost his law license, and was rewarded adding insult to injury with being stiffed by Trump for owed legal fees. It’s no surprise therefore that Cohen readily admitted that he wanted to see Trump convicted in this case, and any other answer would have been unnecessarily dishonest.
While the case is working its way toward delivery to the jury, as AP’s Meg Kinnard reports, outside the building Trump has found a novel way to get around the gag order that very nearly put Trump in custody for contempt of court last week–enlisting Republican proxies not bound by Trump’s gag order to disparage the court and the case against the ex-President on Trump’s behalf:
U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson assailed the hush money case against Donald Trump Tuesday as an illegitimate “sham,” becoming the highest-ranking Republican to show up at court, embrace the former president’s claims of political persecution and attack the U.S. system of justice.
It was a remarkable moment in modern American politics: The House speaker amplifying Trump’s defense and turning the Republican Party against the federal and state legal systems that are foundational to the U.S. government and a cornerstone of democracy…
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson’s way of saying thanks to the many Democrats including most of Colorado’s congressional delegation who voted to save Johnson from Marjorie Taylor Greene’s motion to vacate Johnson’s post was to head up to New York to trash the judicial system as a literal puppet for Donald Trump! Axios reports that this has led to some Democrats warning they might not vote to bail Johnson out next time.
But few people in politics have paid a higher price for their unrequited loyalty than Michael Cohen, and that’s the lesson Johnson and Republicans lining up to be Trump’s loyal mouthpiece should be learning. This is a man who, love him or hate him, deserves his revenge.
Someday soon Johnson may find himself in Michael Cohen’s shoes.
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The once proud law and order Republican Party has cast such identity aside under the fascist influence of MAGA, and now prefers to ignore that Rule of Law principle.