Jonah BromwichReporting from inside the courthouse
Todd Blanche is now saying that Trump was not known for overpaying, and that testimony suggested that Michael Cohen did not deserve to be paid all that much for his campaign work, particularly Hope Hicks's remarks that Cohen went “rogue” at times. “That’s not exactly a glowing performance evaluation that justifies a larger bonus,” Blanche says.
May 28, 2024, 10:31 a.m. ET
Jonah BromwichReporting from inside the courthouse
But at the same time, Blanche has argued that the $420,000 Trump did pay Cohen was for unspecified legal work. So there’s a contradiction in the logic of his closing that may leave him vulnerable.
Yeah, I don’t believe Haberman that that is one of the defense’s strongest arguments. There are two lawyers on this jury. Blanche is a lawyer. The lawyers know that billable hours are extremely detailed, you have to break down your legal work in minutes, sometimes in tenths of an hour. The suggestion that Cohen could get paid by citing "unspecified legal work" is preposterous.
