“…the last 20 minutes of court today right before the lunch break, it was incredible. [O]n a cross-examination, lawyers want to kind of put the witness in a — build a box around the witness and then slam it shut. That's what Todd Blanche did to Michael Cohen."—Anderson Cooper.
Cooper explained how Blanche meticulously dismantled Cohen's previous testimony about a pivotal phone conversation with Trump, undermining Cohen's credibility as Cohen's narrative shifted repeatedly on the witness stand, casting doubt on his testimony implicating Trump.
“Cohen appeared to be tripped up over an account of a call he’d previously said under oath was to discuss Trump’s hush money payment to adult film Star Stormy Daniels. It emerged under questioning on Thursday that, at least to begin with, the topic of the call was about another matter entirely.
“It was the kind of inconsistency that Trump’s attorneys can use to try to sow reasonable doubt about Cohen’s truthfulness and credibility in the mind of a single juror. That’s all it would take for Trump to walk. And now, the prosecution faces a stiff challenge in repairing the damage when they get to their redirect examination of Cohen’s testimony following the close of cross-examination next week.”—CNN legal analyst Stephen Collinson
“I think it has to have raised some doubt.There was testimony previously that this phone call was about X and now there are texts that suggest it is about Y … and not a lot of time for there to be a conversation about both X and Y.”—Defense attorney Nikki Lotze (CNN Situation Room)
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a star cooperating witness get his knees chopped out quite as clearly and dramatically as what just happened with Michael Cohen. I’ve certainly seen very effective cross-examinations of cooperating witnesses. I’ve seen aspects of their story cut into and called into question. But this goes to the heart of the allegation here. That phone call on October 24th, and it looks to the jury and to Anderson Cooper and Kara Scannell, Judge George Grasso, who are all in the courthouse, that that was a devastating moment.”—CNN legal analyst Elie Honig
"John Grisham moment"
“Once he connected up to the Keith Schiller text I thought, 'Oh, we're in for something here.' And indeed, we were, because Michael Cohen not only admitted that he is now less than certain about what got discussed that day and that it could have been both but he's not positive given the one minute and 30-something seconds of that phone call, but also that in eight years he had never seen that Keith Schiller text and that it was not among the things that the district attorney's office had shown him.
“That makes the district attorney's office look sloppy in addition to making Michael Cohen seem like a self-assured either fabricator, liar or forgetful person. It casts doubt on the veracity of a ton of his testimony and not just about who he did or didn't talk to on October 24 or October 26. It sort of cast lots of his testimony in doubt, given the passage of time and makes the district attorney's office look terrible all in one breath.”—Lisa Rubin MSNBC legal analyst
“…some bad staff work at the Manhattan district attorney’s office.”
…
“Cohen texted Keith Schiller, Trump’s bodyguard, who texted him to call and discuss the harassment.
"The D.A.’s office didn’t review those texts with Cohen before he testified. This gave Blanche a chance to blindside him, which is never good for a witness.”—Jonathan Alter, NYT.
