From Inside the Courthouse

My thoughts on the first day of Cohen's testimony in the 2016 election interference trial

I can’t believe I made it inside the courthouse to the overflow press room, but I did.

I was in DC when we got the news Friday that Michael Cohen would be testifying today in the Manhattan DA’s election interference case against Donald. I had just finished a panel at The Schar School at George Mason University with Andy McCabe and Brian Greer for the Jack Podcast - hosted by Anna Bower, and I was ready to head back to sunny San Diego. But something was eating at me. I was a short train ride to the trial of the century (so far) for a case I’d been covering since it’s inception during the Mueller investigation. I have to go. I had lost my career in the federal government - in part - for covering these stories back in 2018.

So I changed my flight, bought a train ticket, used some points to book a hotel in New York, got my press pass, and booked a line sitter - all in one day. And before I get into the highlights of the Cohen testimony, I have to thank everyone who helped me. Every single one of the members of the press I met today was kind, helpful, and gave me important advice about the rules and the processes. In addition, they were genuinely happy to see me there. Whether it was the folks from Politico, Lawfare, MSNBC, or The Guardian, I always felt welcome and everyone was willing to help.

I was first in line for the general press. We each got a white card with the court’s seal and a date stamped on it. We filed in and went through security on the first floor, then piled into elevators and went through security again on the second floor. If my general press line friends hand’t prepped me, I’d have probably been trampled. We went through security again on the 15th floor, then filed into the overflow press room. We sat in wooden pews, and there were three different screens across the front of the room where we could watch the proceedings, and each screen showed four views. One camera on the judge, one on the witness, one on the defense table, and one on the prosecutor’s table. We were unable to see the jury (for their protection).

It’s cold in the room, which gives you the sniffles - which is why a lot of on camera folks that rush out to the street to report live have runny noses. The floors are old linoleum that have been waxed a million times. They’re very strict about no snackies and no photos or recording in the room. Everyone has a laptop out, clicking away - either live tweeting or blogging, writing stories for publication, or taking detailed notes for their shows later. The clackity clack of the keyboards rises and falls depending on how interesting the testimony is, and sometimes, the proceeding will elicit laughter inside the room.

It’s really something else to be there, and if you ever have time - go watch a trial. Right down the street today was the start of the criminal trial of Senator Mendendez. That one would probably be pretty easy to get into while Cohen’s testimony stretches on into the week.

As for today, Michael Cohen was calm, articulate, and humble. That humility really struck me, and I would say was in contrast to when I’ve spoken to Cohen in the past. The humility was evident when he testified about receiving only a third of his expected end of year bonus in December of 2016. He said it felt like a slap in the face after all he had done to help Donald. He also talked about how he really wanted to be Trump’s Chief of Staff and felt chided when he didn’t get the job. He admitted it was mostly about his own ego, and that he really wanted that praise for a job well done. He made clear, though, that everyone knew that he would be reimbursed for the Stormy Daniels hush money. Here’s a few standout moments for me:

First, trump could not stay awake. But he kept trying to make us think he was awake. He had this little routine down where he would be asleep, then jerk awake and pretend to be paying attention by raising an eyebrow or looking down at his special papers his lawyer printed out for him to keep him occupied. Then without fail, he would nod off again. It reminded me of when my mom would try to wake me up for school and when I heard her coming, I’d move my feet around to look like I was getting up, only to stay horizontal when she left the room. Trump knew everyone was watching him, and just like 15 year old me, I think he was certain that he had tricked us all into thinking he was awake the entire time.

Also, seeing Trump sitting there among his lawyers, I completely understood what E Jean Carroll meant by “he just seemed like a guy.” Nothing special. Not larger than life. Just a regular old criminal defendant. In fact, on the screens in the overflow room, it said “New York County Supreme Criminal,” and while I realize that’s the name of the court, it was also right under the camera shot of Donald Trump and seemed like a chyron describing him.

Early on in his testimony, Cohen gave some examples of things he would do for Trump after he was hired at the Trump Org. One example was when Trump University “fell into trouble”, there were about 50 vendors that were owed a total of about $2M. Cohen said he made them all lowball offers, and all but two accepted. Then he would take his victory to Trump, who would say something like “Fantastic”, and that praise would be like a shot in the arm for Cohen. Those intermittent ego-boosts made Cohen do nearly anything for Trump, and he testified with a tinge of regret that he would often bully people and lie to them to get the task done for Donald. That pattern was corroborated by folks like Stormy Daniels and David Pecker, who testified that no one really wanted to talk to Cohen.

We learned that once Trump announced his candidacy, Trump told Cohen to be prepared for women coming forward with “stories.” Cohen also described the meeting at Trump Tower where he, Pecker, and Trump solidified the scheme to impact the election by running positive stories on trump, and negative stories on his opponents.

Cohen also testified about hearing trump say multiple times that he would “take care of it” - meaning he would pay for the stories he wanted to quash. Everyone understood that Trump would pay. I also learned that Essential Consultants LLC was original called Resolution Consultants LLC, and it was set up for funneling the hush money before he used it as a Trump access slush fund - which is why it was worth it for him to work for then President Trump for free. The defense will try to conflate the two and say that the $35K per month payments were for his work as the President’s personal attorney, and not hush money reimbursement. But there are mountains of evidence refuting that notion, including those handwritten notes by Weisselberg that Cohen went over today on the stand. “Grossed up for taxes X2” for example.

We also learned that it was Melania that came up with “locker room talk” to spin the Access Hollywood tape. Melania came up a few times today, and in my personal opinion, she was part of the most damning testimony for Trump of the day. Around the time of the Stormy Daniels saga, Trump told Cohen to delay the payment until after the election, telling Cohen “If I win it won’t have any relevance. If I lose, I won’t really care.” Cohen then asked trump “How are things upstairs?” Meaning Melania. Cohen said Donald wasn’t worried about her, saying “How long do you think I’d be on the market? Not long.” Presumably positing that if he left her, he would find someone new fast. Cohen finished that part of his testimony with “He wasn’t thinking about Melania. This was all about the campaign.” That cuts at the Trump defense that he paid to keep it away from his family, not for his own benefit.

Another interesting moment to me was when Cohen was asked why he used his HELOC (Home Equity Line of Credit) to pay Stormy. He said that account was paperless, meaning he wouldn’t get any mail about it to the house, so he could hide the $130K payment from his wife. Cohen figured he could pay it using the HELOC, get reimbursed by Trump, and that his wife would be “none the wiser.” More evidence that he intended to be paid back by Donald.

The prosecution walked Cohen through the payoff using phone records, which was really effective. Cohen would call Davidson, then Dylan Howard, then Trump, then Davidson again, then he got the money and sent it to Davidson, then they signed the NDA, then Cohen would call Trump again - all of this showing step by step how deeply Trump was involved in the scheme. It really told a complete story that I think the jury will believe. And if the jury believes everything Cohen said today, I think it’s game over for Donald.

Cohen’s direct will continue tomorrow, followed by cross. I’m not sure I’ll make it into the courtroom again, but I learned so much about the process today, not least of all how kind and supportive the press community is. A day I will never forget.

~AG