Donald Trump's ex-lawyer Michael Cohen, who testified in the New York hush-money criminal trial, has been forthright with the prosecution team," said Danya Perry, the latter's counsel in the case, on Monday.
Changed Man: Cohen has been nothing but forthright with the prosecution team, Perry said in an interview on MSNBC's 'Inside with Jen Psaki' show. "Some of the so-called aha or gotcha moments were given to the defense, care of Michael Cohen," she said.
Perry noted that it was Cohen who turned over his phone voluntarily to the District Attorney's office, and that is where the defense got the text messages between Cohen and Keith Schiller, who served as Deputy Assistant to President Donald and Director of Oval Office Operations.
"And so I think all of this is very much in keeping with, you know, the top line, and the takeaway here is that he has made his peace with his admittedly checkered past and has decided to turn his loyalties away from Mr. Trump and toward his family, his country and to — and to be cooperative and to be truthful as of the time he made the decision," his attorney said. She also noted that Cohen was truthful about the many lies and mistakes he has made along the way.
Pat On Back For Prosecution: Perry also lauded the prosecution, stating that Susan Hoffinger from the prosecution side did a masterful job doing "what we called drawing the sting and frontloading of that damaging information."
Defense team's Todd Blanche may have felt there was only damage he could do by going back to it and revisiting it, she said. A lot of the cross-examination related to collateral matters that really had nothing to do with the core facts of this case and the core testimony from Cohen, she added.
"It's a sideshow. It's smoke and mirrors, is what defense lawyers sometimes do and I don't fault them for doing it, but they really didn't want to go to too close to the actual facts and the testimony," Perry said.
When asked whether the outcome of the case rests on Cohen's credibility, his lawyer said, "There is a very attentive, very smart jury. I — I've watched them keenly. They are paying very close attention and they — they are not missing a beat here."
"So, ultimately, of course, this would be in their hands as soon as next week. And they will decide."
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