CNN’s Cooper admits he would ‘absolutely’ have doubts about Michael Cohen’s testimony if he were on jury
CNN anchor Anderson Cooper admitted that he would ‘absolutely’ have doubts about Trump trial witness and former Trump attorney Michael Cohen's testimony if he were a member of the jury.
CNN anchor Anderson Cooper on Thursday admitted that he would "absolutely" have doubts about former Trump attorney Michael Cohen’s testimony if he were a member of the jury.
Cooper made the comments while speaking to CNN legal analyst Elie Honig about a notable moment during Cohen’s cross-examination the anchor described as Trump’s lawyer catching Cohen in a lie.
"Absolutely. I think it’s devastating for Michael Cohen’s credibility on this one particular topic," Cooper told Honig when asked if he thought Cohen’s testimony about his attempted phone call to Trump was not trustworthy.
MICHAEL COHEN ONCE SWORE TRUMP WASN'T INVOLVED IN STORMY DANIELS PAYMENT, HIS EX-ATTORNEY TESTIFIES
CNN anchor Anderson Cooper said he didn't think former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen's Thursday testimony in the Trump trial was trustworthy.
Cooper’s admission came as both pundits discussed Trump attorney Todd Blanche’s questioning of Cohen, who alleges that he paid adult film star Stormy Daniels on direct orders from the then-2016 presidential candidate to conceal an affair Trump and Daniels had.
During testimony with prosecutors on Tuesday, Cohen stated that he had called Trump’s former bodyguard Keith Schiller on Oct. 24, 2016, to get in touch with Trump about the payment to Daniels.
However, as Trump's legal team questioned Cohen on Thursday, Blanche pulled out records of text messages that Cohen sent to Schiller shortly before the phone call. The text messages revealed Cohen asked to talk to Schiller about a 14-year-old prankster that was harassing him.
The records indicated that Schiller told Cohen, "Call me," just ahead of the phone call, which Cohen testified earlier was meant for Trump about the payment. When Blanched asked Cohen what the call was about, Cohen admitted the call was partly about the 14-year-old harassing him.
"Part of it was the 14-year-old... but I know Keith was with Mr. Trump," Cohen testified.
In this courtroom sketch, Michael Cohen testifies in Manhattan state court in New York City on Tuesday during former President Donald Trump's criminal trial on charges that he falsified business records to conceal money paid to silence porn star Stormy Daniels in 2016. (Reuters/Jane Rosenberg)
Trump’s lawyer followed up by accusing Cohen of lying during the exchange, a charge that Cooper seemed to agree with. He also expressed his belief that many other people present in the courtroom saw it that way as well.
"You could tell the import of the moment and everyone in the courtroom could tell, and if you were unaware of it — the clicking of every reporters’ in the room typewriters — it was like a crescendo because the drama of the moment was so clear to everybody in the room," Cooper said.
"If I was a juror in this case watching that, I would think, this guy’s making this up as he’s going along, or he’s making this particular story up," the CNN host added.
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