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Robert Costello, Michael Cohen's former lawyer, accused the prosecution's key witness of lying on the stand in the New York criminal case against former President Donald Trump.
On Wednesday, Costello appeared before House Judiciary Committee Republicans during a hearing on the Weaponization of the Federal Government.
Costello claimed that his former client, Cohen, lied to jurors during his testimony this week.
'[H]e cherry picks certain emails or text messages and tries to make them look like something else.'
Cohen, Trump's former attorney, took the stand on Monday as the prosecution's final witness in its case against the former president.
Last year, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg charged Trump with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in connection with a $130,000 so-called hush money payment Cohen made to porn actress Stormy Daniels, who claimed she had an affair with Trump. Cohen testified that he made the payment at Trump's request and was later reimbursed. Trump pleaded not guilty to all charges and denied Daniels' affair allegations.
Costello, who represented Cohen from April 2018 to July 2018, told lawmakers that Cohen is an "inveterate liar" who previously told him information contradicting his testimony this week. He noted that Cohen waved the attorney-client privilege at the request of the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York because he had pleaded guilty to eight felony counts and "was seeking to lessen his sentence and thought he could be clever by going into the U.S. Attorney's Office and lying about cooperation."
#BREAKING: Michael Cohen's former attorney reveals huge news:\n\n1. Michael Cohen didn't actually believe the Stormy Daniels allegation.\n\n2. Cohen paid Stormy Daniels all on his own. \n\n3. President Trump had nothing to do with it.— (@)
Cohen accused Costello and Rudy Giuliani of "conspiring to obstruct justice by tampering with a witness, namely Michael Cohen," Costello told the committee.
"The story which they were floating at the time ... was that we had dangled a pardon under Michael Cohen's nose in order to keep him quiet so that he wouldn't testify against Donald Trump," Costello stated.
He explained that he met with the two assistant U.S. attorneys and two FBI agents and detailed his "entire history" with Cohen.
"I explained the many, many lies that Michael Cohen told us," he said.
After reviewing Cohen's Tuesday testimony, Costello said he identified several lies he told the jury.
"Virtually every statement he made about me was another lie," Costello told lawmakers. "What he tries to do is he cherry picks certain emails or text messages and tries to make them look like something else."
Costello explained that the first time he met Cohen, which was shortly after the FBI raided Cohen's hotel room and office, his behavior was "absolutely manic," and "he looked like he hadn't slept in four or five days."
According to Costello, Cohen told him at least 10 to 20 times, "I want you to know I will do whatever the F- I have to do. I will never spend one day in jail."
During the meeting, Cohen allegedly told Costello that he had not done anything wrong and was "cooperating with the special counsel" and Congress.
"Of course, he forgot to tell us that he lied to Congress," Costello said, adding that he explained to Cohen that Trump was the actual target in the special counsel's investigation.
He claimed that Cohen told him that just a couple of nights before their meeting, he was "seriously considering" committing suicide by jumping off the roof of the hotel "because he couldn't handle the pressure of the legal problems that he saw coming his way."
"What he wanted to find out from us that day was his escape route. That's what he called it, 'Guys, you have to tell me what my escape route is. What can I do to get out of this?'" Costello continued.
He told the House committee that he asked Cohen whether he had "truthful information about Donald Trump" and, if so, then "all your legal problems" could be "solved by the end of the week."
"His response, 'I swear to God, Bob, I don't have anything on Donald Trump.' I said, 'Michael, I want you to think carefully about this.' I probably came back to this subject 10 or 20 times during the two-hour period," Costello remarked.
He noted that each time he asked Cohen the question, Cohen responded the same way: He did not have anything incriminating on Trump.
"I said, 'Michael, whatever you have has to be truthful. If you think you can go in there and tell these people lies, you're crazy. It's going to backfire on you," Costello continued. "Probably the fifth or sixth time I got around to doing that, he said, 'Well, I know that money is missing from the Trump inaugural ball.' I said, 'Is Donald Trump involved in that?' No. 'Does Donald Trump know anything about that?' No. I said, 'Michael, that's useless. You're not going anywhere with that.'"
Costello explained that Cohen's recent testimony is "exactly the opposite" of what his client previously told him.
United States Representative Matt Gaetz (R-Florida) asked Costello whether Cohen is "a liar." Costello responded, "That doesn't even begin to describe him. He lies at every opportunity when it's in his favor."
"Is there a single branch of government that Michael Cohen hasn't lied to?" Gaetz inquired.
Costello replied, "Gee, I think there isn't."
He noted that Cohen has "changed his story" since their first meeting.
"You have to believe Michael Cohen in order to convict Donald Trump, if there's actually a crime, which there isn't," Costello told committee chairman Representative Jim Jordan (R-Ohio).
Representative Greg Steube (R-Florida) asked Costello to explain his view on Cohen's motivation for sending Daniels the $130,000 settlement payment.
According to Costello, Cohen told him, "I got a call from a lawyer representing Stormy Daniels, who represented that she was going to testify that Donald Trump had sex with Stormy Daniels." He noted that Cohen stated he did not believe Daniels' allegations but thought that it would be "embarrassing" for Melania Trump.
"That's why I decided to take care of this on my own," Cohen allegedly told Costello.
Costello told the committee that he asked Cohen several times whether Trump was involved in the settlement agreement, to which Cohen allegedly replied that he was not.
"I went back to that several times. 'You did this on your own?' On my own. 'Did Donald Trump have anything to do with it?' No. 'Did you get the money from Donald Trump?' No. 'From any of his organizations?' No. 'From anybody connected to Donald Trump?' No," Costello recounted his alleged conversation with Cohen.
According to Costello, Cohen told him he took out a "HELOC loan" against his property to secure the funds to pay Daniels. When asked why he did that, Cohen allegedly told Costello that he did not want anyone, including his wife, to know where he had gotten the money. Costello claimed that Cohen's wife is "in charge" of the family finances and would have asked him "a hundred questions" about the payment.
Costello accused Cohen of feeling "betrayed" by Trump's decision not to offer him a White House position after securing the 2016 presidential election.
"He said to me that he should have been Attorney General of the United States or at least the chief assistant to the president. Ludicrous," Costello continued. "He was very angry about that. He wanted to do something to put himself back into the inner circle of Donald Trump. That's why he took care of this on his own. There had to be a motivation. Michael Cohen is always working for things that benefit himself."
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Pro-Hamas students at Columbia University received a well-earned civics lesson Tuesday evening from New York City's finest.
Hamas-endorsed radicals illegally camped outside Columbia University for more than a week, regurgitating genocidal rhetoric and demanding the institution divest from Israel. The administration set multiple deadlines that went unheeded, then finally gave the radicals an ultimatum Monday: Leave the encampment by 2 p.m. or face suspension. This ultimatum also fell on deaf ears.
The radicals opted instead to seize the university's Hamilton Hall just as their leftist forebears had 58 years earlier in protest of America's military action against mass-murdering communists in southeast Asia.
Minouche Shafik, the president of the university, noted in a Wednesday letter to the New York Police Department that the illegal occupation was made possible by an individual who "hid in the building until after it closed and let the other individuals in."
The keffiyeh-adorned radicals reportedly ransacked the interior — busting doors and windows, destroying furniture and blockading entrances — while representatives of the anti-Israel radicals issued demands outside, suggesting that keeping the hall's illegal occupiers' stomachs from grumbling was the university's responsibility and amounted to "basic humanitarian aid."
Shafik ultimately pleaded for the NYPD to intervene, stressing that the "takeover of Hamilton Hall and the continued encampments raise serious safety concerns for the individuals involved and the entire community." Shafik also suggested that "the actions of these individuals are unfortunately escalating."
Around 6 p.m., Mayor Eric Adams implored the radicals to "leave the area and to leave the area now." Adams suggested further that "professional outside agitators" had a hand in the illegal takeover.
The terrorist-supported radicals ignored the mayor's request just as they had ignored the university's earlier requests.
Tuesday, on the eve of leftists' beloved May Day, the NYPD obliged the university president to the chagrin of Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.).
Happening Now: Many more NYPD marching towards Columbia.— (@)
#BREAKING Police MOVE IN TO COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY, Raid has begun.— (@)
As police made their way to Hamilton Hall en masse, Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine — among the student groups referred to as "ours" by the Gaza-based terrorist organization Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine — called for escalations, writing, "ALL OUT TO COLUMBIA! DEFEND THE ENCAMPMENTS! FROM THE WALLS TO THE GATES, IT IS TIME TO ESCALATE! #Escalate4Gaza."
While the radicals prepared for the confrontation, Columbia faculty members preemptively denounced the police.
A statement attributed to the Columbia University Chapter of the American Association of University Professors, shared online by leftist professor Joseph Howley, said, "NYPD presence in our neighborhood endangers our entire community. Armed police entering our campus places students and everyone else on campus at risk."
The university indicated in a statement obtained by WABC-TV that the NYPD arrived on campus around 9 p.m., which was crowded with leftists chanting anti-police and anti-Israel slogans.
\u201cNYPD. KKK.\u201d— (@)
Police were initially unable to enter the building on account of the barricades. The New York Post reported that several leftists stood on the inside of the doorway taunting officers while fellow travelers outside chanted, "Pigs!"
Around 9:30 p.m., police drove their Mobile Adjustable Ramp System vehicle up to the building, affording a column of around 30 armored riot officers equipped with zip-tie handcuffs a second-story window into the building. Police successfully climbed into the building, then made quick work out of the radicals inside with the aid of four distraction devices, which apparently went off with a bang.
— (@)
According to the New York Times, at least 108 student radicals were arrested.
\ud83d\udea8\ud835\uddd5\ud835\udde5\ud835\uddd8\ud835\uddd4\ud835\uddde\ud835\udddc\ud835\udde1\ud835\uddda - The NYPD have begun arresting protestors and agitators at Columbia University.\n\nTactical units have also entered to clear out portions of the campus that have been barricaded.— (@)
In addition to dragging out the radicals who seized and vandalized Hamilton Hall, police also dealt with the anti-Israel encampment on the university's West Lawn, reported the Times.
Officers searched the hundreds of tents and flushed out the remaining radicals.
NYPD clash with Columbia protesters, making dozens of arrests and clearing the entire encampment in 2 hours. \n\nHundreds of officers in riot gear swiftly removed all of the students and protesters who had been encamped on the campus for 2 weeks. \n\nOver 100 arrests.— (@)
Assistant Commissioner Carlos Nieves indicated that the "people that were in the encampment are now gone," reported the Post.
Protesters cheered on the blubbering arrestees as they were bused off campus.
Police reportedly indicated ahead of taking action Tuesday that the Hamilton Hall occupiers would be charged with third-degree burglary, trespassing, and criminal mischief. Those illegally camped outside would be slapped with trespassing and disorderly conduct charges.
Police clash started because a van filled with arrested students was exiting the perimeter.— (@)
Following the successful counter-extremism operation, Shafik said in a statement, "We regret that protesters have chosen to escalate the situation through their actions. After the University learned overnight that Hamilton Hall had been occupied, vandalized, and blockaded, we were left with no choice. Columbia public safety personnel were forced out of the building, and a member of our facilities team was threatened. We will not risk the safety of our community or the potential for further escalation."
The university has requested that NYPD maintain a presence on campus until May 17 to "maintain order and ensure encampments are not reestablished."
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