Cohen will be a Rebuttal witness tomorrow -update

[malaise]

Last edited Sun Mar 19, 2023, 03:02 PM - Edit history (1)

Heard on M$NBComcast

Robert Costello is the person - he has been requested by the Slobfather's attorneys

[WarGamer]

1. How can he be a REBUTTAL witness?

Grand Juries don't hear a peep from the Defense side of the aisle...

???

What's to rebut?

That's why they say "you can indict a ham sandwich"... because the Jury only hears theory and evidence from the Prosecution.

[ZonkerHarris]

15. He will be there for the DA to rebutt anything the Trump attorney claims.

[agingdem]

2. Rebuttal to what..his own testimony??

[Bev54]

14. To whoever is coming in to testify, I guess the prosecutors are expecting perhaps some lies

and want Cohen on hand to send back into the grand jury to rebut what they say. Cohen himself was on and confirmed this.

[former9thward]

24. The grand jury only hears prosecution witnesses,

If "lies" were expected why put him on? The reporting is BS.

[asiliveandbreathe]

31. Just an fyi..I was thinking as you re GJ..but

Under New York law, a person who is expected to be indicted can request that a witness appear on his or her behalf. Mr. Trump’s lawyers have asked that Mr. Costello testify, but the final decision rests with the grand jury; it is unclear whether they have made a decision.

[former9thward]

33. Thank you.

I did not know about that aspect of NY law.

[inthewind21]

44. It was

all over the news last week about Trump himself being "invited" to come in and talk to the GJ.

[dsc]

47. If that lawyer is also about to get indicted

he, like Trump, would be offered a chance to testify in front of the grand jury. If he takes that chance, then here we are.

[sarcasmo]

3. Mr. Cohen you used your own money to pay Stormy Daniels?

[ificandream]

5. Not exactly.

This story explains it. Cohen made the payment but was covered by Trump for the entire payment and some extra. So the money came from Trump.

https://apnews.com/article/trump-stormy-daniels-michael-cohen-indictment-new-york-f3ce87a1b4ec50fbeaefcbe21f87ab0b

[jcgoldie]

43. Has Cohen ever explained...

…why he insisted Trump pay by check? In the recorded conversation Trump suggests they pay her off in cash and Cohen replies “no, no, no, no.” Without those checks signed by Trump this would appear to be a much weaker case. Curious why Cohen replied that way.

[inthewind21]

45. If I had

to guess. It's because Cohen took out a home equity loan to pay her. He needed the checks because they were put though as fees for legal work. Remember, Cohen got nailed for tax fraud.

[Bev54]

18. It was part of the coverup to do it that way.

[former9thward]

25. Coverups are not needed in NY.

Hush money arrangements in NY are not illegal. More reporting BS.

[Bev54]

39. Well I would say most of those are not running for president and want to keep it

hush hush and then write it off as a business expense.

[former9thward]

40. Yes, how it was handled afterwards is the issue.

But most of the reporting seems to imply these arrangements are illegal. They are not.

[Bev54]

41. It is not illegal until it is campaign finance violation and/or tax fraud for writing it off

as a business expense.

[asiliveandbreathe]

32. I did read that this was the plan and Cohen and Weisselberg came up with the agreement..

Sanctioned by tfg..to pay Daniels..and Cohen would be reimbursed..David Pecker from the Inquirer..after paying off Mcdougal..wasn't paying anymore..so NO to Daniels payoff..

[mzmolly]

4. More here:

https://www.msnbc.com/weekends-with-alex-witt/watch/manhattan-da-will-have-cohen-stand-by-as-rebuttal-witness-165673029550

[malaise]

6. Thanks

[mzmolly]

22. You bet!

[Kaleva]

8. +1

[nolabear]

7. Rebutting Robert Costello. Things are finally happening.

[H2O Man]

13. Right.

In my opinion, Costello was coordinating with Trump's lawyers when he offered to represent Cohen. He had suggested that Trump pardon Cohen, which obviously never happened. I don't think that Costello ever actually represented Cohen. He is a scum.

[nolabear]

34. Likely right. And his history is hardly stellar.

Cohen, for all the sleazy stuff he’s done, seems to have done his time and left every last fuck back there in prison.

[lapucelle]

19. ...

How Michael Cohen Turned Against President Trump

The president’s longtime fixer had, for months, sought “a little loving and respect.” Confidential emails and texts chronicle their momentous falling out.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/21/us/politics/michael-cohen-trump.html

============================================================================

Trump Grand Jury Could Hear From Critic of Prosecution’s Star Witness

The grand jury considering the hush-money case against Mr. Trump might hear the testimony of lawyer Robert J. Costello, a critic of the ex-president’s fixer.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/19/nyregion/trump-indictment-costello-cohen.html

[triron]

28. Sounds like last minute desperation and delay.

[nolabear]

35. Sadly I can't get past the paywall.

[lapucelle]

36. ABC News also has the story.

NY grand jury investigating Trump will hear from attorney Bob Costello, at Trump's behest: Sources

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/ny-grand-jury-investigating-trump-hear-attorney-bob/story?id=97974830

[nolabear]

37. Thanks!

[lapucelle]

38. ...

[usonian]

9. Reporter: Rebuttal to whom, and on what?" -- Cohen: I don't know.

Sounds uncomfortable.
As a prosecutor, I would not put a witness in such a spot, unless it was to affirm previous depositions.

But I am not a prosecutor! I went into tech.

Techie things are more predictable, and (usually) not a big deal if you break one, which happens too often.

I find people

but

[malaise]

10. To the Slobfahter's lawyer

is my best guess

[H2O Man]

16. It's to Costello,

the attorney who was connected to Trump's legal team, when Costello offered to represent Cohen. I'm going from memory here, but I do not think that Costello ever was actually hired by Cohen. Rather, Costello -- a fucking scum -- was attempting to work in the shadows to help Trump.

[malaise]

20. Correct

Added that to the OP

[H2O Man]

23. There is a nest

of shady lawyers hoping to help Trump. Costello is the least capable of them, which suggests that they know that they don't have anything but lies to try to protect Trump. The more capable ones don't want to get caught lying to the grand jury.

[malaise]

26. There are no words for the Slobfather

Criminal monster is way too mild

[Bev54]

17. The fact that he was Cohen's previous lawyer, only Cohen can rebut his testimony.

It is clear that this is being set up as a smear job on Cohen, Trump would not come to testify but they requested this guy to testify instead. Is there not some client/attorney confidentiality involved?

[inthewind21]

46. No

He was never Cohen's attorney. He "advised" him briefly. And Attorney client privilege only comes into play when 1. you have actually hired said attorney and they are your official representation and 2. you DON'T want people to know your communication with your attorney (which is 99.999% of the time.) However, If I say sure, you can read all communications between me and my attorney, then I have waived the privilege. Where almost 99.9% will NOT do that, you can, if you choose.

[Bev54]

49. Well to counter that, Cohen has waived all attorney client privilege for Costello to testify

He is not afraid of him and the fact they would have had one on one conversations, Cohen would be the only one to counter his narrative.

[malaise]

11. Robert Costello

That's the lawyer Slobby's lawyers requested to discredit Cohen

on M$NBComcast now

[Deminpenn]

21. Cohen has been asked by the DA's office

to stand by as a potential rebuttal witness for the next GJ session that I believe is on Monday.

There may be 1 or more additional GJ witnesses that Bragg thinks would or could shade the truth. If needed, Cohen would then be called to rebut, from his own first-hand knowledge, whatever that testimony is.

[malaise]

27. Thanks

[Deminpenn]

42. Sure

The GJ only hears from the prosecutors presenting evidence and witnesses. It's not a trial with two sides where a defense lawyer could call a rebuttal witness to testimony from a prosecution witness.

[inthewind21]

48. Incorrect

On this one.

[Deminpenn]

50. Yes, seems like NYC has a unique rule here

nt

[asiliveandbreathe]

29. More about R Costello...former Bannons lawyer

https://www.emptywheel.net/2023/02/22/the-evolving-robert-costello-steve-bannon-timeline/

Costello represented Bannon in his contemptuous refusal to show up before the January 6 Committee and invoke Executive Privilege, and participated in two discussions with the government that the government treated as material to the contempt case against Bannon. There was a brief moment after Bannon was indicted on November 12, 2021, where it looked like David Schoen and Evan Corcoran would represent Bannon, alone. But on December 2, Costello filed to join the case, setting off a long discussion about whether Costello would be a witness or a lawyer on the case. That charade continued until July 2022, when Costello decided he might need to be a witness after all. See this post for some of that timeline.

What a web..in the above paragraph..notice another lawyer..Corcoran..another liar..

[malaise]

30. Thanks - these con lawyers should all be

disbarred