Monday, 13 May 2024

For your Education and Amusement, Bloomberg UK

For your Education and Amusement, Bloomberg UK

Michael Cohen Will Lead Trump’s Jury to the Heart of Darkness

The fixer was at the center of the ex-president’s machinations and intimately familiar with the corrosive nature of his world.

13 May 2024 at 10:30 BST

By Timothy L. O’Brien

Timothy L. O’Brien is senior executive editor of Bloomberg Opinion. A former editor and reporter for the New York Times, he is author of “TrumpNation: The Art of Being the Donald.”

At the center of it all.
At the center of it all.Photographer: Yuki Iwamura/Bloomberg

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Michael Cohen — fixer, confidant and pit bull — is expected to take the witness stand on Monday in the criminal fraud trial of his former taskmaster, Donald Trump.

Cohen will be the jury’s latest tour guide through the seedier reaches of the business and political territories the former president inhabited. Stormy Daniels, a porn actress; David Pecker, a former scandal monger; and Hope Hicks, a spin doctor, have all reminisced about well-documented sexual liaisons Trump allegedly pursued and then masked to protect his 2016 presidential candidacy. Trump has denied all of it.

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Cohen comes to the New York courthouse with Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s prosecution nearing its end. As the broker negotiating with Trump (whom Cohen secretly recorded), various Trump Organization employees, Pecker, Hicks, a lawyer representing Daniels and another woman who allegedly had a tryst with Trump, Cohen is one of the few witnesses at the center of the accounting and electoral fraud tragicomedy.

It is uncertain whether a jury will decide that Trump’s machinations amounted to election interference and, even if it does, how severe the penalty will be. But the impact of the New York trial was always going to be measured more by the effect that all of the unsavory testimony may have on moderate and independent voters in this year’s presidential election than on the eventual verdict. The case offers a stark reminder that Trump has the judgment and sexual appetites of a juvenile delinquent and the business acumen of a grifter.

The New York case is also the least muscular and existentially threatening of the four criminal prosecutions Trump faces. Yet it appears to be the only one that will be tried before Election Day. Judicial ineptitude and bias, a politicized and partisan Supreme Courthorrendous prosecutorial judgment and raw luck have played outsized roles in slowing down the two federal cases (involving the misappropriation of classified documents and the Jan. 6 insurrection) and a state case (for electoral fraud in Georgia).

Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee, is overseeing the classified documents case in Florida and has routinely appeared to be both out of her depth and determined to impose procedural rulings that largely benefit Trump. The Jan. 6 case found its way to the Supreme Court — and a series of delays — when it agreed to rule on Trump’s expansive claim for presidential immunity from most crimes (including killing a political rival). Although the court has moved with alacrity in the past (see Bush v. Gore) to resolve cases with imminent and significant political implications, it is handling the immunity claim with a troubling lack of urgency and precision. And in Georgia, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has watched her case get repeatedly delayed after she made the unforced error of pursuing a romantic relationship with a lawyer she hired to prosecute Trump.

So it has come to pass that all of the legal action is now in New York State Supreme Court, with prosecutors passing the narrative baton today to Cohen, someone who could have been drawn from an amusing, disarming episode of The Sopranos.

Cohen, a lawyer, didn’t work for Trump because he was a deft attorney, a skillful accountant or a brilliant money manager. He worked for him because he knew just enough about the law, accounting and greed to help Trump engineer end runs and cover-ups. “I know where the skeletons are buried because I was the one who buried them,” Cohen wrote in Disloyal, a memoir of his Trump years. “I wasn’t just a witness to the President’s rise — I was an active and eager participant.”

“Apart from his wife and children, I knew Trump better than anyone else did,” Cohen wrote. “In some ways, I knew him better than even his family did, because I bore witness to the real man, in strip clubs, shady business meetings, and in the unguarded moments when he revealed who he really was: a cheat, a liar, a fraud, a bully, a racist, a predator, a con man.”

I don’t know. Trump’s universe is full of people — employees, acquaintances, hangers-on, family members and reporters, for example — who all claim to have the most intimate understanding of what makes him tick. Having said that, I have spent more than 30 years covering Trump and spending lots of time with him as a reporter and biographer. I would also describe him as a cheat, a liar, a fraud, a bully, a racist, a predator, and a con man.

Trump’s attorneys will attack Cohen’s credibility. But pivotal elements of his likely testimony — including Trump’s payments to Daniels — have already been corroborated by othersincluding Trump himself. And there are those recordings, some of which also feature Trump. Moreover, everyone involved in the hush-money episode is either disreputable or tainted in some fashion because that’s what the inside of Trumplandia usually looks like. I don’t see jurors caring all that much about the reputational issues that Trump’s lawyers will want to emphasize, but we’ll find out, regardless.

Cohen was certainly deeply involved in papering over Trump’s messier problems. He was also the conduit for payments to paramours that amounted to much more than the comically inexact “legal expenses” Trump has described them to be. There was also chatter from people in Trump’s orbit other than Cohen that the money was meant to forestall an embarrassment that might upend Trump’s 2016 campaign. None of it is very complicated to understand.

All of it, however, was corrosive.

“Trump would say so many things that were illogical or just plain bulls**t, as we consciously would know, but we would stay on his message, even though we knew it was nonsense,” Cohen wrote in Disloyal. “We would repeat what he said, as if it were true, and then we’d repeat the message to one another so often that we would actually begin to believe the distortions ourselves.”

There it is, one elementary lesson Trump’s New York trial has for voters: Don’t let Trump’s distortions ultimately uproot your own values and choices, too. And bear that in mind when visiting the polling booth in November.

More From Bloomberg Opinion’s Timothy O’Brien:

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Published by michaelgcasey

I've updated this 18th March 2022 I'm Michael Casey from Birmingham England, the fat silver haired writer in shades. Beware of Others with the EXACT SAME NAME, they are not me, and would not want to be me ... use Google UK to find me, otherwise Posh Americans pop up I've done loads of writing, about 2,000,000 Words worth over 34years now But before I started to write, I LISTENED to BBC Radio 4 for 20 years, from the age of 10 or younger Frank Brown our lodger, went back to County Tyrone and he gifted us his Bush Radio. He'd be nearly 100 now if he is still alive, so say a prayer for him 54 years in love with words, and I still look so dashing. I have a picture in the attic, just like Dorian Gray I've also had an interest in Politics for 54 years with my dad heckling the tv and Politicians. I almost immediately had a hit, a play called Shoplife was accepted but not finally produced by a Theatre. The Kenneth More Theatre, so thank them for sparing you all. This was back in 1989 yes, 30 years plus ago, the play was written in 1988. So since then I'm more than good enough, as a writer. Anything else..... I also ignore those who just cannot write, pick your own candidate I tend to write Comedy as I'd rather make you laugh than cry I have written over 2000 short pieces of writing, yes 2000 " (c) by Michael Casey" If you include "chats" 3700 samples, all told, the chats do NOT go into my books when I compile them. My first book ,a full length comedy/drama is The Butcher The Baker and The Undertaker You can read translations of it here on this site Up to 20 different languages/translations have been read on the same day via this site, here on Wordpress look fo Translations Galore page, and more And in over 90 Countries world wide too so you have no excuse, find your own language and read The Butcher The Baker and The Undertaker or Quick Stories or any other of the books in Translation on my Wordpress This proves to me that the humour does travel I have readers in over 100 countries now, just to repeat myself From Nepal to American Samoa and all places North South East and West Or its just a hit man on the run, or whatever Unknown Region Means It may also mean that only non English Speakers like my stuff Coverage but lacking penetration as marketing folks might say I did get 21,000 readers in 3 weeks for the Polish version of In Search of an Indian Princess. which is basically the final 3 chapters of The Butcher The Baker and The Undertaker all by word of mouth. And 50,000 plus in Christmas week 2021 If you add up all the downloads from my Wordpress + 13,000 when somebody stole the file. I have had more copies than Boris Johnson's Churchill book distributed. Maybe 40,000 copies . Not made a penny from it, free downloads in multiple languages. Reverse Logic, if the world knows me, eventually somebody will pay me But in reality I'll be dead first, and then just 2 pennies to pay the ferryman is enough I've cut the Plaudits, you can read/decide for yourself As for my life, I was born in the shadow of a Brewery, I was a computer operator for a market research company into alcohol sales, 21 years altogether, StatsMR Call centre guy, like everybody once in their life I was also a Trainee Betting Shop Manager I was a concierge and 10 other roles at Crowne Plaza NEC Birmingham for 3 years. Spent 3 years at Pinsent Masons Law firm in Birmingham I even hid a copy of my comic novel "BBU" in the Law Library at Pinsent Masons, well just for a day.. I did a few other jobs too, working life in reverse so to speak and I was an Esol English teacher in an Islamic school, for a year, I knew I could teach. I got Excellent, Excellent and Exemplary on the external assessment, yes really And I asked them to pray for me at least once a day beside which I've had a Shanghai connection for 20 years now, including 2 bilingual daughters and being a hausfrau a long time too, I'm a great dad, as I've had lots of time with my daughters I can always make somebody talk or laugh I believe my short stories could be used to teach English, just package them up correctly or App them Or a Tale a Day from Michael, a story telling App What else, I was brawn and brains, I used to be as strong as an Ox, now I just smell like one We have a cat called Totoro, my daughters wanted a pet I said they could have a dog if I died , or a cat if I had a heart attack. A few weeks after that in Jan 2015 I had an Unplanned Quadruple Heart Bypass , it was supposed to be a triple but it ended up a Quadruple, 33% extra free so to speak. Now with an add on Hernia, the size of your fist, pushing through my bypass scar, it hurts when I laugh, so don't make me laugh I also have arthritis and other hindrances that hobble my body and give me pain galore. But my mind is free, though having read my stories you may wish I didn't bother But I'll ignore you, and carry on regardless. I do get heckled by my own Tinnitus these past 3 years+, so I have music on all night long to drown it out. I sleep with Miley, Taylor, Eric Clapton and Will Young, maybe I should buy a bigger bed, or just get a better mattress. Tinnitus is a curse, just trust me I know, each day I wake up, Tinnitus SCREAMS at me for a full hour till it calms down That's the end of the tidy version of my life To finish here's the list of my 20 books, so far:- 1.The Butcher The Baker and The Undertaker 2.Shoplife 3.Essays and Plays 4.Blogs 2011 5.300 and Not OUT 6.Shorts 2013 7.More Shorts 2014 8.Quick Stories 9.Still Alive 2015 10.Undiscovered Words 2016 11.Still Smiling 2017 12.Altogether Now 13.New Horizons 14.14 Up 15.15 Down 16.Sweet Sixteen 17. 17 Again 18. 18 New Views 19. The Final Cut of the 19th Hole 20. 2020 Words 21. 21 Door Keys, key to the door 21 on Bingo, hence title, 53,000 words so far I write bullet point stuff mainly now as Tinnitus stops me from getting in the zone to write, story stories. (c) by Michael Casey stuff though my bullet points are better than some "writers" discuss, miaow. That's why I dream of a speed typist, so I could dictate from the sofa https://www.amazon.co.uk/Michael-Casey/e/B00571G0YC to buy ebooks Loads of Korean and Arabic translations downloaded from my Wordpress, 1000s of them Quick Stories in Korean is a big hit. Maybe Kim in North Korea should read my books, instead of wasting his countries resources on what? Just keeping one person in power, him? Instead of joining the real world and opening a string on golf courses. That way we could get rid of Trump too. Into the sunset, as they play golf. Tears for a Butcher will be the sequel to BBU, and it too will be 600pages, however I really need a speed typist to put it down, while I sit and dictate like Barbara Cartland, and hopefully my speed typist would be impressed. we'd marry have half Korean kids, and form a Kpop band with our 4 new kids, with me as manager. And yes this is more for my bucket list, as Tinnitus keeps me awake too much, 6 months of not sleeping till dawn is really killing me Michael Casey aka the fat silver haired writer in shades from Birmingham England https://2.gravatar.com/avatar/efda2dca0de5b9269191b7c8b0102473?s=400&d=mm 

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