Trump demands jury be told not to link Michael Cohen's guilty plea to him
Donald Trump's attorneys want his jury to get a disclaimer when they hear Michael Cohen's upcoming testimony in the election interference case involving an alleged hush money scheme.
Lawfare managing editor Tyler McBrien revealed a filing from Trump's team that involves his former lawyer's 2018 guilty plea and imprisonment for campaign finance violations and other charges. Cohen had said he'd made hush money payments to adult movie star Stormy Daniels at Trump's direction to avoid her damaging his election chances by talking about an alleged affair.
But Trump's lawyers don't want jurors in Trump's trial to link Cohen's guilty plea to the defendant.
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The Trump team wants jurors to be given an instruction after Cohen testifies that says the following:
“You just heard evidence that Michael Cohen pleaded guilty to violating the Federal Election Campaign Act. That evidence is being offered only to help you assess Mr. Cohen’s credibility as a witness. Mr. Cohen’s guilty plea is not evidence of the defendant’s guilt, and you may not consider it in determining whether the People have proven any of the elements of the charges.”
The Manhattan District Attorney's team proposed a different instruction, saying: "There has been testimony elicited at this trial concerning Michael Cohen's guilty plea to federal campaign finance violations. This evidence was admitted to provide context for his decision to break from Mr. Trump and to assist you in assessing Mr. Cohen's credibility. You may not consider the guilty plea itself to be evidence of the defendant's guilt."
Another request is for instructions to be given after National Enquirer's David Pecker testifies. Pecker is said to have been involved in setting up the scheme to pay Daniels.
In that case, Trump's team asks that jurors are told that Pecker made a deal with prosecutors, though the details of that deal have never been made public.