Trump Trial: The Fixer

By: Matthew Russell Lee

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

In the Trump Trial, Michael Cohen's second day of cross examination heated up just before lunchtime.
Trump's lawyer Todd Blanche, who had been looping around for some time, zeroed in on fourteen minutes on October 4, 2016.
It was just past 8 pm on that day that Cohen testified he had texted and then called Trump's body guard Keith Schiller, to tell Trump that the Stormy Daniels matter had been taken care of.
The call, the record of which was put into evidence by the prosecutors, was one minute and thirty-six second long.
Blanche turned the clock back a quarter of an hour. He got Cohen to acknowledge or remember - depending on one's perspective; maybe just, he got Cohen to say - that Cohen had been receiving harassing calls for three days and finally the harasser forgot to block their number.
Cohen texted the number, that he would be turning it over to the Secret Service. He said he learned, or was told, that it was a 14-year-old. And then he texted Keith Schiller, asking him to act on it.
One question arose, or was shouted: was it possible that Cohen had reached out to Keith Schiller, at same time, about the harassing 14-year-old and about having taking care of the Stormy Daniels matter?
Stepping back, was Cohen testifying based on documents he was given by the prosecutors, from AT&T, or from his own memory? And would or should it matter?
Those eager to see Trump convicted called it a sideshow; defenders of Trump would say the prosecution had selectively dropped the harassment-related items from their chart. But with Cohen admitted to having lied under oath so many other places, was it mistake to close with him?