Former Michael Cohen adviser Robert Costello back on the stand in Trump trial after clashing with judge
A lawyer who has clashed with Donald Trump's former fixer Michael Cohen — and whom the judge overseeing the hush money case scolded for disrespectful behavior on the witness stand — will resume his testimony Tuesday as possibly the final witness for the defense in the first criminal trial of a former president.
Lawyers for Donald Trump rested their case Tuesday without calling him to testify in the first criminal trial of a former president — and after a defense witness got into a heated back and forth with one of the prosecutors.
Trump had said before the trial he would "absolutely" testify. “I’m testifying. I tell the truth. I mean, all I can do is tell the truth. And the truth is that there is no case,” he said on April 12, though he had since softened his stance. His lawyer Alina Habba, who represented Trump in his civil trials but not the criminal case, told Fox News on Monday that Trump "wants to testify... he's absolutely ready to tell the truth."
Jurors won’t hear closing arguments until May 28 because of conflicts with jurors’ schedules and the Memorial Day holiday.
Robert Costello, a lawyer who has clashed with Trump's former fixer Michael Cohen — and whom the judge overseeing the hush money case scolded for disrespectful behavior on the witness stand — was the final witness in the trial, which began testimony on April 22.
Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger continued her cross-examination of Costello by asking about his first meeting with Cohen in April 2018, when a panicked Cohen was considering hiring him after federal prosecutors had executed search warrants on his home and office and seized his phones. Hoffinger asked if Costello touted his ties to Trump ally Rudy Giuliani during the meeting, where they discussed Costello possibly representing Cohen. Costello replied that was not true.
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