Trump lawyer's 'meandering' grilling makes Michael Cohen 'more credible': analyst

Donald Trump's lawyer Todd Blanche's "scattershot" attacks on prosecution witness Michael Cohen are, so far, blowing up in his face, according to one analyst observing the hush money trial now taking place in a Manhattan courtroom.

According to MSNBC's Hayes Brown, Blanche's attacks on Cohen's credibility after the ex-Trump lawyer admitted in court multiple times that he lied in service to his former client actually helps the prosecution's case that the ex-president was deploying deception by paying off adult film star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 presidential election.

As Brown points out, prosecutors from Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's office laid the foundation that Cohen's lies have always been committed in efforts to keep the former president out of trouble, which gets right to the heart of the 34-felony count trial.

ALSO READ: 'Most transparent president' Trump won't meet financial transparency deadline. Again.

With that in mind, he claimed Blanche's "meandering" approach to Cohen, where he is focusing on the lies, is giving the former Trump "fixer" an opportunity to turn it back on the former president.

"Michael Cohen is a great witness against Donald Trump in the latter’s ongoing Manhattan trial — and a terrible person to rely on for the prosecution’s case," Brown said.

"Blanche’s scattered efforts aside, this line of attack might work out well for the defense in most cases. After all, if Cohen is the prosecution’s best witness, poking holes in his credibility is an obvious strategy. But there’s just one problem: As Cohen himself said repeatedly under the people’s questioning, the lies were told in the interest of protecting his client, the man currently on trial."

Brown suggested that Blanche's "highlighting his [Cohen's] willingness to lie ironically makes him more credible as a witness to the alleged scheme, as it makes clear the lengths he went to to protect his then-client."

You can read more here.