Live coverage: Michael Cohen faces cross-examination from Trump's legal team

Michael Cohen will face cross-examination on Thursday at Donald Trump’s trial for falsifying documents to protect his campaign in the 2016 election. 

Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger completed Cohen’s direct questioning just before the lunch break on Tuesday after walking Trump’s former attorney through the documents at the heart of the indictment. Cohen confirmed that the scheme to reimburse his payment to Stormy Daniels was at Trump’s direction and with his ongoing knowledge. It wasn’t spectacular, but it was the key testimony of this trial.

Cohen spent Tuesday afternoon being cross-examined by Trump’s lead attorney Todd Blanche. While Blanche’s questioning opened with aggressive statements that earned him a series of objections, most of the afternoon was surprisingly calm. By all accounts, Cohen held his composure and provided brief, to-the-point responses. When he did give something more than a yes or no, the answers were often humorous. 

Blanche spent much of his time building a portrait of Cohen as a devoted Trump follower, one willing to suffer humiliation to gain approval from Trump, who became disillusioned after Trump won the election and set aside some of his more inconvenient acquaintances. Ultimately, an isolated and insecure Cohen flipped on Trump, provided information in the various investigations, and ended up obsessed with getting revenge on a guy he used to admire.

That’s a pretty accurate portrait, but it’s one that was already familiar to the jury. In fact, it’s the same portrait that was sketched during the prosecution’s questioning. Other than reading a few amusing monikers into the record—Cohen called Trump “Dictator Douchebag” and “Cheeto-dusted cartoon villain”—Blanche revealed little that was new.

There was one thing notably missing from Blanche’s questions on Tuesday: anything to do with this case. The entire time was spent trying to attack Cohen’s credibility, providing a motive for revenge, or painting him as a fame-driven hater. None of the time was spent questioning Cohen’s testimony in this case.

Presumably, Cohen will get around to talking about this case on Thursday.