The legal community will be aware of the ongoing false business records trial concerning Donald Trump in New York. Mr. Trump will not be testifying in the case, thanks to the relentless efforts of his legal counsel. Instead, his lawyers decided to call upon Michael Cohen’s former attorney, Robert Costello, to testify.
Robert Costello is no stranger to the realm of Trump’s legal battles. His resume includes working at SDNY alongside Rudy Giuliani and involvement in the controversial Hunter Biden laptop incident. During the Mueller investigation in 2018, Costello was suspected of enticing Cohen with a pardon from Trump to prevent him from turning on the President. Although this was never proven, correspondence released following Cohen’s plea showed Costello’s role as a conduit to the White House, rather than as a legal advisor preparing to negotiate with the special counsel. Evidence in the form of an email thread can be seen demonstrating this relationship.
Interestingly, Trump’s legal team chose to portray Cohen as a ‘lone wolf’ who single-handedly paid off Stormy Daniels and then deceived Trump Organization to retrieve his money. Costello’s testimonies at the grand jury intended to shield Cohen from indictment ended up aiding in the issuance of the indictment instead. The expectation that Costello would make a robust witness did not quite pan out as planned.
Costello’s courtroom conduct did not help his case either. Justice Juan Merchan cleared the courtroom on the first day of Costello’s testimony due to his disrespectful behavior and warned against striking off his testimony entirely should such demeanor persist. Yet, when returned to the court, Trump’s lawyer Emil Bove could only get Costello to reiterate that Cohen was a liar, information that was likely already known to those in the courtroom.
Further, Costello faced challenges when his assertion that he was simply assisting Cohen was met with the evidence of an email from his son congratulating him on the ‘big news’ and hoping for good things to come. His insistence on solely representing Cohen’s interests was contradicted by a telling message he sent to his law partner, Jeffrey Citron.
The culmination of the day was an admission from Costello about his testimony before Congress last week where he denounced Cohen as a liar. He, however, firmly asserted that it was not an attempt to intimidate the witness or sway the trial’s direction.
More details can be found in the Daily Beast’s article-covered event, titled MAGA Lawyer Gets Dismantled by His Own Damning Trump Emails.