According to Salon, former Trump lawyer and confidant, Michael Cohen, voiced concerns over the risk Donald Trump is taking by having his eldest sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, testify in his New York fraud trial. Cohen, who previously testified in the trial, questioned the strategy of Trump’s legal team, emphasizing that the issue of liability has already been decided, and the trial is now focused on disgorgement.
Cohen pointed out that both Trump Jr. and Eric Trump had already faced potential perjury issues during their testimony for the New York attorney general’s team. He also criticized Ivanka Trump for her repeated claims of not recalling details, likening it to forgetting things 30 times. Cohen expressed bewilderment at Trump’s seemingly counterintuitive strategy, suggesting that it primarily benefits Donald Trump himself rather than protecting his children.
Former U.S. Attorney Barb McQuade echoed Cohen’s skepticism, questioning the wisdom of relying on the testimony of Trump’s sons as part of the defense strategy. McQuade acknowledged that the Trumps could shape their narrative through this testimony but raised doubts about the credibility of Donald Trump Jr., given his previous attempts to distance himself from crucial details during earlier testimony.
Ty Cobb, a former Trump White House lawyer, predicted heightened conflict from the Trump family during the defense phase, anticipating more posturing and contention. However, former federal prosecutor Mitchell Epner offered a contrasting perspective, suggesting that Donald Trump Jr. might face challenges during cross-examination in the defense case. Epner highlighted the difficulty of using a witness who previously claimed not to remember important details to provide exculpatory information.
As the trial unfolds, the choice to put Trump’s children on the stand is met with skepticism from legal experts, raising questions about the overall effectiveness of this strategy in the face of the legal challenges at hand.
“It makes no sense to me,” he said. “What’s the strategy here that they’re trying to employ? First and foremost, as you appropriately and accurately stated, the issue of liability has already been decided. This is specifically a case about disgorgement. How much?
They keep talking about Joe Biden’s cognition, she’s the only one who seems to have forgotten things 30 times,” he said.
“What I will tell you is that Donald Trump, he has to know that this is a stupid strategy. It’s only a strategy that benefits him, for whatever reason, and I don’t know the answer, it can only benefit Donald,” Cohen told the outlet.
“Which is interesting because, as a parent, you would think that his goal would be to protect his children,” he added. “Instead, what he is doing is he is putting them in the line of fire. They’re all perjury traps. None of them, including Ivanka, who has no idea what’s going on anywhere.”
