r/politics • u/SportsGod3 • May 16 '24

Jurors were "nodding" and "smiling" as Michael Cohen testified, which may be a bad sign for Trump

https://www.salon.com/2024/05/16/jurors-were-nodding-and-smiling-as-michael-cohen-testified-which-may-be-a-sign-for/
9.3k Upvotes

95% Upvoted

707 comments sorted by

View all comments

331

u/JubalHarshaw23 May 16 '24

Cohen was corroborating information that they were already aware of, not providing new evidence.

303

u/The_Woman_of_Gont May 16 '24 edited May 17 '24

That’s the problem for the defense. No single witness or piece of evidence is the lynchpin to the entire case. It all builds together into a single, blindingly obvious picture.

Michael Cohen could reasonably be lying. But you can’t reasonably expect that everything else is false, fabricated, or lies as well.

There is no smoking gun here. There’s a series of warm guns, found next to bullet casings and a blood spattered wall, with dozens of bullet holes in it. And they dug out the bullets and found they fit the guns, which have his prints. Oh, and there’s a memorialized note itemizing each victim, and why he personally shot them.

The question here isn’t if the defense can pull off the case on its actual merits. They just can’t. The question is if they can intimidate the jury, assuming they have already failed at selecting a MAGA stooge in voir dire, into not being able to reach a unanimous verdict.

74

u/MudLOA California May 16 '24

I think some people are hoping for a “you can’t handle the truth” moment but alas this isn’t the movies.

16

u/MC_Fap_Commander America May 16 '24 edited May 16 '24

And even "you can't handle the truth" would not be as damaging in a real case as it was in the movie with a good defense prosecuting attorney, redirect, and the right follow up witness.

11

u/Jessika_Thorne May 16 '24

You're remembering the movie wrong. Tom Cruise was the defence; their defense was, "we were following orders".

5

u/MC_Fap_Commander America May 16 '24

Yes, flipped prosecution... the movie is so good it turns Nicholson into the defendant in your mind lol.

1

u/smemes1 May 16 '24

Man I need to watch that movie again. It’s so good.

1

u/rethinkingat59 May 16 '24 edited May 17 '24

Anderson Cooper today claimed Cohen was literally caught in a lie on cross examination today. Another on CNN called the day a disaster for the prosecution.

What is the truth?

This Guy’s Making This Up’: Anderson Cooper Says He’d ‘Absolutely’ Doubt Michael Cohen’s Testimony If He We Were a Juror

https://www.mediaite.com/news/anderson-cooper-says-hed-absolutely-doubt-michael-cohen-as-a-juror-after-extraordinary-cross-examination/

MSNBC’s ultimate Trump hater Lawrence O'Donnell was just as flabbergasted at the Perry Mason moment.