A key Trump ally testified before a grand jury on Monday seeking to discredit Michael Cohen’s earlier testimony in a hush-money investigation that could lead to the first indictment of a former president.
Robert Costello, speaking to reporters after more than two hours of testimony, said he told the truth about the New York County district attorney’s star witness: that he cannot be trusted.
“If they want to go after Donald Trump and they have solid evidence, so be it. But Michael Cohen is far from hard evidence,» said Costello, Cohen’s former legal adviser. «He’s totally unreliable.»
Cohen, who was one of Trump’s lawyers at the time of the payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels, responded in an interview with Ari Melber on MSNBC: «So many things he said weren’t true.»
Costello, who has represented Trump allies Rudy Giuliani and Steve Bannon, told reporters after his testimony that he met with Cohen in April 2018 when Cohen was being investigated for a series of possible crimes, one of them related to the hush money payment to Daniels that is now focused on Trump. Daniels claimed that he had an affair with Trump, which Trump has denied. Cohen paid him $130,000 to shut up in the final days of the 2016 presidential election.
Cohen in 2018 pleaded guilty to a federal campaign violation related to the payment, which he says he made at the request of Trump, who made him pay back the money.
Costello told reporters that when he spoke to Cohen in 2018, Cohen said he made the payment on his own and that it was his idea, not Trump’s. «Michael Cohen did this alone,» Costello said.
“I said, ‘Why would you do that?’ He said: ‘Because I wanted to keep this secret. Even secretly from my own wife,’” Costello said, noting that Cohen had taken out a loan to make the payment. He said Cohen told him, «I didn’t want Melania [Trump] know. He didn’t want my wife to know.»
Costello added that he turned over more than 300 emails related to his conversations with Cohen, as well as notes from his conversations with federal prosecutors, who ultimately decided not to charge Trump in the case.
Cohen dismissed comments after Costello’s testimony, saying their conversations were never as detailed or complicated as he made them out to be.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. He’s making up so many stories here,» Cohen said, accusing him of using Trump’s strategy of trying to «muddy the waters.»
Cohen added that prosecutors from the Manhattan district attorney’s office had summoned him to the Lower Manhattan courthouse to rebut Costello’s testimony, but later told him it was not necessary.
Trump promoted Costello’s upcoming testimony Sunday on his social media site, Truth Social, calling it “THE MOST IMPORTANT WITNESS TO GO BEFORE THE GRAND JURY IN NEW YORK CITY.”
Costello said Monday that Trump did not ask him to testify before the grand jury and that he did so only because he felt he had an «ethical obligation.»
Costello’s interactions with Cohen were previously detailed in former special counsel Robert Mueller’s report. report about possible obstruction of Trump and his allies in the 2016 election. He noted that after Trump tweeted on April 20, 2018, that Cohen would never «turn around» and testify against him, Costello reached out with a supportive email saying that she had spoken to Giuliani about him.
«Costello told Cohen that the conversation was ‘Very, very positive.[.] You are ‘loved’…they are on our side. …Sleep well tonight[]you have friends in high places,’” the email read, according to Mueller’s report.
The grand jury appears to be in the final stages of its investigation.
Trump said on social media over the weekend that he expected to be arrested Tuesday and called on his supporters to protest.
NYPD officers installed metal barriers and mounted cameras at the courthouse Monday morning.
A small group of protesters showed up in Lower Manhattan Monday night for a protest organized by the Young Republicans of New York.
The organization’s sergeant-at-arms, Troy Olson, scoffed at the potential charge against Trump: felony falsifying business records. «After six, seven years of an armed system, all the cultural media institutions of American life against one man, is this the best they can come up with?» Olson said. «He’s going to lead by more in the polls after this.»
The group’s executive secretary, Vish Burra, chief operating officer for Rep. George Santos, said: «If Trump is arrested, I think there will be a lot of Americans who are upset, and that disappointment and outrage will be well justified.» ”
The low turnout at the rally, where members of the media apparently outnumbered the roughly two dozen protesters, was likely because Trump supporters felt intimidated, one protester said.
“There is a large silent majority in favor of President Trump, more than you think. They are afraid to speak up,” said Susan Miller, a longtime MAGA protester. “They are afraid that Antifa will hit them. They are afraid of losing her jobs. They are afraid that the landlord will kick them out or arrest them.»