(Daily Caller) George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley said Monday that former attorney Michael Cohen’s testimony for the prosecution helped former President Donald Trump by portraying him as a client following “directions” from his attorney.
Cohen, a lawyer for Trump who pled guilty to charges of lying to Congress in 2018 and who was accused of perjury by a federal judge in March, took the standMonday to testify in the case centered around a $130,000 payout to porn star Stormy Daniels. Turley criticized Cohen for taping Trump without his knowledge or consent, and said that he felt Trump’s answers in the recording benefited the former president because it showed he was following his lawyer, Cohen’s, advice.
“The most important thing about the audiotape is that there was an audiotape. For most lawyers, watching… listening to this tape is, is really an appalling moment. The very idea that an attorney would tape a client without their knowledge or consent just shatters every aspect of professional conduct, but the tape really doesn’t offer much,” Turley told Fox Business host Larry Kudlow.
“Like much else in Cohen’s testimony, he gives these details of how he goes to his client and says, I fixed the problem. I arranged for payments. I’m, you know, this is not, this story is going to go away, at least before the election and Trump is saying things like ‘good, good,’” Turley continued. “Well, that sounds a lot like a client following the directions of his lawyer. But now the lawyer is telling the jury I think you should send my client to prison for doing what I suggested for him to do.”
