This morning, the Manhattan grand jury, involved in investigating the infamous 2016 Trump/Stormy Daniels hush money scandal, heard testimony from attorney and staunchly devout Trump ally, Robert Costello, who served as a defense witness for the disgraced former president with the purpose of discrediting information given to the jury by Trumpโs former personal attorney and self-described โfixer,โ Michael Cohen,โ who personally made the payments to the adult film star, allegedly on Donaldโs orders, and has been working very closely with District Attorney Alvin Bragg and his office, throughout the probe.
Following his appearance before the jury this morning, Costello was quick to go public with the information he claims to have given the Manhattan jurors in the hush money case thatโs widely expected to serve as the first official indictment against ex-President Donald Trump.
Speaking with reporters outside of the DAโs office, the attorney and devout Trump insider claimed to have begun his morning by handing DA Bragg 5 bundles of paperwork, telling Bragg that the papers needed to be given to members of the jury.
โIn 2018, I gave essentially the same information to the United States Attorneyโs Office for the Southern District of New York. Only after they notified me that Michael Cohen had executed a waiver of the attorney-client privilege,โ Costello said.
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The attorney stated that this was a โstupidโ move, as it opens the door for Costello to be able to hand over incriminating information against Cohen.
He further claimed that the SDNY didnโt do their due diligence with regard to properly coordinating with Cohen on any of the information after that fact, before asserting that it was his โevidenceโ coupled with a lack of reliability on Michael Cohenโs part that allowed Donald Trump to come away from the SDNY unscathed by any federal charges.
In reality, Trump skirted accountability, in that case, due only to the fact that the Department of Justice maintains a policy of not indicting sitting US presidents, which Donald Trump was at the time.
โToday after giving all those materials to the Manhattan district attorneyโs office, out of 321 emails they cherry-picked six e-mails to ask me about,โ Costello told reporters. โAnd of course, they took them out of context. When they took them out of context, I told the grand jurors, I donโt know whether this will ultimately come to fruition or not. I told them to ask for the entire packet. And I held it up. I said thereโs 321 emails. You need to see each and every email, which follows in chronological fashion and gives you the life history of Michael Cohen dealing with our firm. I understand that earlier, there were some comments made by the folks out here that you were waiting for Trumpโs lawyers. We are not Trumpโs lawyers. We do not represent Trump. We have never represented Trump.โ
Costello has never personally represented Donald Trump but has served as legal representation for the likes of Rudy Giuliani and Steve Bannon.
Costello alleged that Micheal Cohen was scared and panicking following an FBI search warrant executed at his personal home and his office.
โHe was imagining the worst for himself,โ the Trump ally claimed. โAlthough at that moment in time, he still hadnโt been charged with any crimes. So Michael Cohen in that state of high anxiety, when he said to us numerous times Iโm looking for a way out, I need an escape hatch, how do I do this, I need to know what my options are. And his options were as he mentioned, he said do I have a chance for a pardon? Do I have a chance for a commutation? Iโm not sure he understood what that term actually meant. Do I have a chance for a cooperation agreement? He said I donโt understand why they did this to me because I was already cooperating with the House and with the FBI. Of course, he forgot to mention that he lied to the House, for which he was later convicted. So, I of course following my obligations as an attorney explained each of his rights and what he could do.โ
According to the infamous probe conducted by the equally infamous Special Counsel Robert Mueller, one of those so-called โobligationsโ was apparently to assure Cohen that he was going to be just fine because he had all the right friends in all the highest places.
Cohen was ultimately charged with multiple felonies and did prison time over his deep connection to the Stormy Daniels hush money scandal.
Cohen is expected to deliver a rebuttal to Costello with MSNBC tonight.
See Costelloโs remarks here:
Featured image via Political Tribune Gallery
