According to a new analysis from key former Watergate prosecutor Nick Akerman, Donald Trump’s own defense witness in the brutal Manhattan hush money investigation may have just inadvertently opened the ex-president up to even more criminal charges — including obstruction of justice and witness tampering.
Akerman joined Trump’s former personal attorney and self-described “fixer,” Michael Cohen on an MSNBC panel last night following a press conference from attorney, staunch Trump ally, and defense witness Robert Costello, who appeared before the Manhattan grand jury yesterday morning.
As the widely expected Manhattan indictment grows closer, the former president was offered the opportunity to appear before the grand jury and speak to his defense. Trump and his legal team declined this offer for a personal appearance before the jury by the ex-president himself but opted to send Costello in Donald’s stead, with the specific purpose of discrediting the extensive testimony Cohen has delivered to jurors in the Stormy Daniels hush money case. Following his jury appearance yesterday, Costello spoke out and confirmed that he provided DA Bragg stacks of “evidence” allegedly showing that Michael Cohen was panicked, desperate, and willing to do anything to avoid a potential prison sentence. Costello asked that his “evidence” be presented to the jurors.
However, Cohen offered his rebuttal to Costello on last night’s MSNBC segment and said that, in reality, things went down a lot differently than Donald Trump’s defense witness is trying to claim. Cohen spoke with MSNBC host Ari Melber and Watergate prosecutor Nick Akerman and cited Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe as evidence of the real interactions between himself and Costello, including the incessant attempts by Trump and his allies to do anything possible to keep Cohen from turning on the then-president.
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Akerman said, “I start with the Mueller report because the Mueller report laid out a witness-tampering plot by Donald Trump, basically to keep Michael in line with Donald Trump,” noting that the plot went through Rudy Giuliani and Bob Costello.
“Now, Bob Costello I know. We were in the U.S. Attorney’s office and he’s a good guy and it seems like he was wittingly or unwittingly part of a plot to keep Michael Cohen in line,” the former Watergate prosecutor explained.
Host Melber proceeded to air a headline that claimed Costello personally called one of Donald Trump’s lawyers in an alleged effort to arrange and secure a presidential pardon for Cohen in the hush money scheme. Melber questioned Cohen and Akerman as to why that would matter in the scheme of things.
“Well, that’s all part of the story,” Akerman explained. “It really starts on April 9th when the search warrant is executed and only a few days after that Donald Trump calls him according to the Mueller Report and he can confirm this and told him that, you know, he was just checking in to see if he was okay and he encouraged Michael to hang in there. Then he got calls from other people, friends of Donald Trump, who called up and basically told him to keep in line, including Allen Weisselberg who I believe also called him during that period of time. One of the people that was involved in cooking the books.”
“What’s wrong with it is it comes to a point when Michael meets with Costello, who is talking to Rudy Giuliani, who is talking to Donald Trump, and it all comes back to Donald Trump that Michael is on board and that he’s staying with the team,” the Watergate prosecutor further elaborated. “And the next day, the day after that meeting occurs on April 17th, Donald Trump starts tweeting out that Michael’s not going to flip. That he’s with the team, that he’s on board.”
Melber interjected and described the plot as “an effort then to abuse government power to thwart a probe.”
At that point, Cohen interjected to note that, during that time, Donald Trump was making a very public spectacle out of dangling presidential pardons on live television.
“I can shut this down tomorrow. I’m the president,” Cohen described Trump’s public actions and remarks at the time of the scandal. “I can do whatever I want. I can shut this whole thing down, and it’s called the pre-pardon,” noting that Trump clearly didn’t even have a solid grasp on what he was talking about.
“And all of a sudden, they’re now on television because I wasn’t the only one that was going through some issues at the time. They’re now throwing it out there for anybody to see,” the former Trump attorney said, noting that it was after this that Costello became involved.
Cohen said he truly has no clue why Costello would choose to do this, but it’s certainly possible, and even plausible, that Costello’s blind allegiance and loyalty to Donald Trump and Rudy Giuliani likely served to motivate the attorney to “come out and make these false statements.”
Akerman chimed in and called it a “dumb, stupid move.”
Akerman further explained that the choice to give the Manhattan DA unfettered access to Robert Costello only opened the door for Bragg to be able to raise “all the conversations Costello had with Michael. All the conversations Costello had with Rudy Giuliani. What Rudy Giuliani said that Donald Trump said and what he conveyed to Donald Trump. And then I would end up indicting Donald Trump for witness tampering and obstruction of justice. I mean, the Mueller report itself is enough basis to do that. But now they put forward a witness who’s right in the middle of this witness tampering plot to supposedly give exculpatory evidence!”
In the end, it seems that Trump has once again been so desperate to save himself, that he inadvertently screwed himself over instead.
See the MSNBC panel here:
Featured image via Political Tribune Gallery
