"the prosecution in its cross of Robert Costello...beat the snot out of him"

[kpete]

“I think the legal term to describe what we just saw from the prosecution in its cross of Robert Costello is Hoffinger beat the snot out of him”

Link to tweet

Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger uses defense witness Robert Costello's own emails against him — and keeps calling back to his statement on the stand yesterday that an email speaks for itself.

Hoffinger displays an email showing Costello told his law partner their goal was to get "Cohen on the right page without giving him the appearance that we are following instructions from Giuliani or the president."

"In my opinion," Costello wrote, "this is the clear & correct strategy."

Costello then pushes back on the idea that the meanings of his emails are self-evident, but Hoffinger notes: "As you said yesterday, the email speaks for itself, correct?"

Costello's reply: "Sometimes."

Link to tweet

[Johnny2X2X]

1. Yeah, they completely destroyed him

Caught him in multiple lies. Exposed him for basically being a thug who tried to intimidate Cohen into stopping cooperation.

As bad as Cohen did at times, this was worse.

[blogslug]

2. And the Defense rests

Only one witness. Barely an hour on the stand today. Now the jury is adjourned until next Tuesday. Deliberations begin the following Wednesday.

They didn't even try to present a defense.

Wild.

[Wounded Bear]

3. IOW they got nuthin'

[Harker]

4. And plenty of it. n/t

[warmonger456]

12. I see what you did there.

[Harker]

18. That's fun! Thanks for that treat. n/t

[Attilatheblond]

6. Thinking they got nuthin' AND they despise TSF as much as the rest of us.

Either they hate the guy & want him to go down, or they know he's going down and are hoping an appeal based on the defense team doing legal malpractice might go before an easy to manipulate judge.

[spooky3]

10. Exactly. We can't really criticize his lawyers for not having

Facts or the law on their client’s side. AND, he pushed them to do stupid stuff like put Costello on the stand.

[Irish_Dem]

29. The only thing they had was Costello and he is worse than nothing.

[WestMichRad]

11. Gee, wasn't the Bloviating Orangeness gonna take the stand in his own defense?

So he chickened out. Knock me over with a feather.

[Torchlight]

5. Going for the "well, maybe they meant this instead!!" routine comes across

as the very height of irresponsible, self-serving chickenshit. I think during his cross examination yesterday was the moment fate called time of death on the trial, everything now is just the process putting the plates and silver in the dishwasher when dinner's done. There's still dessert left, but the meat and potatoes are well and truly finished.

[agingdem]

7. Costello was Trump's stand-in...

belligerent, arrogant, rude, mouthy, demeaning, disrespectful, unapologetic..

[BoRaGard]

8. Yep. He was a total Republican.

[lindysalsagal]

28. Obviously, tsf told his lawyers to put the fool on the stand

Instead of himself. Coward.

[tom_kelly]

9. This seems too easy

Makes me feel like they may have gotten to a juror

[thucythucy]

13. My fear as well.

I'll be holding my breath until the verdict.

[TheRickles]

14. But how would they know that?

[Demobrat]

17. Because they paid the juror off

It is, after all, what they do

[erronis]

21. Or blackmail. Probably pretty easy to find something on almost anyone.

Last edited Tue May 21, 2024, 02:00 PM - Edit history (1)

First you find out the identities of the jurors, then you go sniffing around.

"We doubt your wife has heard about your other family. Play with us and we'll help you support both families..."

Of course the mark will end up in much worse straits - if he stays alive.

[TheRickles]

23. But the IDs of the jurors are not in the public domain, so how could this unfold?

[Demobrat]

24. Bribe someone at the courthouse.

Have them followed. Have them threatened. They are mobsters and will stop at nothing.

[Irish_Dem]

31. Fairly easy to get the names.

Hire Private Investigators to nose around.

[Kaleva]

22. Lots of evidence to support the notion that Trump is a nitwit

It's been reported that Trump insisted that Costello testify despite strong objections from his own lawyers. Given Trump's history, that's very believable. What we don't have evidence of is Trump tampering with a jury .

[Demobrat]

25. No we don't, and I hope he wasn't able to.

I have no doubt he tried.

[Irish_Dem]

30. We have a ton of evidence that Trump manipulates, threatens, and bribes people.

To get what he wants.

The best predictor of behavior is past behavior.

[Kaleva]

32. That's different then tampering with a jury

Depending on the circumstances, it's perfectly legal to bully, threaten, bribe or manipulate people. It is always illegal to tamper with a jury.

[Irish_Dem]

33. We have a great deal of evidence that Trump breaks the law with impunity.

We have evidence he has been trying to intimidate the jury and threaten them.
To the point he was given a gag order by the judge.

If you put the facts together and make a psychological profile on Trump you would
be able to make accurate predictions of his future behavior.

[surfered]

15. Couldn't happen to a more deserving fellow

[onetexan]

16. This smartass punk Costello got a good beatdown by a woman. A woman no less!!

Costello makes Michael Cohen 100% believable!

[BobTheSubgenius]

19. A very good bit of news, but oddly unsatisfying.

After reading demmiblue's post, I truly want to beat the snot out of someone.

(I apologize if this is some breach of cross-post etiquette, but I am in a bit of a state, shall I say?)

[rurallib]

20. Understand - just read that post myself

so people under stand what we are talking about, I think you mean this thread:


https://democraticunderground.com/100218966017

[Sanity Claws]

26. This should cost him his bar license

That email exchange indicates a conflict of interest. He was going to act in. 45’s interests while representing Cohen.

[Traildogbob]

27. Oh damn

And now they gonna come after me. Ronny and the blue coats warned us, and we “let” them go after Don, the father of Eric, that said they were a good family, have NEVER done anything wrong. So how the hell do I stand a chance?