Fmr. Federal Prosecutor Jim Trusty: Trump’s Defense Should Put Robert Costello on the Stand

MACCALLUM: “So, also with us, former Trump attorney Jim Trusty, who has also been a federal prosecutor. We’ll get his take. All right, I thought we were going to take a break, but you are on, Jim. So, what’s your reaction to that conversation with Bob Costello? And I’d love to know your thoughts on whether you think that the defense needs him or does it open them up to a cross-examination that that could be problematic in any way in your assessment?”

TRUSTY: “Yeah, look, I had the fortune of meeting Bob just a couple of days ago and we talked at length, and I got to say I’ve gone from the camp of don’t put on any defense to putting on just Bob Costello. Look, I think he is a kind of a gruff, truth-telling 51-year attorney from New York. He’s going to have devastating information that contradicts Cohen, as well as opinion testimony, which is fair game about honesty of Michael Cohen. He’s going to say Cohen wouldn’t know the truth if it hit him between the eyes. And he also turned the lens a little bit towards the prosecuting office that he was trying to warn, don’t build a case on Michael Cohen, he’s completely untrustworthy. So I think those are things you have to put on in these circumstances. You never really know if you need it or not in terms of how Cohen was cross-examined. So you’ve got to put this stuff on and then go right to closing argument and say they’re trying to sell you, you know, a bill of goods at the lips of Michael Cohen, probably the least credible witness I’ve ever seen on a witness stand in 35 years.”

MACCALLUM: “Well, it’s amazing. You know, I watch, you know, all the other coverage. And on one channel today, another legal expert was saying that they’ve built such a strong case that links all of this to Trump, that it’s clear that that’s what’s happened. But then you have Anderson Cooper who had a little bit of a different take. Let’s watch this real quick. We’ll get a quick thought from you on the other side.”

TRUSTY: “Sure.”

MACCALLUM: “Do we have it? Ah, okay.”

[Clip starts]

HONIG: “Having just witnessed that piece of cross-examination, do you have doubts that that conversation happened the way Michael Cohen testified on his direct examination, that it called Trump —“

COOPER: “I think it’s — absolutely, absolutely, I think it’s devastating, I mean, for Michael Cohen’s credibility. If I was a juror in this case watching that, I wouldn’t think this guy’s making this up.”

[Clip ends]

MACCALLUM: “So, Anderson Cooper says that. He was in the courtroom, as I was yesterday, that the guy looked like he was lying. Quick thought on that, Jim, if you can.”

TRUSTY: “Yeah, I mean, look, I think hope springs eternal in some quarters that are very politicized in their view. But this is a joke of a case. They’ve never defined how it became a felony. They’ve never proven even the misdemeanor version at the hands of President Trump. And they’ve ended with a star witness who is the very definition of an embarrassment of riches of cross-examination. So, depending on how this jury was selected, big question mark.”

MACCALLUM: “Well, that’s the big question mark.”

TRUSTY: “We really can’t say this is beyond a reasonable doubt.”

MACCALLUM: “Yeah. No, it’s all up to the jury. We can talk all we want. But there are other people who get to decide in the end based on everything that they’ve heard over the last several weeks. Jim Trusty, thank you very much. Always good to see you.”

TRUSTY: “Sure. Good to see you.”