‘I’m Still Reeling!’: CNN Anchors Shocked by Revelation that Cohen Stole Money from Trump Org

TAPPER: “Yeah. No, it’s — it’s fascinating stuff. And I have to say, I’m still kind of reeling from the revelation that Michael Cohen stole money from the Trump Organization. And that wasn’t, at least to my knowledge, that the prosecution didn’t get that —“
COATES: “Right.”
TAPPER: “— get that out earlier. Because it’s not as though, the prosecution is going to be helped by further evidence that Michael Cohen is a shady character.”
COATES: “Yeah.”
TAPPER: “I mean, let’s — I’ll get to the newest stuff in a second, but, like, I mean, what’s just — what’s your reaction to that news? Because that was just kind of stunning.”
COATES: “I’m — I’m shocked that we are hearing it for the first time on day three of cross-examination of Michael Cohen, that the prosecution did not take the sting out, did not front it, because it goes to the heart of the actual case. It’s not just about establishing him as a liar. They’ve done that. The prosecution front did that. We knew that he has convictions. But going to the heart of what you were telling your employer about, what money you were owed and the extent of it. We’re talking about $420,000. We’ve already seen the paying instruction here.”
TAPPER: “Right. This isn’t like 15 bucks.”
COATES: “It’s not 15 bucks. And we — I mean, if you — if you go to the table, you can break down what was already know. We’ve known about what the breakdown of the money is, $130,000 to Daniels and her attorney. You’ve got $50,000 that’s Red Finch. This is important here. This was mentioned today, that he only gave Red Finch $20,000 and he handed them in a brown paper bag, by the way, just thinking about how odd that is.” [crosstalk]
TAPPER: “And just one — and just — and just one quick note. Red Finch, is this political organization that apparently, according to Michael Cohen, helped them goose these bogus, Internet polls —“
COATES: “Right.”
TAPPER: “— about which candidate is in the lead, etc., etc., and also, according to Lanny Davis, provided adoring fans for Trump’s announcement of his candidacy in June 2015. Sorry.”
COATES: “Really important point to add why they say they only got 20,000 of it. He talked about —“
TAPPER: “And even though the bill was for fifty.”
COATES: “$50,000. And you have $180,000, which is again, the double of these two combinations, and then a bonus for Cohen. Remember, all that we have so far to Link Donald Trump to these payments in part is the statement that quote/unquote, ‘he approved it.’ We also know — we have some — we have information about where the checks were, how it was signed, but remember, McConney, that was one of the controllers of the Trump Organization taking notes from Allen Weisselberg about the money payments. So this is part of what we’re talking about. Why this is so important here? It is because the heart of the matter is that Donald Trump was complicit, caused to have this happen and knew about the money that was going and why. It they can attach it to Michael Cohen, as somebody who is not to be trusted about the amount of money as well, then they might be able to suggest that Donald Trump had no idea what he was truly paying.”
TAPPER: “Yeah.”