A Late Night Conversation [View all]
"Robert Costello has some impressive experience," I said. "I'm surprised he wants to testify in front of the grand jury. It wouldn't be good to get caught lying to the."
"He doesn't want to. In a future Oliver Stone movie, his character will be assigned to do this, like Jack Ruby being assigned to end Oswald's legal problems. What can he say that's of any value? That Michael was a creep when he worked for Trump? Cohen has already told everyone that!" my friend said.
"But wasn't Costello's association with Cohen mainly after the FBI arrested him? Didn'y Cohen want a pardon? Will he say that Cohen begged for one, and he approached the White House to advocate for him to get one? And Cohen was pissed when he thought that Trump had betrayed him by not giving one?" I asked.
"Cohen doesn't deny that. Costello did go to the White House. Trump was all for it, until his lawyers told him that if he did, Cohen could be forced to testify honestly to Congress or law enforcement. At first, Trump said Michael could be trusted to lie for him. But even Rudy told him not to grant a pardon. Trump knew that Giuliani was close to Costello, and that convinced him to toss Cohen under the bus," he said.
"Other than character assassination, what can Costello possibly have to offer the grand jury?" I asked.
" His goal is to say that Trump didn't know that he was re-paying Michael for his deal with Daniels. Keep in mind that when reporters asked him about it on Air Force One, he said they needed to talk to Cohen, that he handled such things. Later, Sarah Sanders claimed that Trump didn't know at the time what he was paying Cohen for. But when the FBI raid turned up the tape of Trump and Cohen's conversation about paying off the Playboy model, this changed. Trump then said he was paying Cohen for a 'private contract' between Cohen and Daniels for something 'something that never happened.' Costello has to say that Michael told him he dealt with Daniels on his own, without Trump knowing. The McDougal tape makes that a very hard sell."
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