{"id":44871,"date":"2024-05-20T10:05:53","date_gmt":"2024-05-20T14:05:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usa.businessupturn.com\/?p=44871"},"modified":"2024-05-20T10:05:53","modified_gmt":"2024-05-20T14:05:53","slug":"robert-costello-and-michael-cohens-relationship-explained","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/robert-costello-and-michael-cohens-relationship-explained\/44871\/","title":{"rendered":"Robert Costello and Michael Cohen\u2019s relationship, explained"},"content":{"rendered":"
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In the Trump trial this week, lawyer Robert \u201cBob\u201d Costello\u2019s name has frequently come up during Michael Cohen\u2019s testimony. While Costello isn\u2019t a witness, he\u2019s been vocal about his relationship with Cohen, though the nature of that relationship depends on who you ask.<\/p>\n

The trial centers on an alleged illegal hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels, with Cohen, Trump\u2019s former fixer, testifying that Trump directed him to pay Daniels $130,000. The prosecution alleges that Trump tried to conceal this payment.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

What is Costello saying?<\/strong><\/em><\/h3>\n

Costello has been publicly countering Cohen\u2019s testimony, claiming that Cohen is lying. According to Costello, Cohen previously told him, \u201cI swear to God, Bob, I don\u2019t have anything on Donald Trump.\u201d Costello\u2019s involvement dates back to March last year when he testified before the grand jury in Trump\u2019s defense, although his testimony did not prevent Trump\u2019s indictment.<\/p>\n

Costello, who is closely connected to Rudy Giuliani, reached out to Giuliani about Cohen in June 2018, suggesting that Cohen needed support because he felt \u201cabandoned\u201d and wasn\u2019t \u201cthinking clearly.\u201d At that time, Trump was publicly distancing himself from Cohen as the investigation began. Costello initially acted as a legal adviser to Cohen, and their conversations were protected under attorney-client privilege until Costello waived that right in 2019 and began speaking publicly.<\/p>\n

In 2019, Costello explained his role, saying, \u201cMy mission was to get everyone tuned in to the same channel\u2026 a face-to-face meeting among all the lawyers together with Cohen would put everyone on the same channel. The meeting never happened, and the rest is history.\u201d<\/p>\n

Costello in the Trial<\/strong><\/em><\/h3>\n

On May 14, prosecutors mentioned Costello in court to highlight how Trump maintained influence over Cohen. They portrayed Costello as a go-between after Trump and Cohen stopped direct communication. Costello had emailed Cohen, \u201cSleep well tonight, you have friends in high places,\u201d indicating continued support.<\/p>\n

After a fallout, Costello attempted to discredit Cohen to the grand jury. Although he is not a witness in the current trial, Costello has been vocal in media appearances. On May 16, he appeared on Fox News, arguing that the jury lacked the full context about Cohen. He claimed Cohen told him he handled the Stormy Daniels payment himself to avoid embarrassing Melania Trump, funding it with a home equity loan, and later being reimbursed.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Is Cohen Lying?<\/strong><\/em><\/h3>\n

On Wednesday, Costello testified before the House Judiciary Committee, asserting that Cohen was lying on the stand. Democrat committee member Dan Goldman accused Costello of \u201cjury tampering,\u201d suggesting that if Costello had information about Cohen\u2019s testimony, he should consult with Trump\u2019s lawyers about testifying to impeach Cohen\u2019s credibility.<\/p>\n

Costello, in response, accused the jurors of bias, suggesting they might suffer from \u201cTrump derangement syndrome\u201d due to being from heavily Democratic New York City. He argued that some jurors might convict Trump regardless of the evidence.<\/p>\n

The trial is expected to continue for several more weeks, with ongoing debates about the credibility of key figures like Cohen and the influence of individuals like Costello.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the Trump trial this week, lawyer Robert \u201cBob\u201d Costello\u2019s name has frequently come up during Michael Cohen\u2019s testimony. While\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":294,"featured_media":44872,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[1509,14228],"class_list":["post-44871","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-celebrity-news","tag-michael-cohen","tag-robert-costello"],"reading_time":"3 min read","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44871","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/294"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44871"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44871\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44872"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44871"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44871"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44871"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}