'They don't always do this': Court insider says jurors gave a clue during Cohen testimony
Half the jurors who will hold Donald Trump's fate in their hands once his criminal hush money trial ends were seen at various times agreeing with the prosecution's star witness, Michael Cohen, when he testified on his second day.
CNN analyst Norm Eisen was in the courtroom during the former fixer turned foe's testimony, and saw some of the jury members agree with him.
"I was watching the jury and at different points in Cohen's testimony, you had the jury [who] doesn't always do this," said Eisen. "I counted six jurors who were nodding or smiling, or agreeing with Cohen at one point in his testimony."
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"It's like a presidential debate: both sides want to suppress expectations and the DA a did that brilliantly in setting this moment."
The apparent acquiescence with Cohen whose answers are the glue to tie his former boss and presumptive Republican presidential nominee Trump to the hush money cover-up scheme.
When he was questioned by Manhattan prosecutor Susan Hoffinger, Cohen didn't deny lying to Congress during an investigation into potential ties between Russia and the 2016 Trump campaign.
Cohen pleaded guilty and was sentenced to three years prison as part of special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation, admitting that he lied as well as committed tax evasion, made false statements to a federally insured bank, and violated campaign finance laws.
Most critically, Cohen also told jurors he was a willing serial liar on behalf of Trump, including after Cohen served as the bagman to deliver porn actor Stormy Daniels $130,000 to buy her silence shortly before Americans were headed to the ballot box to vote in the 2016 election.
Why did he do these things?
Cohen answered: “Out of loyalty and in order to protect him.”
Eisen believes the convicted Cohen seemed to take the grilling in stride after providing pivotal testimony.
He also said the prosecution was wise to air out all of Cohen's shortcomings early on so that there wasn't much ammo the defense team could fire at him during cross-examination.