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Robert Costello, a former legal adviser to Michael Cohen, told “America’s Newsroom” that he believes he should be called to testify, that the Trump trial grand jury did not get all the information they needed and that some jurors might have “Trump derangement syndrome.”
Costello, who represented Cohen at the start of the federal investigation, has been released from his attorney-client confidentiality agreement so he is able to discuss the case.
He joined Bill Hemmer and Dana Perino Thursday to explain that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s team didn’t want to see or hear exculpatory information that he provided.
Before Costello testified before the grand jury, he said he gave Bragg’s assistant DA’s the courtesy of about an hour and a half Zoom conference, where he told them the exculpatory material that he said was supposed to be put before the grand jury.
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Robert Costello / America Newsroom (Robert Costello / America Newsroom)
“But, when I appeared before the grand jury, they were asking me questions that in my opinion, and I’ve been a federal prosecutor myself, I was deputy chief of the criminal division in the Southern District of New York, those questions they were asking me were not going to elicit the exculpatory information that I had,” he said.
“I began to expand upon my answers and the DA’s office was trying to shut me down, saying that I had finished my answer,” he added. “I told them that when I’m in the middle of answering a question, I’ll decide when I finish my answer and I asked them not to interrupt me again. But basically they only put in a small cherry-picked group of emails. I presented maybe 2 to 300 emails and text messages to them.”
Costello said they put two or three into evidence and when he asked if they planned to put the rest of them into evidence, they told him no. When Costello asked why, he was told there was a legal issue with them.
“I simply said to the grand jurors, I said, you people should demand these documents. You should demand to see everything in chronological order so you get a real view of what Michael Cohen was like in those days at that moment in time and then ask yourself this question, ‘Why are they trying to keep these documents from me?’” he said.
“Well, after that, I left the grand jury. I have no idea whether they put the documents into evidence or what happened,” he added. “But subsequently, Donald Trump was indicted and you’ve seen the fruits of that indictment in this trial, which is a trial about something that’s not a crime.”
Michael Cohen is cross examined by defense lawyer Todd Blanche during former U.S. President Donald Trump’s criminal trial (REUTERS/Jane Rosenberg )
Ultimately, he predicted that because the trial is taking place in New York City, he believes some jurors might have “Trump derangement syndrome,” which will likely impact their decision.
“I understand that 87% of the voters voted not for Donald Trump in the last election, so you have to assume that there is Trump derangement syndrome out there and that this jury will be reflective of that. So that means there are some people on this jury who will vote to convict Donald Trump no matter what evidence is presented or not presented.”
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“All you need is one or two reasonable people to hold up or hang the jury and I think ultimately, if I was guessing or betting on this, I bet that that’s probably going to be the result,” he added. “I just think they may actually just get so disgusted and acquit them. But, you know, it’s hard to do that when 87% of the people vote for the other guy.”
Costello also detailed his April 2018 meeting where Cohen admitted that he was suicidal, as he saw enormous legal problems headed his way.
“They were so bad in his mind that he was willing to kill himself and so I kept on going back and suggesting to him, listen, Michael, if you have something truthful on Donald Trump, now is the time to cooperate,” Costello said. “He kept on saying over and over again, 10 to 20 times, ‘I swear to God, Bob, I don’t have anything on Donald Trump.'”
A split images of Michael Cohen and Donald Trump.
“I even said to him, Michael, think about this, isn’t it easier to cooperate against Donald Trump if you have truthful information than it is to kill yourself? Well, the answer is obvious. That was his moment in time,” Costello said. “If he had something truthful to say, I’m willing to cooperate, but he didn’t take that. He kept on saying, ‘I have nothing on Donald Trump.’”
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Then, when discussing the Stormy Daniels NDA, Costello said Cohen specifically told him it was his idea to take care of the NDA because he had been contacted by a lawyer for Stormy Daniels, who said she was going to claim that Donald Trump had sex with her.
“Cohen said, ‘I didn’t believe the allegation, but nevertheless, it would be embarrassing to Melania,’ that’s Michael Cohen’s words he said, and so ‘I decided to take care of this myself,’” Costello said. “Now, he took out a home equity loan for $130,000 and used that, and he did tell us that he got repaid later.”
Costello said he has not been subpoenaed and whether he will be called to testify hasn’t been decided yet and is probably dependent on what happens in court Thursday, but Costello said he believes he should be called.
VideoKendall Tietz is a Production Assistant with Fox News Digital.
