MSNBC legal correspondent Lisa Rubin hailed a pivotal exchange between defense attorney Todd Blanche and star prosecution witness Michael Cohen as a major victory for Trump's legal team, overshadowing Cohen's previous damning testimony.
MSNBC legal correspondent Lisa Rubin expressed astonishment at the dramatic cross-examination of former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen in the ongoing New York v. Trump trial.
During MSNBC's coverage of the trial on Thursday, Rubin highlighted a crucial exchange that the network dubbed the "John Grisham moment" and the "biggest point" earned by Team Trump.
Defense attorney Todd Blanche grilled Cohen about his communications with Trump's former bodyguard Keith Schiller. Cohen testified on Tuesday that a one-minute and 36-second phone call he made to Schiller on October 24 was about Trump.
"When he [Blanche] started talking about the harassing phone calls that Cohen was getting, I think a bunch of us looked at each other sort of quizzically being like, 'What is this? Where is this going?'" Rubin said.
"And then it became clear when he first brought up the text to Keith Schiller on October 24 after getting Cohen to reestablish that that was the day on which he called Schiller to reach Trump and that remained his testimony that he discussed with Trump that day, the resolution of the Stormy Daniels matter and that it was time to pay out Stormy."
Blanche unearthed a text exchange showing Cohen asking Schiller who he could speak with about harassing phone calls he had been receiving. Schiller responded, "Call me."
"Once he connected up to the Keith Schiller text I thought, 'Oh, we're in for something here.' And indeed, we were," Rubin told MSNBC's Chris Jansing.
"Because Michael Cohen not only admitted that he is now less than certain about what got discussed that day and that it could have been both [the harassing calls and the Stormy Daniels payment] but he's not positive given the one minute and 30-something seconds of that phone call, but also that in eight years he had never seen that Keith Schiller text and that it was not among the things that the district attorney's office had shown him."
Rubin emphasized that this revelation cast doubt on Cohen's credibility and the prosecution's case. "It casts doubt on the veracity of a ton of his testimony and not just about who he did or didn't talk to on October 24 or October 26. It sort of cast lots of his testimony in doubt, given the passage of time and makes the district attorney's office look terrible all in one breath."
Rubin described the exchange as a "moment of real triumph" for Blanche, adding that "you can even hear it in his voice. He is not a person to get excitable very easily."
CNN analyst Elie Honig said that Cohen had his "knees chopped out" during cross-examination. The New York Times' Jonathan Alter called the exchange "pay dirt" for Trump's defense, noting that even when the defense couldn't shake Cohen on another story about a payoff to ex-Playboy model Karen McDougal, Trump appeared pleased.
"Even so, I saw Trump smiling as he whispered to one of his lawyers. It was a good day for him," Alter wrote.
During the contentious exchange, Blanche accused Cohen of lying about the phone call with Schiller. Cohen responded that he was not certain whether he spoke with Trump that day, despite his previous testimony.
Fox News' Kyle Morris contributed to this report.
