Fox News host Eric Shawn on Sunday defended Michael Cohen’s assertions against Donald Trump, highlighting the credibility lent by Cohen’s possession of a “tape recording” of the former president discussing hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels. Trump faces allegations of falsifying business records related to cash payments to Daniels.
Shawn’s remarks came as he interviewed with former federal prosecutor Katie Cherkasky, who expressed skepticism about the case and questioned the prosecution’s ability to prove falsification, citing Trump’s assertion that the payments were “legal expenses.”
“The defense is going to make it clear that the prosecution has a very high burden here, and they certainly have very unfortunate witnesses on which to rely to reach that burden, Michael Cohen and Stormy Daniels, namely,” Cherkasky said.
“And in fact, with regard to the falsified business records, he claimed that these were legal expenses,” she continued. “He’s paying his lawyer. I’m not even sure how the prosecution is going to show how that in and of itself is a false statement.”
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Shawn replied by outlining the prosecution’s strategy, underscoring Cohen’s testimony regarding an alleged cover-up orchestrated by Trump. Notably, Shawn referenced a tape recording capturing Trump discussing cash payments.
“It’ll have Michael Cohen on the stand has to find that it was all part of this cover-up scheme, that he took money from his home equity to pay Stormy Daniels, that the Trump organization reimbursed him,” Shawn noted. “And this was all orchestrated by the former president.”
“And he has a tape recording of the former president talking about about cash,” Shawn added. “Do you think that will weigh in with the jury?”
Cherkasky countered by suggesting that the payments may have been legitimate campaign expenses not properly reported, rather than attempts solely to influence the election.
“Well, it’s going to come down to Michael Cohen’s claims that Donald Trump essentially directed him to structure it this way,” Cherkasky said in defense of Trump. “The question is whether this was actually a campaign expense that was not reported as such.”
“Just because the story was more valuable because Donald Trump was running for office doesn’t mean that the payments were made simply to influence the upcoming election,” she remarked.
Watch the interview below from Fox News:
