Michael Cohen, in his first live television interview since Donald Trump was convicted Thursday on all 34 counts of falsifying business records, criticized the strategy of the former president’s lawyer, Todd Blanche, whom he dubbed a “SLOAT: Stupidest Lawyer of All Time.”
Cohen’s remark on MSNBC was in response to the way Blanche, in his closing argument Tuesday, described Cohen as the “GLOAT: Greatest Liar of All Time.”
When asked by Rachel Maddow what he thought about the defense seeming to make the trial a referendum on him, Cohen, who came across modestly rather than boastful about the outcome, dismissed Blanche’s approach.
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“I didn’t really care, nor do I care, what Todd Blanche says about me,” Cohen said, adding he feels the same about members of the Trump family. “I know who I am, and I knew what I needed to do, so in this specific case it was a very—and I have said it—it was a very foolish strategy, and he is not really known as a defense attorney. I think it is only his second defense trial. Not a good strategy, and proof positive of that is the 34-count verdict.”
Maddow then told Cohen about a post-verdict interview that Blanche gave to Fox News in which he said that he essentially consulted with his client for every substantive decision.
Cohen, indicating that he wasn’t surprised by that, explained that the inclusion of the term “GLOAT” in Blanche’s remarks was evidence of Trump’s involvement.
“It’s a Donald Trump, fourth-grade, playground-bullying type of tactic,” Cohen said, after which his lawyer, Danya Perry, prompted him to reveal his own acronym for Trump’s attorney.
“I was going to call him a SLOAT, which is the ‘Stupidest Lawyer of All Time,’” Cohen said, drawing some chuckles from others on the panel.
“You cannot listen to your client when you’re trying to create a defense,” he continued, before giving Blanche a less favorable review than other lawyers who have represented Trump, without naming names.
“That is not how you run a good defense. I would never have allowed it if I was still with him.”
