I haven’t seen any redirect but this can be adequately dealt with at that point.
Prosecutor: “Did you lie about that call?”
Cohen: “No”
Prosecutor: “ Is it possible you misremembered and made a mistake?”
Cohen: “Of course that is possible but I am pretty sure that my testimony is correct.”
I don't think that this can be dealt with so easily on redirect. I left out some of the details in my initial post. Here's MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell's description of the cross:
1. The call was initially to Keith Schiller who then supposedly connected to Trump. This in itself isn't unusual as calls to Trump were screened by Keith so calling Schiller was the typical way to contact Trump
2. Cohen claimed during initial testimony that this call was about the payoff to Stormy
3. Text messages between Cohen and Schiller immediately prior to the call were about a prankster who was harassing Cohen and what could be done about it;
4. Just prior to the call, Schiller texted "call me." Obviously Cohen called Schiller to discuss the prankster harassment;
5. Once the defense brought up the text messages between Cohen and Schiller, Cohen, under pressure stated that the initial topic was about the prankster, but then he was connected to Trump to discuss the payoff;
6. According to phone logs, this call lasted only 90 seconds or so (exactly 1 minute, 36 seconds).
7. The defense pointed out the obvious - how likely is it to discuss what to do about a prankster and then to be connected to Trump to discuss payments to Stormy in only 90 seconds or so.
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Point 5 is key. Cohen is almost certainly wrong about this call and his ego got the best of him. The call is obviously about what to do about a prankster.
Yes, on redirect, the defense could ask Cohen if he was wrong about the call and if some other call was the one in which he supposedly discussed payoff arrangements with Trump.
And yes, Cohen might admit this.
But then why did Cohen insist that this call was exclusively about payoff arrangements? Point 2.
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It's clear that Cohen seems to be lying about this call. Maybe the defense can come up with some other calls which fit Cohen's description 2. Except for point 5. Cohen claims that this very call was the one.
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Cohen is a serial liar and the defense caught him. And the defense did a great job tying Cohen to this call and then discrediting him.
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FWIW - I think that Trump is guilty as hell.
Maybe some other phone call by Cohen was about payoff arrangements. This call almost certainly wasn't.
Cohen's ego got the better of him - now the jury is going to wonder how credible Cohen's testimony is.
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In sum, this may well be a "if the glove doesn't fit, don't convict" moment.
Cohen's fragile credibility is now totally shattered - but hopefully the preponderance of other evidence is convincing to all jurors.
