The last witness for the prosecution, Michael Cohen, returned to the stand for another six hours of cross-examination Thursday, largely keeping cool under inconsistent and choppy questioning by defense attorney Todd Blanche.  

• A gaggle too big to list of Congressional lackeys showed up to supplicate themselves to Donald Trump.  Committee hearings in DC were postponed because of this shameful sycophancy.  
• Observers noted Trump’s attorney was frequently getting angry and flustered, while Cohen largely remained calm and cool.
• Cohen was caught in two lies:  one in which he said he never wanted a job in the White House and one where he said he never sought a pardon.  Regarding the pardon, Cohen never requested a pardon, but he did ask a lawyer to look into what it would take to get one.
• On October 26, 2024, Cohen said he called Trump’s body man Keith Shiller to harass a 14-year-old kid who was making prank calls to Cohen.  It was the first time he mentioned the prank caller; in earlier testimony, he said he spoke only to Trump on that day to tell Trump he was handling the Daniels situation.  
• Blanche jumped on the fact Cohen never mentioned talking to Shiller previously, highlighting the inconsistency.  “That was a lie!” Blanche shouted in increasing volume; a court observer described it as a Perry Mason-type scripted moment, perhaps done to entertain/excite/engage his client.  
• Overall the questioning continued to be jumpy and erratic, but targeted at further undermining Cohen’s credibility.   
• Outside the courthouse, a MAGA “artist” released helium-filled penis-shaped balloons with pictures of key prosecution personnel, witnesses, and judge’s staff attached to them before he released them into the downtown sky, claiming it represented “these guys are useless dicks.”  He called the performance art “The Dicks of Hazard.”  
• Judge Merchan said he expects to have witness questioning end Monday.  He told the lawyers for each side that closing arguments could start as early as Tuesday.
• Court is off Friday so the defendant can attend the high school graduation of his youngest son–the one who was an infant when Donald cheated on his third wife with a porn actress while attending a Las Vegas golf tournament that lit the fuse that brought everyone to a Manhattan courtroom.  Oh, and then Donald has a fundraiser in Minnesota Friday night.