On Tuesday, May 14th, star witness, Michael Cohen, was cross examined with the prosecution bringing up the name: Robert Costello. But who is this guy and how does he relate to the ongoing hush money trial?
A summary of Robert Costello, explained
Robert J. Costello is a Trump ally and long time friend of Rudy Giuliani; he’s also an attorney who has worked closely with Trump’s legal team over the years. In fact, he represented Giuliani in 2019 when the NYC mayor was under investigation although their relationship has gone south recently with Costello suing his former friend over delinquent bills. He’s worked for Davidoff Hutcher and Citron LLP for a number of years and according to the firm’s website he “specializes in Criminal and Commercial Litigation, Federal Investigations, and Administrative Law” in New York City.
What does Robert Costello have to do with the hush money trial?
In 2018 Costello briefly acted as an advisor to Donald Trump’s lawyer, Michael Cohen although the advisory status of Costello wasn’t really official as Cohen never actually paid him. Anyways, the two were in communication with each other during the time Cohen was under federal investigation which was partially for his part in paying porn star Stormy Daniels to keep quiet. At this point he was still loyal to Trump although after his house was searched by the FBI he mainly spoke with Costello rather than the man himself according to an article from the NYTimes.
Cohen claims that Robert Costello told him to “stay in the fold, don’t flip, don’t speak,” essentially encouraging him to keep quiet with one email from even telling the lawyer that he could “Sleep well tonight, you have friends in high places.” It’s hard to deny that the email sounds like Costello trying to reassure the guy and win his trust so he doesn’t spill the beans, although it isn’t exactly conclusive.
Robert has denied that he ever told Cohen to keep quiet, claiming that he simply relayed messages from Trump’s legal team and nothing more. Either way, things turned sour between the men with Michael Cohen pleading guilty and serving jail time in 2018. Fast forward to today and Donald Trump is standing trial for allegedly instructing his former lawyer to pay Stormy Daniels.
Robert Costello strongly disputes Michael Cohen’s claims
Last year Costello testified before a grand jury claiming that Cohen admitted to making the payments on his own volition. He went on to make more claims against the man saying that he was a “serial liar” according to Forbes. He also disputed the emails claiming that the jury “cherry-picked” the emails and that there were many more (321 to be exact) that disproved the claim that Trump instructed Cohen to pay Daniels.
Despite Costello trying to discredit Cohen’s statement, the prosecution once more brought attention to the communication between the pair on Tuesday (May 14th) as the emails are pretty good evidence for the “pressure campaign” that attempted to ensure his loyalty.