Suborning Perjury In Manhattan

Perjury is the act of swearing a false oath in a legal proceeding, either written or spoken. Subornation of perjury is the crime of persuading or allowing someone to commit perjury. Subornation of perjury can also involve bribing or providing something of value to convince someone to commit perjury. 

If a prosecutor procured the perjury corruptly, knowing, believing or having reason to believe it to be false testimony, he/she is guilty of suborning perjury.

In every state, a lawyer can be disbarred, and criminally charged, if he puts a witness on the stand knowing that the witness will lie under oath.* If the lawyer has documentation that contradicts what the witness plans to testify to, or is otherwise aware that his witness will lie, he cannot call him to testify.

BRAGG’S TEAM KNOWINGLY SUBORNED PERJURY

After watching Michael Cohen, Bragg’s star witness, testifying for three days last week, it is obvious to even a casual observer that he committed perjury numerous times. But, did DA Alvin Bragg, or Biden’s Special Prosecutor Matthew Colangelo or any of the other members in the Manhattan prosecutor’s office know in advance that Cohen would lie on the witness stand?

According to Cohen’s former attorney, Robert Costello, the answer is yes! Before he testified before the grand jury he gave Bragg’s team “200 to 300” emails & texts between himself and Cohen that were written during the four months he represented Cohen. [Bragg chose to hide all but six emails from the grand jury.] Costello laid out his entire history with Michael Cohen. According to Costello, these communications totally contradict what Cohen said on the witness stand last week, AND Bragg’s team knew he would be lying. Since Bragg’s team had this contradictory documentation before they called Cohen to the witness stand, every attorney on his team is guilty of suborning perjury. Indeed, Costello met with eight attorneys from Bragg’s office, advising them that Cohen would be a very bad witness for them.

ROBERT COSTELLO MEETS MICHAEL COHEN

In April 2018, shortly after the FBI raided his hotel room and office, Michael Cohen contacted Robert Costello to represent him regarding tax fraud and other serious charges.^ Cohen no doubt sought out Robert Costello because of the experience, expertise and contacts acquired during his many years as the (now former) Deputy Chief of the Criminal Division for the US Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of New York, which was the office prosecuting Cohen.

Costello related his first meeting with Cohen: “What he wanted to find out from us that day was his escape route. That’s what he called it, ‘Guys, you have to tell me what my escape route is. What can I do to get out of this?'” Costello’s partner, who was acquainted with Cohen, sat in on the conference. Costello told the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday that he asked Cohen whether he had “truthful information about Donald Trump” and, if so, then “all your legal problems” could be “solved by the end of the week.”

TURN ON TRUMP, SAVE YOURSELF

While representing Cohen (April 2018 to July 2018), Costello repeatedly told him that Trump is the real target of the investigation. He told Cohen, if you have dirt on Trump that is truthful, you can lessen your charges by providing that information to the US District Attorney. According to Costello: “His response, ‘I swear to God, Bob, I don’t have anything on Donald Trump.’ I said, ‘Michael, I want you to think carefully about this.’ I probably came back to this subject 10 or 20 times during the two-hour period.”

Costello noted that each time he asked Cohen the question, Cohen responded the same way: He did not have anything incriminating on Trump. “I said, ‘Michael, whatever you have has to be truthful. If you think you can go in there and tell these people lies, you’re crazy. It’s going to backfire on you,” Costello continued. “Probably the fifth or sixth time I got around to doing that, he said, ‘Well, I know that money is missing from the Trump inaugural ball.’ I said, ‘Is Donald Trump involved in that?’ No. ‘Does Donald Trump know anything about that?’ No. I said, ‘Michael, that’s useless. You’re not going anywhere with that.'”

COHEN ARRANGED AGREEMENT WITH DANIELS’ ATTORNEY

Cohen told Costello, “I got a call from a lawyer representing Stormy Daniels, who represented that she was going to testify that Donald Trump had sex with Stormy Daniels.” Cohen stated he did not believe Daniels’ allegations but thought that it would be “embarrassing” for Melania Trump. “That’s why I decided to take care of this on my own,” Cohen allegedly told Costello. He asked Cohen several times whether Trump was involved in the non-disclosure agreement which Ms. Daniels signed October, 28, 2016, to which Cohen repeatedly replied that he was not.

Under oath before the House Judiciary Committee, Costello recounted his conversations with Cohen: “I went back to that several times. ‘You did this on your own?’ On my own. ‘Did Donald Trump have anything to do with it?’ No. ‘Did you get the money from Donald Trump?’ No. ‘From any of his organizations?’ No. ‘From anybody connected to Donald Trump?’ No.”

Cohen told Costello he took out a “HELOC loan” against his property to secure the $130,000 to pay Daniels. He noted that Cohen waved the attorney-client privilege at the request of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York (which Costello previously headed) because he had pleaded guilty to eight felony counts and “was seeking to lessen his sentence and thought he could be clever by going into the U.S. Attorney’s Office and lying about cooperation.”

COSTELLO REGARDING COHEN’S TESTIMONY

Costello explained to the House Judiciary Committee that Cohen’s recent testimony is “exactly the opposite” of what his client previously told him. “What he tries to do is he cherry picks certain emails or text messages and tries to make them look like something else.” During the meeting, Cohen told Costello that he had not done anything wrong and was “cooperating with the special counsel” and Congress.

“Of course, he forgot to tell us that he lied to Congress,” Costello said, adding that he explained to Cohen that Trump was the actual target in the special counsel’s investigation.

US Representative Matt Gaetz (R-Florida) asked Costello whether Cohen is “a liar.” Costello responded, “That doesn’t even begin to describe him. He lies at every opportunity when it’s in his favor.”

“Is there a single branch of government that Michael Cohen hasn’t lied to?” Gaetz inquired. Costello replied, “Gee, I think there isn’t.”

Costello has said repeatedly that Cohen felt “betrayed” by Trump’s decision not to offer him a White House position after securing the 2016 presidential election.

“He said to me that he should have been Attorney General of the United States or at least the chief assistant to the president. Ludicrous,” Costello continued. “He was very angry about that. He wanted to do something to put himself back into the inner circle of Donald Trump. That’s why he took care of this on his own. There had to be a motivation. Michael Cohen is always working for things that benefit himself.”

*A common defense to a charge of suborning perjury is truth, as with an allegation of perjury. This means that the fact that a witness actually told the truth defeats a charge of suborning perjury.

^Cohen plead guilty on August 21, 2018.