The nation’s liberal and conservative media retailers appeared to agree on one factor this week: Michael D. Cohen, the federal government’s star witness in its case towards former President Donald J. Trump, was price belittling.
However they made that argument in far other ways.
Conservative retailers painted Mr. Cohen, a former lawyer for Mr. Trump, as a traitor to the conservative trigger. Liberal retailers centered on Mr. Cohen’s testimony about how he would do something to impress Mr. Trump.
However there was additionally one larger distinction about their protection of Mr. Cohen’s testimony. Many of the liberal information retailers gave outstanding protection to what he mentioned on the trial, the primary prison trial towards a former president. Quite a few conservative retailers downplayed a lot of what he mentioned in courtroom.
Right here is the way it performed out:
FROM THE LEFT
MSNBC
MSNBC has given in depth protection to Mr. Cohen’s testimony each on its TV channel and its web site. The protection has typically acknowledged that Mr. Cohen was an imperfect messenger for particulars in regards to the hush-money case, partially as a result of he spent greater than a 12 months in jail for crimes that included mendacity to Congress. However most commentators nonetheless advised his testimony harm Mr. Trump’s case.
Mr. Cohen paid $130,000 to the porn star Stormy Daniels to cease her from telling the general public about an affair with Mr. Trump. Prosecutors say Mr. Trump then reimbursed Mr. Cohen and falsified information to disguise the funds as authorized bills.. Mr. Trump has denied the affair and any wrongdoing associated to the funds.
Hayes Brown, an opinion author for MSNBC, wrote on its web site that Mr. Cohen was a “recognized liar,” and was a “horrible particular person to depend on for the prosecution’s case.”
However, Mr. Brown wrote, prosecutors didn’t shrink back from Mr. Cohen’s checkered previous, which “sarcastically makes him extra credible as a witness.”
Lawrence O’Donnell, on the prime time present “All In,” remarked that Mr. Cohen had appeared way more measured than common in his appearances within the courtroom. His demeanor on the stand, Mr. O’Donnell advised, signaled Mr. Cohen was telling the reality. Mr. Cohen was making an attempt to “save what might be left of his life by the easy course of telling the reality to prosecutors,” Mr. O’Donnell mentioned.
FROM THE LEFT
‘Pod Save America’
The favored liberal podcast “Pod Save America” devoted the primary 10 minutes of its Tuesday episode to the trial. Host Jon Favreau mentioned Mr. Cohen was “not precisely an sincere dealer.” One other host of the present, Dan Pfeiffer, mentioned he was a “sleazy goofball.”
However the hosts, each of whom had labored within the Obama administration, mentioned Mr. Cohen’s claims have been in the end substantiated. Mr. Favreau mentioned Mr. Cohen got here off as credible to reporters within the courtroom.
“It looks as if there’s a doc for the whole lot that Michael Cohen testified, or at the very least some corroborating proof,” Mr. Favreau mentioned.
FROM THE RIGHT
Fox Information
Like MSNBC, Fox Information has additionally given Mr. Cohen appreciable protection on-line and on TV. A lot of it has argued he isn’t a reputable witness and that his testimony in the end broken the prosecution’s case.
Greg Gutfeld, a Fox Information host and commentator, mentioned of Mr. Cohen, “nobody can take this man severely.”
“It’s onerous to poke holes in Cohen’s testimony as a result of it’s all holes and no cheese,” Mr. Gutfeld mentioned on “The 5.” “It’s simply air.”
FROM THE RIGHT
Newsmax
Standing outdoors the courthouse Tuesday morning, Jon Glasgow, a reporter for Newsmax protecting the trial, mentioned “we haven’t actually seen lots” from Mr. Cohen’s testimony to recommend Mr. Trump can be convicted.
Greg Kelly, a Newsmax anchor who typically praises Mr. Trump, mentioned he had not learn Mr. Cohen’s testimony. As an alternative, he characterised Mr. Cohen as somebody who craved public consideration: Mr. Cohen, he mentioned, is “not a wise man” and “loves this sort of second.”
“Sorry, there’s one thing actually unsuitable with this man,” Mr. Kelly mentioned Monday on “Greg Kelly Reviews.” On Tuesday, he referred to as Mr. Cohen a “pathetic clown.”
FROM THE RIGHT
The New York Submit
The day after Mr. Cohen first appeared on the stand, The New York Submit’s entrance web page made no point out of him in any respect. As an alternative, it centered on a falsehood in a guide by Jen Psaki, President Biden’s former press secretary. In her new guide, Ms. Psaki wrote that Mr. Biden didn’t have a look at his watch till after a ceremony for useless U.S. troopers in 2021. (He had, in truth, checked it in the course of the ceremony.)
The Submit ran a full-page picture of Mr. Biden taking a look at his watch in the course of the ceremony, with the caption “Sure, on his watch.”
