CNN anchor Brianna Keilar, along with a network panel, condemned Trump trial witness Michael Cohen for admitting during his testimony that he secretly recorded phone calls with then-presidential candidate Donald Trump and other clients.
Cohen, who entered another round of cross-examination during New York’s case against the former president, told defense attorney Todd Blanche that he had recorded multiple phone calls with Trump and others and did not disclose he was doing so. Several panelists criticized the admission.
“Let’s just be very clear, that is highly uncool,” Keiler said Thursday after reading Cohen’s admission aloud, in a clip flagged by Mediaite.
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Several members of the panel, which included CNN legal analysts Elliot Williams and Elie Honig, engaged in a brief exchange over the legality of recording someone without consent.
“Some states — illegal,” Williams said. Keilar added, “And ethically questionable even if it’s not illegal.”
Williams said that what Cohen admitted to is not illegal in New York, where he worked as Trump’s fixer at the time, but added that it wasn’t something Cohen should have done.
“New York is one of about 30 states that’s a one-party consent state, so as long as one party consents to recording a phone conversation, you can do it. Doesn’t mean you ought to, doesn’t mean people won’t judge it if you do, but it’s allowed,” he said.
Keilar said, “People probably won’t appreciate it … just as a general understanding, you should know this.”
Honig then added his perspective.
“Recording your client as a lawyer, I mean, I’ve asked, on-air, several defense lawyers who have been practicing for decades, ‘Have you ever done this?’” he said. “If you ask them that they look at you like, ‘Why on earth? That would be wildly unethical and bizarre to do that.'”
Williams added, “Just creating all kinds of extra materials that could, you know, be subpoenaed or whatever. Just don’t do it. It just seems like a silly thing to do.”
Keilar called Cohen’s move “hugely problematic.”
“Donald Trump didn’t know he was being recorded,” she said. “That’s what is very clear from this. So it would be one thing to say to your client, ‘Hey, is it cool? Do you want me to hang onto this for something?’ But it wasn’t done with consent and that is hugely problematic.”
CNN anchor Anderson Cooper also blasted Cohen’s testimony on Thursday. During an episode of “CNN Special Report,” the pundit spoke to Honig about a moment in the former fixer’s cross-examination where he was apparently caught in a lie about a phone call to Trump in 2016.
“If I was a juror in this case watching that I would think, this guy’s making this up as he’s going along, or he’s making this particular story up,” Cooper said.
