A shit show in a shit show........

Costello's testimony backfired for the defense, legal experts say

From CNN's Maureen Chowdhury

Robert Costello's testimony seemed to backfire for the defense, several legal experts said on CNN.

Costello's demeanor toward Judge Juan Merchan caused the courtroom to be cleared on Monday and his back and forth with prosecutors may not be working in the defense's favor.

“It’s just terrible the way it went down and the weird thing is is that Costello knows better, right?," David Oscar Markus, a criminal defense attorney, said. "He’s a lawyer, he’s been in that courtroom, that courthouse. He knows better so just an awful, awful day. And you know the defense took a big risk here and struck out very badly.”

CNN chief legal analyst Laura Coates noted that Costello's purpose was to go after Michael Cohen's credibility by calling him a liar, but didn't succeed.

"The prosecutor is undermining through this, Coates said, “and not allowing him frankly, on this very tight leash, to try to talk his way out of what the documents say. Now the idea, the color we had in the courtroom before about him telling her to ‘speak up, talk louder’ not going over maybe well with the juror,” Coates said.

“He is now not able to explain away what the documents say. That’s where you want your witness to be if you want to undermine them," she added.

The district attorney is "gradually but surely turning Bob Costello into a prosecution witness," CNN senior legal analyst Elie Honig said, because Costello is talking about a crucial moment in time” in April 2018 where the emails indicate that Costello was trying to keep Cohen in the fold and not flip. “This shady effort to keep Michael Cohen from not flipping is coming back to the floor. It’s bad for the defense and good for the prosecution.”

William J. Brennan, former Trump Payroll Corp. attorney, also said that Costello's testimony is not in favor of the defense. “It’s just really sad for the defense that this is what we’re focused on now when you had a couple of days that don’t often happen in a criminal trial. You know Cohen was just you know a gift.”

Brennan continued, now they put Costello on, “he’s imploded, he fought with the judge, he’s dancing with her (Susan Hoffinger), it’s just not a great way to end.”