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By Katherine Fung
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Robert Costello, a lawyer who once advised former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen, is being accused of jury tampering in Donald Trump's hush money trial by a Democratic congressman.
Costello appeared before the House Judiciary Committee's Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government on Wednesday as part of a hearing on "the use of lawfare tactics to weaponize the rule of law." Costello, who previously testified before last year's grand jury at the request of the defense, has sought to discredit Cohen both behind closed doors and in public comments.
Costello did not disclose exactly what he would tell Congress ahead of Wednesday's hearing, but he has said he plans to introduce exculpatory information that he was unable to bring before the grand jury investigating Trump in the hush money payment case. Although he advised Cohen at one point and sought to represent him when he was being investigated for campaign finance violations, Costello was never retained as Cohen's lawyer.
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Committee member and Representative Dan Goldman, a New York Democrat, attacked Costello for appearing before the panel while Cohen's court testimony is ongoing. Prosecutors called Cohen, the star witness in the case, to the stand on Monday, and Trump's defense team began cross-examination Tuesday. Cohen's testimony is not expected to wrap up until the end of Thursday. Trump is charged with falsifying business records in connection with a hush money payment to an adult film actress before the 2016 election.
"You know that coming down here [to Washington, D.C.], outside of that courtroom while that witness is on the stand, to try to impeach his credibility and his testimony is jury tampering," Goldman told Costello. "You know it is unethical. You know that you are trying to discredit a current witness at a current trial."
In a statement to Newsweek, Costello called Goldman's remark a "cheap shot."
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On Tuesday, Cohen detailed in court how he came to know Costello, explaining that Costello had tried to convince Cohen to hire him in 2018. Cohen told the court that Costello, who had close ties to former Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani, offered to act as a "back channel" to the then-president. At the time, Cohen was under federal investigation for the hush money payment at the center of the Trump trial.
"The back channel was Bob Costello to Rudy to Rudy to President Trump," Cohen said on the stand. Because of that, Cohen said, he never told Costello about Trump's involvement in the hush money payment.
"I believed, based on all our conversations, he would immediately run back to Mr. Giuliani and that communication would be divulged to President Trump," Cohen said.
Trump is facing 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in connection with the hush money payment that Cohen made to adult film star Stormy Daniels. Prosecutors argue that Cohen paid Daniels for the life rights to her story about a sexual encounter with Trump to help him win the presidency. They also argue that Trump reimbursed Cohen for the payment after he went to the White House. Trump has pleaded not guilty to all charges and has denied Daniels' allegation about the encounter.
When it was GOP Representative Dan Bishop's turn to speak, the lawmaker asked Costello if he wanted to respond to Goldman's claims that he was engaging in jury interference. In response, Costello said that he did not plan to testify before the subcommittee during Cohen's testimony and that based on what Manhattan prosecutors had said, he didn't expect Cohen to take the stand until later this month.
"First of all, I had nothing to do with the scheduling of this hearing," Costello said. "Second of all, nobody knew when Michael Cohen was going to testify. The prediction by the media, and also by the prosecutors, was this was going to be a five- or six-week trial. So according to that, Michael Cohen shouldn't be testifying for another week or two.
"To claim that we're just doing this to interfere with the jury—that's been instructed, of course, not to watch proceedings such as this—is ridiculous," he added.
Goldman had attacked Costello, a New York–based litigator, earlier in the hearing for trying to discredit Cohen in a public and political forum, telling the lawyer that if he did have pertinent information he should be using it in a legal setting.
"Let's talk about this two-tiered system of justice. Let's talk about lawfare," Goldman said on Wednesday. "Mr. Costello, your entire opening statement, as I heard it, was simply to discredit Michael Cohen."
He went on: "Sir, I think you're in the wrong place. Michael Cohen is currently on the witness stand at a trial in Manhattan, and if you have information about Michael Cohen's testimony, you should talk to Donald Trump and his lawyers and see if they want to call you as a witness to impeach Michael Cohen."
It is unclear if Costello will appear at the Manhattan Criminal Courthouse to testify for the defense. Trump's legal team has not released any witness list, but Costello told CBS News that he recently had a "brief conversation" with Trump attorney Todd Blanche. He said that "there was no commitment" to testifying.
Update 5/15/24, 2:45 p.m. ET: This story was updated with comments from Robert Costello.
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