Trump's Lawyer and Cohen Match Wits in Crucial Cross-Examination

Donald J. Trump's lawyers on Thursday took their best shot at Michael D. Cohen, the star witness in the former president's criminal trial in Manhattan, grilling Mr. Cohen about a medley of misrepresentations, manipulations and outright lies.

Seeking to destroy Mr. Cohen's credibility, a defense lawyer, Todd Blanche, portrayed him as an unrepentant criminal and a serial deceiver who took the stand only to exact revenge on Mr. Trump.

He argued that Mr. Cohen, Mr. Trump's loyal lawyer and fixer until a falling-out years ago, had changed his story about matters big and small: whether he had wanted a White House job, whether he had sought a presidential pardon and whether he had lied during the trial about a phone call he said he had with Mr. Trump.

Mr. Cohen testified that he had contacted Mr. Trump in October 2016, during the presidential campaign's waning days, to update him about a hush-money deal that Mr. Cohen was negotiating with a porn star on his boss's behalf. Mr. Blanche, raising his index finger as his voice hit a higher register, offered an alternative theory about the conversation, arguing that Mr. Cohen was actually calling to complain about a teenage prankster who had targeted him.

"You were actually talking," Mr. Blanche said, "about harassing phone calls from a 14-year-old," rather than the hush money.

"That was a lie," Mr. Blanche then shouted, evoking the climax of a courtroom drama. "You can admit."

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