Lawrence O'Donnell: Cohen Didn't Steal, It Sounded Like He Was Trying To "Rebalance" The Bonus He Thought He Deserved

LAWRENCE O'DONNELL, MSNBC HOST: The courtroom is where I began as a writer and a reporter a long time ago. So this is a homecoming to me in terms of a workplace. The shocking thing at the end of that cross-examination -- I just can't tell you how stunning it was. Because it's the thing I was waiting for. I saw everything Todd Blanche. I've seen every minute of cross-examination. I've seen every single question he's asked.

And he sat down and ended his cross-examination without asking a single question about the $130,000 that appears on the Allen Weisselberg notes about how they were structuring the payment to Michael Cohen.

He asked about the $50,000 that's irrelevant to the $130,000, and that's where he very effectively got Michael Cohen to say, to agree that, yes, he stole $30,000. Later when Cohen was asked about that on redirect by the prosecution, it didn't really sound like stealing $30,000. It sounded a lot like Michael Cohen doing the little that he could within that calculation to rebalance the bonus he thought he deserved, and it still came out as less than the bonus he thought he deserved and the bonus he had gotten the year before.

But to go back to the $130,000, because that's what the case is about. That is the money that is considered an illegal campaign contribution by this prosecution. That is the crime Michael Cohen pled guilty to in federal court, an illegal campaign contribution, an excessive contribution of $130,000. And the cross-examination of Michael Cohen did not touch that $130,000. And that is an amazing hole. That is an $130,000 hole in that cross-examination that Todd Blanche made absolutely no attempt to close. He didn't go near it. And understandably, what it tells you is they have no explanation. Because that was the moment, if the defense was going to explain why Allen Weisselberg wrote in his own handwriting $130,000 on that document, which is the smoking gun document of the case.