MSNBC host defends Michael Cohen after stealing admission: He 'thought he deserved' that money'

MSNBC host Lawrence O'Donnell went to bat for disgraced ex-Trump attorney Michael Cohen after the star witness in the ongoing New York trial admitted to stealing money from former President Trump's business. 

During another brutal day of cross-examination, Cohen was pressed by Trump defense lawyer Todd Blanche on an alleged $50,000 that was supposed to be paid to tech company Red Finch but ended up paying just $20,000 of that money in a brown paper bag, pocketing the remaining $30,000 for himself. 

"You stole from the Trump Org, right?" Blanche asked Cohen on Monday. 

"Yes, sir," Cohen responded.   

During MSNBC's coverage of the trial, O'Donnell shrugged off the stunning revelation, calling the payment to Red Finch "irrelevant" and admonishing Blanche for not pressing Cohen on the $130,000 that was paid to adult film actress Stormy Daniels that is at the center of the trial despite the "effective" exchange. 

"Later when Cohen was asked about that on redirect by the prosecution, it didn’t really sound like stealing $30,000," O'Donnell said. "It sounded a lot like Michael Cohen doing the little that 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," O'Donnell added.