Michael Cohen will testify against Trump in the trial
The Trump Era During Trump’s White House Sessions Revealed: Cohen Tells Congress Not to Worry About the Donald’s Dilemma
After several weeks of testimony, on Monday jurors heard Cohen confirm two key details on the stand: Trump knew about the settlement negotiation with former adult actor Stormy Daniel to keep her allegations of an affair out of the press ahead of the 2016 election and that Trump directed Cohen to make a payment of $130,000 to her because of the election. When he’s cross examined, Trump’s lawyers will likely try to debunk Cohen’s testimony and resurface his own convictions for lying under oath.
“He said to me not to worry, Michael,” I said. Your January and February reimbursement checks are coming,'” Cohen told Congress. “They were FedEx’d from New York. It takes a long time to get through the White House system.
In Monday’s testimony, Cohen stated that he had conversations with Trump that showed that he was in charge of the negotiations with Daniels. He testified to directly negotiating the payment for Daniels but that he kept Trump up to date about every step.
Cohen’s tale from a person who had once said he’d take a bullet for Trump to someone who’s now become a key witness against the former president has been long.
In 2018, the two men had a falling out in 2018 amid a federal investigation into Cohen’s financial dealings and special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into the Trump campaign’s possible ties to Russia during the 2016 presidential race.
Prior to that, Cohen did Trump’s dirty work: stiffing vendors, intimidating reporters, making secret deals. After Stormy Daniels’ story blew up in 2018, TRUMP stopped paying Cohen’s legal bills, and Cohen became a rat. In New York there is a criminal case against Trump.
Cohen told them that Mr. Trump was a cheat. “It was my experience that Mr. Trump inflated his total assets when it served his purposes, such as trying to be listed amongst the wealthiest people in Forbes, and deflated his assets to reduce his real estate taxes.”
“I don’t think anyone would dispute the belief that a second follow up to the Billy Bush tape would have been good,” Cohen told Congress in 2019. He was concerned about the effect that it had on the campaign and the effect on women who looked at him, as well as the possibility that he would have a chance in the general election.
The prosecution is suggesting that Trump paid off Daniels to stay out of the election in order to protect his electoral prospects.
Trump faces 34 felony counts alleging that reimbursements to Cohen for paying Daniels violated campaign finance law. Trump denied the allegations of extramarital affairs while he pleaded not guilty.
Cohen stated that the payment to Daniels was not for legal services, while on the stand on Tuesday. Cohen was shown some of the invoices at the center of the trial. One of Trump’s main arguments is that he was simply paying his lawyer.
And Cohen read over statements originally made when trying to quash the media reports of the payment — which included what he now says are false claims that Trump didn’t know about the deals.
Jurors have also heard from former National Enquirer publisher Pecker, who first testified to the details of the deals made to flag potentially damaging stories to Cohen and Trump. And jurors heard from Keith Davidson, the lawyer who negotiated the nondisclosure agreements and settlement payments for Daniels and former Playboy playmate Karen McDougal. McDougal is not expected to be called to testify.
