Michael Cohen, Donald Trump’s former lawyer, arrives in New York Court on March 13, 2023.
Eduardo Munoz | Reuters
Michael Cohenwho spent many years as a personal attorney and fixer for Donald Trumpis expected to testify Monday against the former president in what could be Trump’s most pivotal New York moment silent money crime trial.
Once wholeheartedly supporting Trump, Cohen has now become his sworn enemy. Cohen will tell the jury how he paid porn star Stormy Daniels $130,000 just before the 2016 presidential election, in exchange for her silence about a one-night stand she had with Trump a decade earlier.
Trump’s return of that money to Cohen while he was still serving in the White House was the basis for the Manhattan District Attorney’s decision. former president case.
The Trump Organization reported Daniels-related reimbursements to Cohen as legal fees. But DA Alvin Bragg alleges that this constitutes a crime, falsifying business records, committed by Trump to hide the fact that hush money protected his shaky presidential candidacy at the time. important point.
Trump, who denies having sex with Daniels, says the felony allegations are bogus. The presumptive Republican presidential nominee called them an attempt by a Democratic prosecutor to hurt his chances of winning the upcoming election against the President. Joe Biden.
Cohen, who has previously said he had “blind loyalty” to Trump while working for him, is expected to testify in Manhattan Supreme Court within days.
NBC News reported on Monday he will be questioned by Assistant District Attorney Susan Hoffinger, who has been preparing his turn as a witness for the past year.
In addition to paying Daniels, Cohen was closely involved in arranging another hush money payment to Playboy model Karen McDougal from publisher The National Enquirer in 2016 in exchange for the story of her affair with Trump. .
After Hoffinger finishes the first round of questioning, Trump’s defense attorney Todd Blanche will cross-examine Cohen.
Blanche is expected to expose Cohen’s self-admitted history of lying – often in the service of Trump – and his federal criminal guilty pleas to tax crimes and campaign finance violations election regarding the payment of hush money to Stormy Daniels.
“He is a convicted criminal. And he’s also a convicted perjurer. He is an admitted liar,” Blanche said in her opening statement about Cohen at the start of the trial.
On Friday, Blanche asked Judge Juan Merchan to issue a gag order against Cohen, who has been an outspoken critic of Trump. The former president himself was also subject to a gag order on witnesses in the case.
Mercan did not agree to silence Cohen, but he asked Bragg’s prosecution team to let Cohen know that the judge wanted him to stop making public statements about Trump or anything else in the case.
This is developing news. Check back for updates.
