NEW YORK (AP) — donald trump’s Fixer-turned-enemy Michael Cohen returned to the stand Tuesday to testify in detail about his relationship with the former president. All aspects of hush money planning Prosecutors say the comments were aimed at suppressing reporting that threatened the 2016 campaign.
Mr. Trump, the first former U.S. president to go on trial, appeared in court with an entourage of lawmakers, including House Speaker Mike Johnson, who insisted the case was politically motivated. Their presence was a subtle show of support not only for Trump, but also for the voters watching from his home and the jurors who will decide his fate.
The second-in-command in office holds an outdoor press conference during proceedings, uses his powerful pulpit to attack the U.S. judicial system, and attempts to rally his party against the president’s rule. It was therefore a remarkable moment in American politics. Enact a law by declaring a trial unjust.
What you need to know about Trump’s hush money trial:
“I have a lot of surrogates, and they speak very nicely,” Trump said before the proceedings began, as the surrogates gathered behind him. “And they come from all over Washington. And they’re highly respected and they think this is the biggest scam they’ve ever seen.”
Mr. Cohen returned to the witness stand a day after putting Mr. Trump at the center of the hush-money scheme. On Monday, he promised to repay the money that Trump advanced to make the payments, saying he was always aware of Trump’s behind-the-scenes efforts to cover up articles that he feared would hurt his campaign. he testified.
Jurors watched as Manhattan prosecutor Susan Hoffinger methodically and clinically explained to Mr. Cohen the process of reimbursement for hush money paid to porn actress Stormy Daniels on Mr. Trump’s behalf. was.
It was an attempt to prove what prosecutors say was a month-to-month deception to hide the true purpose of the payments. Some members of the 12-person committee took turns taking notes and looking at Mr. Hoffinger and Mr. Cohen.
Michael Cohen, left, testifies on the witness stand in Manhattan Criminal Court on Monday, May 13, 2024 in New York. (Elizabeth Williams, via AP)
As jurors were shown the documents and business records at the heart of the case, Mr. Trump’s former fixer explained the purpose of the documents. Mr. Cohen reiterated multiple times that there was no retainer agreement with Mr. Trump and that the payments were reimbursement and not for legal services rendered. This is an important difference because prosecutors claim that the payment records misrepresented the purpose of the payments as legal expenses made pursuant to the vassal.
“Was the information on this check stub false?” Mr. Hoffinger asked.
“Yes,” Mr. Cohen said.
“Again, there was no vassal agreement,” Hoffinger asked.
“That’s right,” Cohen replied.
In all, Mr. Cohen was paid $420,000 in funds taken from Mr. Trump’s personal account.
On Monday, Cohen delivered factual testimony that got to the heart of the matter. former president’s trial: “Everything required Trump’s approval,” Cohen said.
“We need to stop this thing from getting out,” Cohen quoted Trump as saying to Trump. Daniels’ description of a sexual encounter With President Trump 10 years ago. Candidates at the time were particularly concerned about how the story would affect their standing among female voters.
A similar episode occurred when Cohen warned Trump that a Playboy model had claimed that she and Trump were having an extramarital affair. “Please keep it private,” was Mr. Cohen’s message to Mr. Trump, the lawyer said. That woman, Karen McDougall The $150,000 payment was made after President Trump received “complete and complete updates on everything that happened.”
“What I was doing was doing it at Mr. Trump’s direction and for Mr. Trump’s benefit,” Cohen testified.
Trump has maintained his innocence and denied sexual contact in both cases.
Testimony from a witness so knowledgeable about Trump’s activities could increase the potential Republican presidential nominee’s legal exposure if jurors find him sufficiently trustworthy. But prosecutors trust a witness with such a checkered past… Cohen pleaded guilty to federal charges related to the payments. The case carries great risks for juries and could be a political boon as Mr. Trump raises money from his legal woes and paints the case as the product of a tainted criminal justice system.
The two were once so close that Cohen boasted that he would “take a bullet” for Trump, but there was no visible interaction in the courtroom. The subdued atmosphere was in sharp contrast to the previous courtroom showdown in October. When Trump came out of the courtroom after his lawyers finished questioning Cohen during his civil fraud trial.
Assistant District Attorney Susan Hoffinger (center) questions far-right witness Michael Cohen as President Donald Trump listens in Manhattan Criminal Court on Monday, May 13, 2024 in New York. (Elizabeth Williams, via AP)
As Mr. Cohen recounts his 10-year career as an executive at the Trump Organization, Mr. Trump sat in the defense seat and gave lengthy testimony, including, by his own admission, lying to his superiors. I had a job that sometimes involved bullying others. on behalf of.
Trump’s lawyers will have the opportunity to begin questioning Cohen as early as Tuesday, and are expected to attack his credibility. He was disbarred and sent to prison. Separately, he pleaded guilty to lying about a Moscow real estate project on Trump’s behalf.
Trump’s defense team will likely appoint him as a tenacious, agenda-driven witness. Defense attorneys told jurors in opening statements that he was a “confessed liar” with an “obsessive desire to get his hands on President Trump.”
Prosecutors are trying to blunt those attacks by acknowledging Mr. Cohen’s past crimes to jurors and relying on other witnesses whose testimony they hope will corroborate.
Jurors had previously heard from others about the tabloid industry’s “catch and kill” practices. This practice involves buying the rights to an article and being able to cancel it later. But Mr. Cohen’s testimony is crucial to prosecutors. Because Mr. Cohen communicated directly with his then-candidate about an embarrassing story that he had tried hard to cover up.
Importantly, Mr. Cohen said, the reimbursement he received from the $130,000 hush-money payment to Ms. Daniels, which prosecutors claim was intended to buy her hush money before the election, was used to secure Mr. Trump’s business. That’s the basis of 34 felonies charging him with falsifying records. Prosecutors allege that the repayments were falsely recorded as legal expenses to hide the true purpose of the payments.
To prove that Trump knew about the payments, Cohen told jurors during questioning that Trump had promised to pay them back.The two men also talked about Allen Weisselberg, former Trump Organization chief financial officerMr. Cohen testified about how reimbursements for legal services are paid in monthly installments.
She said Trump even tried to delay completing the deal with Daniels until after Election Day so he wouldn’t have to pay her.
Cohen testified that for Trump, “it doesn’t matter after the election.”
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Long report from Washington. Associated Press writers Jill Colvin in New York and Lisa Mascaro in Washington contributed to this report.
