Michael Cohen, former President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, has said in a Manhattan courtroom that he used his own money to pay a former porn actress $130,000 to silence her claims about an alleged affair with Trump. I testified.
On Monday, Cohen took the stand in New York v. Trump, telling the court he set up a loan line on his home to pay former porn actress Stormy Daniels $130,000 as the 2016 election was being decided. Told. She signs a non-disclosure agreement and obtains rights to her claims regarding her infidelity. Ms. Daniels claims she had an affair with Mr. Trump during a celebrity golf tournament in Lake Tahoe in 2006, but Mr. Trump has repeatedly denied her allegations.
According to Cohen’s testimony, in October 2016, Cohen told President Trump that he would have to pay Daniels to quash her claims before Election Day next month. He testified that he discussed ways to fund the payments with Allen Weisselberg, the Trump Organization’s chief financial officer, but Weisselberg initially said he was not in a position to foot the bill.
“Finally, I said, ‘Okay, I’ll pay,'” Cohen testified, pointing to the urgency behind the issue just days before the election. Cohen said in court that Daniels’ claims “would have been disastrous for Mr. Trump and his campaign” unless Mr. Daniels took control of the situation and resolved the non-disclosure agreement and payments to Mr. Daniels.
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Cohen said Weisselberg told him, “Don’t worry. I’ll pay you back.”
Mr. Cohen said he did not discuss the matter with his wife and decided to raise funds through a home equity line of credit rather than withdrawing funds from his personal account.
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“My wife was the head of the family. [she] “You won’t understand that $130,000 is missing from our joint account,” he said.
According to testimony, Mr. Cohen and Mr. Weisselberg told Mr. Trump that Mr. Cohen intended to use his personal funds to advance the payment, to which Mr. Trump responded, “Okay, fine.”
Michael Cohen leaves for a break during former President Donald Trump’s civil business fraud trial in New York Supreme Court on Tuesday, October 24, 2023. Former Trump lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen says he unknowingly gave his lawyers fake artificial intelligence-generated case citations he obtained online before they were submitted to a New York judge. Ta. In a court filing Friday, Dec. 29, in Manhattan federal court, as a judge decides whether to punish one of Cohen’s lawyers for citing the fake case in a filing before the judge, Cohen said in a court filing: This was acknowledged privately. (AP Photo/Stephen Jeremiah, File)
Cohen said: “I’ve done everything I can and more to protect my boss. That’s what I’ve been doing for a long time. But I’m not going to hand over a 130,000 NDA for someone else.” he said.
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Cohen also said he would not have proceeded with the payment to Daniels without Trump’s approval: “I needed Trump’s approval for everything…And on top of that, I wanted my money back.” he claimed.
Stephanie A. Gregory Clifford, known professionally as Stormy Daniels, attends the Exxxotica Expo at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center on April 22, 2023 in Rosemont, Illinois. (Photo by Jacek Boczarski/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Mr. Trump’s former lawyer testified Monday that when he opened a bank account at First Republic Bank to transfer funds to Mr. Daniels, he fraudulently described it as a “management consulting” account. He continued. He argued in court that he didn’t believe the bank would have authorized the process if it knew it was a payment to a former porn star and was not truthful about the intent of the account.
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Former President Donald Trump awaits the start of proceedings in Manhattan Criminal Court on Monday, April 22, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura, pool)
Mr. Cohen wired the funds to Daniels’ attorney, Keith Davidson, and “entered into a non-disclosure agreement” with the payment, even though it was to obtain exclusive rights to Daniels’ claims. He told the court that he had marked it as “Retained Money.” Funds were transferred on October 27, 2016.
New York v. Trump revolves around allegations of falsification of business records. Prosecutors allege Cohen paid Daniel $130,000 to silence his claims of extramarital sex. The district attorney’s office alleges that the Trump Organization reimbursed Cohen and fraudulently recorded those payments as legal fees, and that Trump falsified records with the intent to commit or conceal a second crime. We are proceeding with the proof.
Trump has maintained his innocence in the case.
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President Trump, meanwhile, denounced the incident as a “fraud” promoted by the Biden administration in the run-up to the 2024 election, and on Monday touted the president’s lead in the battleground state to the media.
President Trump will address the media on May 13th. (Photo credit: SETH WENIG/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
“The New York Times just released a poll that shows we’re way ahead in every area. Here’s the cover. I think it’s very interesting, and I’m sure you’ve all read it. Top Wisconsin “We actually have a 12-point lead in states, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Michigan, Georgia and Nevada, which are generally Democratic states,” President Trump said Monday morning.
Monday’s court hearing comes after President Trump ruled that large gathering On Saturday in historically blue New Jersey, President 45H said “more than 100,000 people” attended Wildwood Beach.
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“I think we’re probably in the lead in New Jersey. We had over 100,000 people rally this weekend. A lot of the mainstream media didn’t want to say the number, they didn’t want to report it. But the fact… “I heard that the large crowd was not reported in the mainstream media,” Trump said on Monday.
