Trump nemesis Michael Cohen testifies: 5 takeaways

Former President Trump’s nemesis in his New York trial took the stand Monday.

Michael Cohen worked as Trump’s lawyer and fixer for more than a decade. Cohen once famously said he would be willing to take a bullet for Trump.

Cohen became a vocal critic of the former president after he himself pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations and tax evasion in 2018. Mr. Cohen later also pleaded guilty to lying to Congress. He was sentenced to prison and was finally released at the end of 2021 after a period of house arrest.

Mr. Trump’s legal team will use this background to try to discredit Mr. Cohen.

The lawyer is at the center of the case because he paid adult film actress Stormy Daniels $130,000 in hush money during the final stages of the 2016 presidential campaign. Mr. Cohen was later reimbursed for this payment by Mr. Trump and the Trump Trust.

Prosecutors could win the election by preventing Trump from going public with his claims that he had a sexual relationship with Trump in 2006 by concealing the true purpose of the money. The lawsuit alleges that the compensation was incorrectly classified as litigation costs in order to increase the amount of compensation.

Mr. Trump has denied having sex with Mr. Daniels and denied any legal wrongdoing, insisting that the payments to Mr. Cohen were indeed legal fees.

The former president has been charged with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.

Here are five takeaways from Cohen’s first day of testimony.

Cohen highlights how Stormy Daniels posed a danger to Trump campaign

One of the key questions in the case is whether President Trump wanted to silence Daniels for electoral reasons or simply to avoid personal embarrassment.

This is important because the crimes he is charged with are usually only misdemeanors unless it can be proven that they were committed in furtherance of another crime.

Prosecutors argue that the alleged falsification of business records ultimately amounted to election interference because the purpose of the payments to Daniels was to conceal information that voters should have known. Trump’s team denies this.

Mr. Cohen’s testimony sought to highlight the extent to which Mr. Trump feared that Mr. Daniels’ story could dash his hopes for the White House.

He said Trump told Cohen, “This is a disaster, a complete disaster,” after learning that Daniels might go public with allegations of a sexual relationship, and that male voters believed that his He added that while one might think the allegations of abuse are “cool”, “this is a big deal.” It would be a disaster for the campaign. ”

Cohen also testified that Trump seemed relatively unconcerned about the impact on his wife, Melania. President Trump is said to have said that if things didn’t work out with his wife, he wouldn’t be “on the market” for long.

Is the courtroom an audition stage for President Trump’s running mate?

President Trump was accompanied by a growing entourage during recent days of the trial.

On Monday, Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) and Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) were in court, as was Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-New York). Last Thursday, Sen. Rick Scott (R-Florida) appeared.

Three of the four (all but Vance) appeared to be there simply to show support for the Republican Party.

Mr. Scott also made other attacks last week that have been restrained by President Trump’s gag order, including attacking the daughter of Judge Juan Machan, who worked at a Democratic digital consulting firm.

But Vance’s appearance has sparked speculation about President Trump’s search for a running mate. The Ohio senator is widely considered to be one of the front-runners for the job.

Vance, once a critic of President Trump, has now become a staunch supporter.

On Monday, in a multi-post thread on social platform

Secret tape explanation

Cohen’s testimony cleared up questions surrounding the trial.

Jurors have already heard a secret recording of Trump made by Cohen in 2016 and heard it again on Monday.

The tape shows Cohen and Trump discussing a $150,000 agreement with former Playboy model Karen McDougal, another woman who claims to have had a sexual relationship with Trump. There is.

It was not clear until Monday why Mr. Cohen recorded only his conversations with Mr. Trump and not others.

Mr. Cohen told the court that he made the recording to persuade David Pecker, a magazine executive who had a direct contract with Mr. McDougall, to accept compensation.

Mr. Pecker “would have overheard the conversation and would have known that we were going to repay him and that Mr. Trump was going to repay him,” Mr. Cohen testified.

In the end, Mr. Pecker did not seek compensation.

The real drama may be yet to come.

Mr. Cohen’s testimony was highly anticipated, but it did not reach the same dramatic heights as Mr. Daniels’ testimony last week.

Court reporters noted that at times jurors seemed a little bored with his testimony.

If the Trump campaign gets a chance to question Cohen, there will be more fireworks.

Trump upset over bonus details

Trump kept his eyes closed throughout the day, renewing questions about whether he fell asleep during the trial.

Reporters who were there, including today, firmly believe that he has done so.

Earlier this month, President Trump took to social media to dispute these stories, claiming that he sometimes “just closes his beautiful blue eyes” to “listen intently.”

In any case, at a crucial moment on Monday, when Mr. Cohen was testifying that he was disappointed with his 2016 bonus, he clearly swayed from his calm state.

Jonathan Swan of the New York Times wrote, “Mr. Trump closed his eyes for quite a while, but when Mr. Cohen told him that he had been tough on him with his year-end bonus, a brief expression of what appeared to be joy appeared on his face. ”I thought of it,” he said.