Michael Cohen, Donald Trump’s fixer-turned-adversary, calmly confessed Monday that he stole $60,000 from his former boss as he finished testifying in the former president’s hush-money trial, calling the theft “self-help.” “It was a form of “.
The convicted liar confessed while being questioned by defense attorney Todd Blanche about his bizarre plan to sway the popular vote of “the most famous businessman” in Trump’s favor.
“You stole it from the Trump Organization, right?” Trump’s lawyer Todd Blanche said of the $130,000 payment Cohen made to porn star Stormy Daniels to settle a sex scandal before the 2016 election. asked Cohen, the star witness who testified against Trump, who is accused of falsifying company records to cover up the incident.
“Yes, I do,” Cohen, 57, replied matter-of-factly from his seat in Manhattan Supreme Court, about 15 feet away from Trump, 77.
Mr. Cohen later testified that he committed the theft as part of his “self-help efforts” in response to Mr. Trump’s reduction in his bonus from $150,000 to $50,000.
“It felt like self-help because I was angry that my bonus was cut,” Cohen said.
Cohen created a fake online account to help his billionaire boss rise to the top of CNBC’s ranking of famous business titans during an important meeting at Trump Tower in mid-January 2017. He testified that he falsely claimed that he had advanced funds to a technology company called Redfinch that required $50,000 to be repaid.
However, after President Trump, who had just risen to ninth place in the polls, “refused” to pay the full amount to Red Finch, Cohen gave Red Finch’s CEO cash in a brown paper bag and asked the company to take over. He admitted that he only paid $20,000.
Trump.org’s payment to Cohen was bundled with a refund of $130,000 in hush money to Daniels.
Then, in a practice known as “grossing up” to cover taxes, the amount was doubled, and Cohen was obligated to pay it by reporting the money as income rather than taking it tax-free, he told jurors.
“You didn’t just steal $30,000, did you actually steal a total of $60,000?” Blanche asked.
“Yes, sir,” Cohen replied.
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Wearing a dark blue suit and purple tie, Cohen calmly explained that he had told “multiple” prosecutors in the Manhattan district attorney’s office about the theft but was never charged in connection with it.
“Did you return the money you stole from the Trump Organization?” Blanche asked him.
“No,” Mr. Cohen replied.
Mr. Trump, who had been sitting with his eyes closed, perked up during this part of his longtime personal lawyer’s testimony, popped a mint into his mouth and looked directly at Mr. Cohen.
The exchange came as his defense team continued to slam Cohen’s credibility, citing past convictions for lying under oath that Cohen claims he did out of loyalty to Trump. Ta.
They also asked Cohen about his new career as a vocal Trump critic, and Cohen testified that he made about $4.4 million from his books and podcasts after being released from prison in 2020. did. He was released from house arrest the following year.
But Cohen insisted there was “no question” he spoke with Trump at least 20 times in 2016 about Daniels’ payment, and that if Trump hadn’t promised a refund, he wouldn’t have paid. I argued that there would be.
“I wanted to make sure I got these funds back,” he testified under questioning from Manhattan prosecutor Susan Hoffinger.
Jurors also heard a recorded phone call in October 2017 in which Cohen appeared to discuss hush money payments with Daniels’ attorney.
“I don’t even know how many times he said to me, ‘I hate the fact that we did this,'” Cohen testified, referring to Trump on the phone call.
“Who else would do that for someone? I did it because I care about that person.”
After Mr. Cohen finished testifying, Mr. Trump’s lawyers asked that the case be thrown out, citing Mr. Cohen’s false history.
Judge Juan Merchan did not immediately rule on the case but expressed skepticism.
“So do you want us to take that out of the hands of the jury?” the judge said, suggesting that the jury of “12 New Yorkers” could decide for themselves which parts of Cohen’s testimony to believe.
