Prosecutors in Donald Trump’s criminal hush money trial made an interesting case against the former president, saying the billionaire is actually a “stingy penny pincher” who paid his lawyer Michael Cohen twice as much to cover up his “affairs.”
The counterintuitive argument emerged during opening statements in the case Monday morning by District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s team.
Prosecutor Matthew Colangelo told a captive jury that Trump was a “very frugal businessman” who ran the Trump Organization with “total control.”
“He believed in pulling out pennies, in watching every dollar, in negotiating every bill.”
At the center of the case is a $130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels to keep her quiet about an alleged affair with Trump immediately before the 2016 election.
Therefore, when Cohen received more than double the amount, for a total of $420,000, it was to “disguise” it as income, not payment.
Trump had a “relentless” focus on the bottom line, but “when it came time to pay Michael Cohen back, he didn’t negotiate the price down, he doubled it so they could disguise it as income,” Colangelo said.
The fee demonstrated “how important it was to conceal the true nature of Michale Cohen’s illegal payment to Ms. Daniels and the election conspiracy they launched in August 2015,” Colangelo said.
Former President Donald Trump’s lawyer rejected prosecutors’ claims in his criminal hush money case that payments were made to porn star Stormy Daniels to help him win the 2015 election.
Trump’s defense rejected prosecutors’ claims in his criminal hush money case that payments were made to porn star Stormy Daniels to help him win the 2016 election.
President Donald Trump has estimated that his home in Mar-a-Lago, Florida, is worth close to $1 billion, but a Manhattan judge said it is worth a fraction of that, $18 million.
Prosecutors said Trump inflated the value of his Manhattan penthouse in Trump Tower by about $200 million when he valued it at $327 million.
In 2012, the Trump Organization valued the property at more than double the value given by outside appraisers.
Such an agreement “might be the only time it has ever happened,” Colangelo told the jury.
The fee demonstrated “how important it was to conceal the true nature of Michale Cohen’s illegal payment to Ms. Daniels and the election conspiracy they launched in August 2015,” Colangelo said.
Donald Trump has long touted his vast real estate empire, and his estimated net worth exceeds $4 billion.
But the future of the embattled former president’s holdings remains unclear after he was ordered to pay more than $350 million in the blockbuster civil fraud trial and banned from doing business in New York for three years.
Located on Fifth Avenue, Trump Tower is perhaps the most recognizable property named after the former president and is the headquarters of the Trump Organization.
Prosecutors said Trump inflated the value of his Manhattan penthouse in Trump Tower by about $200 million when he tripled the square footage estimate from 11,000 to 30,000 square feet.
Trump had valued the apartment at $327 million, which Attorney General Letitia James called “absurd.”
President Donald Trump has estimated that his house in Mar-a-Lago, Florida, is worth close to $1 billion, but a Manhattan judge said it is worth a fraction of that, $18 million, which is still a huge sum. substantial.
He has other huge properties worth millions of dollars to complete his real estate portfolio.
Trump’s defense rejected prosecutors’ claims in his criminal hush money case that payments were made to porn star Stormy Daniels to help him win the 2016 election.
Trump’s lawyer, Todd Blanche, also argued that Trump, being a “frugal” tightwad, would never have overpaid his “obsessed” personal lawyer Michael Cohen and attempted to discredit Daniels, saying she made up their affair.
Trump’s defense attorney, Todd Blanche, claimed that the $35,000 Cohen was paid each month was because he worked as his personal attorney while he was in office.
Blanche attempted to spin the prosecution’s argument that Trump was cheap.
He said: ‘President Trump did not return Mr. Cohen $130,000. President Trump paid Michael Cohen $420,000.
“At the same time, people told him that he is known as a frugal businessman.”
‘Ask yourself: Would a frugal businessman, a man who saves pennies, pay off a debt of $130,000 to the tune of $420,000?’
According to Blanche, Trump “had nothing to do” with the processing of the invoices, the generation of the checks or the general ledger entries, all of which were done by Trump employees.
There was a “complete lack of knowledge or intent” on Trump’s part, Blanche said.
‘There is nothing wrong with trying to influence an election. It’s called democracy. They put something sinister to this idea as if it were a crime.
“It’s not,” he continued.
“Michael Cohen paying Stormy Daniels $130,000 for agreeing not to publicly spread false claims about President Trump is not illegal.”
When his claims of “embarrassing President Trump and embarrassing his family” surfaced, he “fought back to protect his family, his reputation and his brand, which is not a crime,” Blanche said.
As for Cohen, Blanche said he tried to “blame President Trump for virtually all of his problems.”
Cohen is “obsessed with President Trump, even to this day,” Blanche said, noting that Cohen has written books and publishes two podcasts about Trump.
“Michael Cohen paying Stormy Daniels $130,000 for agreeing not to publicly spread false claims about President Trump is not illegal,” Trump’s lawyer said.
Trump’s lawyer, Todd Blanche, also argued that Trump, being a “frugal” tightwad, would never have overpaid his “obsessed” personal lawyer Michael Cohen and attempted to discredit Daniels, saying she made up their affair.
Cohen served time after pleading guilty to campaign finance crimes and lying to Congress.
Last night Cohen appeared online saying he wanted to see Trump in an “orange jumpsuit,” Blanche said.
“Cohen cannot be trusted” because “his entire financial livelihood depends on destroying President Trump,” he continued.