Former Donald Trump adviser and lawyer Michael Cohen made a series of stunning confessions in court Monday, where he is the key witness linking the former president to a plot to conceal hush money payments to porn stars. .
Yes, he had lied under oath, he admitted.
Yes, he had stolen tens of thousands of dollars from his former employer, the Trump Organization, he said.
Yes, he had worked with an IT company to manipulate an online poll in favor of Trump.
And then, after admitting deceptions and lies in public statements, he said he had a future career in mind: member of Congress.
Michael Cohen leaves his apartment with his wife Monday morning, ahead of his fourth day on the witness stand in former President Donald Trump’s hush money trial.
Name recognition would be a plus, he said.
‘Going after President Trump, is that your name recognition?’ Trump lawyer Todd Blanche asked.
“My name recognition is due to the journey I have taken,” he responded. “He is affiliated with Mr. Trump, yes, not because of Mr. Trump.”
Cohen was spending his fourth day on the witness stand. His is the main evidence directly linking Trump to a scheme to falsify business records to hide $130,000.
Trump denies 34 charges of document falsification.
But the final two and a half hours of Cohen’s cross-examination offered a reminder to jurors about the warnings that come with the testimony of a disbarred attorney who spent 13 months in prison.
Blanche used the time to portray Cohen as a budding and greedy self-publicist, with books, film projects and podcasts.
He questioned Cohen about existing testimony in which he said he had paid Red Finch, a technology company used by the Trump Organization to manipulate an online poll, which was owed $50,000.
He said he had withdrawn $20,000 from his bank in two days, before paying the company boss with cash in a brown paper bag.
However, in a handwritten note setting out how he was to be compensated, he claimed the full $50,000 (doubled to $100,000 to account for taxes).
—So you stole from the Trump Organization? -Blanca asked.
When Cohen admitted to stealing from the Trump Organization, his former boss shook his head.
Trump denies 34 counts of falsifying business records to cover up a $130,000 hush payment to porn star Stormy Daniels. He is seen here arriving with attorney Todd Blanch.
“Yes, sir,” Cohen said.
Trump had paid little attention to the evidence so far, sitting slouched in his chair with his eyes closed.
But he came back to life at the admission of the robbery, shaking his head and smiling.
His son Eric, sitting in the second row of the courtroom, posted: “This just got interesting: Michael Cohen now admits to stealing money from our company.”
Later, questioned by prosecutor Susan Hoffinger, he explained his reasoning and said he was angry at the way his annual bonus had been cut by two-thirds.
‘I just felt like it was almost like self-help. I wasn’t going to let him profit… this way too,’ she said, explaining that he decided not to correct the company’s chief financial officer, who knew the bill was $50,000.
‘Not only had I protected him as best I could, but I had also given money to Red Finch a year and a half earlier and again $130,000 for my bonus to be reduced by two-thirds was, to say the least, very disturbing.’
The handwritten note showing what Cohen was paid for, including $50,000 for Red Finch. This was introduced during the early part of the trial, but resurfaced on Monday.
Trump’s son, Eric, was in the second row of the courtroom Monday morning.
He also explained why Red Finch had been hired: to manipulate a CNBC survey of the most famous businessmen of the last century.
Trump was worried he wouldn’t even make the top 10.
“And that bothered him,” he said.
Red Finch used the money to buy IP addresses that he could use with an algorithm to push Trump up the list.
He ultimately finished ninth, Cohen said. But because CNBC decided not to take the top ten to another phase of the competition, Trump refused to pay, saying he had not benefited from the money.
It was another extraordinary insight into the way Trump and his top advisers operated during the run-up to the 2016 election.
Again Trump brought a large entourage to court. In addition to members of Congress, he was joined by legal expert Alan Dershowitz and Chuck Zito, whose status as founder of the New York chapter of the Hells Angels was betrayed by his jet-black pompadour.
American actor Chuck Zito, left, and attorney Alan Dershowitz return from lunch to the trial of former President Donald Trump in Manhattan Criminal Court, Monday, May 20, 2024.
Trump brought a large entourage on Monday, including members of Congress and legal experts.
Cohen delivered his testimony in a calm and measured tone. He quietly corrected Blanche several times, but did not raise his voice or show much emotion on her fourth day at court.
They heard Cohen describe how he had made millions under Trump’s name, while the former president’s defense attorney accused him of having a financial interest in a conviction.
Cohen said he had earned about $4.4 million since fall 2020, including $3.4 million from two books and a million more from podcasts.
Blanche even said she was hosting a TV show about her life, called ‘The Fixer.’
But Cohen rejected the idea that he had a financial interest in a guilty verdict.
“Whether Mr. Trump is ultimately determined to be innocent or guilty will not affect whether I talk about it or not,” he said.
And then he offered an alternative view of what was best for his finances, as Trump leaned back in his chair and turned his head toward the witness.
“For me it is better that he is not found guilty, because that gives me more to talk about in the future,” is how he put it.