Christian Smith
(The hill) – Former President Donald Trump’s nemesis at his New York trial took the stand on Monday.
Michael Cohen worked for more than 10 years as Trump’s lawyer and mediator. Cohen once famously said he would take a bullet for Trump.
Cohen became an outspoken critic of the former president after he himself pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations and tax evasion in 2018. Cohen later also pleaded guilty to lying to Congress. He received a prison sentence and was eventually released, after a period of house arrest, at the end of 2021.
Trump’s legal team will try to use this story to destroy Cohen’s credibility.
The lawyer is a central figure in the trial because he paid $130,000 in hush money to adult film actress Stormy Daniels in the final stages of the 2016 presidential campaign. Cohen was later reimbursed for this payment by Trump and a Trump fund.
Prosecutors say Trump falsely classified the reimbursements as legal expenses to hide their true purpose — to increase his chances of winning the election by preventing Daniels from going public with her claim that she had sex with Trump in 2006.
Trump denies having sex with Daniels and any legal wrongdoing, arguing that the payments to Cohen were in fact legal expenses.
The former president is charged with 34 criminal counts of falsifying business records.
Here are five takeaways from Cohen’s first day of testimony.
Cohen emphasizes how Stormy Daniels posed a danger to the Trump campaign
A vital question in the case is whether Trump wanted to silence Daniels for electoral reasons or simply to avoid personal embarrassment.
This is important because the crime you are accused of is usually just a misdemeanor unless it can be shown that it was committed in furtherance of another crime.
Prosecutors argue that the allegedly falsified business records ultimately amounted to election interference, since the purpose of bribing Daniels was to hide information from voters that they would otherwise have known. Trump’s team denies this.
Cohen’s testimony sought to underscore Trump’s concern that Daniels’ story could sink his White House hopes.
He said that Trump, upon learning that Daniels might go public with her allegation of a sexual encounter, told Cohen, “This is a disaster, a total disaster,” adding that while male voters might consider her alleged exploits “cool ”, “this will be a disaster for the campaign.”
Cohen also testified that Trump seemed relatively unfazed by the impact on his wife, Melania. Trump reportedly said he wouldn’t be “on the market” for long if things went wrong with his wife.
Is the courtroom a audition stage for Trump’s vice-presidential position?
Trump was accompanied by a growing entourage during the final days of the trial.
On Monday, Sens. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, and Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., appeared in court, as did Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y. Last Thursday, Senator Rick Scott, Republican of Florida, appeared.
Three of those four — all except Vance — appeared to be there simply as a show of Republican Party support.
Last week, Scott also committed the kind of attacks from which Trump is restrained by a gag order, including attacking Judge Juan Merchan’s daughter for her work with a Democratic digital consulting firm.
Vance’s appearance sparked speculation about Trump’s search for a running mate. The Ohio senator is widely considered a leading candidate for that position.
Vance, a longtime Trump critic, has transformed into a loyalist.
On Monday, in a multipost thread on the social platform X, Vance stated that he was “now convinced that the main purpose of the trial is psychological torture.”
A Secret Tape Explained
Cohen’s testimony clarified an issue that had been lingering behind the scenes of the trial.
Jurors had already heard a secret recording of Trump that Cohen made in 2016 — and did so again on Monday.
The tape shows Cohen and Trump discussing a $150,000 settlement with another woman who said she had a sexual relationship with Trump — former Playboy model Karen McDougal.
Only on Monday did it become clear why Cohen recorded that conversation with Trump, but — he says — no others.
Cohen told the court he had made the recording so he could convince David Pecker, the magazine executive who was making the deal directly with McDougal, that he would be reimbursed.
Pecker “would hear the conversation and know that we were going to pay him back, that Mr. Trump was going to pay him back,” Cohen testified.
In the end, Pecker didn’t ask for a refund.
The real drama may be yet to come
Cohen’s testimony was highly anticipated, but it did not reach the dramatic level seen last week when Daniels testified.
Reporters in the courtroom noted that there were a few occasions when jury members appeared to be getting a little bored with their testimony.
There will be more fireworks when the Trump team gets a chance to question Cohen.
Trump worries about bonus details
Trump kept his eyes closed for much of the day, renewing questions about whether he had been dozing during much of the trial.
Some reporters present firmly believe he has done so, including on Monday.
Earlier this month, Trump posted on social media to dispute these stories, arguing that “I simply close my beautiful blue eyes” sometimes to “listen intensely.”
Either way, he clearly came out of his haze on Monday at a telling moment – as Cohen was testifying to his disappointment with his 2016 bonus.
“Trump’s eyes had been closed for quite some time, but a brief expression of what appeared to be pleasure crossed his face as Cohen describes Trump stiffing him on his year-end bonus,” noted Jonathan Swan of The New York Times.
