Donald Trump’s former lawyer and personal fixer Michael Cohen is set to testify again Tuesday in the hush money trial following his long-awaited first appearance in the Manhattan courtroom Monday.
Cohen, the most important witness for the prosecution, used his first day of testimony to place Trump squarely at the center of the scheme that prosecutors claim was used to bury negative stories in order to protect Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. He also spoke about his experience acting as the former president’s lawyer, claiming: “Everything required Mr. Trump’s sign-off.”
Cohen is key to the current proceedings because he made the $130,000 hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels. Prosecutors say the deal was made to stop her from speaking out about an alleged one-night stand with Trump and potentially hurting his campaign. Trump has denied 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, which the prosecution claims involved falsely recording reimbursements to Cohen as legal expenses in an effort to hide the hush money payment.
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Cohen told the court Monday that Trump had repeatedly asked him to keep allegations of affairs out of the public eye in the run-up to the election. He also contradicted the defense’s argument—that Trump was interested in protecting his family and personal reputation rather than his campaign—by testifying that the payment to Daniels was “all about the campaign.”
Trump “wasn’t thinking about Melania,” his wife, Cohen told the court. He also said it was the former first lady herself who came up with the idea of describing the contents of the notorious Access Hollywood tape as “locker room talk.” “We needed to put a spin on this... that this is locker room talk, something that Melania had recommended—that’s what Melania had thought it was—and use that in order to get control over the story and to minimize its impact on him and his campaign,” Cohen testified.
Cohen also spoke about another alleged affair between Trump and Playboy model Karen McDougal, who was paid $150,000 to keep quiet about her story. She was paid, Cohen said, after Trump was given a “complete and total update on everything that transpired.” “What I was doing, I was doing at the direction of and benefit of Mr. Trump,” Cohen testified.
Trump’s attorneys have already denounced Cohen as an “admitted liar” and claimed he has an unhealthy obsession with the former president. Cohen is likely to face aggressive questioning during cross-examination, which is expected to begin as early as Tuesday afternoon.
The defense team will surely work to undermine Cohen’s credibility as a witness, citing his previous wrongdoing, which includes pleading guilty to criminal charges, some of which related to payments under scrutiny in the current trial. He has also admitted lying to Congress about a project to build a Trump Tower in Moscow—which Cohen previously said he did out of loyalty to Trump and to remain in keeping with the Republican’s “political messaging.”
It will also be interesting to see who shows up to support Trump in court. On Monday, Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH)—thought to be high on the shortlist of Trump’s potential running mates—showed up with others including Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) and Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY).
Another potential Trump VP pick—Vivek Ramaswamy—is expected to make an appearance Tuesday.
