Michael Cohen walks jurors though Trump’s connection to Stormy Daniels deal
Michael Cohen, once former President Trump’s personal attorney and fixer, on Monday came face-to-face again with his former client in a Manhattan courtroom.
Cohen, who took the stand for hours under direct examination during Trump’s hush money trial, is the prosecution’s star witness in a case that charges Trump with falsifying 34 business records over a $130,000 hush money payment Cohen sent to a porn actor to keep her quiet about an alleged affair with the then-2016 candidate.
Cohen and Trump have since ferociously turned on each other, but Cohen’s day in court was largely more subdued than expected.
Follow below for a recap from New York.
Cohen’s testimony wrapped up Monday shortly before 4:30 p.m., when the court usually lets jurors go home for the day. He’s expected to resume his testimony under direct examination by the state tomorrow.
Just before the break, Cohen testified that he did not expect to be compensated for his role as personal attorney to the president — the job he moved into after Trump won the election.
“I was proud to accept that title, which I wanted,” he said.
— Ella Lee
Cohen is explaining how he worked with then-Trump Organization Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg in January 2017 to devise a scheme for how Cohen would be reimbursed for the Stormy Daniels hush money payment and get additional bonus pay.
The repayment scheme is at the heart of Trump’s charges in the case.
After their meeting, Cohen said the duo went to Trump’s office, where the then-president did not try to negotiate and approved a plan to provide Cohen a total of $420,000 paid in monthly installments.
— Zach Schonfeld
Trump has continued to keep his eyes closed for much of the afternoon as Cohen testifies, except for an occasional note he passes to his lawyers.
But in the last few minutes, Trump has been making edits to what appears to be a speech or some sort of statement. It is multiple pages long, and Trump has crossed out various lines of text while making additions to other sections.
The word “ADDITIONAL” is written in large, bold font at the top of the first page.
— Zach Schonfeld
Cohen testified that he was furious when he received his 2016 bonus, only to learn Trump had cut it by two-thirds its usual amount.
“I was truly insulted, personally hurt. I didn’t understand it,” Cohen said. “It made no sense, after all that I had gone through in terms of the campaign, as well as the things at the Trump Organization and laying out $130,000 on his behalf to protect him.”
“It was insulting that the gratitude shown back to me was to cut the bonus two-thirds,” he added, describing himself as “unusually angry” over the apparent snub.
Cohen said he went to Allen Weisselberg, the Trump Organization’s chief financial officer, and “in some uncolorful language” described how “truly pissed off and angry” he was. Weisselberg said it would be made right, according to Cohen.
He added that, before New Year’s, Trump called him to assure him not to worry and that he would “take care” of the bonus “when we come back.”
The testimony marked Cohen’s most irritated moment on the stand so far, during what has been a largely mellow recounting of his role in the hush money deals.
— Ella Lee
Cohen acknowledged that he was disappointed when Trump didn’t consider him as a candidate to be his White House chief of staff following the election.
“I didn’t want the role; I didn’t believe that the role was right for me or that I was even competent to be chief of staff. I just wanted my name to be included,” Cohen said.
He added, “it was more about my ego than anything.”
Cohen also indicated that Reince Priebus, who ultimately got the chief of staff role, offered that Cohen could be an assistant general counsel in the White House, but he didn’t want the job.
— Zach Schonfeld
When The Wall Street Journal published its story exposing the Daniels hush money deal, Cohen and 2016 campaign press secretary Hope Hicks celebrated the little attention it got from other media.
“So far I see only 6 stories,” Cohen wrote in November 2016 texts to Hicks. “Getting little to no traction.”
“Same,” Hicks replied. “Keep praying!! It’s working!”
Jurors have already seen the texts between Cohen and the top Trump aide, but this time, Cohen explained them in greater detail.
He said that the concern among Trump allies was that the story would explode into a massive issue, and they hoped that their work denying it to other outlets was “suppressing the story itself.”
— Ella Lee
Cohen testified that the $130,000 wire transfer he authorized, described in documentation as a “retainer,” was no such thing.
The wire transfer from the shell company he created, Essential Consultants, was actually meant to pay adult film actor Stormy Daniels for her silence, executing a nondisclosure agreement regarding her alleged affair with Trump.
It was sent to Keith Davidson, who was Daniels’s attorney at the time.
The business records Trump allegedly falsified describe Cohen’s payment as legal fees, meaning Cohen’s admission on the stand strikes at the heart of the district attorney’s case.
— Ella Lee
Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger asked Cohen if he would’ve paid Stormy Daniels the $130,000 without getting Trump’s approval.
The ex-attorney said he wouldn’t have, “because everything required Mr. Trump’s sign off.”
“On top of that, I wanted the money back,” Cohen continued.
— Zach Schonfeld
Cohen used his home equity line of credit to fund the $130,000 payment to Daniels.
On the stand, Cohen said he couldn’t pull the money directly from his bank account because he owned it jointly with his wife, who would raise suspicions, and Cohen stressed that he couldn’t tell her about the deal.
“My wife was the CEO of the household,” Cohen said.
— Zach Schonfeld
The jury saw a text from Melania Trump, Donald Trump’s wife, to Cohen on the morning of Oct. 18, 2016.
“Good morning Michael, can you pls call DT on his cell. Thanks,” she wrote.
“Of course,” Cohen responded moments later.
Cohen said he left a voicemail for Trump the prior night indicating that Stormy Daniels was looking to pull out of the hush money deal because she hadn’t received her $130,000 payment yet.
Cohen testified that he told Trump he no longer believed they could stall things past the election.
— Zach Schonfeld
Following the lunch break, prosecutors are having Cohen walk jurors through how he slow-walked the Stormy Daniels deal but ultimately set up a bank account and a shell company to make the $130,000 payment.
The jurors have already seen many of the exhibits that prosecutors are pulling up, which include emails and texts Cohen sent or received.
— Zach Schonfeld
Court is back in session after a lunch break.
The jury is taking its usual lunch break.
Testimony left off with Cohen describing concerns that adult film actress Stormy Daniels’s story of an alleged affair with Trump could harm his 2016 campaign, particularly among women voters.
The ex-fixer is expected to resume his testimony this afternoon.
— Ella Lee
Trump was concerned that women would “hate” him if Daniels’s story of an alleged affair was made public before the 2016 election, Cohen said.
The then-presidential candidate was frustrated by the story’s resurfacing because he thought Cohen had dealt with the matter previously, when it appeared in an online tabloid in 2011. Cohen said Trump was “really angry” with him.
“This is a disaster. Total disaster,” Trump said, according to Cohen. “Women are going to hate me.”
At the time, Trump was polling “very poorly” with women, Cohen said. In combination with the “Access Hollywood” tape, Trump feared the Daniels story would be a “disaster for the campaign.”
“What I want you to do is push it out as long as you can,” Trump said, according to Cohen. “Just get past the election. … If I lose, I don’t really care.”
— Ella Lee
Cohen testified that Trump directed him to handle a story about Stormy Daniels that he learned of from a top editor at the Enquirer.
After hearing through Dylan Howard, the editor, that Daniels’s story was resurfacing, Cohen said he “immediately” went to Trump’s office to discuss.
Cohen said he questioned Trump about whether he knew her, and Trump said he did. He also asked whether they had a sexual relationship and said Trump demurred, responding that she was a “beautiful woman.” Trump slightly shook his head in disagreement at the comment in the courtroom Monday.
Cohen said he then suggested doing something about it to Trump.
“Absolutely. Do it. Take care of it,” Trump said at the time, according to Cohen.
— Ella Lee