Cohen testimony details ‘reverse engineered’ assets at center of Trump’s New York fraud trial: Recap

The court has adjourned for the day, ending with the fiery cross examination of Cohen by one of Trump’s attorneys.

The cross-examination of Cohen is expected to start back up Wednesday morning.

Trump attorney Alina Habba sharply questioned Cohen on Tuesday over his truthfulness in past and current testimony.

She pointed to earlier testimony where Cohen denied being guilty of the crimes of which he has been convicted, accusing him of violating his oath to testify truthfully either then – when he took the plea before a judge – or now.

“You committed perjury in that proceeding didn’t you?” Habba asked. “Did you lie to Judge (William) Pauley when you said that you’re guilty?”

“Yes,” Cohen replied.

Habba later asked Cohen why she should believe that he would not lie to her now if he lied to the judge who oversaw that case in 2018 – a question to which Cohen said he “objected,” earning laughs from the gallery.

“Your honor, this witness is completely out of control,” Trump attorney Chris Kise said. “The witness doesn’t just get to sit here and play judge.”

— Ella Lee

Prosecutor Colleen Faherty has concluded her direct examination of former Trump personal attorney and “fixer” Michael Cohen.

Cohen testified that he inflated Trump’s assets at the former president’s request, a core element of New York Attorney General Letitia James’s (D) fraud case agains Trump.

Trump attorney Alina Habba will conduct Cohen’s cross-examination.

— Ella Lee

Cohen testified Tuesday that he inflated numerous assets owned by Trump and his business. Among those assets were Trump Park Avenue, The Trump World Tower at United Nations Plaza, 100 Central Park South, Mansion at Seven Springs and Miss Universe Pageants.

He also testified that he “possibly” inflated the former president’s iconic Trump Tower’s worth and the worth of “other assets.”

The way he reached the inflated figures, he said, was by searching other homes in the area on Google and reading articles.

Those figures, detailed in Trump’s statements of financial condition, were later distributed as factual in business and other interactions.

Cohen specifically recalled providing the document to a New York journalist reporting on Trump’s net worth and to the Buffalo Bills when Trump was considering purchasing the team.

— Ella Lee

Trump was the only person who could accept the updated asset amounts that Cohen testified he inflated on the former president’s behalf, Cohen testified Tuesday.

Cohen said that he and Weisselberg would examine Trump’s assets and “reverse engineer it into the total asset that Mr. Trump sought.”

“He’s the only one who could accept them,” Cohen said, referring to Trump.

The former president’s ex-personal attorney also said that he never kept notes of his meetings with Weisselberg where the pair made those inaccurate updates to Trump’s asset amounts.

“We would demonstrate that we achieved the number – or close to – he was seeking, and I had no use for that document any longer,” Cohen said.

— Ella Lee

The trial has taken its usual lunch break. It is expected to reconvene around 2:15 p.m. ET.

Cohen testified Tuesday that he and Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg were directed to increase the former president’s total assets based on a number he “arbitrarily elected.”

“My responsibility, along with Allen Weisselberg, predominantly, was to reverse engineer the various different asset classes – increase those assets – in order to achieve the number that Trump had tasked us with,” Cohen said.

As he said those words, Trump forcefully shook his head, appearing to mouth “no” to one of his attorneys.

“When you say number, what number are you talking about?” prosecutor Colleen Faherty asked Cohen.

“Whichever Mr. Trump told us,” he said.

Before the court broke for lunch, Trump turned toward the gallery and made an incredulous face to himself, one which shifted to a scowl before he exited the room to face news media.

The comment echos clips from Cohen’s deposition that were played in the government’s opening remarks, where he said that he and Weisselberg were directed to inflate Trump’s net worth so he could be “higher up on the Forbes list,” a reference to the wealth magazine’s list of the world’s richest people. Trump fell off that list earlier this month.

— Ella Lee

Trump’s gaze appears fixed on Cohen as his former personal lawyer testifies against him.

Cohen is detailing his knowledge of the Trump Organization’s structure, particularly where CFO Allen Weisselberg and three of Trump’s adult children — Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump and Ivanka Trump — fit within the company.

The former president has leaned over to make comments to two of his attorneys, Chris Kise and Alina Habba, but his comments have remained inaudible.

— Ella Lee

With Cohen on the stand, Trump took to Truth Social to share old quotes from Cohen praising his one-time boss.

Trump posted a 2016 quote from Cohen published in The New York Times in which his former fixer said Trump “is more than just a boss to those of us who have been fortunate enough to be close to him, both professionally and personally. He’s more like a patriarch, a mentor. These qualities make him very endearing to me, which is why I am so fiercely loyal to him and committed to protecting him at all costs.”

In a separate post, Trump shared a Cohen quote from a 2011 HuffPost article in which Cohen said Trump is worth “substantially more than what’s recorded in Forbes” and describing the Trump brand as “one of the most valuable marks that’s ever been created.”

— Brett Samuels

Michael Cohen’s criminal history was front and center at the start of his testimony Tuesday.

Cohen was convicted of several crimes in 2018, including tax evasion, making false statements to a financial institution and campaign finance charges. He refuted the tax evasion conviction in his testimony, saying he has “never in my life not paid taxes.” For several of the other crimes — including false statements he made to Congress — he pointed the finger at Trump.

“Were your false statements to Congress…a force of employment of that time?” prosecutor Colleen Faherty asked.

Cohen replied in the affirmative. Faherty then asked whom his employer was.

“Donald J. Trump,” Cohen replied.

Cohen’s past convictions have been fodder for Trump’s legal team as they’ve sought to discredit the former president’s ex-”fixer” as a criminal and liar.

— Ella Lee

The government has called to the stand Michael Cohen, Trump’s former personal lawyer and ex-”fixer”-turned-foe.

When Cohen entered the room, Trump did not turn his head to look at him. Cohen glanced at Trump before taking his seat at the witness stand.

Cohen has said that his day in court will be the first time he and the former president will come face-to-face before their relationship soured.

Colleen Faherty, a prosecutor with the district attorney’s office, is conducting Cohen’s questioning.

— Ella Lee

Ahead of the trial Tuesday, Trump ripped Cohen, as a “proven liar” as Cohen was set to testify in a New York fraud trial involving Trump’s business empire.

“Well he’s a proven liar, as you know. He’s a felon who served a lot of time for lying, and we’re gonna just go in and see him,” Trump said as he entered the courthouse in Manhattan.

“He’s a liar trying to get a better deal for himself, but it’s not going to work,” Trump added. “This case, by any other judge, this case would have been over a long time ago. We did nothing wrong.”

Read more here.

— Brett Samuels

After a short break, Judge Arthur Engoron took the bench again in Trump’s fraud trial – but the former president and his legal team weren’t in the courtroom.

“We’re waiting for people but I won’t say who,” Engoron joked, garnering collective laughter in the gallery.

It was several minutes, mostly in silence, before Trump and his counsel returned to their seats. He chided them again for their tardiness.

— Ella Lee

Trump attorney Jesus Suarez is focusing his cross-examination of Mazars USA general counsel Bill Kelly on the testimony of another former Mazars employee: Donald Bender.

Bender, previously Trump’s accountant at Mazars, was the government’s first witness at the start of its fraud case against Trump earlier this month. He prepared Trump’s personal tax returns for years and testified for nearly the first full week of the trial about that process, facing harsh cross-examination.

Suarez asked Kelly whether he was “concerned” that Bender testified he did not read each line of every Trump Organization document that came across his desk.

“No,” Kelly repeatedly answered, objecting to the Suarez’ implication that Bender was negligent in his work.

Kelly also rejected Suarez’ assertion that he “practiced” his testimony with prosecutors, instead claiming he just “answered questions” and couldn’t speak to how prosecutors perceived their meeting.

— Ella Lee

After the brief questioning of Bill Kelly, general counsel at the accounting firm Mazars USA, prosecutors have yielded the microphone to Trump’s legal team for cross-examination.

Kelly testified to the end of Mazars’ relationship with the Trump Organization after the accuracy of its statements of financial condition were called into question by New York prosecutors and the accounting firm itself.

Trump attorney Jesus Suarez will conduct the cross examination. He asked to use a different microphone than prosecutors due to the office’s COVID-19 outbreak.

— Ella Lee

Bill Kelly, general counsel at the accounting firm Mazars USA, testified Tuesday that the firm ended its relationship with the Trump Organization in May 2021.

Half a year later, in February 2022, the firm informed the business that any statements of financial condition from June 2011 to June 2020 should “no longer be relied upon” and that any recipients of those documents should be informed as such, Kelly said.

A letter sent from Kelly to Trump Organization general counsel Alan Garten, displayed by the attorney general’s office as evidence, said the firm reached that conclusion by examining filings from James’s office, their own investigation and “information from internal and external sources.”

— Ella Lee

Cohen has arrived at the New York courthouse where he is preparing for his first day of testimony.

He has not, however, yet entered the courtroom. The trial began Tuesday with testimony from the general counsel of Trump’s ex-accounting firm. Witnesses typically don’t enter the courtroom until it is their time to testify.

The government’s first witness Tuesday is Bill Kelly, general counsel at the accounting firm Mazars USA, which handled Trump’s finances for more than a decade.

He will be questioned by prosecutor Alex Finkelstein with the New York attorney general’s office.

Trump’s former accountant at Mazars, Donald Bender, kicked off the fraud trial earlier this month as the government’s first witness. Bender prepared Trump’s personal tax returns for years and testified for nearly the first full week of the trial about the technicalities of that process.

— Ella Lee

Trump attorney Chris Kise chastised James for failing to notify defense attorneys that several members of the New York attorney general’s office came down with COVID-19 — especially with a “leading candidate for president of the U.S.” in the courtroom.

Kise said that at least four members from the attorney general’s office tested positive for COVID and that James knew about it since “at least last Wednesday.”

However, defense attorneys weren’t notified of the outbreak until Saturday, Kise said, noting that people in the courtroom — including himself — have health concerns that put them at risk.

“It’s really hypocritical,” Kise said, referring to James’s public messaging.

An attorney with James’s office said they followed guidelines by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and were not irresponsible in “any way, shape or form.”

The New York attorney general’s office notified members of the press Sunday that court was canceled Monday due to “covid exposures.”

“Our office properly notified the court and defendants’ counsel, and the court decided to proceed with trial today. If there were any concerns, defendants’ counsel could wear masks today or at any point, but they have opted not to,” a spokesperson from the attorney general’s office said, adding that the office “followed and complied with CDC guidelines.”

— Ella Lee

Trump  arrived in court minutes before the trial was set to resume, glancing sideways at James and the gallery as he slowly sauntered to the defense table.

Less than a minute later, Judge Arthur Engoron took the bench and a handful of photographers and videographers were allowed in to document the former president’s presence.

— Ella Lee

New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) arrived in court Tuesday morning some 40 minutes before Trump’s fraud trial is set to resume.

She greeted prosecutors and took her seat in the front row of the right side of the gallery – the same seat she’s sat in since the trial began.

— Ella Lee

Previously the Trump Organization’s longtime executive vice president and general counsel, Cohen is a star witness in New York Attorney General Letitia James’s (D) case. Trump is expected to attend Cohen’s testimony in person — extending visits he made the first few weeks of the trial he has deemed politically motivated.

Cohen first flipped on his former boss amid investigations into a hush money deal made ahead of the 2016 election. He paid a combined $280,000 to porn star Stormy Daniels and ex-Playboy model Karen McDougal on Trump’s behalf to cover up allegations of an affair.

Read more about what led up to Cohen’s testimony in New York

— Ella Lee