Six men and three women were selected Tuesday as jurors in Michael Cohen’s case against the Trump Organization.
Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Joel Cohen said three alternates would be chosen after the evidence stage of the case. Lawyers for Trump’s family business and Cohen are slated to go head to head after delivering opening arguments on Monday.
Cohen is suing the Trump Organization for around $1.3 million in unpaid legal fees for matters covered by a July 2017 agreement when he was an employee. He joined the company in 2006 as Trump’s executive vice president and special counsel — fundamentally acting as his fixer — and resigned on the day of Trump’s inauguration to become his personal lawyer.
Cohen, 56, says the Trump Organization broke its promise to foot his legal bills when it became clear he’d cooperate in investigations related to his work for the company following his 2018 arrest by the FBI and three-year conviction on a host of charges.
Cohen squarely implicated Trump in the case, losing his liberty and law license in the process, pleading guilty to paying off porn star Stormy Daniels at his behest for the “principal purpose” of influencing the 2016 election. He also admitted to hiding millions in debt and lying to Congress.
Last month, Trump Organization lawyers said the legal fees agreement contained an “express condition” requiring Cohen to act in the company’s best interest but that he only looked out for himself. They argued that his cooperation “would not have occurred but for his criminal conduct” and the need to save himself.
Cohen has cooperated extensively with Manhattan investigators prosecuting the former president on state charges for the hush money scheme. He’s expected to be the trial’s star witness.
Along with Trump’s fixer-turned-foe and an assemblage of lawyers, jurors are expected to hear testimony from Trump’s eldest son. Cohen’s lawyers say Donald Trump Jr. called the shots as to whose lawyers were paid and that the company disbursed his lawyers for some of the matters he was involved in per the same agreement.
Cohen and his lawyer declined to comment. Trump Organization attorneys could not be reached.
---------
