Closing summary
Donald Trump’s former fixer turned star prosecution witness, Michael Cohen, took the stand on Monday and is expected to return tomorrow to continue to be questioned by prosecutor Susan Hoffinger.
Cohen said he first met Trump through the former president’s son, Donald Jr, and that the former president asked him to fix an issue with the board at Trump World Tower. Eventually Cohen would work as Trump’s special counsel for 10 years, making approximately $525,000, adding: “I would only answer to him.”
Manhattan prosecutor Susan Hoffinger worked to establish that Trump and Cohen had a direct connection and that Cohen was effectively Trump’s right-hand man. “It was whatever concerned him, whatever he wanted,” Cohen said.
Hoffinger also tried to convey that Trump was well aware of workings at the office – undermining a potential defense argument that he was distracted when he signed the checks.
Cohen testified about a meeting with the American Media Inc publisher David Pecker in summer 2015, shortly after Trump announced his presidential candidacy, in which prosecutors say Pecker, Cohen and Trump hatched a catch-and-kill plan to bury negative press about the then candidate.
Cohen said he learned that in fall 2015, he’d heard that a former Trump Tower doorman said Trump had a “love child” and Cohen wanted Trump’s direction on what he wanted done. “He told me to make sure that the story doesn’t get out – you handle it.” Cohen said he worked with Dylan Howard of the National Enquirer, and Pecker, and that Cohen would pass updates “immediately” to Trump. Asked if Trump was grateful, Cohen said: “Absolutely.”
Cohen said he was present in 2016 when Trump had a conversation with Pecker, during which Pecker said: “It’s going to cost him $150,000 to control the story, to which Mr Trump replied, ‘No problem, I’ll take care of it.’”
Cohen said that in 2016, he learned an agreement had been reached with Karen McDougal, a former Playboy model, for $150,000. Trump’s reaction to hearing that an agreement had been done was: “Fantastic! Great job!” Pecker then wanted to know “when he should anticipate receiving, being paid back the $150,000”, Cohen said.
Cohen testified that Trump told him to bury Stormy Daniels’s story weeks before the election, demanding that he “just take care of it”. Cohen finalized the $130,000 payments to Daniels and immediately went to Trump to inform him the deal was done, he testified. “Would you have made that payment to Stormy Daniels without getting a sign-off from Mr Trump?” Hoffinger asked Cohen. “No, because everything required Mr Trump’s sign-off. And on top of that, I wanted the money back,” he said.
Cohen said Trump urged him to delay sending payment to Daniels’s lawyer Keith Davidson until after the election, and that he had used the Yom Kippur holiday as an excuse to delay the payment. Cohen said he resisted paying out of his own pocket but eventually relented after Trump promised him, “You’ll get the money back.”
Cohen said Trump was angry at the possibility that Daniels might come forward surfaced shortly after the “Access Hollywood” tape release in which Trump bragged about groping women “by the pussy” without their consent. “This was a disaster, a fucking disaster,” Cohen recalled Trump saying. “Women will hate me.”
Cohen said he asked Trump how Daniels’ story might impact his marriage with his wife, Melania. He said Trump told him, “Don’t worry,” adding: “How long do you think I’ll be on the market for? Not long.” Cohen said he concluded that “this was all about the campaign.”
Updated
Donald Trump, speaking to reporters after court adjourned, name dropped around a dozen so-called “legal experts” who agreed with him that his criminal trial is a “threat to democracy’.
Among those he mentioned included JD Vance, an Ohio Republican senator who is on the list of Trump’s potential running mates, and Iowa attorney general Brenna Bird. Both Bird and Vance attended the trial today in a show of support for Trump.
Donald Trump addressed the media as he left the courtroom, where he once again railed against judge Juan Merchan for being “corrupt” and “highly conflicted”.
The judge was “keeping me from campaigning,” Trump told reporters.
He’s an appointed New York judge … You know who appointed him? Democrat politicians. He’s a corrupt judge and he’s a conflicted judge and he ought to let us go out and campaign.
The former president added that what was happening in the courtroom was “a threat to democracy” and “a terrible thing”.
Updated
Court has wrapped for the day and the jury has left the courtroom.
Michael Cohen is expected to return to the stand tomorrow to continue questioning by prosecutor Susan Hoffinger.
“At some point did Mr Trump confirm to you that he was going to give you the title as personal counsel to the president?” Michael Cohen says yes.
Were the monthly payments supposed to be for work as personal counsel? Cohen replies:
That was what it was designed to be, but it was repayment of Stormy Daniels payment as well as … the bonus and Red Finch money.
Cohen said that he was excited to get the title of Trump’s personal attorney.
I was proud to accept that title which I wanted so I knew there would be no compensation for any of the other work.
Did you have any expectation that you’d be paid? “None at all,” Cohen says.
How would he be getting paid for that title? Cohen says by monetizing the role of personal attorney and creating consulting agreement relationships.
Michael Cohen was asked to explain why he was owed $180,000 instead of just $150,000 for the hush money. He said he was owed $50,000 to pay a firm called Red Finch for “tech services”.
Cohen is asked if Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg was able to approve the repayment to Red Finch for $50,000 without Mr Trump’s approval. Cohen says no.
“Was there something else that you were going to be repaid?” Cohen says:
In addition to the bonus that had previously ready been given to me, $60,000.
What did he tell you about that $60,000 additional bonus? “That this is the best he’s going to get,” Cohen said.
“Did he say anything about trying to make it right because your bonus had been cut?” Cohen says: “Yes.”
Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger is now asking Michael Cohen to tally how much he was owed and invoiced for.
The jury is shown a text from Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg to Michael Cohen. The text reads:
Take it easy, you know Mr Trump loves you, will do right by you, we’ll make this right.
Did Cohen’s anger have an impact on Weisselberg? Cohen said he thought so, adding:
Even for myself, I was unusually angry.
Cohen said that Donald Trump called him when he was on winter vacation and told him not to worry, and that everything would get taken care of.
Cohen says he was 'insulted and truly hurt' by bonus cut
Michael Cohen said he was angry about his 2016 bonus. He said his bonus was cut by two-thirds:
“I was personally insulted, truly hurt,” Cohen said.
After all I had gone through in terms of the campaign as well as things at Trump Organization, laying out $130,000 on his behalf – it was insulting that the gratitude shown back to me was to cut the bonus by two-thirds.
Cohen said in some “colorful language,” he told Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg how “pissed off” he was. “I used quite a few expletives,” he said.
The best that you get for showing loyalty. The best that you get extending yourself, like I did, is getting your bonus cut by two-thirds? I didn’t expect more, but I didn’t expect less.
Michael Cohen is asked what role he pitched to Donald Trump after the 2016 presidential election.
“Personal attorney to the president,” Cohen testifies. Why?
First of all I thought he would need it because there were still outstanding matters that we were dealing with … Every president has a personal attorney.
He said he thought he could continue to protect him and do what was needed.
I also had another thought in mind, which was consulting, and that’s what I really wanted. It also afforded me the opportunity to stay at home, in New York, with my son, my daughter, my wife.
Updated
Cohen says he was disappointed not to be considered for Trump's chief of staff
Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger is now asking about Michael Cohen’s relationship with Donald Trump post-election.
Would he keep working for him? No.
My service was no longer necessary, as I was special counsel to Mr Trump and he was now president-elect.
“Were you offered a position as assistant general yourself? Cohen said yes.
Did he want that job? “No ma’am.”
Was he offered chief of staff? “No ma’am.”
Was he disappointed? Cohen said:
I didn’t want the role. I didn’t believe the role was right for me – that I was even competent to be chief of staff. I just wanted my name to be included … I had not once but twice been the campaign’s surrogate ... I had other ideas for myself … I wanted to at least be considered. It was more about my ego, than anything.
Updated
Court has resumed after a short afternoon break.
Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger is now asking Michael Cohen about a Wall Street Journal article which described how American Media Inc paid for Karen McDougal’s story but never published it – from early November 2016.
She is showing Cohen the texts between him and Hope Hicks where he says “So far I see only 6 stories. Getting little to no traction,” he wrote. She said, “same” and then “Keep praying!!! It’s working!”
Cohen says Trump was angry Wall Street Journal story could affect his campaign
Michael Cohen, before the break, said he had a number of calls with Stormy Daniels’s attorney Keith Davidson on 4 November.
“I wanted to ensure that Ms Daniels did not go rogue,” Cohen said, adding that he was angry with Davidson because he thought someone on his side leaked information to the Wall Street Journal, Reuters reported.
Cohen confirmed that Trump was “angry” because “there was a negative story that once again could impact the campaign as a result of women”.
Updated
Cohen to return to the stand tomorrow
The court is taking a short afternoon break.
Before the break, judge Juan Merchan asked how much longer the prosecution will take.
Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger said direct will continue into some portion of tomorrow.
Updated
Michael Cohen was asked about how he learned that the Wall Street Journal was planning a story about Karen McDougal.
Cohen said he did not recall who messaged him, whether it was Hope Hicks or someone else, but that he understood that the WSJ story would also mention Stormy Daniels.
Cohen said he contacted Keith Davidson, the lawyer representing Daniels, as well as Hicks “so that we could all coalesce around this issue in an attempt to quell the potential effects that would result from an article like this”.
Asked what the substance of the call with Hicks was, Cohen said it was around the WSJ article and to figure out “how to change the narrative and quash any of the negative results that would come from it because it was days before the election.”
Cohen says he told Trump that the Stormy Daniels matter was 'completely under control and locked down'
Michael Cohen was asked about a call he made to Donald Trump on 28 October at 11.48am that lasted more than five minutes. This was the same day that Cohen signed the nondisclosure agreement.
What did Cohen and Trump discuss in the call? Cohen said:
That this matter is now completely under control and locked down pursuant to the non disclosure agreement.
Michael Cohen is asked if he let Donald Trump know that the payment to Stormy Daniels had been completed. Cohen says “immediately”.
Why? Cohen says there were two reasons: that Trump would know that the task had been accomplished, and “to take credit for myself” so that Trump would know that he had done it, adding:
This was important.
Cohen: 'Everything required Mr Trump’s sign off'
Michael Cohen said he set up an account for Essential Consultants on 26 October 2016, so he could pay.
“Would you have made that payment to Stormy Daniels without getting a sign-off from Mr Trump?”
No, because everything required Mr Trump’s sign-off and on top of that, I wanted the money back.
Updated
Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger is showing Michael Cohen still more records from calls, from Signal this time.
Was there a flurry of calls between him and David Pecker on 25 October 2016? If so, why? Cohen said:
Signal is terrible with keeping phone calls, they drop off all the time.
“Why were there so many calls with Keith Davidson (the lawyer representing Stormy Daniels?” Cohen replied:
We wanted to ensure he knew the matter was taken care of and there would soon be a transfer of funds.
Cohen said he wanted to be able to give Donald Trump an update that everything was “under control”.
Cohen, meanwhile, said he held out hope that AMI would make the payment to Daniels, though knowing deep down the publishing giant would not.
'Not a chance': Cohen says David Pecker refused to front payment to Daniels
Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger asked what was the plan for funding this payoff? Michael Cohen said he elected to use a home equity line of credit (Heloc) because if he had taken $130,000 from the joint bank account with his wife, she’d know about it.
The Heloc, Cohen said, was paperless. Now Hoffinger is showing him a text from 25 October 2016 from then National Enquirer editor Dylan Howard to Cohen:
Keith [Davidson, Stormy Daniels’ lawyer] calling you urgently. We have to coordinate something on the matter he’s calling you about or its could look awfully bad for everyone
Cohen said there was a call between him, Howard, and American Media Inc chair David Pecker. He said Howard told him that “it will be catastrophic to the campaign – it will further isolate women.”
Cohen decided to ask Pecker to front the money, like he had with Karen McDougal. “I figured, why not ask?”
What did he say?
Not a chance.
Did he say why?
I didn’t get the money back on the 150,000 even though it turned out, I cannot do it again, it could cost me my job.
Cohen says he was 'doing everything I could and more to protect my boss' Trump
Michael Cohen said he later told Donald Trump that he’d front the money.
Trump was appreciative and told him he’d get the money back, Cohen testified. He said:
I was doing everything that I could and more in order to protect my boss which is something I had done for a long time, but I would not lay out $130,000 for an NDA needed by somebody else.
Michael Cohen and Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg discussed how to get Stormy Daniels the money. Cohen recalled telling Weisselberg:
‘You’re making seven figures, why don’t you pay it?’ He said to me, he wasn’t financially in a position to do it. ‘As you know, I have my four kids at prep school and [summer] camps for them I’m paying for, I just can’t do it.’
Cohen then recalled:
I ultimately said, OK, I’ll pay.
Cohen says Trump told him to 'figure this whole thing out' with Daniels payment
Michael Cohen is asked if there came a time where Donald Trump expressed a desire to get the payment to Stormy Daniels.
Cohen said yes, then described the conversation.
He stated to me that he’d spoken to some friends, some individuals, very smart people.
Cohen said that these people, as Trump told it, noted that:
‘It’s $130,000. There’s no reason to keep this thing out there, so do it.’ And he expressed to me: ‘Just do it. Go meet up with Allen Weisselberg and figure this whole thing out.’
Updated
Michael Cohen said he appeared on Wolf Blitzer that night “in order to respond to a series of topics that affected Mr Trump and the campaign”. Hoffinger asked:
Were you asked by Wolf Blitzer to respond a number of times to questions about a number of reports about Trump’s behavior with women?
“Yes,” Cohen said. “What if anything, did you do, during that interview?” Cohen said:
I advocated for Mr Trump in the best light possible – denials, as well as exclamations that I have never seen him act in this sort of manner. I was doing anything that I could …to change the direction of the comments.
Updated
Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger shows Michael Cohen a text from 18 October 2016, at 8:53 am, from Melania Trump to him. The text reads:
Good morning Michael, can you pls call DT on his cell. Thanks.
Cohen responds: “Of course,” at 8:54 am.
Michael Cohen is reading text exchanges between him and then National Enquirer Dylan Howard, in which the latter apprised Cohen that Stormy Daniels was leaning toward going to the Daily Mail with her account of a sexual liaison with Donald Trump in 2006.
Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger is now showing phone records where Cohen calls Trump, with the intent of apprising him that the situation was spiraling.
Cohen said he felt like he was going to have to tell Trump that they had lost control because of his failure to pay Daniels.
Cohen says Trump team were 'losing control' over Daniels settlement deal
We’re now at another email between lawyer Keith Davidson and Michael Cohen from October 2017.
Davidson is bringing to Cohen’s attention, once again, that he hasn’t been remitted the payment for his client Stormy Daniels – and that she wants out of the agreement if she’s not paid. Cohen told jurors:
My intent was to continue to delay it as per Mr Trump’s demand, and I clearly did not send funds to Mr Davidson’s lawyer account on this date.
Then he received another email in which Davidson said he no longer repped Daniels – who considered the agreement null and void.
“We were losing control of the settlement,” Cohen said, “as a direct result of my failure to wire funds.”
Updated
Michael Cohen said that he provided false descriptions in the opening of his account because, he said, you can’t put hush money payment on a bank form.
During the process, I couldn’t remember I even called it Resolution Consultants. And then it dawned on me that it’s actually the name of a company of someone I know. It’s actually out of state. I didn’t think he’d appreciate using the same name of his company.
So, Cohen said, he changed it to “Essential Consultants LLC.”
Eric Trump, who joined his father, Donald Trump, this morning in the Manhattan criminal court posted that he had “never seen anything more rehearsed”.
I have never seen anything more rehearsed!
— Eric Trump (@EricTrump) May 13, 2024
Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger is now showing Michael Cohen his email to Gary Farro, his former contact at the now defunct First Republic Bank.
The emails are showing how Cohen is trying to set up a business banking account.
Cohen says he tried to delay payment to Daniels because 'after the election, it wouldn't matter'
Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger is now showing Michael Cohen emails between him and Keith Davidson, the lawyer who represented Stormy Daniels, about payment to Daniels.
The exchange was in mid-October. What was happening at this time? “Continue to delay, delay the execution of the documents, continue the delay execution of funding,” Cohen said.
In this specific case, I used the holiday of Yom Kippur to once again, delay until after the election.
Why? “Because after the election, it wouldn’t matter.”
Recall: Trump is a known cheapskate, who allegedly wanted to delay payment as long as possible, in the hopes of not having to cough up money.
Updated
Court has resumed after a lunch break.
Michael Cohen is returning to the witness stand.
Michael Cohen is core to the case against Donald Trump, as he is accused of shuttling $130,000 to the adult film actor Stormy Daniels days before the 2016 election – in exchange for her silence about an alleged sexual encounter with Trump 10 years earlier.
Prosecutors contend that Trump’s repayment of Cohen in 2017 was criminal because he listed the reimbursements as legal expenses in financial documents. Cohen’s testimony will be crucial to establish that Trump knew that the repayment scheme would be logged in the Trump Organization’s books as “legal expense”, and that the false entries were in violation of election law.
Through her questioning, the Manhattan prosecutor Susan Hoffinger worked to establish that Trump and Cohen had a direct connection and that even from the outset, Cohen’s performing legal work was not his only duty – that he was effectively Trump’s right-hand man. “It was whatever concerned him, whatever he wanted,” Cohen said.
Cohen’s testimony comes in the wake of a particularly hard trial week for Trump. Daniels testified for nearly two days about her alleged liaison with Trump following a celebrity golf tournament in Lake Tahoe.
How Michael Cohen could present as a conflicted witness
The case against Donald Trump is likely to succeed or fail on whether jurors believe Michael Cohen’s account, or lean toward the defense claims presented in opening arguments that he is an “admitted liar” with an “obsession to get President Trump”.
The former president’s lawyers have argued that Cohen perjured himself again when he testified at Trump’s civil fraud trial last year. They claim that Cohen has made a living from antagonizing his former (and only) client. He appeared last week in a live TikTok wearing a shirt featuring a figure resembling Trump with his hands cuffed, behind bars.
In his opening statement, Trump attorney Todd Blanche told jurors:
He has a goal, an obsession with getting Trump, and you’re going to hear that.
The bitter enmity between Trump, who once praised Cohen as a “fine person with a wonderful family” and predicted he would never “flip”, and his former lawyer is obvious. Both men have been warned by Judge Juan Merchan to stop making public comments about the other.
Updated
The court is taking a lunch break and will resume at 2pm ET.
'It was all about the campaign': Cohen says Trump wanted Daniels's story buried until after 2016 election
Former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen is recounting for prosecutors that Donald Trump knew personally he needed the Stormy Daniels story buried because it would be catastrophic for his 2016 campaign.
Cohen says Trump told him to “push it out as long as you can, past the election, because if I win, I’ll be president, and if I lose, I wont really care”.
Cohen also knocks down an alternative reason for Trump wanting the story buried – that he didn’t want to embarrass his wife, Melania – in order to suggest the hush-money scheme wasn’t only related to the 2016 campaign.
“Don’t worry, he goes, how long do you think I’ll be on the market for, not long,” Cohen recalls Trump asking him about the story, when he asked whether it would cause problems with his marriage. Cohen adds:
He wasn’t thinking about Melania. It was all about the campaign.
Updated
Former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen testifies that he gave immediate updates to Donald Trump about the hush-money schemes at every turn in order to “get credit”.
In doing so, prosecutors are trying to establish that Cohen had a track record of apprising Trump of every small development – in order to cast doubt on the defense theory that Trump was not intimately aware of the hush money and the illicit repayment plan.
'Women will hate me': Cohen says Trump was 'really angry' over Stormy Daniels story
Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger is now showing texts between Michael Cohen and former National Enqurier editor Dylan Howard and asking whether he spoke extensively with Stormy Daniels’ lawyer Keith Davidson about buying Stormy Daniels’ life rights.
After these conversations, Cohen said, he spoke with Donald Trump “because it was a matter that affected him and that was what I always did which was to keep him abreast of everything”.
Was this also a serious matter at the time? “Very serious matter,” Cohen said.
What was his reaction? Cohen said:
He was really angry with me. [He said] I thought you had this under control. I thought you took care of this.
Cohen said he told him, “We did, in 2011, I have no control over what [Daniels] goes out and does.”
“Just take care of it, there’s a lot going on,” Cohen said Trump responded. What did he say, in substance? Cohen said:
This was a disaster, a fucking disaster … women will hate me.
“He told me to work with David,” Cohen said.
We needed to stop this from getting out.
Updated
No cameras are allowed inside the Manhattan courtroom while proceedings are under way, but here is a court sketch of Michael Cohen’s testimony this morning.
Cohen can be seen at the witness stand while prosecutor Susan Hoffinger is questioning him.
Updated
Cohen says he told Trump he would 'take care' of Stormy Daniels story
In 2011, when the Stormy Daniels story appeared on The Dirty, Michael Cohen sprang into action. Cohen testified:
After I received the information from Dylan Howard, I immediately went to Mr Trump’s office, knocked on the door [and said] ‘Boss I need to speak to you.’
Cohen continued:
I asked if he knew who she was. He told me that he did. I stated the story that existed on TheDirty.com, they had a relationship that occurred during a golf outing going back to 2006 and I told him that one of the things we need to do is obviously take care of it.
Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger is asking Cohen to recall what Trump said about allegedly meeting Daniels at the Lake Tahoe golf tournament.
Cohen said Trump had met Daniels “and others there, but she liked Mr Trump and that women prefer Trump” even over famous athletes.
The prosecution asked: “Did you ask him if he had an encounter with Daniels?” Cohen said yes.
Did he answer you directly? “No ma’am.” “What did he say, did he say anything in response to that?” “No ma’am.”
What did he say about Daniels? Cohen says:
He said that she was a beautiful woman.
Cohen says he thought Stormy Daniels story would be 'catastrophic' for Trump campaign
Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger then showed an 8 October email from the National Enquirer’s Dylan Howard to Michael Cohen, with American Media Inc head David Pecker cc’d, showing that they had deleted a story from Radar from years prior with the Trump tape.
On the evening of 8 October 2016, Cohen learned that Stormy Daniels was trying to sell her story.
Asked what he thought Daniels’s story coming out would be for the campaign, Cohen said:
Catastrophic – that this is horrible for the campaign.
Updated
Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger is now showing texts from 8 October 2016 between Michael Cohen and Chris Cuomo, formerly of CNN, a day after the “Access Hollywood” tape was released.
Cuomo texted Cohen: “You going to defend him” to which Cohen responded back: “I’m in London” as well as: “I’ve been asked by everyone to do shows starting Tuesday.”
At some point, Cuomo responded it was “too late, he’s dying right now”.
What was Cohen’s understanding of what this meant? Cohen replies that he understand that this was a very negative story for the Trump campaign.
Updated
Cohen says Trump instructed him to 'put a spin' on Access Hollywood tape release
The prosecution asks Michael Cohen if he held a call with Donald Trump and Hope Hicks after the email from the Washington Post seeking comment on the “Access Hollywood” tape. Cohen responds in the affirmative.
Once again, prosecutor Susan Hoffinger is showing phone records that back up Cohen’s account that he had various phone calls with Trump.
“What, if any discussion, if you remember with Mr Trump about the Access Hollywood tape?” Cohen responded:
He wanted me to reach out to all of my contacts in the media. We needed to put a spin on this. The spin that he wanted put on it was that this is ‘locker-room talk’, something that Melania had recommended or at least he told me 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.
Updated
Steve Bannon forwarded Michael Cohen a copy of an email about the “Access Hollywood” tape. The email was from David Fahrenthold of the Washington Post, to Hope Hicks, with the subject matter of “Urgent Washington Post Query”.
Cohen said “he’s asking for comment from the leak of tape from Access Hollywood.” A transcript was attached to this forwarded email. Cohen replied and said, “Please call me.”
Why did he write that email? The prosecution asked. Cohen replied:
I wanted to make sure that things were properly being taken care of to protect Mr Trump.
He sent Bannon another email. “It’s all over the place, who’s doing damage control here?” Why did he ask Bannon this?
In order to protect Mr Trump.
Were you concerned about the impact this tape may have had on Trump’s campaign? “Yes.”
Updated
Fast forward to 7 October 2016 when the “Access Hollywood” tape came out.
Michael Cohen said he was in London for his daughter’s 21st birthday and his wedding anniversary.
Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger asked how he found out about the tape’s existence and how it might become a news story. “I received a phone call.”
Who called? “Hope Hicks.”
Michael Cohen is asked how many conversations he had with Donald Trump about buying Karen McDougal’s story. “Quite a few,” Cohen testifies.
How many with American Media Inc, David Pecker, and Dylan Howard? Cohen says:
Also, a substantial amount.
Did he ever play the recorded conversation [between Cohen and Trump] with Pecker? No. “He didn’t ask me to. “
Michael Cohen is asked: “Who did you understand was ultimately going to pay for the life rights of that material?” “Mr Trump.”
Were you going to own the life rights?
No ma’am....what I was doing was for the benefit of Mr Trump.
Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger is showing a phone record that shows a call between Donald Trump and Cohen on 29 September 2016. What did you discuss on that call?
The Karen McDougal matter … I gave him a complete and total update.
“Why did you speak to him the day before you signed it?” Hoffinger asked.
“In order to let him know that it was going to be taken care of,” Cohen recalled.
That it is getting resolved.
Updated
Cohen testifies about shell company to pay for Karen McDougal story
On 7 September 2016, Michael Cohen is exchanging texts about establishing an LLC to carry out the payment to reimburse David Pecker, the head of American Media Inc (AMI).
On 23 September, Cohen received a copy of an uncompleted life rights licensing agreement regarding former Playboy model Karen McDougal.
What was the name of that company you set up to handle the payment? Cohen replies: “Resolution Consultants LLC.”
The date of formation of the LLC was 30 September 2016. Why?
To use this entity for the assignment of the McDougal matter as well as the other information.
Updated
Cohen says Weisselberg wanted 'barrier' between payments and Trump Org
“It was very good,” Michael Cohen said of his relationship with former Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg at the time.
As for Weisselberg’s interactions with Donald Trump, Cohen said they did so on a regular basis.
The whole point of this line of questioning is to establish that Cohen’s problem-solving was clearly known by Trump’s leadership and Trump himself.
Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger asked if Weisselberg was involved because it was a lot of money. Cohen said:
It wasn’t even a deal of this magnitude – it was any deal. Allen handled all finances coming in and out.
Cohen said he and Weisselberg talked about ways to pay back David Pecker without leaving fingerprints.
Allen said, ‘if we do it from a Trump entity it kind of defeats the purpose because the whole point is to have this not affiliated … at all.
Weisselberg said they needed to think of ways to create barriers, Cohen said.
Updated
“Was it typical for you to discuss financial matters with [former Trump Organization CFO] Allen Weisselberg?” Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger asked.
Michael Cohen said:
It was typical for everyone to discuss financial matters with Allen Weisselberg.
He said that was because Weisselberg was a longtime Trump Organization exec and loyal to Trump.
It was also because Mr Trump had directed me to speak to Mr Weisselberg.
Cohen says he recorded Trump conversation to appease Pecker over reimbursement
Michael Cohen, again clarifying why he made this 2016 recording of a conversation between him and Donald Trump, said it was to placate American Media Inc chair David Pecker over his payment to Karen McDougal – which still hadn’t been repaid.
The recording, Cohen said, was meant to be proof that Trump would cover Pecker, “to appease him that he was going to receive the money back.”
Hoffinger asked shortly thereafter, “did you ever alter that recording?” Cohen says no.
Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger is presenting hard evidence that appears to back up Michael Cohen’s account of the recording between him and Donald Trump, namely phone records which explain why the audio recording just stops.
Hoffinger is asking Cohen to review and AT&T record with his call history. “Does it appear to show an incoming call around the time of your recording?” Yes.
“Do you recall when you tried to pick up that call whether it connected or went to voicemail?” “I don’t recall.”
Cohen said that the call must have been important for him to pick up while conversing with Trump. Through her questioning of Cohen, Hoffinger showed a phone record showing that it was someone from a bank calling Cohen.
Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger is resuming her questioning. Hoffinger is asking Michael Cohen why he thought paying the Karen McDougal money in cash was a bad idea.
Why did you think it was a bad idea, Mr Trump’s suggestions, that this be paid in cash?
Cohen said “I believed the proper way to do it would be by check” and make it look like a proper transaction.
The recording cut off, Cohen said, because he got another call.
Why not record after the call? Cohen replies:
I didn’t want to record more. I already had enough that I would have been able to show David Pecker as to convince him he was going to receive the $150,000 back.
Donald Trump, addressing the media before court proceedings this morning, called the case a “political witch-hunt” and again took aim at judge Juan Merchan, accusing him of being “corrupt”.
Trump spoke about his polling numbers and his New Jersey rally on Saturday, and also complained about high security around the court and how “very cold” the courthouse was.
Donald Trump is walking back into the courtroom with somewhat pursed lips again. No papers in his hands this time.
Michael Cohen is walking back into the courtroom. He did not look in Trump’s direction as he made his way back to the witness stand.
The court is taking a short break.
Per pool reports, Donald Trump did not answer questions as he left the courtroom for the morning break. The former president “pumped his fist three times” as he walked.
Jury hears audio of Trump-Cohen conversation
They’re playing the September 2016 tape in which Michael Cohen and Donald Trump can be heard discussing how they would buy the rights to Karen McDougal’s story.
In the tape, Cohen can be heard explaining to the then presidential candidate his plans to open a company through which he would finance the purchase of the rights to McDougal’s story.
Trump can be heard saying:
Let me know what’s happening, OK? … For that one, you know, I think what you should do is get rid of this. Because it’s so false what they’re saying, it’s such bullshit.
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We’re fast forwarding to 6 September 2016. Michael Cohen said he had a conversation recorded with Donald Trump about American Media Inc.
Cohen said he had taped this conversation so he could show it to David Pecker to show him that he would be getting reimbursed, and that “I also wanted him to remain loyal to Mr Trump”.
I had my mobile phone in my hand, I had [hit] record on voice memo, and I walked in.
Cohen says Pecker angry after Trump failed to pay him back for Karen McDougal story
Keith Davidson, a lawyer who represented both Karen McDougal and Stormy Daniels, sent Michael Cohen an email in early August 2016, asking Cohen to call him.
“Great job, [the] Boss is obviously very happy about it. The matter’s now resolved,” Cohen recalled telling Davidson.
Cohen is now talking about repayment to American Media Inc. “David had asked me when he should anticipate receiving, being paid back the $150,000,” Cohen said. Pecker needed the money, Cohen said:
It was too much money from him to hide from the CEO of the parent company and he had also just laid out 30,000 previous so he was putting pressure on me to speak to Mr Trump and get the money back.
They had lunch in September 2017, where Pecker pressed Cohen more.
He asked me if I would meet him at his favorite Italian restaurant and I went to meet with him and again, he expressed his anger that I need to get this money back. And I said look, Mr Trump told you he’d pay it back.’
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The prosecution asks Michael Cohen if David Pecker told him that he thought the Karen McDougal agreement was bulletproof? Cohen says yes, adding:
We prevent this story from being leaked on ABC news and effectively, the story has now been [killed.]
What was Trump’s reaction to hearing that an agreement had been done?
Fantastic! Great job!
Enter Keith Davidson, the lawyer who negotiated the payment for McDougal, again. He reached out, this time as an attorney for Stormy Daniels.
They’d already corresponded before regarding a 2011 story about Daniels and Trump that she wanted taken down. Cohen said that he and Davidson worked together to get that story taken down.
Michael Cohen says he repeatedly asked questions of former National Enquirer editor Dylan Howard about developments on the scheme to bury the Karen McDougal story.
Cohen says he wanted to know what the number was, because he would have to report that to Trump. He also said that he wanted the know the day of a planned meeting with McDougal.
Was there a particular reason why he was so worried about this? Cohen says:
There was the campaign and we were concerned that this story was going to find its way to ABC.
Cohen said he’d learned in 2016, from Howard and David Pecker, that an agreement had been reached with McDougal for $150,000 and that they were going to provide her with 24 penned articles that would bear her name, as well as the fact that she was going to be on two covers of those various magazines that they owned.
Cohen says Trump said he would 'take care' of $150,000 hush-money payment to Karen McDougal
In June 2016, Michael Cohen said he was present when Donald Trump had a conversation with former American Media Inc chair David Pecker.
Trump “had the call put through and he had a speakerbox on his desk and instead of lifting up the phone, he used the speakerbox so I was able to hear,” Cohen testifies.
What did he recall from that conversation? Cohen says:
He asked him how things were going with the matter and David said, ‘we have this under control and we’ll take care of this.’
Cohen continues:
David had stated that it’s going to cost him $150,000 to control the [Karen McDougal] story to which Mr Trump replied, ‘no problem, I’ll take care of it.’
Cohen said that AMI as going to lay out the funds and as Mr Trump had stated to David, said ‘I’ll take care of it.’ It hadn’t been sorted out exactly how Trump would repay Pecker, he said.
Updated
Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger is now showing a log of calls between Michael Cohen and Donald Trump. There was one on 16 June 2016.
Hoffinger asks: “Did you have that call right after you contacted '[Trump’s longtime bodyguard Keith] Schiller? Cohen says: “Yes.”
Hoffinger is now asking about texts on 20 June 2016. He got one from National Enquirer editor Dylan Howard.
I’m about to meet her...name is Karen McDougal, former Playboy playmate.
Cohen says:
I then respond to Mr Howard, ‘OK, we need to speak.’ He then responds to me, ‘Yes.’
In one text, Howard says, “spoke to DP (American Media Inc CEO David Pecker), I’m wrapping up with them, and then we will convene a three-way call between us …understand I’ve got this locked down for you, I won’t let it out of my grasp.
During the three-person call, Howard and Pecker said “that they believed they had this under control,” Cohen says.
Do you recognize these texts with Keith Schiller, Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger asks of Michael Cohen’s exchanges with Trump’s longtime bodyguard. Cohen says: “I do.”
She asks Cohen to read texts from 16 June 2016:
This is from me to Keith Schiller asking, ‘Can we speak? I need you.’ I didn’t receive a response back and so I followed it up with another that says, ‘you there?’ He then responds to me, ‘on Dallas,’ [he] meant in Dallas.
Cohen says he then responded to Schiller asking “Where’s the boss?” referencing Donald Trump.
He then responds to me, ‘next to me,’ and then I then ask, ‘is he free to speak?’
The prosecution asks: “Why were you trying to reach Mr Trump?” Cohen replies:
Regarding the Karen McDougal matter.
Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger is now bringing up text messages between former National Enquirer editor Dylan Howard and Michael Cohen.
Hoffinger is asking Cohen to read texts from 16 June 2016. It states:
Meeting will be on Monday, per their terms, Dylan.
And what’s your response, Hoffinger asks.
My response back was: understood. Thank you for everything.
Cohen said this was about meeting with Karen McDougal and her people.
Cohen says Trump told him to make sure Karen McDougal story would not be made public
Now we’re on to Karen McDougal, the Playboy bunny who claimed to have had an affair with Donald Trump.
When Michael Cohen was apprised by his American Media Inc pals that she was trying to tell her story, he went to Trump right away.
“I asked him if he knew who Karen McDougal was,” Cohen recalled.
His response to me was: She’s really beautiful. I said, OK but there’s a story that’s right now being shopped.
What did Trump tell him to do?
Make sure it doesn’t get released.
What did you take that to mean?
We need to acquire the story. I went ahead and reached back out to both Dylan Howard as well as David Pecker.
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It remains to be seen just how problematic a witness Michael Cohen will be, considering his federal convictions, but so far, his answers on direct testimony are showing that he’d go out of his way to show Donald Trump legal documents, including ones that resolved issues for him.
Cohen did it to show that American Media Inc CEO David Pecker was upholding his end of the bargain.
And, there was a personal reason for him to do so. “Also, for credit.” What did Cohen mean by credit?
In order to get credit for accomplishing the task.
What was Mr Trump’s reaction when you told him that?
That’s great, that’s great.
Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger is now running through concrete aspects of the alleged catch-and-kill scheme the National Enquirer executed by paying the Trump Tower doorman Dino Sajudin for a story about Donald Trump allegedly fathering a child out of wedlock.
With the doorman, Michael Cohen says:
They were going to pay $30,000. They were executing an agreement with the doorman in order to obtain the life rights to the story.
This was to control the story, Cohen said, to not publish it, “to take it off the market.”
Asked if Trump was grateful, Cohen said, “absolutely.”
Cohen said he reviewed the agreement to make sure he was “fully protected” and provide it to his then-boss to show it was taken care of.
Cohen pushed for a clause in the agreement with the doorman – a $1m penalty – if he violated the terms of his deal. AMI agreed to amend the deal.
Cohen says Trump told him to 'handle' love-child story
Michael Cohen says he learned that in fall 2016, he’d heard that a former Trump Tower doorman said that he had a “love-child.”
He told Donald Trump because he wanted to get his direction on what he wanted done. Cohen says:
He told me to make sure that the story doesn’t get out – you handle it.
As for the affected employees, Cohen says:
He asked me to speak to them and let me know it’s getting taken care of.
To prevent it from going public, “I worked with [the National Enquirer’s] Dylan Howard and David Pecker.”
He said that Pecker was going to buy the life rights to the doorman’s story. Along the way, Cohen testified, Pecker and/or Howard would give him updates.
In turn, Cohen said, he would update Trump “immediately” whenever he learned something.
Updated
Michael Cohen says he received an email from a National Enquirer honcho.
As people “can’t get enough” of Trump, the top tabloid hand said, “We are repackaging and repurposing past material from our files.”
Cohen suggested some edits on a story and American Media Inc (AMI) agreed to make them. The headline of this story wound up being “WORLD EXCLUSIVE: THE DONALD TRUMP THAT NOBODY KNOWS!”
The email between Cohen and an AMI honcho was on 6 January. The Trump story ran on 13 January.
Now we’re going to the summer 2015 meeting with former CEO of American Media Inc David Pecker –where, prosecutors say, he and Michael Cohen and Donald Trump hatched a catch-and-kill plan to bury negative press about the then-candidate.
Cohen recalled:
What he said was that he could keep an eye out for anything negative about Mr Trump and that he would be able to help us to know in advance what was coming out and try to stop it from coming out.
Pecker’s then-company, AMI, would do hit pieces on his opponents: Hillary Clinton with glasses to imply brain injury. A photo of Ted Cruz’s father with Lee Harvey Oswald to imply he’d a role in killing JFK.
AMI would even send Cohen covers with these pieces before they ran. Cohen said he’d show them to Trump “so he’d know that David was loyal, on board, was doing everything that he said he was going to do in that August meeting, and was actually doing it.”
Trump’s reaction to the scandal sheets?
That’s fantastic. That’s unbelievable.
Cohen says Trump warned 'a lot of women' would come forward after his presidential run announcement
The prosecution asks if Michael Cohen made public appearance for Donald Trump and his campaign. Cohen says he did.
While watching the rallies, I went to Mr Trump and I said, one of the things that I noticed is, it’s very white, and we really need diversity. If we’re going to win, we’re going to need diversity. And so I started a group called National Diversity Coalition for Trump along with pastor Darrell Scott.
Cohen said that Trump had expressed concern about negative press when he announced.
You know that when this comes out, meaning the announcement, just be prepared, there’s going to be a lot of women coming forward.
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The prosecution asks: “At any time, were you ever an official paid member of Mr Trump’s campaign?” Michael Cohen says no.
When Mr Trump decided to run, he actually promised that he was going to do it in the next election cycle. For years thereafter, we would talk about him running in 2015. When he ultimately said ‘I’m doing it’, there was a lot of back-and-forth about what day the announcement should be.
Was Cohen going to be part of the campaign? Cohen said no.
I wasn’t going to be a part of it, I was going to be a surrogate.
“Did there come a time in 2011 that Mr Trump was exploring a run for the presidency?” Yes. “In 2011,” Michael Cohen says:
I had come across, while reading the paper, a poll that stated 6% of all the people who had taken the poll thought Mr Trump should be president of the United States of America so I took that article and I brought it to Mr Trump and I said what do you think?
He thought it was interesting and looked into it, Cohen says.
I had created for him, on my own, a website called ‘shouldtrumprun.com‘ and many people came to that website and it was further proof that his name recognition, his popularity, especially because of his hit show, The Apprentice, was so strong.
Do you remember him giving some public speeches about his considering a candidacy in 2011? Cohen says Yes.
Why didn’t he go forward that year?
There were several … large real estate projects, that he had acquired as well as another season of The Apprentice. As Mr Trump told me, ‘you don’t leave Hollywood, Hollywood leaves you.’
“Did you speak with Mr [David] Pecker at the Trump Organization about matters having to do with Mr Trump prior to June 2015?” Michael Cohen replies Yes.
What were these matters?
There was some things that had come up, for example, Mr Trump had donated money to a charity, Harlem for Hoops. We’d come to information that they had no funding.
Trump was “trying to get a good story out,” Cohen says.
Before 2015, prior to his run for office, did Cohen know whether Pecker or American Media Inc (AMI) ever paid for negative stories to prevent them from appearing in public?
Who was Dylan Howard? “Dylan Howard was an employee at AMI.” Cohen explains, “he worked for Mr Pecker, to the extent that I worked for Mr Trump.”
Cohen said he communicated with people in a variety of ways – phone, in person, or text.
Donald Trump is frowning as Michael Cohen testifies and appears to have his eyes closed while he listens.
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Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger asks Michael Cohen if he knows a person named David Pecker. Cohen says: “I do.”
Cohen says he knew Pecker, the former CEO of American Media Inc (AMI), even before he knew Donald Trump. He says:
We had mutual friends and we had met at a function out in Long Island, many many years ago. I then was re-acquainted with Mr Pecker who was the president/CEO of AMI and most people know him more for his magazines and newspapers.
Michael Cohen is talking about the two phones he furnished to prosecutors. He talked about the many contacts he kept in these phones.
The “IT people” synced their contacts, as “I was spending a significant amount of time with Mr Trump,” Cohen said.
He agreed to have his contact numbers synced to my cell number as well.
That way if they were traveling, it would be easier to get whomever on the line, Cohen says.
Cohen says he would sometimes lie and bully people for Trump to 'accomplish a task'
Michael Cohen recalled that he’d call Donald Trump Boss or Mr Trump. He described his time at the Trump Organization in a wistful tone.
It was fantastic. Working for him, especially during those 10 years, was an amazing experience in many, many ways. There were great times, there were several less-than great times, but for the most part, I enjoyed the responsibility that was given to me. I enjoyed working with my colleagues at The Trump organization, the Trump children. It was a big family.
Did you at times lie for him? “I did.”
Why? Cohen said he did “what [was] needed to accomplish a task.”
Did you bully people for him?
Again, in order to accomplish a task. The only thing on my mind was [to] accomplish a task to make him happy.
Updated
Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger is now trying to convey through questioning that Donald Trump was well aware of conflicts and means of handling them at the office – undermining a potential defense argument that he was distracted when he signed the checks.
“When he asked you with something, he would say: ‘keep me informed,'” Michael Cohen said.
You would [go] straight back and tell him, especially if it was a matter that was upsetting to him.
If Trump found out from someone else, “that wouldn’t go over well for you.”
Cohen says Trump never had an email address
Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger asks whether Donald Trump ever communicated by email. Michael Cohen says no, and provides an eyebrow-raising explanation.
Mr Trump never had an email address.
“Did he ever comment to you about why he didn’t have one?” During certain conversations, he would comment, “emails are like written papers,” Cohen recalls, saying Trump stated:
It’s too many people that have gone down as a direct result of having emails that prosecutors can use in a case.
When you saying going down, do you mean getting in some sort of trouble? Hoffinger asks. Cohen responds: “Yes, ma’am.”
He also says that Trump had an “open door policy.”
Cohen says he and Trump spoke multiple times a day before 2016 election
“Did you work with the press to try to minimize negative stories and sort of enhance positive stories about Mr Trump and his business?” Michael Cohen replies: “Yes.”
Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger is using Cohen’s testimony to establish that Donald Trump and Cohen worked extremely closely with one another – that the former personal attorney for Trump was effectively his right-hand.
“Initially, when I started, it was toward’s the back of the office,” Cohen said of his office, “until ultimately I moved to a different office that was maybe 50 feet, 60 feet from his office.”
How often did they interact?
Every single day – and multiple times per day.
We’re talking about the period before his presidential run? Hoffinger pressed. Cohen replies: “Yes.”
Michael Cohen is describing some of the legal fixing he did for Donald Trump.
With the press, for example, if they said something that angered him, I would reach out to the press and express to them they needed to redact or take the article down, or we would file an action against him.
Did you do that in a strong manner at times? The prosecution asks. Cohen replies:
I would say so … not all the time.
He says he also did personal work for Trump.
In one instance, his limousine was hit by a yellow cab and knowing that I have deep roots into the yellow cab industry, he asked me to meet with the driver …and to have them pay for the repair.
Also, there was a flood in Trump’s apartment that damaged the “fresco on top” of the main floor bathroom, Cohen says.
Cohen says he felt 'on top of the world' when Trump praised him for a 'fantastic' job
Michael Cohen is now discussing other binds from which he extricated Donald Trump, including the controversial Trump University business courses.
“Trump University fell into trouble and there were approximately 50 vendors that had not been paid” but just two million available to pay them, Cohen says.
Unfortunately, the bills exceeded $2m. Trump was not going to fund the balance, so what I did was put them on a spreadsheet …divided it by the $2m, came up with basically 2% of everyone’s invoice, contacted each and every one of the vendors and all but two accepted, ultimately, the 20% releases drafted and upon receipt of the release, within 48 hours.
Trump told him that he’d done a “fantastic” job, Cohen says.
Asked how Trump’s praise made him feel, Cohen said he felt “like I was on top of the world.”
Updated
Donald Trump’s former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen’s testimony is going to be crucial to establish that Trump knew that the repayment scheme would be logged in the Trump Organization’s books as “legal expense” and that the false entries were in furtherance of election law.
Trump is being charged with falsification of business records, which makes it a crime when a person “makes or causes a false entry” in business records with an intent to defraud or commit another crime.
Prosecutors therefore need Cohen to testify that Trump knew the invoices that Cohen submitted were false, Trump knew the repayments to Cohen would be falsely recorded as legal expenses, and that Trump told ex-Trump Organization controller Jeffrey McConney to falsely label the repayments as legal expenses.
Updated
Cohen says he reported directly to Trump
Through her questioning, prosecutor Susan Hoffinger is establishing that Donald Trump and Michael Cohen had a direct connection – and that even from the outset, Cohen’s performing legal work was not his only duty. Cohen says:
It was whatever concerned him, whatever he wanted. Initially when I first started working at the Trump Organization I was presented with an opportunity and I brought it to Mr Trump immediately.
It was a landfill remediation project in New Jersey, 1000 acres, Cohen recalled.
It ultimately didn’t come to fruition because funding got pulled by [then New Jersey] Governor Corzine.
Who did you report to at the Trump Organization? The prosecution asks. Cohen replies:
Mr Trump.
He said that he was not part of the general counsel’s office. “That’s not the discussion in terms of when I elected to take the position.”
Updated
Michael Cohen says that he worked as Donald Trump’s special counsel for 10 years, until January 2017.
Asked how old he was when he started to work at the Trump Organization, Cohen chuckled. He didn’t recall exactly but was in his 30s.
Approximately all in, how much were you making at the Trump Organization?
Cohen said $525,000.
Michael Cohen is testifying about how he came to work for Donald Trump.
Cohen says he was initially introduced to Trump by Donald Trump Jr as he was moving into one of his properties. He says there was “an issue with the board” at Trump World Tower that Trump had asked him. Cohen says:
What we did was we ended up overtaking the board and resolving the issue … he liked the way that occurred and then continued to ask me if I would assist in other issues, legal issues, or other matters that he had.
Who is Michael Cohen?
Michael Cohen is Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer who was for more than a decade his Mr Fix-It, but is now the prosecution’s star witness as it builds its case that the former president sought to conceal hush-money payments to the adult film star, Stormy Daniels.
Cohen served as Trump’s trusted adviser, personal attorney and self-described “attack dog with a law license”. But the relationship soured after Trump won the US presidential election in 2016 and did not offer Cohen a role in his administration.
Cohen, a native of Long Island, began practicing law as a personal injury lawyer in 1992 and joined the Trump Organization in 2006. He’d told Trump he’d read his book The Art of the Deal twice and soon became a close confidant.
In a 2018 profile, it was noted that Cohen performed a role much like that of Roy Cohn, the notorious New York political and legal fixer who had worked for Trump and his father. Cohen’s duties led him into fixing situations of a sensitive nature, including setting up “catch-and-kill” arrangements with David Pecker, publisher of the National Enquirer, which has circuitously led to today’s court confrontation.
Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger is asking Michael Cohen background questions as she’s warming up her direct.
Cohen is coming across as charming. She asks about his time in law, and whether he always wanted to be a lawyer.
Actually, I didn’t want to be a lawyer, my grandmother didn’t want me to be a lawyer.
He said that in his family, people became doctors or lawyers.
I wanted to go to Wall Street.
His grandmother said “no.”
Michael Cohen, wearing a pale salmon-color tie, just swore to tell the truth and sat at the witness stand.
He was asked to spell his name. “Michael Dean Cohen, C-O-H-E-N.”
Michael Cohen called to the stand
Michael Cohen, Donald Trump’s former fixer and lawyer, has been called to the witness stand.
Cohen entered judge Juan Merchan’s courtroom just before 9.40am ET.
Updated
Cameras are not allowed inside the courtroom once proceedings begin, but a group of photographers were permitted to take pictures of Donald Trump at the defense table before court began this morning.
Updated
Court is starting. Judge Juan Merchan is on the bench.
Merchan will not allow prosecutors to introduce former Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg’s severance agreement.
More people here this morning in support of Donald Trump, per poolers:
JD Vance, the Ohio senator who is being floated as a potential Republican running mate to Trump
Tommy Tuberville, the Republican senator of Alabama
Boris Epshteyn, a longtime Trump aide who was charged with conspiracy, fraud and forgery in Arizona
Jason Miller, a Trump campaign adviser
Alina Habba, who has repped Trump in other cases, is also present.
Meanwhile, in a positive development for press access, a pool of photographers is once again being permitted to take photos of Donald Trump at the defense table prior to trial proceedings beginning.
Photographers had been barred from taking photos inside the courtroom for several days last week following an allegation that one snapped Trump from outside of the well which, if proven, would represent a violation of rules established by the judge, Juan Merchan.
Trump enters courtroom
Donald Trump just entered the courtroom. He was carrying papers, once again.
He was indeed trailed by supporters, including son Eric Trump and Nicole Malliotakis.
Updated
Michael Cohen, Donald Trump’s former fixer and lawyer, has been pictured arriving at the Manhattan criminal court where he is expected to take the stand as the key witness in the Manhattan district attorney’s case against the former president.
Updated
Donald Trump will apparently be joined in court by a coterie of supporters. Indeed, per a hallway pool report:
A number of people in Trump’s entourage stepped into the hallway just now. Nicole Malliotakis was among them. A pooler shouted ‘Nicole’ at her to confirm and she waved back. They stepped back into the adjacent courtroom after the exchange.
Malliotakis is a Republican congresswoman representing Staten Island.
Updated
Donald Trump’s motorcade has arrived at the Manhattan courthouse.
Key takeaways from Stormy Daniels's testimony last week
Donald Trump appeared frustrated at the Manhattan courtroom for his hush-money criminal trial on Friday, after sitting through two days of testimony from the adult film actor Stormy Daniels, who provided a detailed account of an alleged sexual liaison with him some 20 years ago.
Daniels’s testimony described their relationship in graphic detail and over lengthy periods of court time, despite the alleged criminal behavior at the heart of the charges being due to the way the payments were accounted for as prosecutors have claimed they were an election expense.
Here are the key takeaways from the first and second day of Daniels’s testimony.
Here is a reminder of the key players in Donald Trump’s hush-money criminal trial:
Donald Trump, defendant: the Republican nominee for president is the defendant in the case. Prosecutors allege that he orchestrated a $130,000 payment to the adult film star Stormy Daniels when she threatened to go public with allegations of an affair on the eve of the 2016 election, and then conspired with others to cover up the payment.
Michael Cohen, key witness: Cohen was once a lawyer for Trump and one of the former president’s most loyal lieutenants and enforcers. He facilitated the payment to Daniels, funnelling the $130,000 to her through a shell company called Essential Consultants LLC. Trump later arranged to pay him back in monthly payment instalments of $35,000.
Stormy Daniels, key witness: Daniels, an adult film star, says she met Trump in 2006 at a celebrity golf tournament. Daniels was 27 at the time and Trump was 60. Just before the 2016 election, Daniels said she was approached by Cohen, Trump’s lawyer at the time, and offered $130,000 not to disclose the alleged affair.
David Pecker, key witness: Pecker was a key Trump ally who served as the CEO of American Media Inc (AMI), the publisher of the National Enquirer. Pecker helped Trump by purchasing the rights to potentially damaging stories and then never publishing them, a practice known as “catch and kill”.
Allen Weisselberg, key figure: Weisselberg is the former chief financial officer of the Trump Organization. He worked for the company for more than 50 years, and has refused to turn on Trump even as he has been sentenced to prison twice. He played a key role in concealing the purpose of Trump’s payments to Cohen, according to the indictment.
The biggest news out of Donald Trump’s trial on Friday wasn’t anything that was said on the witness stand, but who will be on it this week.
Michael Cohen, Trump’s former fixer and attorney, is expected to be called by the prosecution as soon as Monday.
Cohen is at the center of the case: he’s the man Trump repaid for buying the silence of the adult film star Stormy Daniels, an arrangement that Trump allegedly falsified business records to conceal.
The biggest question is whether the jury will find him credible. Numerous witnesses made it clear during testimony just how bullying, aggressive and unlikeable he could be in their interactions with him.
But he’s the witness who can tie everything together. And we may start hearing his story when court resumes on Monday.
Updated
Michael Cohen, prosecution's star witness, expected to take the stand
Good morning and welcome to our live coverage of Donald Trump’s criminal trial over his hush-money payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels, which enters its fifth week today with proceedings due to start at about 9.30am ET in New York.
Michael Cohen, Trump’s former attorney and personal fixer, is expected to take the stand as soon as today. As trial wrapped for the week on Friday afternoon, the prosecution said they expected to call two more witnesses – one of whom will be Cohen. Last week, the jury heard testimony from Daniels, who provided a detailed – and embarrassing – account of an alleged sexual liaison with Trump some 20 years ago.
Cohen’s hush-money payment to Daniels is at the very heart of the historic trial in Manhattan criminal court. Prosecutors charge that Cohen wired $130,000 to Daniels’s then attorney just 12 days before the presidential election to keep quiet about her alleged sexual encounter with Trump.
Trump is charged with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in connection with the payments and had pleaded not guilty.
We’re at the courthouse again today. Stay with us.
Trump’s criminal hush-money trial: what to know
A guide to Trump’s hush-money trial – so far
The key takeaways from Daniels’ testimony last week.
The jurors: who is on the Trump trial jury?
The key arguments prosecutors will use against Trump
From Michael Cohen to Stormy Daniels: the key players
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