#Trump has a huge posse today, including #KashPatel; #GerryKassar, a #conservative party leader in NY; #BernieKerik, fmr NYPD commissioner who was imprisoned for tax fraud & false statements; #AlanDershowitz, lawyer who defended Trump during his first impeachment, & #BorisEpshteyn, legal adviser who was #indicted in AZ for attempts to keep Trump in power after the 2020 election.
#MichaelCohen testifies about a tech co, RedFinch, that was hired to #rig online #polls in #Trump's favor. The company was owed $50k. But Cohen ended up only paying them $20k. Nonetheless, he still asked for a $50k reimbursement from the #TrumpOrganization. Blanche asks if he lied, & Cohen acknowledges he did.
Blanche asks Cohen, “You had, like, a duffle bag of cash? Where was the cash?”
#Blanche’s questions are designed to imply #MichaelCohen had mixed motives & that he somehow benefits by cooperating w/prosecutors.
Blanche asks about the period in 2018 when Cohen was finding that some his legal fees were not being paid by the #TrumpOrganization anymore. That was a big contributor to the split between Cohen & #Trump, which Cohen has talked about publicly.
#MichaelCohen addresses the #jury directly as he tells the story of hiring the tech company, RedFinch, to #rig a #poll of influential businessmen for #Trump.
Cohen says that Trump was upset about where the poll was placed, & that he didn't feel it was worth the full amount that Cohen promised the company, so Cohen ultimately paid less. We are now getting to Cohen’s admission that he stole from the #TrumpOrganization by being reimbursed more than he paid RedFinch.
Cross-examination of #MichaelCohen resumes, an opportunity for the defense to poke holes in his testimony & perhaps trip up or provoke the state’s key witness. The questioning of Cohen, #Trump’s fmr fixer, is the beginning of the end of Trump’s #criminal trial, which began April 15 & might conclude before Memorial Day weekend at this pace.
#Blanche is going back in time, asking Cohen about positive stories he had planted, not just about #Trump but also about himself.
He says that reporters would often call him or the #TrumpOrganization asking for comment. He said he would immediately go to Trump’s office & they would come up w/a crafted response that he would take back to the reporter.
#Blanche tries to undermine the relationship #MichaelCohen said he had w/ #Trump. He asks whether Cohen did #legal work not only for Trump, but also for his family & the #TrumpOrganization. Then Blanche notes that Cohen did not have a legal retainer to do the work. (He was employed but the TrumpOrg. A retainer would be redundant)
#Trump has his posse again. Today it’s more #Republican elected officials. Today, Trump will be joined by the #House speaker, #MikeJohnson, as well as #NorthDakota’s governor, #DougBurgum, a contender to be Trump's running mate. Also present will be Representatives #ByronDonalds & #CoryMills of Florida, & #VivekRamaswamy, who was one of Trump's primary rivals this year. Both Donalds & Ramaswamy are longshot hopefuls to be Trump's running mate.
#MichaelCohen is asked about additional work he did for the #TrumpOrganization, some of it #legal work, including for the #Trump Organization’s general counsel, Alan Garten. Cohen is saying he didn’t expect to be paid for that work & did not send invoices for it. Trump’s lawyers have indicated that they may argue that Cohen was doing real legal work, & was being paid for that. This may be an example of the prosecution seeking to air an argument before the defense can.
#MichaelCohen is asked about his #House testimony on the #Russia investigation. This will lead to questioning about him lying to #Congress re plans to build a #Trump Tower in #Moscow. Cohen has said that he did it to protect Trump.
Cohen testifies that at the time the #TrumpOrganization was paying for his lawyer, & he was part of a joint defense agreement. Cohen testifies he felt he “needed” the protection of Trump at the time & to protect him in return.
#Trump looks directly at Cohen on the witness stand as he says that he lied for Trump “out of loyalty & in order to protect him.”
#MichaelCohen says that he was under a “tremendous amount of pressure” when he lied to #Congress but he was happy to have a lawyer paid for by the #TrumpOrganization. This is useful for prosecutors, many witnesses are still loyal to the TrumpOrg. Cohen underscores for the jurors those witnesses' possible motives.
Prosecution shows #MichaelCohen texting the NYT’s Maggie Haberman — who is sitting in the courtroom — as he sought to spread the news that he made the #HushMoney payment himself, & that neither the #TrumpOrganization nor the #TrumpCampaign was a part of it [note: he didn’t include Trump personally]. He also said that he was not reimbursed for the payment. He says that he had planned to give Haberman the statement first, & that he had received approval from the “big boss.”
These same tweets were among the potential instances of #obstruction of #justice that were reviewed by Robert #Mueller, the special counsel who at the time was investigating the #Trump campaign’s possible ties to #Russia.
At this point in the narrative in 2018, #MichaelCohen was looking for reassurance that Trump was going to take care of him. He would soon lose that sense of security, as the #TrumpOrganization stopped paying some of Cohen’s #legal bills.
Under prosecutor #Hoffinger’s questioning, #MichaelCohen decribes how he has made money from his story of #Trump’s betrayal.
He says that he wrote a memoir in #prison, called “Disloyal,” about his life & experiences working for the #TrumpOrganization. He says his next book, “Revenge,” was a “forensic dissection” of the corrupt prosecution against him.
Cohen addresses the fact that he had #StormyDaniels on his podcast. He says it was time to apologize to her.
#Blanche is trying to portray #MichaelCohen as obsessed w/ #Trump. It was already shown that when he was w/the #TrumpOrganization Cohen sought approval from Trump, & then Trump went out of his way to humiliate Cohen, so Cohen wanting Trump to face justice seems like a reasonable reaction.
Blanche asks if Cohen was lying when he said Trump cared deeply about this country, & he's a man who tells it straight.
Cohen: “I was knee deep into the cult of Donald Trump."
Justice Merchan said before proceedings began that he would not allow in a piece of evidence related to #AllenWeisselberg, the fmr CFO of the #TrumpOrganization, who is currently in #jail.
Prosecutors had hoped to put in evidence his severance agreement that requires #Weisselberg still be loyal to #Trump, to help explain his absence at the trial. But the judge is saying he won’t allow it.
Cohen says that he came into Trump’s circle by purchasing Trump properties. Then, he says, Trump himself offered him an opportunity to work at the #TrumpOrganization “as his special counsel.” He describes that transition into Trump’s world.
#Hoffinger, the prosecutor, asks #Cohen if Trump paid him for early #legal work he did at a Trump building, Trump World Tower. “No, ma’am,” he replies.
#MichaelCohen is speaking easily now. He’s injecting some personality into his testimony. He describes negotiating w/ #Trump over his salary, he says they settled on a compromise of $375k a year. “Bonus of course was to be discussed,” Cohen adds.
“It was whatever he wanted,” Michael Cohen says when asked to describe his duties at the #TrumpOrganization. Cohen leans into the word “he.”
Hoffinger, the prosecutor, is eliciting testimony from #MichaelCohen that he didn’t work in the general counsel’s office at the #TrumpOrganization -- he worked directly w/ #Trump.
One of the matters that Cohen often handled was brow-beating the #media for any negative stories about Trump. Many reporters — some in the courtroom today — received calls from Cohen in which he attacked their coverage of his boss.
#MichaelCohen describes his early days at the #TrumpOrganization as glory days. "It was fantastic. Working for him especially during those 10 years was" — he pauses —
"an amazing experience in many many ways." He sounds very sincere.
This reflects how Cohen actually sounded in real time as he worked there. It was not, as the jury has heard, how his colleagues always experienced him. Though Farro the banker testified to Cohen’s excitement about working for #Trump.
Michael Cohen testifies that he - & everybody - at the #TrumpOrganization spoke to #AllenWeisselberg about financial transactions. Weisselberg, currently in #jail, was involved in coordinating the repayments to Cohen after Cohen paid #HushMoney to #StormyDaniels.
Cohen is emphatic that Weisselberg was involved in every deal no matter the size.
#MichaelCohen's testimony about #AllenWeisselberg's financial advice on the #KarenMcDougal deal explains why Cohen would go on to pay #StormyDaniels, borrowing against his home. He says Weisselberg told him not to go through the #TrumpOrganization -linking the payment to #Trump's company would defeat the purpose- but to come up w/other more creative ways to pay.
This will help prosecutors explain why Cohen made the #HushMoney payment in such a roundabout way.
#MichaelCohen says he spoke w/ #Trump after this request from his wife. He says he called Trump using his #TrumpOrganization landline. That evening, Cohen says, he made an appearance on Wolf Blitzer’s show, in order to “respond to a series of topics that affected Mr. Trump & the campaign.” He says he told Trump he was going on CNN as a “surrogate” of the campaign to discuss Trump’s priorities. This was just a couple of days after the #AccessHollywood tape came out.
#MichaelCohen testifies about #Trump winning the election. #Hoffinger asks Cohen if he still had a role at the #TrumpOrganization after Trump won.
Cohen says no, "because my service was no longer necessary." He says he turned down the role of "assistant general counsel" in the WH.
Hoffinger asks Cohen if he was disappointed that the job of chief of staff wasn't offered to him. Cohen says he didn't want it, but wanted his name to included in the conversation.
#MichaelCohen, describing his anger at seeing his bonus cut by two-thirds, almost sounds angry all over again. "I didn't expect more," he says of his bonus that year, 2016.
"But I certainly didn't expect less."
Cohen says he took his fury out on #AllenWeisselberg, #TrumpOrganization CFO, & that Weisselberg told him that he'd be taken care of after the holidays.
Trump briefly smiled, expressing pleasure, as Cohen described #Trump stiffing him on his bonus.
#MichaelCohen testifies about the point of this whole trial: the false business records.
Cohen describes his notes w/ #TrumpOrganization CFO #AllenWeisselberg, the notes are working out how to make it so that it appears he was being paid for another matter, & on how he would be reimbursed.
Prosecution again shows to the court Weisselberg's handwritten notes on the reimbursement to Cohen.