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“You nailed it,” Cohen quoted Trump as telling him after learning that a doorman had come forward with the claim that Trump fathered a child out of wedlock.
The Trump Tower doorman was paid US$30,000 ($45,000) to keep the story “off the market”, although the claim was ultimately deemed unfounded.
A similar episode occurred after Cohen warned Trump that a Playboy model had claimed she and Trump had an extramarital affair. Again, the order was clear.
“Make sure it doesn’t get released,” Cohen said Trump said.
The woman, Karen McDougall, was paid US$150,000 ($227,000) in a secret cash settlement that was made after Trump received a “full and complete update on everything that happened”.
“What I was doing was at the direction and for the benefit of Mr. Trump,” Cohen testified.
Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer and personal agent, is by far the Manhattan district attorney’s most important witness in the case, and his long-awaited appearance on the stand signals that the first criminal trial against a former US president is entering its final stretch. Prosecutors say they may finish presenting evidence by the end of the week.
Testimony from a witness with such intimate knowledge of Trump’s activities could boost the presumptive Republican presidential nominee’s legal exposure if jurors find him credible enough.
But prosecutors’ reliance on a witness with such a controversial past — Cohen has pleaded guilty to federal charges related to the payments — also carries significant risks for jurors.
In addition, it could be a political boon for Trump as he cashes in on his legal woes and paints the case as the product of a tainted criminal justice system.
Although jurors heard from others about the tabloid industry’s “catch and kill” practice, in which the rights to a story are bought so they can be overturned, Cohen’s testimony was crucial to prosecutors because of his closeness to Trump and because he says he was in direct communication with the then-candidate about embarrassing stories he was trying to keep from surfacing.
In addition to the payments to the concierge and McDougal, another sum went to porn star Stormy Daniels, who told jurors last week that the $130,000 she received was intended to prevent her from going public for sex that she says had with Trump in a hotel suite a decade earlier.
Cohen also matters because the refunds he received from that payment are the basis of the charges against Trump — 34 counts of falsifying business records. Prosecutors allege the reimbursements were falsely recorded as legal expenses to disguise the true purpose of the payments.
Cohen gave jurors an inside account of his negotiations with David Packer, then the publisher of National Enquirerand the paper’s editor-in-chief for suppressing stories damaging to Trump, an effort that took on added urgency after the October 2016 revelations. Access to Hollywood a recording in which Trump was heard bragging about sexually assaulting women.
Daniels’ payment was finalized several weeks after that revelation, but much of Monday’s testimony focused on the deal with McDougal earlier this fall.
Packer previously testified that he promised to be the “eyes and ears” of the Trump campaign and was so faithful that he told Cohen that his publication maintained “a file drawer, or a locked drawer, as he described it, where files related to Mr. Trump has been located,” according to Monday’s testimony.
Cohen testified that he went to Trump immediately after National Enquirer alerted him to a story about the alleged McDougal affair.
Trump reached out to Packer about the matter, asking him how “it’s going” with that, Cohen said.
Pecker replied, “We’ve got this under control and we’ll take care of it,” Cohen testified.
Cohen also said he was with Trump while Trump spoke to Packer on a loudspeaker in his Trump Tower office.
“David said it would cost $150,000 to control the story,” Cohen said.
He quoted Trump as saying, “No problem, I’ll take care of it,” meaning the payments would be repaid.
To lay the groundwork that the deals were made with Trump’s approval, prosecutors elicited testimony from Cohen — who spent a decade as a top executive at the Trump Organization — designed to portray Trump as a hands-on manager, on behalf of whom Cohen said he sometimes lied and harass others, including reporters.
“When he was charging you with something, he’d say, ‘Keep me posted. Tell me what’s going on,’” Cohen testified.
He said that’s especially true “if there’s an issue that’s bothering him.”
The vote to impeach Donald Trump has been finalized in writing
“If he finds out about it any other way, it’s not going to reflect well on you,” Cohen said.
Defense attorneys began a harrowing cross-examination of Cohen, telling jurors during opening statements that he is an “admitted liar” with an “obsession with winning over President Trump.”
Prosecutors are expected to try to blunt those attacks by eliciting detailed testimony from Cohen about his past crimes. They have called other witnesses whose accounts they hope will support Cohen’s testimony.
These witnesses included an attorney who negotiated the hush money payments on behalf of Daniels and McDougal, as well as Packer and Daniels.
Trump sat silently with his eyes closed as Cohen’s testimony covered paying off the doorman and other aspects of the hush money machinations. He did not appear to make eye contact with Cohen as the attorney took the witness stand.
Cohen’s role as the prosecution’s star witness further cemented the breakdown of a mutually beneficial relationship that was once so close the lawyer said he “would take a bullet for Trump.”
After Cohen’s home and office were raided by the FBI in 2018, Trump showered him with affection on social media, praising him as a “good guy with a wonderful family” and predicting — incorrectly — that Cohen would not “mess up.”
Months later, Cohen did just that, pleading guilty in August to federal campaign finance charges in which he implicated Trump.
By this point, the connection was irretrievably broken.
“If anyone is looking for a good lawyer, I highly recommend not hiring Michael Cohen!” Trump posted on the social media platform then known as Twitter.
Cohen later admitted he lied to Congress about a Moscow real estate project he pursued on Trump’s behalf during the height of the 2016 Republican campaign. He said he lied to comply with “ Trump’s political message.
Defense attorneys are expected to use all the peremptory challenges that come with a witness like Cohen. Besides portraying him as untrustworthy, they are also expected to portray him as vindictive, vindictive and agenda-driven.
Since their breakup, Cohen has emerged as a relentless and sometimes harsh critic of Trump, appearing last week on TikTok Live wearing a shirt depicting a Trump-like figure with handcuffed hands behind bars. On Friday, the judge urged prosecutors to tell him to refrain from making any further statements about the case or Trump.
“He’s been vocal about his desire to see President Trump go to prison,” Trump attorney Todd Blanch said during opening statements.
“He’s talked a lot about wanting to see President Trump’s family go to jail. He has spoken widely about President Trump being convicted in this case.”
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