Takeaways from the first day of Michael Cohen’s testimony in the Trump hush money case
CNN
Michael Cohen implicated his former boss Donald Trump in the hush money scheme to pay Stormy Daniels just days before the 2016 election, saying he doled out $130,000 at Trump’s direction and was promised reimbursement.
Michael Cohen implicated his former boss Donald Trump in the hush money scheme to pay Stormy Daniels just days before the 2016 election, saying he doled out $130,000 at Trump’s direction and was promised reimbursement. Cohen’s testimony ties together the prosecution’s allegations that Trump broke the law by falsifying business records to reimburse Cohen and conceal the hush money payment that Cohen said he made at Trump’s direction. Trump has pleaded not guilty and denies having an affair with Daniels. Cohen and Trump mostly avoided eye contact while he testified Monday. Cohen looked directly at prosecutor Susan Hoffinger throughout most of his testimony, occasionally scanning the room or looking in the jury’s direction. Trump spent long stretches of Cohen’s questioning with his eyes closed or thumbing through a stack of news stories. Trump’s attorneys are likely to get their chance to question Cohen on Tuesday. Trump attorney Todd Blanche is expected to try to shred Cohen’s credibility with the jury during cross-examination by painting him as a convicted perjurer who has changed his story more than once. Here are the takeaways from Day 16 of the Trump hush money trial: Through roughly five hours of testimony Monday, Cohen walked jurors through how he worked with former National Enquirer editor David Pecker on Trump’s behalf during the 2016 campaign to kill negative stories; how he kept Trump apprised of his hush money negotiations with Keith Davidson, the attorney for Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal; and how Trump approved and was aware of how Cohen would be falsely repaid in 2017 for the Daniels payment as legal services.
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