Michael Cohen: Former Donald Trump ex-personal attorney and star witness in Trump’s New York hush money trial. Photo credit: AP.
The star witness in Donald Trump’s hush money trial in a Manhattan court, Michael Cohen, said he stole thousands of dollars from the Trump Organization during cross-examination by Trump’s attorney.
On Monday, May 20, 2024, Todd Blanche told Cohen, “You did steal from the Trump Organization based upon the expected reimbursement from Red Finch.”
Cohen responded in the affirmative, “Yes, sir.”
Blanche was referring to a repayment plan that mandated Cohen pay $130,000 to adult-film star Stormy Daniels and $50,000 to tech company Red Finch. Only $20,000 was paid to the tech firm, according to Cohen, who admitted he withdrew $20,000 over a couple of days, placed it in a small envelope, and handed it over to Red Finch. The balance of $30,000 was never paid to Red Finch.
Cohen is the last witness in Trump’s criminal case in New York as the jury winds down proceedings.
It is not clear if Trump will testify in the case, as his legal team considers the option.
A hearing on the matter was suspended last Friday as Trump attended his son Baron’s high school
graduation.
Cohen said during the Monday hearing that he spent over 1-2 hours behind the scenes with prosecutors up to 20 times in the build-up to the case. He said this during a cross-examination with Trump’s defense team, noting that the Manhattan District Attorney’s (DA) team asked him many of the questions during the case that they asked behind the scenes.
On Monday, Judge Juan Merchan announced the schedule for Trump’s criminal case in New York to begin on Tuesday, May 28. Trump’s defense team has until the announced date to call witnesses and has requested to bring in at least one expert witness.
Merchan, however, warned of a “battle of experts” if the Trump tram invited an expert witness, noting that the prosecutor would also be allowed to bring in its expert witness as well. He said such a witness would only be allowed to testify on general legal definitions and terms and not on complexities, in order not to confuse the jury.
The former president is facing 43 counts relating to falsifying business records to conceal hush money payments to pornography star Stormy Daniels.
Trump has repeatedly insisted that the case against him is politically motivated and said on Monday that the hearing was a scheme by the Department of Justice to prevent him from campaigning less than six months before the November 5 elections.
Almost a dozen witnesses have been called by prosecutors in the case against Trump in a bid to convict the former president.
During his testimony, Cohen said the Trump Organization reimbursed him “$420,000” for the $130,000 he paid to Daniels. The estranged lawyer said former Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg suggested he “gross up” the payments with other payments in a bid to hide the hush money transfer as legal fees.
Prosecutors presented 11 checks to Cohen, which he confirmed were all received and deposited. Cohen said the checks had a false description of “retainer” with intent to conceal their true purpose.
Allen Weisselberg pleaded guilty in March to lying under oath when he testified in former President
Donald Trump’s New York civil fraud case. The state attorney general, Letitia James, brought the case against Trump as part of her investigations into Trump’s business dealings in New York, including overvaluing his real estate business and tax evasion. Weisselberg, the former Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of the Trump Organization, admitted to lying under oath three times, first in July 2020 during his deposition testimony, for which he pleaded guilty, then in May 2023, and later on in the witness stand last October, related to his testimony that he was unaware of the overvaluation of Trump’s penthouse, which was valued at more than three times its actual value.
The former CFO was subsequently convicted of the alleged crimes and sentenced to five months in prison at New York’s notorious Rikers Island complex.
Trump has so far pleaded not guilty to all charges brought against him in New York and Georgia, relating to attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential elections, and to federal charges relating to the possible mishandling of classified documents at Trump’s Mar-ar-Largo Palm Beach home.