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Michael Cohen, a former lawyer for Donald Trump who is now a central witness in the New York election interference case against the ex-president, is expected to begin his testimony on Monday in the trial, sources said.
The former lawyer and fixer is a key part of federal prosecutors’ case against Mr Trump in which he is accused of falsifying business records in order to cover up hush money payments to influence the 2016 presidential election.
According to prosecutors, Cohen paid Ms Daniels $130,000 to prevent her from going public about a potentially damning story about an alleged affair. This was part of a larger catch-and-kill scheme that Cohen admitted to participating in with Mr Trump and former tabloid publisher David Pecker to improve Mr Trump’s image.
Mr Trump later repaid Cohen for the hush-money payment but allegedly misrepresented those payments as part of his attorney retainer.
Cohen is a major part of the prosecution’s case. His testimony will likely last several days given other witnesses, like Mr Pecker, testified for days.
Cohen’s highly-anticipated testimony is consequential for the prosecution. As Mr Trump’s former lawyer and fixer, he was one of the closest people to the situation and had the rare position of being a confidant to the former president for seven years.
His testimony could reveal some insights into Mr Trump’s intentions in concealing the hush-money payments as part of his non-existent retainer. Similar to how Cohen did when he testified to Congress in 2019.
But whether or not the jury finds Cohen credible is going to be a widely-watched aspect of the defence’s cross-examination.
Mr Trump denies having an affair with Ms Daniels and maintains that the payments to Cohen were for legal services.
The former president’s defence lawyers are expected to hound Cohen about his history of lying – likely pointing to the former lawyer pleading guilty to lying to Congress about a Trump Tower project in Russia, his disbarring and the time he spent in prison for tax evasion.
The defence team may also point to Cohen’s recent social media tirade against the former president to paint the former lawyer as a scorned ex-employee.
So far, the jury has heard from Ms Daniels, Mr Pecker, former Trump aide Hope Hicks, Trump’s former assistant Rhona Graff, a former senior director at First Republic Bank Gary Farro, former Trump Organization executive Jeffrey McConnell, executive director of C-SPAN archives Robert Browning, and another lawyer involved in the catch and kill scheme Keith Davidson.
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