Michael Cohen says he stole from Trump’s company on trial

(NEW YORK) – Donald Trump’s former lawyer, Michael Cohen, admitted Monday to jurors in the Republican’s secret trial that he stole tens of thousands of dollars from Trump’s company while defense lawyers seized on the key witness’ misdeeds. to attack your credibility.

With the prosecution’s case nearing its end, Trump’s lawyers hope that Cohen’s admission – on top of his countless other lies and past crimes – will sow doubt in jurors’ minds about Cohen’s crucial testimony that implicates the presumptive Republican presidential nominee in the hush money scheme. The defense painted Cohen as a serial fabulist who is on a revenge campaign aimed at bringing down Trump.

Back on the witness stand for the fourth day, Cohen admitted, under questioning by defense attorney Todd Blanche, that he pocketed money that was supposed to be a refund of a $50,000 payment Cohen claimed he shelled out to a technology company. But Cohen actually gave the technology company just $20,000 in cash in a brown paper bag, he said.

“So you stole from the Trump Organization?” Blanche asked.

“Yes, sir,” Cohen replied. Cohen said he never paid the Trump Organization. Cohen was never accused of stealing from Trump’s company.

Cohen is the prosecution’s final witness, and it remains unclear whether Trump’s lawyers will call any witnesses, much less Trump himself.

See more information: Trump’s trial comes down to Michael Cohen’s credibility

After more than four weeks of testimony about sex, money, tabloid machinations and the details of Trump’s company record-keeping, jurors could begin deliberating as early as next week to decide whether Trump is guilty of 34 felony counts of forgery. of business records in the first criminal trial. of a former US president.

The charges stem from internal Trump Organization records where payments to Cohen were marked as legal expenses when prosecutors say they were actually reimbursements for Daniels’ secret payment.

Trump has pleaded not guilty. His lawyers say there was nothing criminal about the deal with Daniels or the way Cohen was paid.

“There is no crime,” Trump told reporters after arriving in court on Monday. “We paid a legal expense. Do you know how it is marked? A cool expense.”

Although Cohen is prosecutors’ most important witness, he is also vulnerable to attack.

The now-disbarred lawyer admitted on the witness stand that he previously lied under oath and other falsehoods, many of which he claims were intended to protect Trump. Cohen served prison time after pleading guilty to several federal charges, including lying to Congress and a bank and engaging in campaign finance violations related to the hush money scheme.

And he earned millions of dollars from critical books about the former president, whom he regularly criticizes on social media in often profane terms.

Blanche grilled Cohen on Monday about his initial public denials that Trump knew about Daniels’ bounty. After The Wall Street Journal reported in January 2018, when Cohen had agreed to pay the porn star more than a year earlier, Cohen told journalists, friends and others that Trump was unaware of the arrangement.

He didn’t change his account until federal authorities in April 2018 searched Cohen’s home, office and other places linked to him. Four months later, Cohen pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations and other charges and told a court that Trump had instructed him to arrange Daniels’ payment.

See more information: Central Witness in Trump and Hush-Money Trial Shares Tortured Story

Known for his explosive temper, Cohen remained largely calm on the witness stand despite sometimes heated cross-examination from the defense about his crimes and the allegations in the case.

Jurors remained largely engaged with Cohen’s testimony, although some appeared to be dragging their feet as his testimony stretched into another day. Several jurors stifled yawns as they looked at the witness and the monitors in front of them as emails and other evidence were displayed. Some took notes. Others sat and watched the testimony, occasionally peering into the gallery of reporters and public observers.

Cohen told jurors that Trump was intimately involved in the scheme to bribe Daniels to prevent her from going public at the end of his 2016 presidential campaign with allegations of a sexual encounter with Trump in 2006. Trump says nothing sexual happened between them .

Cohen told jurors about meetings and conversations with Trump, including one in 2017 in which Cohen says he, Trump and then-Trump Organization finance chief Allen Weisselberg discussed how Cohen would recoup his outlay on Daniels’ payment and how the reimbursement would be billed as “legal services.”

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office is expected to rest the case once Cohen leaves the stand, but prosecutors would have the opportunity to call rebuttal witnesses if Trump’s lawyers named their own witnesses. Judge Juan M. Merchan, citing scheduling issues, says he expects final arguments to take place on May 28, the Tuesday after Memorial Day.

Defense lawyers said they have not yet decided whether Trump will testify. And Trump did not respond to reporters’ shouted questions about whether his lawyers had advised him not to testify. Defense lawyers are generally reluctant to put their clients on the witness stand and subject them to intense cross-examination by prosecutors, as this often does more harm than good.

Trump’s lawyers said they may call Bradley A. Smith, a Republican law professor who was appointed by former President Bill Clinton to the Federal Election Commission, to refute the prosecution’s claim that the hush money payments amounted to violations. of campaign financing. But the judge limited what Smith could address.

Barriers often exist around expert testimony in legal matters, on the basis that it is up to the judge—and not an expert hired by one side or the other—to instruct jurors about the laws applicable in a case.

Merchan ruled that Smith can provide general information about the FEC, the laws it enforces and the definitions of terms like “campaign contribution.” But he cannot interpret how federal campaign finance laws apply to the facts of Trump’s case or opine on whether the former president’s alleged actions violate those laws.

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Richer reported from Washington. Associated Press reporters Jill Colvin in New York and Meg Kinnard in Columbia, South Carolina, contributed to this report.