NEW YORK — Former President Trump’s top defense lawyer took another jab at Michael Cohen on Monday, making him admit he stole from the Trump Organization, as the former fixer was reportedly being reimbursed for hush money payments in center of Trump’s criminal case.
“Did you steal from the Trump Organization?” Trump lawyer Todd Blanche asked on the third and final day of his questioning.
“Yes,” Cohen replied, without contesting Blanche’s framing.
Cohen made the secret $130,000 payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels before the 2016 presidential election to remain quiet about her alleged affair with Trump, which he denies.
Billed as the star witness for Manhattan prosecutors, Cohen served as perhaps the most damning witness against Trump in his first criminal trial, implicating the former president in his testimony more than any other witness in his 34 counts of falsifying business records.
Each count corresponds to an alleged document generated in the payment to Cohen of a total of $420,000 in 12 monthly installments once he paid Daniels. Trump has pleaded not guilty.
Prosecutors say the total included several parts: a $130,000 refund for paying Daniels, a $50,000 refund for paying the technology company Red Finch to boost Trump’s poll ratings, doubling that subtotal to to be “accumulated” for “tax purposes” and adding another $60,000 to Cohen’s year-end bonus.
Blanche pressed Cohen about how he only paid Red Finch $20,000 despite still asking for a larger refund from the Trump Organization.
Prosecutors returned to Red Finch’s refund during the redirect examination, asking Cohen why he asked for a larger refund than he paid the company.
Cohen explained that it was “very upsetting” that his annual bonus was reduced by two-thirds.
“I was irritated by the bonus reduction and so I felt like it was almost like self-help,” Cohen said.
The former Trump fixer’s testimony, now stretching into a second week, spanned his early work for the Trump Organization to the 2018 guilty plea he ultimately entered on federal campaign finance and other charges.
Cohen directly linked Trump to at least 22 of the documents the former president is accused of falsifying, testifying that 11 invoices he presented to Trump were false records and that the $35,000 monthly checks he received in 2017 arrived regardless of the “minimal” work for his then-boss.
Trump’s lawyers insisted that the records in question, which were labeled legal fees, were true. They also distanced the former president from drafting the documents.
The line of questioning about Cohen’s robbery marked one of the few blunt blows during his interrogation. Last week, Blanche exploded at Cohen, suggesting he was lying about a key call she claimed to have had with Trump about the hush-hush agreement.
Cohen also confirmed that he helped coordinate two other silent agreements, paid for by a friendly tabloid executive at the time. The admission reinforced the state’s broader theory about the case — that Trump sought to silence negative stories about him to pave his way to the White House in 2016.
To prove Trump is guilty of the criminal charges he faces, prosecutors must show that their efforts to suppress bad press ran afoul of federal and state election law.
Cohen is expected to be the prosecutor’s last witness before the prosecution ends. Then Trump’s lawyers will have the opportunity to present their own case in defense of the former president — although they are not required to do so, and it is unclear whether they will.
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
