NEW YORK — The prosecution’s star witness in Donald Trump’s secret trial is expected to take the stand on Monday with testimony that could help shape the outcome of the first criminal case against an American president.
Michael Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer and personal advisor, is by far the Manhattan district attorney’s most important witness in the case and his expected appearance signals that the trial is entering its final stretch. Prosecutors say they could finish presenting evidence by the end of the week.
Cohen is expected to testify about his role in arranging secret payments on Trump’s behalf during his first presidential campaign, including to porn actress Stormy Daniels, who told jurors last week that the $130,000 she received in 2016 their aim was to prevent her from going public. about a sexual encounter she says she had with Trump in a hotel suite a decade earlier.
He is also important because the refunds he received form the basis of the charges – 34 criminal counts of falsifying business records – against Trump. Prosecutors say the reimbursements were recorded as legal expenses to hide the true purpose of the payments.
Defense lawyers prepared a blunt cross-examination of Cohen, telling jurors during opening statements that the middleman-turned-enemy is a “confessed liar” with an “obsession with getting President Trump.”
Testimony from a witness with such intimate knowledge of Trump’s activities could increase the presumptive Republican presidential nominee’s legal exposure if jurors find him sufficiently credible. But politically, prosecutors’ confidence in a witness with such a troubled past — Cohen has pleaded guilty to federal charges related to the payments and to lying to Congress — could be a boon for Trump as he raises funds for his legal troubles and paints the picture. case as the product of a tainted criminal justice system.
Either way, his role as the prosecution’s star witness further cements the disintegration of a mutually beneficial relationship that was once so close that Cohen famously said he would “take a shot for Trump.” After Cohen’s home and office were raided by the FBI in 2018, Trump showered him with love on social media, praising him as a “good person with a wonderful family” and predicting — incorrectly — that Cohen would not “turn.” .
Months later, Cohen did just that, pleading guilty in August to federal campaign finance charges in which he implicated Trump. At this point, the relationship was irrevocably broken, with Trump posting on the social media platform then known as Twitter: “If anyone is looking for a good lawyer, I strongly suggest they do not retain the services of Michael Cohen!”
Cohen later admitted to lying to Congress about a Moscow real estate project he had developed on Trump’s behalf during the heat of the 2016 Republican campaign. He said he lied to be consistent with Trump’s “political message.”
Prosecutors are expected to obtain detailed statements from Cohen about his past crimes, hoping to lessen the impact of the defense attorneys’ cross-examination and show that they are not trying to hide his crimes. But it’s unclear how effective that will be, given that defense lawyers will be prepared to explore all the challenges that come with a witness like Cohen.
In addition to painting Cohen as untrustworthy, they are also expected to see him as vindictive, vindictive, and agenda-driven. Since the fallout, Cohen has emerged as a relentless and sometimes rude critic of Trump, appearing as recently as last week on a Tik Tok live, wearing a shirt featuring a Trump-like figure with his hands cuffed, behind bars. The judge on Friday asked prosecutors to tell him to refrain from making any further statements about the case or about Trump.
“He spoke extensively about his desire to see President Trump go to prison,” Trump attorney Todd Blanche said during opening statements. “He spoke extensively about his desire to see President Trump’s family go to prison. He spoke extensively about the conviction of President Trump in this case.”
Regardless of how his testimony unfolds, Cohen is indisputably central to the case, as evidenced by the fact that his name was mentioned in the presence of the jury during opening statements more than 130 times – more than any other person.
Other witnesses, including former National Enquirer editor David Pecker and former Trump adviser Hope Hicks, testified at length about the role Cohen played in trying to suppress stories that were feared to be damaging to Trump’s 2016 candidacy. .And jurors heard an audio recording of Trump and Cohen discussing a plan to buy the rights to a story from a Playboy model, Karen McDougal, who said she had an affair with Trump.
During a large rally Saturday in the southern New Jersey resort town of Wildwood, Trump revived his criticism of the case, wrongly blaming President Joe Biden for orchestrating the New York indictments, calling the case a “Biden show trial.” .
This argument ignores the reality that the silence case was brought by local prosecutors in Manhattan who do not work for the Department of Justice or any other White House office. The Justice Department said the White House had no involvement in the two criminal cases against Trump brought by special counsel Jack Smith.
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