DONALD Trump stared daggers as his former lawyer Michael Cohen gave incriminating testimony in the historic hush-money trial.
Cohen, 57, served as the former president’s attorney from 2006 to 2018 and was an executive vice president of the Trump Organization – an outfit Cohen wryly called a “big family.”
He took the stand at the Manhattan courtroom, coming face-to-face with his former boss, testifying that his job was to do “whatever” Trump wanted.
“The only thing that was on my mind was to accomplish the task, to make him happy,” Cohen told jurors.
As part of the Trump Organization, Cohen said he had easy access to the former president, who had an open-door policy in office so executives could meet with him without an appointment.
“It was fantastic,” Cohen testified, calling the Trump Organization “a big family.”
“Working for him, especially during those 10 years, was an amazing experience in many, many ways.”
Cohen went into detail on Trump’s reported affair with Playboy bunny Karen McDougal who claimed to have slept with the former president.
At the time, Trump’s wife, Melania, was pregnant with their son Barron.
Trump told Cohen to “make sure it doesn’t get released,” referring to the story of the reported affair, Cohen testified.
A month before Trump formally accepted the Republican Party’s presidential nomination, Cohen was trying to ensure that McDougal wouldn’t go public with her story.
He said that Trump ordered him to pay David Pecker, the then-publisher of the National Enquirer, to squash the story, playing a recording in the courtroom of Trump advising Cohen to “pay in cash.”
Cohen was also at the beck and call of former First Lady Melania Trump with records showing that he would answer her messages almost immediately, doing whatever she needed.
In late 2016, during Trump’s successful bid for the White House, Cohen said that he paid adult film actress Stormy Daniels $130,000 to keep quiet about a supposed affair she had with Trump in 2006.
Cohen testified that Trump told him that he was advised to pay Daniels, reminding him that he was a billionaire.
“Just do it,” Cohen recounted Trump saying.
Cohen said that he and Allen Weisselberg, the then-chief financial officer of the Trump Organization, spoke about generating the $130,000 through a membership request event.
He testified that he decided to pay the money from his own pocket, adding that Weisselberg told him, “I’ll make sure you get paid back.”
Cohen told the court that he alerted Trump about the decision, to which he was happy about saying, “good, good.”
Trump also told Cohen that he would be repaid, according to Cohen’s testimony.
“I was doing everything that I could and more in order to protect my boss, which was something I had done for a long time,” said Cohen.
A look at who has testified against Donald Trump during his hush money trial
Donald Trump was indicted by a grand jury on March 30, 2023, for allegedly falsifying business records to cover up hush-money payments and he pleaded not guilty. His trial began a year later, on April 15, 2024, and several people have since taken the stand.
David Pecker
Pecker has a long career in media, previously serving as the publisher of several outlets, including Men’s Fitness, Star, and the National Enquirer. He was the first witness to take the stand against Trump, during which time he detailed their relationship. A long-time Trump ally, Pecker was accused of buying the rights to negative stories to bury them, in a strategy known as “catch-and-kill.” He admitted to buying the rights to Karen McDougal’s story for $150,000 but later declined to do the same with Stormy Daniels’ story, telling jurors “I said, I don’t want the National Enquirer to be associated with a porn star. Our largest retailer is Walmart … This would be very bad for the magazine, very bad for American Media and I don’t want any affiliation,” according to CBS News.
Hope Hicks
Hope Hicks served as a public relations executive and political advisor for Trump from 2017 to 2018 and then again from 2020 to 2021. She took the stand on May 3, 2024, and recalled the chaos that occurred after Access Hollywood released an explicit tape that threatened his presidential campaign. Trump was heard on the tape bragging about grabbing women, saying things like, “When you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything.” Hicks said that she learned of the story from a Washington Post reporter, testifying that she “had a good sense to believe this was going to be a massive story and that it was going to dominate the news cycle for the next several days,” adding that it was a “damaging development” because the 2016 election was only a month away. “He wanted to make sure that there was a denial of any kind of relationship,” Hicks continued, explaining that she thought he was concerned about his family’s reputation. “I don’t think he wanted anyone in his family to be hurt or embarrassed by anything that was happening on the campaign trail. He wanted them to be proud of him,” she continued.
Stormy Daniels
Former adult film star Stormy Daniels took the stand on May 7, 2024. For years she has been accused of lying about her alleged 2006 affair with the twice-impeached former president but hit back at those claims during a cross-examination, telling the court, “The sex in my films is real like just like happened in that hotel room.” During her testimony, she revealed details of the alleged encounter, telling the jury that she spanked Trump with a rolled-up magazine before they went on to have full, unprotected sex in the “missionary position.” Trump could be seen on the sidelines looking visibly uncomfortable during this time.
Michael Cohen
Trump’s former attorney and ‘fixer,’ Michael Cohen, took the stand on May 13, 2024, and testified that his job was to do “whatever” Trump wanted. “The only thing that was on my mind was to accomplish the task, to make him happy,” Cohen said. He then went on to detail Trump’s alleged affair with McDougal, claiming that the former president told him to “make sure [the story] doesn’t get released.” Cohen previously spent three years behind bars for arranging payments to silence women who claimed to have had affairs. He also lied to Congress in 2016 and admitted to violating campaign finance laws, allegedly at Trump’s direction. Cohen recalled most of these events in his 2020 book, Disloyal.
However, he added that he wouldn’t pay $130,000 in hush money on someone else’s behalf without expecting that he would be repaid.
Cohen went to prison for arranging payments to Daniels and for lying to Congress in 2016, following an investigation led by Special Counsel Robert Meuller into Russian interference in the election.
Cohen said in a statement that he violated campaign finance laws “for the principal purpose of influencing” the 2016 presidential election under Trump’s direction.
In 2018, he pleaded guilty to several charges including tax evasion, making false statements to a financial institution, and breaching the Federal Election Campaign Act.
Trump, 77, is facing 34 counts of falsifying business records relating to the hush-money payment Cohen made to Daniels.
He has pleaded not guilty and continues to deny that the two ever had sex.
If convicted, Trump could serve up to four years in prison.
Trump’s son, Eric, and Ohio State Senator JD Vance, who is rumored to be a possible contender for Trump’s running mate, were present in the courtroom.
Can Donald Trump still be president if he is convicted before the election?
The U.S. Sun spoke to a legal expert on the question of whether Donald Trump can still serve as president if he is in prison.
“If Donald Trump is found guilty, even if he’s sentenced to prison, which is unlikely in the New York case, he can still be president,” former prosecutor Neama Rahmani told The U.S. Sun.
“There’s nothing prohibiting a convicted felon from being president of the United States.
“Theoretically, Trump could be in prison and still be president of the United States, earning the Constitution.
“The only requirements are that he be 35 and be born in the United States and not have engaged in an insurrection.”
The two appeared to share updates on the trial over X, formerly known as Twitter, despite violating the court‘s rules.
“I have never seen anything more rehearsed!” Eric tweeted.
EYE OF THE STORM
Last week, Stormy Daniels testified about her reported affair with Trump, claiming that he would compare her to his daughter Ivanka.
Daniels also shared great detail on how she spanked the former President with a rolled-up magazine – that had his face on the cover – before having unprotected sex.
“I had my clothes and my shoes off,” said Daniels. “I removed my bra. We were in the missionary position.”
During the testimony, Trump growled curses under his breath and shook his head as Daniels revealed how she asked him about his wife on that day in 2006.
The actress said Trump told her he and Melania didn’t “even sleep in the same room.”
Trump muttered “bulls**t” in disgust before being reprimanded by Judge Juan Merchan.
