By Aaron Miller-
Michael Cohen, the former lawyer for Donald Trump, has testified that he submitted phoney invoices for legal services to cover up reimbursements for a $130,000 hush-money payment to the adult film actor Stormy Daniels on Trump’s behalf.
Cohen repeatedly stressed that he paid the $130K hush money to Stormy Daniels to protect Trump from losing the election. Cohen said he got the money to Daniels “to ensure that the story…would not affect Mr Trump’s chances of becoming president”.
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Cohen said repayments began shortly after an 8 February 2017 meeting with Trump in the Oval Office, where he said the then-president “asked me if I needed money” and told him “just make sure you deal with Allen” Weisselberg, then the Trump Organization’s CFO, who was recently jailed for lying at his former boss’s civil fraud trial.
Cohen testified that invoices for $35,000 each month to the then Trump Organization controller, Jeffrey McConney, were false record and not for legal services.
Cohen said it was for “the reimbursement, to me, of the hush-money fee along with [another expense] and the bonus”.
Cohen confirmed that descriptions in emails, invoices, pay documents, were all false.
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Cohen’s testimony appeared to make clear that the invoices were not for legal services, either as Trump’s personal counsel or for Trump’s wife, Melania.
Cohen detailed how he tried to mislead federal investigators about the Daniels payment in the wake of news articles detailing the transaction – and his public admission that he, not Trump, did the deal. He said it was designed “in order to protect Mr Trump, to stay on message, in order to demonstrate loyalty”.
Cohen also admitted that he lied to Congress during an investigation into potential ties between Russia and the 2016 Trump campaign.
“I was staying on Mr. Trump’s message that there was no Russia, Russia, Russia,” he told the jury.
Cohen expressed regret for the “lying, bullying” that he had done on Trump’s behalf, adding that he had “violated my moral compass” for Trump.
He testified that it was his family that persuaded him to stop protecting his former boss. “‘Why are you holding on to this loyalty? What are you doing? We’re supposed to be your first loyalty,” he said his family asked him.
Cohen’s credibility was questioned under cross examination as Trump’s attorney brought up his many social media comments bashing the former president, as well as attempting to show Cohen is motivated by publicity.
Cohen admitted that he would like to see Trump convicted in this trial. “It sounds like something I would say,” he responded to Trump attorney Todd Blanche.
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