Is ex-Trump lawyer Michael Cohen too flawed to be a star witness?
- Michael Cohen to testify in Trump’s New York City hush money case
- Prosecution predicts Cohen's testimony to be both true and corroborated
- Defense says he's an unreliable witness due to previous convictions
Michael Cohen arrives at New York Supreme Court for former President Donald Trump’s civil business fraud trial, Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2023, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
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(NewsNation) — Donald Trump’s former attorney and “fixer” Michael Cohen is expected to play a crucial role as a witness in the former president’s alleged hush money trial which began Monday.
Trump’s attorney, Todd Blanche, moved to block testimony from Cohen in February, but the judge denied the motion.
Cohen has relationships with nearly everyone involved in the case against Trump, stemming from his years as Trump’s attorney, even saying he would take a bullet from him at one point.
Trump’s trial revolves around payments made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels aimed at concealing an alleged sexual encounter with Trump, who was then a presidential candidate in the 2016 election.
Cohen’s role in the case
Cohen allegedly made $130,000 in payments on behalf of Trump to keep Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, from going public, a month before Trump’s 2016 election campaign, with her claims of a sexual encounter with the married mogul a decade earlier.
Prosecutors claim the payments to Cohen were falsely logged as legal fees to cloak their actual purpose.
Trump’s lawyers say the disbursements were legal expenses, not a cover-up.
What to expect in Cohen’s testimony?
Cohen is expected to testify that he paid Daniels on Trump’s behalf to keep Daniels from opening up about an alleged affair.
Trump maintains that never happened and the money transferred to Cohen was not reimbursement, but rather a legal expense.
The prosecution predicts Cohen’s testimony to be both true and corroborated.
However, Trump’s legal team has argued that Cohen’s history is questionable due to past instances of lying and suggested he’d do it again.
Cohen’s credibility
Trump and his attorneys are questioning Cohen’s credibility on the stand.
In 2018, Cohen pleaded guilty to eight counts, including criminal tax evasion and campaign finance violations. He was charged with concealing more than $4 million from the Internal Revenue Service from 2012 to 2016.
The former lawyer was also charged with influencing the 2016 election by making two payments to women on what he claimed was Trump’s behalf.
