NEW YORK (1010 WINS/WCBS 880) – Michael Cohen, Donald Trump’s former lawyer and fixer, returned to the witness stand on Tuesday and faced a bruising round of questioning from the former president’s lawyers.
Cohen delivered matter-of-fact testimony that went to the heart of the former president’s hush money trial, explaining how he came to turn on Trump. Cohen provided jurors with an insider’s account of payments to silence women’s claims of sexual encounters with Trump. In a stunning show of political support, the GOP front-runner was joined in court by an entourage of Republican leaders, including House Speaker Mike Johnson.
5 P.M. - Court has adjourned for the day
The defense expects cross-examination of Cohen to last until end of day Thursday. According to a transcript of discussions between the judge and lawyers, prosecutor Steinglass told Judge Merchan that it’s “highly likely” the defense will be able to start calling witnesses on Thursday.
But Trump lawyer Blanche he expects the defense’s cross-examination of Cohen to continue until the end of the day Thursday and that they won’t start calling witnesses until next week —if they do at all. In addition, the prosecution could still call rebuttal witnesses once the defense case is finished.
The trial does not take place on Wednesdays and is also off this Friday so Trump can attend his son Barron’s high school graduation.
4:30 P.M. -Cohen hoped to have his sentence reduced
Cohen conceded that after reconnecting with the Manhattan district attorney’s office in early 2021, he wanted the prosecutors’ office to publicly acknowledge that he was cooperating — again in hopes of getting part of his sentence reduced.
But, as has been his approach throughout the early stages of cross-examination, Cohen wasn’t direct in his response. Asked by Trump lawyer Todd Blanche if that was his desire, Cohen said: “I would say so, yes.”
“I’m not trying to put words in your mouth. You wanted that?” Blanche responded.
“Yes,” Cohen said.
Cohen explained that he was looking for a reduction of the home confinement portion of his sentence, which ran until November 2021. He said he wanted the reduction not only as a reward for his cooperation but also because he thought he was entitled to a year off from credits he racked up for working and completing programs in federal prison.
Cohen suggested the federal Bureau of Prisons may have miscalculated his sentence. He remains under court supervision until November.
3:50 P.M. - Defense says there’s still no determination on whether Trump will testify
Earlier Tuesday, Judge Merchan asked Blanche, Trump’s defense lawyer, if there was any indication whether his client would testify, to which Blanche responded: “No.”
“No determination yet?” Merchan clarified, according to a transcript of the sidebar discussion, which was held out of reporters’ earshot.
“No,” Blanche said.
3 P.M. - Things get metaphysical as Cohen hedges his remarks
Before the break, Cohen and Blanche tussled over basic definitional concepts, prompting the exasperated defense lawyer at one point to proclaim, “I’m just trying to ask questions, Mr. Cohen.”
A central dispute was whether there was a meaningful distinction between “a lie” and an inaccurate statement, a discussion brought in the context of false information that Cohen provided years ago about the Trump Tower real estate project in Moscow.
“Yes, the info I gave was not accurate,” Cohen said.
“Is not accurate information a lie?” Blanche asked.
“Sure,” Cohen said. “It was inaccurate, yes.”
“Was it a lie?” Blanche asked.
“I don’t know if I would characterize it as a lie,” Cohen said.
“In your mind, if something’s inaccurate but it’s not a lie, how are you distinguishing that in your head?” Blanche asked.
Cohen appeared to concede the point, or at least try to foreclose further bickering, by saying, “Sure, I’ll say it’s a lie.”
2:45 P.M. - Defense questions Cohen’s past praise for Trump
Q: In "Disloyal" (your book), you described your feelings as being obsessed with Trump, correct?
Cohen: Correct.
Q: You admired him even before you started working for him.
Cohen: Correct.
Q: You said he was a good man?
Cohen: Yes.
Q: A man who cares deeply about this country, who tells it straight?
Cohen: Yes.
Q: Speaks from the heart?
Cohen: I've said that.
Q: Make this country great again?
Cohen: Sounds right, yes. At that time, I was knee-deep into the cult of Donald Trump.
2:20 P.M. - Blanche is trying to show that Cohen has selective memory and is not a reliable witness
Blanche asks Cohen about prosecutors requesting him to refrain from TV appearances after Trump was indicted. Cohen says he doesn't recall any such conversations. Blanche then makes the point, "So you can recall conversations with President Trump back in 2016, but not recall conversations with the DA's office and your lawyer at the time?"
Blanche then asks about the T-shirt Michael Cohen is advertising on his podcast that shows Trump in an orange jumpsuit behind bars. Cohen responds, giving himself a plug, "It's on the Midas Touch Network, and if you go to Mea Culpa, this shirt is available for sale."
Blanche then brings up the site and shows another T-shirt that says "CONVICT 45" and a mug that says "SEND HIM TO THE BIG HOUSE, NOT THE WHITE HOUSE."
2:15 P.M. - The cross-examination gets off to a predictably tense start
Defense attorney Todd Blanche starts off by saying to Cohen, "We've never met before, but on TikTok the other day, you called me a 'crying little s**t'?"
Cohen responds, "That's something I would say..."
"Objection," the prosecutor interjects, and the judge sustains it. Blanche starts asking another question, but the judge asks everyone to approach the bench. There have already been numerous objections from the prosecutors as Blanche questions Cohen about TikTok, discussing witnesses, and following the case on TV news media.
2 P.M. - Trump attorney Todd Blanche begins cross-examining Cohen
Court transcripts indicate that Cohen is the last witness for the prosecution. The defense has started start cross-examination and will continue for most of Thursday.
12:40 P.M. - Cohen says pleading guilty was the "worst day of my life."
Prosecutors are guiding Cohen through his history of legal issues, including all his guilty pleas, his prison sentence, lying to the Mueller investigation, returning to prison, and his cooperation with the New York Attorney General's office and the Manhattan District Attorney's office. Cohen described the day he pleaded guilty as the "worst day of my life."
Cohen later also admitted that he profits from his podcast, "Mea Culpa," named to signify his responsibility and also because they are his initials. He acknowledged discussing Trump on the podcast. Additionally, he admitted to writing books titled "Disloyal" and "Revenge."
12:30 P.M. - Appeals court upholds Trump gag order
Elsewhere Tuesday, a New York appeals court denied and dismissed Trump’s appeal of the gag order in the trial, finding that Judge Merchan properly determined the former president’s public statements “posed a significant threat to the integrity of the testimony of witnesses and potential witnesses.”
12 P.M. - After guilty plea, Trump turned on Cohen
Cohen’s tone shifted — more deliberate and emotional — as he described how his family convinced him to finally turn on Trump after the FBI raided his office, apartment and hotel room in April 2018.Trump bashed his former lawyer on Twitter, writing: “If anyone is looking for a good lawyer I would strongly suggest that you don’t retain the services of Michael Cohen!”
Amid conversations with lawyers, including one connected to Trump loyalist Rudy Giuliani, Cohen said his wife and two children broke through to his sensibilities and made him see how sticking by Trump was detrimental.
“My family, my wife, my daughter, my son, all said to me, ‘Why are you holding onto this loyalty? What are you doing? We’re supposed to be your first loyalty,’” Cohen testified.
Cohen says he came away from the conversation thinking “that it was about time to listen to them” and show loyalty “to my wife, my son, my daughter and my country.”
Cohen pleaded guilty in August 2018 to federal charges involving the hush money payment, Stormy Daniels and other unrelated crimes — he served time in federal prison.
Cohen testified that the tweet, and another noting that “unlike Michael Cohen” former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort “refused to ‘break,’” when fighting his own federal charges, left him feeling like he was out of the fold — abandoned by Trump and his associates.
“It caused a lot of angst, anxiety,” Cohen testified.
11:20 P.M. - A nondisclosure agreement and a restraining order
Cohen ran through the flurry of legal action that ensued as Daniels appeared poised to go public with her story in 2018, culminating in a decision to release her from a nondisclosure agreement — which he says was done to avoid Trump having to answer questions under oath at a deposition.
In an answer that was stricken from the record after a defense objection, Cohen testified that Trump decided to release Daniels from the agreement before he would have been required to appear for a deposition in her lawsuit against him, which had sought to nullify the nondisclosure deal.
“Prior to that date that he was required to sit, the decision was made to terminate the nondisclosure agreement,” Cohen testified.
Daniels had filed the lawsuit through her then-new lawyer Michael Avenatti after Trump had previously sought to enforce the nondisclosure agreement with a temporary restraining order, Cohen testified.
Cohen said Trump and his son Eric Trump had tasked him with seeking the restraining order amid concerns that Daniels would go public with her story, possibly in a “60 Minutes” interview, which she eventually did.
Cohen said he worked with another lawyer to obtain the restraining order but was never able to serve Daniels. When he contacted the lawyer who negotiated the deal for her, Keith Davidson, he said Davidson told him he no longer represented Daniels.
11 A.M. - Cohen testifies to crafting Daniels’ hush money denial
After The Wall Street Journal reported on Jan. 12, 2018, that Cohen had arranged the $130,000 payment to Daniels, Cohen said he felt a second, official statement from Daniels would put an end to the story once and for all.
Cohen testified that he’d heard Daniels was planning to go on Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show at the end of the month and again contacted Davidson about issuing a statement.
The day of Daniels’ appearance, she issued a statement again denying that she had a sexual encounter with Trump and reiterated that she had not been paid “hush money” to deny the claim.
Cohen testified that he knew the statement was false because he had helped craft it, and he knew the payment had been made because he had paid it.
“Was that false?” prosecutor Hoffinger asked of the payment.
“Yes,” Cohen said.
“How do you know?” Hoffinger asked.
“Because I paid it,” Cohen said.
10:50 A.M. - Cohen testified about the Federal Elections Commission investigation
Cohen testified about the Federal Election Commission investigation related to the payment to Stormy Daniels. He stated that after being contacted by the FEC, he had his attorneys draft a letter, and he issued a statement to the press declaring that he used his own funds for the payment, asserting that neither the Trump Organization nor the campaign were involved. He testified that this statement was purposely misleading because it was actually Donald Trump who provided the payment.
According to Cohen, Trump instructed him to inform David Pecker that Jeff Sessions, who was the Attorney General at the time, would handle the matter.
10:45 A.M. - Cohen admits lying to The Wall Street Journal
Cohen testified that he spoke with Trump before making a statement to The Wall Street Journal in January 2018 in which he claimed that he — Cohen — had made the $130,000 payment to Daniels on his own, without Trump knowing about it.
Cohen said he told Trump that he planned to tell the newspaper that he’d “paid the money on his behalf without his knowledge” and that “just because something isn’t true doesn’t mean it can’t hurt you.”
Cohen said Trump responded: “Oh, that’s good. Good.”
Cohen testified that he continued to lie about the Stormy Daniels payment into 2018 “in order to protect Mr. Trump.”
Cohen said he also contacted Keith Davidson, the lawyer who represented Daniels in the hush money deal, and asked him to issue a statement denying Trump’s involvement.
“I was angry and I was concerned,” Cohen testified, adding that he was skeptical of how the story had gotten out.
In a text message shown in court, Davidson told Cohen: “WSJ called stormy. She didn’t answer. They say they are running story & have a deadline of tonight for her to comment.”
“Write a strong denial comment for her like you did before,” Cohen replied.
Cohen later sent a statement to The Wall Street Journal signed by Daniels denying that she had a “sexual and/or romantic affair” with Trump.
10:35 A.M. - Speaker Johnson calls the trial a ‘sham’ outside the courthouse
“The people are losing faith right now in this country, they’re losing faith in our system of justice,” he charged, putting the weight of his powerful office behind the indicted former president and denouncing the criminal proceedings as “not about justice” but rather “all about politics.”
With Trump barred by gag order from attacking witnesses and the judge’s family, Johnson did the dirty work for him. Decrying Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and other court officials as partisans, he honed in on Cohen, the prosecution’s star witness, slamming him as “a man who is clearly on a mission for personal revenge” and “has trouble with the truth.”
“No one should believe a word he says today,” Johnson said.
Standing outside the courthouse, the House speaker showed just how far Trump’s Republican allies are willing to go in their support for the former president as seeks to retake the White House.
“I came here again today on my own to support President Trump because I am one of hundreds of millions of people and one citizen who is deeply concerned about this,” he said.
10:30 A.M. - Cohen testified about lying to congress
Cohen testified that he lied to Congress about the frequency of his conversations with Trump regarding the Trump Tower project in Moscow and the timeframe of those discussions.
Cohen pleaded guilty as part of special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation, admitting that he lied, among other things, about the number of times he spoke with Trump about a real estate project in Moscow.
Asked why he lied, Cohen said, “Because I was staying on Mr. Trump’s message that there was no Russia, Russia, Russia.”
Cohen also explained that at the time he was part of what’s known as a joint defense agreement, in which attorneys for multiple subjects in an investigation work together toward a common purpose and communicate during the course of that probe on strategy.
While Hoffinger appears to be trying to take the sting out of the upcoming cross-examination, likely to delve into Cohen’s past lies, she is also painting him to the jury as someone who’d been a devoted Trump loyalist, whose crimes were committed on the former president’s behalf.
He then testified about an upcoming article regarding a payout to Stormy Daniels. Cohen is reviewing texts to her attorney, stating he needs to issue a strong denial.
10:15 A.M. - Prosecutors review each invoice and check received by Cohen
Prosecutors are walking step-by-step through monthly invoices Cohen sent and checks that he received, having Trump’s former fixer explain the purpose of each document as it is shown to the jury and reading the text contained. It’s the dry paperwork of the business records that prosecutors have made the crux of the case.
Under questioning by prosecutor Susan Hoffinger, Cohen reiterates again and again that he had no retainer agreement with Trump and that the payments were a reimbursement, not for legal services rendered. That testimony is important because prosecutors allege that the reimbursement records falsely described the purpose of the payments as legal expenses done pursuant to a retainer.
“Were the descriptions on this check stub false?” Hoffinger asked.
“Yes,” Cohen said.
“And again, there was no retainer agreement,” Hoffinger asked.
“Correct,” Cohen replied.
All told, Cohen was paid $420,000, with funds drawn from a Trump personable account.
10 A.M. - Cohen says his invoices were false representations
Jurors were shown 2017 correspondence between Cohen and Jeffrey McConney, the then-Trump Organization controller who testified earlier in the trial as a prosecution witness.
In one email, dated Feb. 14, 2017, with the subject line "$$,” Cohen asked McConney to have monthly checks for January and February made payable to him. McConney then asked for invoices so that he could have the checks cut.
Michael Cohen testified that he remitted invoices for payment, which he copied and pasted for subsequent months, for services rendered in January and February 2017.
Q: "For any services rendered?"
Cohen: "No ma'am, per a retainer agreement."
Q: "Was that a truthful statement?"
Cohen: "No ma'am."
Q: "For services rendered?"
Cohen: "No ma'am, it was reimbursement for hush money payment, Red Finch, and the bonus."
Q: "Was this record false?"
Cohen: "Yes ma'am."
Q: "Were each invoice making false representations?"
Cohen: "Yes ma'am."
9:45 A.M. - Michael Cohen resumes testimony, talks payments
Cohen resumed his testimony on the stand, discussing his payment plan. McConney, who was the Trump Organization's comptroller, reminded him to send invoices. On his return to the witness stand on Tuesday, Cohen recalled a meeting in the Oval Office with President Trump in February 2017.
"I was sitting with President Trump and he asked me if I was OK," Cohen told jurors. "He asked me if I needed money, and I said, 'All good,' because I can get a check."
Cohen met with Trump on February 8, 2017, in the Oval Office where Trump inquired if he needed money. Cohen responded that he was okay, and Trump indicated that checks for January and February would be forthcoming and told him to "speak to Allen." After this meeting, prosecutors displayed a photo of Cohen at the lectern in the press briefing room, right outside the Oval Office. Cohen mentioned he had it taken because "It's the White House."
Cohen testified that Trump then instructed him, "OK, make sure you deal with Allen," referring to then-Trump Organization Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg, and confirmed that a check for his January and February payments was on the way.
Under the arrangement for Cohen’s reimbursement, he received $35,000 per month for 12 months, totaling $420,000.
During the same visit to the White House, Cohen posed for a photograph at the lectern in the press briefing room. This photo, extracted from Cohen’s iPhone, was presented in court by the prosecutors.
9:30 A.M. - Trump has entered the courtroom
Donald Trump's son, Eric, is present in the courtroom, seated next to Vivek Ramaswamy. Trump, donning an orange/goldish tie—apparently the same one he wore last Tuesday—commented, "I have a lot of surrogates, and they are speaking very beautifully."
He's accompanied by a large entourage today, with further details forthcoming from another pool reporter.
Addressing the gag order, Trump remarked, "You ask me questions that I’m not allowed to answer. They’re the easiest questions that could possibly be asked."
Trump held a stack of papers, reading quotes from Newt Gingrich, Jeanine Pirro, Gregg Jarrett, John Kennedy, and others. Regarding the business climate in New York, he noted, "The entire world is watching... businesses are leaving New York."
On Judge Engoron:
"He’s under investigation right now, he's under a big investigation, I hear." This may refer to an NBC story reporting that Engoron consulted a lawyer about the fraud case before his ruling.
Trump expressed his opinion on the legal proceedings, stating, "The judge should rule in favor of a directed verdict."
He humorously referred to the courthouse, saying, "I’ve been here for nearly four weeks in the icebox I call it."
Referring to Vivek Ramaswamy, who was also present, Trump said, "Vivek, who’s here right now, so he can speak for himself." Ramaswamy smiled at this comment in the background.