(AFP) – For more than a decade Michael Cohen worked his way into Donald Trump’s inner circle, a loyal attack dog who fought vehemently on behalf of his boss.In return he wanted what any hound desires — a treat, a pat on the head, or at least a moment in the sun.
On Monday the latter was his, though perhaps not as he’d originally envisioned. Cohen took the stand as the star witness in the former president’s criminal trial, painstakingly spelling out how he paid an adult film actress hush money at Trump’s behest.
The highly anticipated showdown between the two New Yorkers saw Cohen, sporting a pink tie and calm yet hungry demeanor, on the witness stand as Trump was forced to watch on from the defense counsel table.The two did not interact save for darting glances from Cohen — who once prided himself as a consigliere to the mogul-turned-president — at the man he has since described as a “mob boss.”
The state of New York accuses Trump of falsifying business records to reimburse Cohen for a $130,000 hush-money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels just before the 2016 election, when her account of a sexual encounter with Trump could have doomed his campaign.And Cohen is the linchpin of their case. In his first day of marathon testimony, he described going to great, criminal lengths to shield the then-Republican nominee.
“I was doing everything I could and more in order to protect my boss, which was something I had done for a long time,” he explained.Asked to describe the feeling he derived from Trump’s approval — “it’s fantastic, it’s great,” the real estate magnate would say after a job well-done — Cohen said he’d get a high “like I was on top of the world.”And as the Trump campaign’s handle on the Daniels story began to spiral out of control, Cohen’s boss told him “just take care of it.”
So Cohen did: he said he created a bank account under a limited liability company he’d established to funnel the hush-money payments, funding the transaction with his home-equity line of credit and thereby hiding from his wife the sum he was putting up to protect Trump.At least he expected reimbursement — and perhaps a little gravy.
– ‘Personally insulted’ -Cohen’s hours of testimony, which will continue Tuesday, connected the dots between the witnesses who preceded him — several of whom painted a less-than-flattering portrait of Trump’s right-hand man.But whether jurors will believe him is up for grabs. The defense is expected to try discredit Cohen’s account by pointing to a history of dishonesty and manipulation, while fostering an image of a disgruntled ex-employee.
The prosecution is seeking to inoculate such accusations by laying it out from the beginning, allowing Cohen to describe in his own words how he lied and bullied as part of the job, only to be “personally insulted” by the man he devoted everything to.
After Trump’s election win, Cohen did not get the chief of staff job — but he said all he really wanted was to “be considered.””It was more about my ego than anything,” he told the court.But he was hoping to get a position as personal counsel to the president — and to be paid back.
In the meantime, as Trump jetted off for Christmas in Mar-a-Lago, holiday bonuses came along.Cohen was left beyond disappointed by his check.”The best that you get for showing loyalty, the best that you get for extending yourself like I did, is to cut your bonus by two-thirds?” he said, seemingly still incredulous, in court. “I was, even for myself, unusually angry,” he continued. “It wasn’t even so much about the number as it was about the sort of disrespect that came with it.”
Under oath in court years later, his anger remained palpable even under his even-tempered veneer.At the time he says he let out his fury on Allen Weisselberg, then the Trump Organization’s finance chief, who is now serving a jail sentence for perjury.Weisselberg vowed Cohen would be taken care of, and thus began the reimbursement plan that forms the crux of the charges.And, Cohen said, Trump was always in the loop.
Cohen described meeting Weisselberg to discuss the scheme on the 26th floor of Trump Tower, with the president-elect present to greenlight the arrangement.Trump “approved it,” Cohen said, before bantering to his then-middleman that “this is going to be one heck of a ride in DC.” – Maggy DONALDSON
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