Trump trial: Ex-fixer Michael Cohen to testify as star witness in hush money case

Michael
Cohen,
who
spent
years
working
as
the
personal
lawyer
and
fixer
for

Donald
Trump,
is
set
to
testify
Monday
against
the
former
president
in
what
could
be
the
most
critical
moment
of
Trump’s
New
York

criminal
hush
money
trial.

Once
slavishly
devoted
to
Trump,
Cohen
is
now
his
avowed
enemy.
Cohen
will
tell
jurors
about
how
he
paid

porn
star
Stormy
Daniels
$130,000
shortly
before
the
2016
presidential
election,
in
exchange
for
her
silence
about
a
one-night
stand
she
had
with
Trump
a
decade
earlier.

Trump’s
reimbursement
of
Cohen
for
that
payoff
while
he
was
serving
in
the
White
House
is
the
basis
for
the
Manhattan
District
Attorney’s

case
against
the
ex-president.

The
Trump
Organization
reported
the
Daniels-related
reimbursements
to
Cohen
as
legal
expenses.
But
D.A.
Alvin
Bragg
alleges
that
this
constituted
a
crime,
falsification
of
business
records,
committed
by
Trump
to
hide
the
fact
that
the
hush
money
had
protected
his
then-wobbling
presidential
candidate
at
a
key
moment.

Trump,
who
denies
having
sex
with
Daniels,
says
the
felony
charges
are
bogus.
The
presumptive
Republican
presidential
nominee
calls
them
an
effort
by
a
Democratic
prosecutor
to
damage
his
chances
to
win
the
upcoming
election
against
President

Joe
Biden.

Cohen,
who
in
the
past
has
said
he
had
a “blind
loyalty”
to
Trump
while
working
for
him,
is
expected
to
testify
in
Manhattan
Supreme
Court
for
several
days.

On
Monday,
he
will
be
questioned
by
Assistant
District
Attorney
Susan
Hoffinger,
who
has
been
preparing
him
for
his
turn
on
the
witness
stand
for
the
past
year,
NBC
News
reported.

In
addition
to
the
payment
to
Daniels,
Cohen
was
closely
involved
in
the
arrangement
of
another
hush
money
payment,
to
Playboy
model
Karen
McDougal,
by
the
publisher
of
The
National
Enquirer
in
2016
in
exchange
for
her
story
of
an
affair
with
Trump.

After
Hoffinger
finishes
her
first
round
of
questioning,
Trump’s
defense
lawyer
Todd
Blanche
will
cross-examine
Cohen.

Blanche
is
expected
to
hammer
away
at
Cohen’s
self-admitted
history
of
lying
—
often
in
the
service
of
Trump
—
and
his
federal
criminal
guilty
plea
to
tax
crimes
and
campaign
finance
violations
in
connection
with
the
Stormy
Daniels
hush
money
payment.

“He’s
a
convicted
felon.
And
he
also
is
a
convicted
perjurer.
He
is
an
admitted
liar,”
Blanche
said
in
his
opening
statement
about
Cohen
at
the
start
of
the
trial.

On
Friday,
Blanche
asked
Judge
Juan
Merchan
to
slap
a
gag
order
on
Cohen,
who
has
been
an
outspoken
critic
of
Trump.
The
former
president
himself
is
subject
to
a
gag
order
about
witnesses
in
the
case.

Merchan
did
not
agree
to
gag
Cohen,
but
he
did
tell
Bragg’s
prosecution
team
to
let
Cohen
know
that
the
judge
wanted
him
to
stop
making
public
statements
about
Trump,
or
anything
else
in
the
case.

This
is
developing
news.
Check
back
for
updates.