He used to be his “fixer”, then he became a “rat”. At least that’s the view of Donald Trump (77), who is on trial in New York for an earlier hush money payment.
I saw his ex-lawyer Michael Cohen (57) in the New York County criminal courthouse in Lower Manhattan as he became a star witness in the criminal proceedings. Cohen transferred $130,000 in hush money to porn star Stormy Daniels (45) during the 2016 election campaign finale so that she would keep quiet about an alleged sex meeting with Trump. According to the indictment, the Republican then covered up the repayment of the sum and falsified business documents.
Cohen was critical for the prosecution: he was supposed to pull the strings in the case. But the lawyer – who once wanted to “take a bullet” for his boss, but then became a mortal enemy – is considered controversial as a convicted criminal himself. One former witness even called him a “bastard”. The hostile men were only a few meters apart. Cohen was asked to identify the defendant. “Blue and white tie,” he said. Trump stared at first, later closing his eyes…
Cohen initially felt that working for Trump was a “great experience”, as if he was “part of a big family”, he was close to tears. But he also admitted that he lied and bullied for him “to make the boss happy”. He busily collected 30,000 address book entries, earning half a million dollars a year.
Cohen then described a critical meeting with Trump and David Pecker (72) in 2015, in which the tabloid king promised to keep an eye out for scandalous stories in addition to placing positive stories in gossip magazines such as the National Enquirer.
Cohen was informed about an alleged Trump affair with Playboy model Karen McDougal (53). When he asked Trump about it, he said: “She’s really beautiful!” In the end, Pecker paid her $150,000 and buried the story.
The lawyer then secretly recorded Trump at a meeting. He informed him that he wanted to set up a company to repay the sum to “our friend David”. When Cohen spoke about the money, Trump was coy: “What funding?” There was apparently also concern about a “vault full of Trump filth” at the National Enquirer. And what would happen if Pecker “got under a truck”, as Trump put it. They wanted to transfer the rights to scandal stories to a new company. “Pay with cash,” was all Trump said. But that never happened.
Things got dicey during the election campaign in early October 2016 when the “Access Hollywood Tape” with Trump’s bragging about sexual assaults was leaked. According to Cohen, Trump’s wife Melania had the idea of trivializing the “grab them by the pussy” comments as men talking in the locker room.
Promptly, the next bombshell: porn star Stormy Daniels! During the tug-of-war over the Stormy deal, the lawyer asked Trump what Melania would say. Then the key witness: “It wasn’t about Melania for him, it was just about the election campaign”.
A success for the prosecutors: they want to prove that Trump did not act out of concern for his marriage, but wanted to influence the election campaign. Trump’s son Eric (40) reacted promptly: Cohen’s statement was “totally rehearsed”, he posted. Cohen had initially stated that Trump was less afraid of his wife Melania (54) during the raunchy episodes than he was worried about his election chances. At least according to Cohen, who orchestrated hush deals with two women, Karen McDougal (53) and porn star Stormy Daniels (45).
Cohen had founded the company “Essential Consultants LLC” for the transfer of $130,000 to Daniels. When opening a bank account, however, he concealed the true purpose of the company. Cohen said, “If I had said it was for a hush deal with a porn star, the bank would probably have refused to open the account!”
After an initial delaying tactic, Daniels didn’t want to wait any longer. Her lawyer told Cohen that she no longer felt bound by the draft contract and wanted to sell the story to the Daily Mail. Her hat was on fire! Cohen was glued to the phone. He received a text from Melania: “Good morning, can you please call DT on your cell?” (DT for Donald Trump).
Trump then repeated conversations with advisers who advised him he was a billionaire after all and $130,000 wasn’t a lot of money. Trump then said, “Just do it!” Cohen agreed to advance the sum privately. Trump promised to pay him back: “You’ll get your money back,” he is said to have said. The lawyer took the amount from a current home loan. Cohen said, “I couldn’t take it from our joint account because of my wife…”
Cohen obtained Trump’s confirmation before transferring the money. “Nothing happened here without his approval – and I wanted the money back!” Finally, the contract with Stormy and the money transfer were finalized and the pseudonym David Dennison was invented for Trump in the contract. Cohen signed for him.
Trump won the election. However, Cohen was bitterly disappointed when he hoped in vain for a position as a White House advisor. Another punch in the gut: Trump had cut Cohen’s annual bonus by two-thirds. “I was angrier than usual, even by my standards,” he said to laughter in the room. It was only with the help of outsiders that he was later able to agree with Trump that he would be paid $420,000 – including the “Stormy money”. The sum was doubled due to tax considerations. A bonus was also included. Over the course of a year, Trump paid $35,000 per month by check. Subject: “Legal advice”. It is precisely from this that the Trump public prosecutor’s office wants to frame him. Cohen has so far proved to be an effective witness. But the cross-examination is yet to come.
Trump had mostly demonstratively closed his eyes. It must have been difficult for him to remain silent here.
