At Donald Trump’s criminal trial, his former confidant who became his first accuser, Michael Cohen, is under fire Thursday from the defense of the former American president in an attempt to make him flinch.
The one who described himself as the man of bad tricks, capable of “lying” or “intimidating” on behalf of his former boss, is the last piece of the puzzle deployed by the prosecutors of the New York justice system to convince the jury that Donald Trump approved the concealed payment of $130,000 to porn actress Stormy Daniels at the very end of the 2016 presidential campaign.
Donald Trump’s lawyer, Todd Blanche, resumed his cross-examination with Michael Cohen on Thursday morning to seek to prove that the former personal adviser to the former American president was not a man worthy of belief.
He questioned him at length about his lies to the US Congress in 2018 – facts which have nothing to do with the current trial and for which he was sentenced to prison.
“I have agreed to take responsibility,” replied Mr. Cohen.
“Take down” Trump
The defense also played excerpts from a 2020 episode of a Michael Cohen podcast in which he said about Donald Trump: “You better believe in my will to bring this man down. »
The trial, which since April 15 has forced the Republican candidate for the 2024 presidential election to sit and listen to the debates in silence in a courtroom with an outdated decor on 15e floor of the Manhattan court, could accelerate.
Donald Trump’s team of lawyers has still not indicated whether it intends to call his client to the stand and has only confirmed one witness for the moment. Then, the jurors will hear the final arguments and will deliberate, with the difficult task of finding guilty or not guilty a former president of the United States, in the middle of a campaign to return to the White House.
During nearly eight hours of hearing Monday and Tuesday – Wednesday is the judicial break day – the billionaire’s ex-personal lawyer incriminated him at length.
Michael Cohen claimed to have acted under his direction when he paid porn actress and director Stormy Daniels at the end of 2016, via a shell company, to buy her silence about a sexual relationship she claims to have had in 2006 with the businessman, then already married to Melania Trump.
To ensure, he said, “that the story would not come out, and would not affect Donald Trump’s chances of becoming president of the United States.”
In a calm tone, unlike the tempestuous and excessive man described by certain witnesses, Mr. Cohen also reiterated that Donald Trump had validated his reimbursement in 2017, when he was in the White House.
Expenses disguised as “legal fees” in the accounts of the Trump Organization, hence the prosecution for accounting falsifications which could earn the defendant the first criminal conviction of a former president of the United States.
Even sentenced to prison, Donald Trump could continue to campaign and face the voters on November 5.
Jurors will likely decide before the first televised debate on June 27 between Joe Biden and Donald Trump.
Thirst for revenge
Donald Trump’s lawyers launched hostilities on Tuesday against Michael Cohen, portrayed as a manipulator and pathological liar, condemned by the courts and obsessed by his thirst for revenge against his former boss.
They continue on Thursday to try to make him flinch by insisting in particular on Mr. Cohen’s first version: he first assured in 2018 that he had paid Stormy Daniels on his own initiative, without informing his boss.
He then turned around after being caught by the courts, who sentenced him, in particular for this hidden payment, to three years in prison, including 13 months actually behind bars.
“My family, my wife, my daughter, my son all said to me, ‘Why are you holding on to this loyalty?’ » towards Donald Trump, said Michael Cohen.
Her testimony followed that of Stormy Daniels, who forcefully delivered her version of her relationship with Donald Trump and the reasons which pushed her to negotiate her silence.
A myriad of other protagonists were also called to the stand, such as the former boss of a tabloid, who had “bought” other scandals to prevent them from tarnishing the Republican candidate.