NEW YORK, (Reuters) – Donald Trump’s former fixer Michael Cohen faced aggressive questioning yesterday from the Republican presidential candidate’s defense lawyers, who sought to undermine Cohen’s testimony that Trump was intricately involved in a scheme to buy a porn star’s silence.
Trump attorney Todd Blanche used Cohen’s own words to paint a picture of a turncoat who went from revering the former president to reviling him, even calling Trump a “dictator douchebag,” a “boorish cartoon misogynist” and a “Cheeto-dusted cartoon villain.”
Cohen, who spent more than a decade working as Trump’s fixer, had already answered prosecutors’ questions for about nine hours on the witness stand on Monday and Tuesday.
He testified that Trump ordered him to pay adult film star Stormy Daniels in 2016 to stay quiet about an alleged 2006 sexual encounter, lest it torpedo his presidential campaign, and then approved a plan to reimburse Cohen through a series of bogus invoices.
But Cohen’s checkered history – he served time in federal prison for various crimes, including the hush money payment, and has admittedly lied under oath – offered Trump’s lawyers an obvious target, once they were free to question Cohen themselves.
Through about two hours of cross-examination, Blanche had yet to ask Cohen about the $130,000 payment at the heart of the case, instead combing methodically through Cohen’s extensive public comments about Trump over the years to underscore his transformation from Trump loyalist to foe and his pattern of deception.
Blanche also suggested Cohen was motivated by money, revenge and notoriety rather than justice, asking Cohen about the millions of dollars he earned from two tell-all memoirs and the millions of subscribers to his frequently anti-Trump podcast.
The defense showed jurors pictures of Trump-themed merchandise for sale on Cohen’s website, including mugs reading, “Send him to the big house, not the White House.”
Cohen is the prosecution’s star witness at Trump’s historic trial, which started on April 15 and appears to be nearing an end; prosecutors told the judge on Tuesday that Cohen would be their final witness. His cross-examination will resume on Thursday, after a scheduled day off for the trial on Wednesday.
Prosecutors say Trump paid Cohen back after the election by creating false records indicating they were for legal fees. Those disguised reimbursements provide the basis for the 34 counts of falsifying business records that Trump faces.
Trump, 77, the 2024 Republican presidential candidate, has pleaded not guilty and denies any sexual encounter with Daniels. He has characterized the case as a partisan attempt to interfere with his campaign to take back the White House he lost in 2020 to Democratic President Joe Biden.
Earlier on Tuesday, Cohen described an Oval Office meeting in February 2017 where Trump told him that Cohen would soon receive the first monthly installments of a bonus package, which Cohen said included reimbursements for the Daniels payment.
Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger walked Cohen through a series of invoices and checks – some signed by Trump himself – that Cohen said were falsely marked as paying to retain him for legal services.
“There was no retainer agreement, was there?” Hoffinger asked.
“No, ma’am,” Cohen replied.
