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Michael Cohen testified that he would benefit financially if Donald Trump is acquitted.
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It gives him more to talk about in his podcasts and in a future book.
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Cohen won’t shut up anytime soon; he said he might run for U.S. Congress.
Michael Cohen wants to see Donald Trump behind bars.
But if the former president is acquitted in his ongoing hush-money trial, Cohen would likely be better off financially, he testified Monday morning.
When asked by Trump’s lawyer Todd Blanche whether a conviction would benefit Cohen financially, he said the opposite was true.
“The answer is ‘no,’” Cohen said.
If Trump goes free, Cohen may be able to make more money from his podcast and a possible third book.
“For me, it’s better if he isn’t because it gives me more to talk about in the future,” Cohen said.
Blanche completed his third day of cross-examining Cohen on Monday, attempting to portray him to jurors as a liar and a villain seeking revenge on Trump.
The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office accused Trump of falsifying 34 business documents to reimburse Cohen for hush money payments to Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 election. Trump’s lawyers have said Cohen went rogue in making the hush money payments and that Trump was not involved in the plan.
Cohen, a former personal attorney to Trump and the director of the Trump Organization, has had his own share of legal troubles.
He pleaded guilty in 2018 to violating campaign finance laws with the payment of hush money, as well as to a series of tax crimes and lying to Congress about Trump’s business dealings.
In the years since Cohen has become an angry Trump critic. He served a stint in prison, has written two books – “Disloyal” and “Revenge” – and hosts two podcasts about his decade-long journey in Trump’s orbit.
Blanche suggested in his cross-examination that Cohen’s media output gives him a financial stake in the outcome of the criminal trial.
Cohen has stated that as of September 2020, he has earned approximately $4.4 million from sales of books, his podcasts, and sales of podcast-affiliated merchandise.
Cohen lost his law license as a result of his guilty pleas and testified that he sold several properties he owned. Nearly all of his income comes from book sales and podcast deals, with additional money from a lease on a leftover investment property he owns, and an additional negligible amount from TikTok, he testified.
He also dabbled in a reality show about his life called “The Fixer,” he said on the witness stand Monday. No studio has picked it up yet, he said.
Cohen said that regardless of how the trial turns out, he would talk about the case. He said he is considering writing a third book and running for U.S. Congress.
“Whether Mr. Trump is ultimately found innocent or guilty will have no bearing on whether I speak about it or not,” Cohen said.
Read the original article on Business Insider
