Donald TrumpUS attorneys are expected to deliver the final blow to the credibility of Michael Cohen, the ex-lawyer and fixer who facilitated the $130,000 hush-money payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels, as the criminal case against the former president ends on Monday resumes. .
The defense team has already taken several steps to undermine Cohen’s testimony, which is at the heart of the case.
He was ordered to confirm last week that the hush money was part of a bona fide settlement agreement, in an effort to refute prosecutors’ claims that recording the payment as legal fees was fraudulent.
Related: Trump’s hush money trial: Here’s what’s happened in the case so far
Cohen also faced accusations that he lied when it suited his needs: lying to Congress about a Trump real estate deal in Moscow, to a federal judge in 2018, and in his testimony to prosecutors about Trump’s involvement in the hush money . deal – the latter of which he denied.
When Cohen returns to the stand for more cross-examination in the first criminal trial of a U.S. president, it will be his fourth and likely final day of testimony. After Cohen is done, the prosecution is expected to rest its case.
Whether Trump will testify in his own defense remains uncertain, even though Trump has suggested he wants to take the stand. If Trump does not testify, closing arguments in the case could follow on Tuesday. Because court is not in session on Wednesday, the jury can begin deliberating on Thursday.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying corporate records. Prosecutors must prove that Trump authorized what he knew to be hush-money refunds to be falsely labeled as “legal fees” in the Trump Organization’s records with the intent to commit a second crime.
The criminal case against Trump stems from his efforts to suppress negative stories about alleged sexual encounters he had with Daniels and others, fearing they could negatively impact his campaign just weeks before the 2016 election.
Cohen has been perhaps the most crucial witness for the prosecution, as he remains the only person to directly tie Trump to the hush money deal. But he is far from the ideal person to provide evidence, due to the fertile ground for the defense to question his honesty and motivations.
The motivation for Cohen to lie in his testimony, Trump’s lead attorney Todd Blanche suggested, was to see Trump go to prison after the then-president abandoned him when federal prosecutors charged him with tax evasion and false statements six years ago .
Blanche suggested that Cohen lied during the trial about several things from the time of the hush money deal: that he didn’t want a job in the White House, which they said contradicted his private messages at the time, and that he didn’t want a job. pardon, when he asked his lawyers to explore such a possibility.
Blanche also accused Cohen of lying about a key piece of testimony: Cohen’s claim that when he called Trump’s then-bodyguard Keith Schiller on October 24, 2016, it was to notify Trump that he was continuing to pay hush money to Daniels .
But Blanche offered an alternative explanation. Based on Cohen’s text messages to Schiller, Blanche suggested that Cohen had actually called Schiller to complain about a 14-year-old’s pranks, and that the phone was too short — one minute and thirty seconds — to tell Trump about the deal. have told.
“You can admit” that you lied, Blanche said, raising her voice. “No sir, I can’t,” Cohen replied.
