Former Fixer Cohen Testifies Trump Approved Hush Money Payment

AFP/APP

New York: Donald Trump’s one-time fixer and the star prosecution witness at the former president’s criminal trial testified Monday how the then-Republican candidate directed him to pay a porn actress to bury revelations of an alleged tryst.

Michael Cohen, who once took pride in being Trump’s attack dog, methodically delivered evidence against his former boss, glancing at Trump who sat slouched at the defendant’s table as the crux of the case against him was laid out.

The state of New York accuses Trump of falsifying business records to reimburse Cohen for a $130,000 hush-money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels just before the 2016 election when her claims of a sexual encounter with Trump could have doomed his campaign.

“I spoke to Mr. Trump and we expressed to him that I was going to front the money for it, for which he was appreciative,” Cohen said of a conversation he and Trump’s now-jailed, then-finance chief Allen Weisselberg had with the mogul.

“He stated to me, ‘Don’t worry, you’ll get the money back’,” Cohen told the court.

“I was doing everything I could and more to protect my boss, which was something I had done for a long time.”

Cohen is critical to the prosecution’s case — but the defense is expected to rail on his credibility, having already painted him as a pathological liar. 

He spent 13 months in jail and another year-and-a-half under house arrest after pleading guilty in 2018 to lying to Congress and committing financial crimes.