Trump trial live updates as Michael Cohen returns for second day of testimony – CBS News
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Michael Cohen returned to the witness stand Tuesday for his second day of testimony against former President Donald Trump in his New York trial, describing how he eventually turned against his longtime boss under pressure from federal prosecutors in 2018.
Cohen told the jury that he hoped Trump would shield him from federal charges if he remained loyal, explaining why he lied about Trump reimbursing him for a $130,000 “hush money” payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election. He ultimately pleaded guilty to federal charges related to the payment, and has implicated Trump in the reimbursements at the heart of the case.
Prosecutors walked jurors through the 34 business records they say were falsified to cover up the payment to Daniels, showing them the invoices, vouchers and checks that correspond to each felony charge Trump faces. The former president has pleaded not guilty.
On the stand Monday, Cohen said Trump signed off on the plan to reimburse him during a meeting at Trump Tower. He told jurors that Trump was shown notes from a Trump Organization executive tallying the total amount he was owed: $420,000, which included enough to cover taxes and a bonus for Cohen.
The prosecution wrapped up its questioning of Cohen on Tuesday by confronting his laundry list of credibility issues, including his conviction for lying to Congress and previous admissions to lying under oath in other matters. He said he was trying to protect Trump and himself, and now regrets “doing things for him that I should not have.”
Trump’s attorneys will get their first chance to question Cohen after a lunch break.
Spend enough time in the courtroom here and you’re likely to hear a court officer sternly issue a warning: “If I see that cellphone again, I’ll ask you to leave.”
Under the court’s rules, members of the public are not allowed to use their phones. They can’t even take them out of their pockets in the room. No peeking at texts, ordering lunch or even just checking the time.
But there was Vivek Ramaswamy, the entrepreneur and former presidential candidate, sitting among a collection of Republican lawmakers on Tuesday, tapping away on his phone.
Ramaswamy is one of a steady stream of Republican politicians who have come to watch portions of the trial in the last few weeks. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird and Sens. J.D. Vance and Tommy Tuberville have attended in recent days.
This morning’s entourage includes North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, Rep. Byron Donalds and Rep. Cory Mills. House Speaker Mike Johnson was spotted arriving with Trump outside the courtroom and addressed reporters while the trial was ongoing.
Some of the lawyers in the group — the attorneys general, for instance — seemed to know innately that phones are frowned upon in court. Vance, Ohio’s junior senator, was glued to his device on Monday nonetheless.
Maybe the court doesn’t want to tussle with a senator or congressman. But what about Ramaswamy? Or Trump campaign senior adviser Susie Wiles, who has also spent long minutes peering at her phone? Why are they allowed to be on their phones while other members of the public are not?
The answer lies in where Trump’s guests are seated. Both sides in the case can use the front two rows of the gallery for their “teams.” Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg occasionally sits on the prosecution’s side, along with members of his staff and even a retired former prosecutor who previously worked on the case.
By and large, those sitting up front are officers of the court. Ramaswamy is not. However, by virtue of sitting in one of Trump’s designated rows, today he is technically on Trump’s courtroom team, and thus is free to tap away.
As the prosecution’s questioning of Cohen drew to a close, Cohen expressed remorse for some of his work for Trump.
“I regret doing things for him that I should not have — lying, bullying people,” said Cohen.
Still, Cohen said he enjoyed working for Trump’s company.
“I don’t regret working with the Trump Organization, as I expressed before, I had some very interesting, great times,” Cohen said.
Prosecutors used their final lines of questioning to shore up Cohen’s credibility, anticipating the defense’s likely attacks on his character. He was asked about testimony given in Trump’s 2023 fraud trial in which he said he didn’t evade taxes, seemingly in contrast with his guilty plea on that charge.
Hoffinger asked if he ever lied about whether he was guilty of committing campaign finance violations.
“No, ma’am,” Cohen replied.
Cohen spoke about what led him to plead guilty to federal charges in the Southern District of New York in August 2018. Cohen called it the “worst day of my life.”
He said he made the decision after conversations with his family, who questioned why he was still loyal to the president.
“It was about time to listen to them,” Cohen testified. “I made a decision based then on the conversation I had with my family. I would not lie for Mr. – President Trump for any longer.”
Cohen said he decided to be loyal to his family and the country. He also testified that his involvement in paying off McDougal and Daniels was done on Trump’s behalf and for his benefit. Cohen said he would not have paid if it wasn’t for Trump’s presidential campaign. His actions were to ensure “that this would not be a hindrance” in his presidential bid, he said.
The judge instructed the jury to only consider this specific part of Cohen’s testimony as context, and not use it when determining Trump’s guilt or innocence.
Cohen pleaded guilty on Aug. 21, 2018, to eight federal charges of tax evasion, bank fraud and violating campaign finance laws. The next day, Trump tweeted, “If anyone is looking for a good lawyer, I would strongly suggest that you don’t retain the services of Michael Cohen!”
The prosecution’s questioning turned to a series of 2018 emails between Cohen and a lawyer named Robert Costello.
Cohen was seeking representation related to the federal investigation that would ultimately end with his guilty plea to federal charges later that year. He says he did not retain Costello as an attorney.
Emails shown to the jury depicted Costello offering to be a “back channel of communications” for Cohen, someone who could relay messages to then-President Trump via his attorney Rudy Giuliani.
“The back channel was Bob Costello to Rudy to Rudy to President Trump,” Cohen said on the stand.
Cohen said he didn’t trust Costello, but that he also believed Costello was dangling the prospect of a presidential pardon if Cohen remained loyal. He described a “pressure campaign” to ensure he wouldn’t cooperate against Trump in the investigation.
“Sleep well tonight. You have friends in high places,” Costello wrote in one email to Cohen, describing a conversation he said he had with Giuliani.
FBI agents executed a search warrant on Cohen’s New York City home, office and hotel room on April 19, 2018. They seized phones, documents and other material that have since been used in the criminal case against Cohen, and this one.
Cohen described on the stand how he felt that day: “How to describe your life being turned upside down? Concerned, despondent, angry.”
Cohen said he later received a call from Trump offering him reassurance.
“He said to me, ‘Don’t worry, I’m the president of the United States, there’s nothing here. Stay tough, you’re going to be OK,'” Cohen testified.
That was the last time he ever spoke to Trump, Cohen said. The call meant a lot to him at the time, he said.
“First of all, I was scared. It was the first time in my life I had been through anything like this,” Cohen said. “And I wanted some reassurance that Mr. Trump had my back, especially as it dealt with issues related to him.”
Cohen said he believed Trump would protect him.
“I felt reassured because I had the president of the United States protecting me. His Justice Department should go nowhere,” Cohen said.
“I felt reassured and I remained in the camp. In the fold,” Cohen said. “In the Trump camp.”
Cohen pleaded guilty to federal charges four months later.
Hoffinger, the prosecutor, turned to a statement issued under Daniels’ name on Jan. 30, 2018, in which she narrowly denied the sexual encounter. Daniels testified that she reluctantly signed the statement under pressure from her lawyer, Keith Davidson.
Cohen said he helped Davidson craft the statement, which included these lines: “I am not denying this affair because I was paid ‘hush money’ as has been reported in overseas owned tabloids. I am denying this affair because it never happened.”
Cohen said he knew the statement was false “because I’m the one who paid.”
A week later, Cohen issued a statement to the press acknowledging for the first time that he paid Daniels $130,000 using his own money.
“Neither the Trump Organization nor the Trump campaign was a party to the transaction with Ms. Clifford, and neither reimbursed me for the payment, either directly or indirectly,” the statement said. “The payment to Ms. Clifford was lawful, and was not a campaign contribution or a campaign expenditure by anyone.”
He also submitted a similar letter to the Federal Election Commission.
In court, he admitted that the statements were “deceptive” and “misleading,” noting that they excluded Trump himself and his trust, both of whom reimbursed Cohen.
Cohen said he cleared the responses with Trump ahead of time. Jurors were shown a text message Cohen sent to a reporter from the New York Times: “Big boss just approved me responding to complaint and statement. Please start writing and I will call you soon.”
After the FEC statement, Jay Sekulow, an attorney for Trump, texted Cohen: “Client says thanks for what you do.”
Asked who Sekulow’s client was, Cohen said Trump. He added that “for what you do” referred to the statement Cohen had issued.
In 2018, Cohen pleaded guilty to one count of lying to Congress, a charge that stemmed from special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into potential links between the 2016 Trump campaign and Russia. He admitted to mischaracterizing talks over a potential Trump real estate project in Moscow and his conversations with Trump with a trip to Russia.
On the stand, he said the Trump Organization was paying for his attorney when he submitted false information to Congress under subpoena, and that he was part of a joint defense agreement. He said he valued the president’s protection: “I felt I needed it. It was extremely important to me.”
“I was staying on Mr. Trump’s message that there was no Russia, Russia, Russia and, again, in coordination with the joint defense team, that’s what was preferred,” Cohen said.
He also said he continued to lie about the payment to Daniels “in order to protect Mr. Trump.”
Check by check, invoice by invoice, month by month, Cohen walked the jury through the checks and accompanying invoices at the core of this case.
It was a monotonous, and momentous, exchange.
Each time, he was asked if the description on the invoice — denoting a retainer for that month — was accurate.
“No, ma’am,” Cohen replied to prosecutor Susan Hoffinger.
“Was the description on the check stub false?” Hoffinger asked.
“Yes, ma’am,” Cohen replied without hesitation.
“Whose signature was on the check?” Hoffinger asked.
“Donald J. Trump,” Cohen replied for nearly each, substituting Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. for a pair of checks they signed on behalf of Trump’s trust.
As the procession of checks and invoices rolled past on the screen in front of him, Trump went from sitting relatively motionless and leaning in his chair, to shrugging and bobbing his head left to right.
Cohen said he visited the White House on Feb. 8, 2017, several weeks after Trump’s inauguration. He said the two had a private conversation in the Oval Office.
“I was sitting with President Trump and he asked me if I was OK, he asked me if I needed money,” Cohen testified. “I said, ‘No, I’m OK.’ He said, ‘Alright, just make sure you deal with Allen [Weisselberg].”
Cohen said Trump told him a check would be coming to cover the monthly installments for January and February.
Prosecutors showed a picture of Cohen in the White House briefing room after the meeting. They then showed jurors a series of emails that Cohen exchanged the following week with Jeffrey McConney, the controller at the Trump Organization.
McConney asked Cohen to send him invoices for the January and February payments, and reminded Cohen that the monthly installments were $35,000 each. Cohen sent an invoice “for services rendered for the months of January and February, 2017.”
On the invoice, Cohen wrote that the checks were “[p]ursuant to the retainer agreement.” But on the stand, he said no such agreement existed, and that the true purpose of the invoice was “the reimbursement to me of the ‘hush money’ fee, along with RedFinch and the bonus.”
RedFinch was a tech company that had done work for Trump in the past and had not been paid the full $50,000 it was owed. Cohen testified on Monday that he had paid the firm a fraction of the total and pocketed the difference after submitting the invoice.
After a lengthy sidebar at the bench, Cohen entered the courtroom wearing a dark gray suit, light blue tie and white shirt.
Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger picked up where they left off on Monday, asking Cohen about the plans to reimburse him for the Daniels payment in the beginning of 2017.
Trump spoke to reporters outside the courthouse as House Speaker Mike Johnson, Vivek Ramaswamy and other surrogates looked on. Holding a stack of papers, he read quotes from conservative commentators and others criticizing the trial as politically motivated.
“This has never happened in our country before. There’s never been anything like this,” Trump said.
“I paid a lawyer a certain amount of money. We marked it down as a legal expense. So I had a legal expense, and I marked it down as a legal expense,” he continued. “I didn’t mark it down as construction of a wall, construction of a building. I didn’t mark it down as electricity costs. I took a legal expense and — I didn’t do it, a bookkeeper did it, and she did it exactly right — took a legal expense and called it a legal expense. This is their whole case.”
Trump thanked Johnson and his other allies for attending, and reiterated his complaint about the temperature inside the courtroom.
“And now, if you don’t mind, I’m going to go into the icebox and sit for a long time. Thank you very much,” he said.
Several top Republican officials, including House Speaker Mike Johnson and a couple of Republicans on Trump’s shortlist to be Trump’s running mate, are expected to attend his trial today to show their support for the presumptive GOP nominee.
North Dakota Gov Doug Burgum, former primary opponent Vivek Ramaswamy, and Florida Reps. Byron Donalds and Cory Mills are expected to be at the trial Tuesday.
Most of them are also expected to attend the closed-door fundraiser in New York City this evening. South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott — a top vice presidential possibility — will be in New York today, but he will not be at the court, though he’ll be attending the fundraiser.
Fin Gómez and Olivia Rinaldi
Graham Kates is an investigative reporter covering criminal justice, privacy issues and information security for CBS News Digital. Contact Graham at KatesG@cbsnews.com or grahamkates@protonmail.com
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