Trump to face off with Michael Cohen in court at NY fraud trial – live – The Independent

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Showdown in New York comes after Mr Trump held a rally in New Hampshire, where he compared himself to Nelson Mandela
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Trump says Cohen isn’t ‘credible’ and ‘hasn’t said anything that matters’ as court takes break
Donald Trump is face to face with Michael Cohen for the first time in years at his $250m civil fraud trial in New York.
Cohen, the former president’s onetime attorney and “fixer”, took the witness stand to testify in the case today in New York’s Superior Court not long after midday.
“I will continue to speak truth to power…no matter Donald’s continued smear and harassment campaign against me,” Cohen posted on X on Monday.
Meanwhile, in the latest developments out of Fulton County, Georgia, former Trump attorney Jenna Ellis became the fourth co-defendant of the former president to strike a plea deal with prosecutors. In a tearful statement to the court, she expressed “deep remorse” for her involvement.
Elsewhere, Rolling Stone reported that Mr Trump plans to fully withdraw the US from Nato should he win the 2024 election.
The ex-president’s apparent comments about Melania Trump and classified government information have also come to light in newly-leaked audio.
A trove of secret recordings of Australian Billionaire Anthony Pratt speaking about his interactions with Mr Trump was obtained by 60 Minutes Australia and shared with The New York Times.
Faherty says the evidence here displays a “pattern and practise” of fraudulent activity, with a “plethora of reasons why this evidence” is related to the NYAG’s complaint.
Kise continues to object.
Judge Engoron already determined that a trial isn’t necessary to prove fraud, and he’s extremely sceptical of the dubious claim that Trump was worth $8bn at any point, saying that it’s fair game to question that figure.
“Do you agree that Trump’s net worth was $8bn at the time?” he asked Faherty.
She laughed out a “no”.
And with that, the NY AG finishes its direct examination of Cohen.
Trump attorney Christopher Kise, once again objecting, said the documents shown relating to the bid for the Bills are irrelevant to the case; there was no transaction, and he’s not sure what the AG’s office is trying to prove or what fact is being established, pointing to the “danger” of presenting hypotheticals.
“They need to be moored, connected, to some actual cause of action,” he said.
Judge Engoron notes that Trump Organization comptroller Jeffrey McConney, who is a defendant, signed off on an attached statement of Trump’s financial condition.
Court resumes for the final session of the day and NY AG counsel Colleen Faherty appears to be using the communications and documents from Trump et al surrounding the attempted purchase of the Buffalo Bills as an example of how Michael Cohen and others would pass financial statements to one another as well as other parties involved with the sale.
In this case, that’s Morgan Stanley, which compiled bids on behalf of the team. In one letter, Trump told Morgan Stanley: “I have a net worth in excess of Eight Billion Dollars”.
A July 2014 letter from Deutsche Bank to Morgan Stanley indicates that Trump put in a $1bn bid for the Bills sale, and that “based on our preliminary review” and his “current financial information … it is our assessment that [Mr Trump] would have the financial wherewithal” to make the purchase.
Cohen said Deutsche Bank would have made that assessment based on Trump’s allegedly fraudulent statement of financial condition, amended under Trump’s direction.
Trump attorney Christopher Kise says he has no idea why the AG’s office is asking about the Buffalo Bills non-sale.
Colleen Faherty with the AG’s office, who has been questioning Cohen, says her questions are well within the scope of the AG’s complaint, detailing how Trump and others pressed financial institutions for financing based on fraudulent documents.
“I think we can all agree that Mr Trump never owned the Buffalo Bills,” Judge Engoron said.
Court takes its afternoon break.
Alex Woodward writes:
Cohen is being asked about Trump’s 2014 attempt to buy the Buffalo Bills.
Earlier today, he mentioned relying on those inflated statements of financial condition “in order to demonstrate his ability to purchase the team.”
(Former Deutsche Bank executive Nicholas Haigh previously testified that the financial institution “was not willing to increase its credit exposure to Donald Trump at that time”.)
The deal, or the attempt of a deal, was arranged with Mr Trump, Weisselberg, Cohen, and Jason Greenblatt
“We had a meeting in Mr Trump’s office with members of Deutsche Bank’s team for the purpose of securing a loan that would be predicated off his assets, so that we could acquire or at least put in a bid,” Cohen said.
Trump attorney Christopher Kise objects, saying that Cohen is not “an expert on NFL acquisitions.”
Cohen tells NY AG counsel Colleen Faherty that worked on the statement of financial condition for a number of years with Allen Weisselberg and he being asked to boost asset values by Mr Trump.
This stopped in 2016 as Trump ran for the White House. Said Cohen: “I was busy doing other things.”
Asked how the statements were used, Cohen says in 2013 he used one for a meeting with a journalist from the New York real estate publication The Real Deal for a story on Trump’s net worth. He says he allowed her to see the document and take notes but not to make a copy.
Recalling another occasion in which it was used, he said: “When Mr Trump was interested in putting in a bid for the Buffalo Bills, we used that statement in order to demonstrate his ability to purchase the team.”
He adds that this was done at Trump’s direction.
Jenna Ellis, one of the group of attorneys charged as a co-defendant of Donald Trump in the sprawling Georgia election subversion indictment, broke down in tears in court as she took a plea deal.
She became the fourth of 19 defendants in the case brought by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis to plead guilty, and a third member of the former president’s inner circle of attorneys to turn into a cooperating witness.
A new charging document filed by the clerk of the Fulton County Superior Court on 24 October charges her with one count of aiding and abetting false statements and writings.
Continued…
She is the third former Trump-linked attorney to turn into a cooperating witness in Fulton County
Cohen testifies that Donald Trump’s adult children were involved in the valuations of the properties on projects they headed — thought when pressed by Judge Engoron accepts he did not personally see that.
Asked which properties he did inflate the valuations of, he responds that among other assets were “possibly” Trump Tower, Trump Park Avenue, The Trump World Tower UN, 100 Central Park South, the Mansion at Seven Springs, and the Miss Universe Pageants.
Attorney Todd Blanche, who represents Donald Trump on most of his criminal cases, has come to court to watch Michael Cohen’s testimony.
Mr Cohen will almost certainly be a witness in the Stormy Daniels hush money case when that comes to trial.
Michael Cohen describes how Donald Trump would order him and Allen Weisselberg to manipulate the value of assets to meet the net-worth that he wanted to see in his statements of financial condition.
He described how he would receive a phone call from Mr Trump’s executive assistant telling him “Mr Trump would like to see you,” and he then would meet with him and Weisselberg at his office.
The topic was his statement of financial condition. They would look at his assets, and Trump would say “I’m actually not worth $4.5bn, I’m actually worth six,” and he would then “direct Allen and I to go to Allen’s office and not return until we achieved the desired goal.”
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