Michael Cohen Begins Testimony in Trump’s Hush-Money Trial: 5 Takeaways – The New York Times
Trump Hush-Money Trial
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In hotly anticipated testimony, Donald J. Trump’s former fixer discussed how he buried stories his boss didn’t want anyone to read.
Jesse McKinley and
Michael D. Cohen, once one of Donald J. Trump’s closest confidants and his loyal protector, offered an account Monday that could convict the man he used to refer to as “boss” and now calls an enemy.
Testifying in the first criminal trial of an American president, Mr. Cohen said that he had made a $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels, a porn star who in testimony last week described a brief sexual encounter she said she had with Mr. Trump in 2006. On the stand Monday, Mr. Cohen said he paid Ms. Daniels to ensure her silence before the 2016 presidential election, saying her story would have been “catastrophic.”
The $130,000 payment led to the charges against the former president: that Mr. Trump falsified 34 business records to hide a reimbursement to Mr. Cohen. Mr. Trump, 77, has denied the charges and says he did not have sex with Ms. Daniels. If convicted, he could face prison or probation.
Here are five takeaways from Mr. Trump’s 16th day on trial:
According to Mr. Cohen, Mr. Trump’s wife, Melania, offered a oft-quoted turn of phrase after the “Access Hollywood” tape was revealed in early October 2016, a recording in which Mr. Trump bragged about grabbing women’s genitals. Mr. Cohen said that, according to Mr. Trump, she recommended calling it “locker-room talk” to explain it away.
That wasn’t her only mention Monday. Mr. Cohen contradicted one possible defense argument — that Mr. Trump paid Ms. Daniels only because he was worried about her story’s effect on his family and marriage. He said that the former president “wasn’t thinking about Melania” when Ms. Daniels’s story threatened to become public.
Here’s how key figures involved in making hush-money payoffs on behalf of Donald J. Trump are connected.
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