In frank testimony that got to the core of the former president’s hush money trial, Donald Trump’s former attorney stated on Monday that the former president was personally involved in every facet of a plot to suppress sex-related reports that threatened to destroy his 2016 running campaign.
Michael Cohen, the former fixer of President Trump who is now the prosecution’s star witness in a case that is nearing its crucial conclusion, stated, “Everything required Mr. Trump’s sign-off.”
Cohen put Trump at the heart of the hush money scandal during hours of eagerly awaited evidence. Cohen claimed that the candidate at the time had promised to pay back the lawyer for the money he had fronted and that he was regularly informed about attempts being made behind the scenes to suppress information that was seen to be damaging to the campaign.
Cohen cited Trump as saying, “We need to stop this from getting out,” in reference to Stormy Daniels’s, a porn star, description of her sex with the president ten years prior. The politician at the time was particularly concerned about how the report would impact his popularity among women voters.
Cohen informed Trump of a Playboy model’s claims that she and Trump had an illicit affair in a similar incident. According to the attorney, Cohen’s message to Trump was, “Make sure it doesn’t get released.” The deal, which was arranged after Trump received a “complete and total update on everything that transpired,” saw the lady, Karen McDougal, get $150,000.
Cohen stated during his testimony, “What I was doing, I was doing at the direction of and benefit of Mr. Trump.”
In his plea of not guilty, Trump has denied ever having had intercourse with either of the two women.
By far the most significant witness for the prosecution is Cohen. Although his testimony lacked the intensity that characterized Daniels’s appearance on the witness stand last week, Cohen was nevertheless able to directly connect Trump to the payments and shed light on some of the more mundane evidence that jurors had previously seen, like text messages and phone logs.
