Michael Cohen said he lied in investigation to protect Trump 

Mr Cohen told jurors that “I felt reassured because I had the president of the United States protecting me … And so I remained in the camp”

Michael Cohen leaves his apartment building on his way to Manhattan Criminal Court in New York (Picture: Seth Wenig/AP)

Michael Cohen has told Donald Trump’s hush money trial that it was not until after a decade in the fold, after his family pleaded with him, after the FBI raided his office, apartment and hotel room, that he finally decided to turn on the former US president.

That decision led to a 2018 guilty plea to federal charges involving a payment to the adult film actor Stormy Daniels to bury her story of an alleged sexual encounter with Trump and to other, unrelated crimes.