Cohen pressed on his crimes and lies as defence attacks key Trump trial witness

Michael Cohen on his way to court (Andres Kudacki)

With prosecutors’ hush money case against Donald Trump heading towards its end, defence lawyers pressed former lawyer Michael Cohen on his criminal history and past lies as they worked to convince jurors not to believe the star witness’ pivotal testimony.

As Trump looked on, defence lawyer Todd Blanche peppered Mr Cohen with questions about his own misdeeds, painting him to the jury as a serial liar who is bent on seeing the presumptive Republican presidential nominee behind bars.

Whether the defence is successful in undermining Mr Cohen’s testimony could determine Trump’s fate in the case.

Over several days on the witness stand, Mr Cohen described for jurors meetings and conversations he said he had with Trump about the alleged scheme to stifle stories about sex that threatened to torpedo Trump’s 2016 campaign.

Former president Donald Trump in court (Mike Segar/Pool Photo via AP)

Trump’s lawyers are seizing on Mr Cohen’s chequered past to try to sow doubt in jurors’ minds over his version of the story, underscoring the risk of prosecutors’ reliance on Mr Cohen.

Mr Cohen acknowledged lying to Congress about work he did on a Trump real estate deal in Russia. He also testified that he lied under oath when he pleaded guilty to federal charges, including tax fraud, in 2018.

The defence also attacked Mr Cohen’s motivations, suggesting he turned on Trump after he was denied a White House job.

Mr Blanche confronted Mr Cohen with a a series of text messages showing private conversations he had in November 2016. In one message, Mr Cohen texted his daughter that he still had a shot at becoming the president’s chief of staff. Another shows Mr Cohen telling a friend that she could serve as his assistant once he gets the position.

“The truth is, Mr Cohen, you really wanted to work in the White House, correct?” asked Mr Blanche. “No sir,” Mr Cohen replied.

Mr Cohen is by far the prosecutors’ most important witness, placing Trump directly at the centre of the alleged scheme to silence women who claimed to have had sexual encounters with Trump.

Trump denies the women’s claims.

Michael Cohen is prosecutors’ star witness in the case against Donald Trump (Andres Kudacki/AP)

Mr Cohen told jurors that Trump promised to reimburse him for the money he fronted and was constantly updated about behind-the-scenes efforts to bury stories feared to be harmful to his 2016 campaign.

Trump, who insists the prosecution is an effort to damage his campaign to reclaim the White House, says the payments to Mr Cohen were properly categorised as legal expenses because Mr Cohen was a lawyer. The defence has suggested that he was trying to protect his family, not his campaign, by suppressing what he says were false, scurrilous claims.

“The crime is that they’re doing this case,” he told reporters on Thursday before entering the courtroom, flanked by a group of congressional allies.

The former president has been joined at the courthouse in recent days by a range of conservative supporters, including some considered potential vice presidential picks and others angling for future administration roles. House Speaker Mike Johnson appeared on Tuesday.

Mr Blanche confronted Mr Cohen with profane social media posts, a podcast and books he wrote about the former president, getting Mr Cohen to acknowledge that he has made millions of dollars from criticising Trump. In one clip played in court on Thursday, Mr Cohen could be heard using an expletive and saying he truly hopes “that this man ends up in prison”.

“It won’t bring back the year that I lost or the damage done to my family. But revenge is a dish best served cold,” Mr Cohen was heard saying. “You better believe that I want this man to go down.”

Mr Cohen acknowledged he has continued to attack Trump, even during the trial.

A court artist sketch of Michael Cohen (Elizabeth Williams via AP)

In one social media post cited by the defence lawyer, Mr Cohen called Trump an alliterative and explicit nickname, as well as an “orange-crusted ignoramus”. Asked if he used the phrase, Mr Cohen responded: “Sounds correct.”

Mr Cohen, in earlier testimony, told jurors how his life and relationship with Trump were upended after the FBI raided his office, apartment and hotel room in 2018.

Trump initially showered him with affection on social media and predicted that Mr Cohen would not “flip”. Trump’s tone changed when, months later, Mr Cohen pleaded guilty to federal campaign-finance charges and implicated him in the hush money scheme. Trump was not charged with a crime related to the federal investigation.

Mr Cohen also described a meeting in which he says he and Trump discussed with Allen Weisselberg, a former Trump Organisation chief financial officer, how the reimbursements for Cohen’s 130,000 dollars hush money payment to adult film actor Stormy Daniels would be paid as legal services over monthly instalments.

That is important because prosecutors say the reimbursements were falsely logged as legal expenses to conceal the payments’ true purpose.

Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg’s office has said it will rest its case once Mr Cohen is done on the stand, though it could have an opportunity to call rebuttal witnesses if Trump’s lawyers put on witnesses of their own.

The defence is not obligated to call any witnesses, and it is unclear whether the lawyers will do so. Mr Blanche told Judge Juan . Merchan on Tuesday that the defence may call one expert witness and that there was still no determination on whether Trump would take the stand.

In any event, the trial will take Friday off so Trump can attend the high school graduation of his youngest son, Barron.