Michael Cohen's testimony pushes the Trump investigation beyond a crucial milestone.
### TRUMP LEGAL TRIAL DIARY
CNN law analyst, Norm Eisen, is currently present in the courtroom for former President Donald Trump's Manhattan criminal trial, and he's writing about his experience here for this CNN Opinion series. You can read previous entries: - I've questioned Michael Cohen. The jury may be surprised by this notable witness - You can't dismiss the expertise of Trump's defense lawyers - The Trump team attempted a home run. Thanks to Stormy Daniels, they struck out
I met Cohen during the first Trump impeachment, when he was a witness in the investigation of the alleged 2016 election interference, which is the focus of Trump's ongoing hush money criminal trial. I was expecting someone quite different from the person I met, who turned out to be candid, likable, and trustworthy.
On the first day of his appearance in court, Cohen surpassed my expectations as to how well he presented his testimony to the jury.
This wasn't a coincidence.
The District Attorney's team had carefully laid the groundwork for Cohen's testimony, calling several credible witnesses and providing corroborating documents before Cohen even took the stand. They had gradually narrowed the unproved evidence that Cohen would need to offer.
Cohen's testimony had a valuable beginning, with a quick rundown of his relationship with Trump and its relevant aspects concerning the trial and the $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels, an adult film actress, to prevent her from divulging her allegations of a sexual encounter with Trump (which Trump denies).
We learned of Cohen's role as Trump's fixer, handling the real estate mogul's most difficult problems. He said he regularly informed Trump about issues that may have disturbed him, as "if Trump found out about it from elsewhere, it would not go well for you."
The prosecution reinforced Cohen's story of the Daniels payment by revealing a "catch-and-kill" arrangement for buying and suppressing unfavorable news about Trump, into which it fit. Cohen recounted his, American Media Inc. CEO David Pecker (the former editor of the National Enquirer), and Trump's meeting "in Trump's office on the 26th floor" of Trump Tower. These testimonies were corroborated by Pecker's previous testimony, Cohen recounted their plan: Pecker would "keep his eyes out for anything negative about Trump," and "would be able to help us to find out in advance what was coming out." Trump's response, as Cohen told the court, was "The two of you should work together. And anything negative that comes your way, you let Michael know, and we'll handle it."
Before we even got to the hush money paid to Daniels, there was even more corroboration of the "catch-and-kill" scheme Cohen revealed, with his accounts of helping facilitate payment to silence potential damaging news about Dino Sajudin, a Trump Tower doorman, and Karen McDougal, a former model, alleging they had affairs with Trump.
A captivating portion of the testimony occurred when the prosecution played a recorded September 6, 2016, conversation between Cohen and Trump about the payments for McDougal, saying, "I need to open a company for the transfer of all information surrounding our friend David (Pecker)," and "I've spoken to (Trump Organization CFO) Allen Weisselberg about how to set the entire thing up." Trump's voice then came through: "So how much do we have to pay for this? One-fifty?" We also heard Trump instruct the format of the payments to Cohen: "Pay cash."
By the time we reached the "Access Hollywood" tape damage control and Daniels, we had several layers of corroboration of a pattern that was familiar to us: paying to keep information damaging to the Trump campaign hidden. Moreover, it was someone who had effectively presented himself and was trustworthy when Cohen claimed he had made the payment to Daniels himself with Trump's approval.
The same held true when Cohen described his role in the 2017 cover-up with Weisselberg and Trump. Cohen wrapped up the day by stating that he and Trump agreed to conceal the repayment as income in a meeting in Trump's office on Jan. 16 or 17 of that year. This was backed up with additional corroborating evidence, including Weisselberg's and Cohen's notes on how the repayment was adjusted to account for taxes.
On Monday, the most crucial day yet, the prosecution surpassed the boundary of giving solid proof beyond any doubt. Cohen's testimony about Trump's intentional involvement in every significant phase of the plan was responsible for this milestone. However, Trump's lawyers are renowned for their skills, and they could potentially drive Cohen and the evidence back to the other side of the line on cross-examination. This thus makes Tuesday an even more significant day than Monday. The prosecutors, meanwhile, must be highly satisfied with the current state of the case.
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In light of Michael Cohen's testimony, some people may have different opinions about the legitimacy of the allegations against former President Donald Trump.
The testimony from Michael Cohen, along with corroborating evidence, challenges the narrative presented by Trump's legal team during his ongoing criminal trial.
Source: edition.cnn.com
