Michael Cohen resumes Trump trial testimony with House Speaker Johnson watching

Michael
Cohen
will
resume
testimony
Tuesday
against
his
ex-boss
turned
enemy

Donald
Trump,
after
delivering
a
damning
account
of
the
former
president’s
involvement
in

hush
money
payments
to
a
porn
star
and
a
Playboy
model
during
his
2016
presidential
campaign.

Trump
will
be
joined
at
his
criminal
trial
by
House
Speaker
Mike
Johnson,
and
several
other
Republican
politicians,
NBC
reported.
The
Louisiana
lawmaker
is
the
latest
in
a
string
of
GOP
members
of
Congress
who
have
traveled
to
the
courthouse
in
lower
Manhattan
to
show
solidarity
with
the
party’s
2024
presumptive
presidential
nominee.

On
Monday,
Trump’s
former
lawyer
and
fixer
told
jurors
that
Trump
had
complained, “This
is
a
disaster!”
when
he
learned
that
adult
film
actress

Stormy
Daniels
wanted
to
go
public
shortly
before
Election
Day
2016
with
her
account
of
having
sex
with
Trump
one
night
in
2006.

Eight
years
later,
the
same
story
might
once
again
be
a
disaster
for
Trump.

A
prosecutor
used
Cohen’s
testimony
Monday
to
give
jurors
extensive
direct
evidence
for
the
first
time
of
Trump’s
alleged
awareness
that
his
reimbursement
to
Cohen
for
paying
Daniels
$130,000
was
not
a
payment
for “legal
services.”
Instead,
it
was
to
pay
Cohen
back
for
having
neutralized
a
threat
to
his
2016
electoral
chances.

Cohen
testified
that
Trump
told
him
to, “Just
do
it,”
to
keep
Daniels
quiet.
As
Cohen
spoke,
the
former
president
sat
just
a
few
feet
away
from
him
at
the
defense
table.

“Meet
up
with
Allen
Weisselberg,
and
figure
out
this
whole
thing,”
Trump
said,
according
to
Cohen.

Weisselberg
was
the
long-time
chief
financial
officer
of
the
Trump
Organization,
the
real
estate
company
that
is
the
foundation
of
Trump’s
empire.

Cohen
also
testified
about
he
kept
Trump
apprised
of
efforts
by
the
publisher
of
The
National
Enquirer,
a
supermarket
tabloid,
to
buy
the
silence
of
Playboy
model
Karen
McDougal
about
her
alleged
affair
with
Trump.

“Fantastic,”
Trump
said
after
being
told
that
effort
had
succeeded,
keeping
another
woman
quiet
about
claims
that
could
harm
his
2016
campaign,
Cohen
testified.

Trump
is
accused
of
nearly
three
dozen
felony
counts
of
falsifying
Trump
Organization
business
records,
which
claimed
that
his
and
the
company’s
reimbursements
to
Cohen
for
the
Daniels
payment
were
for
legal
expenses.

While
legal
commentators
were
impressed
Monday
that
the
often-excitable
and
talkative
Cohen
kept
a
cool
composure
under
direct
examination
from
assistant
District
Attorney
Susan
Hoffinger,
Trump’s
defense
lawyer
Todd
Blanche
is
certain
to
try
to
get
under
Cohen’s
skin
during
cross-examination,
which
could
begin
later
Tuesday.

Cohen
has
a
track
record
of
lying,
and
a
federal
criminal
record
that
relates
in
part
to
his
involvement
in
the
payouts
to
Daniels
and
McDougal.

Trump,
who
denies
having
sex
with
Daniels
or
McDougal
or
committing
any
crime,
railed
against
the
case
Monday
afternoon
after
jurors
were
dismissed
for
the
day,
with
Cohen
still
in
the
middle
of
direct
examination
by
Hoffinger.

“There’s
no
crime
here,”
Trump
told
reporters. “This
is
four
weeks
of
keeping
me
from
campaigning.”

The
former
president
called
the
trial’s
judge,
Juan
Merchan, “corrupt,”
saying
Merchan “ought
to
let
us
go
out
an
campaign
and
get
rid
of
this
scam.”

Trump
has
fumed
for
weeks
that
Merchan
has
forced
him
to
be
in
court
every
day
during
the
trial,
which
normally
takes
a
break
only
on
Wednesdays.
He
claims
that
Merchan,
Manhattan
District
Attorney
Alvin
Bragg,
and
others
are
trying
to
harm
his
chances
against
President

Joe
Biden
in
November’s
election.

In
addition
to
Johnson,
the
House
speaker,
other
Republicans
attending
Tuesday’s
trial
session
to
support
Trump
are
North
Dakota
Gov.
Doug
Burgum,
Reps.
Byron
Donalds
and
Cory
Mills,
both
of
Florida,
and
Vivek
Ramaswamy,
who
ran
in
the
GOP
presidential
primaries,
according
to
Trump
senior
advisor
Jason
Miller.

This
is
developing
news.
Check
back
for
updates.