NEW YORK − Michael Cohen faced stern questioning from Donald Trump’s defense team Tuesday in the former president’s hush money trial. This was the defense’s first crack at Cohen after the disbarred lawyer told jurors Monday that he was following Trump’s orders when he bought porn star Stormy Daniels’ silence about an alleged affair with Trump.
But Trump attorney Todd Blanche avoided addressing the specifics of the payoff at the center of the case, while working to show that Cohen, Trump’s onetime attorney and fixer, may have had motive to lie about his former boss. At one point he asked if Cohen had been “obsessed” with Trump, whom he once idolized.
Trump is charged with falsifying business records to cover up the true purpose of his reimbursements to Cohen − an effort save his candidacy from damaging disclosures in the waning weeks of the 2016 presidential election.
Cohen bolstered the prosecution’s case Tuesday, testifying that he made the payment to Daniels “to ensure that the story would not come out, would not affect Mr. Trump’s chances of becoming president of the United States.”
That testimony showed why Cohen is a star witness for the prosecution, but Cohen’s cross-examination could become more combative on Thursday, given Trump and Cohen’s history of hurling insults at one another.
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Here are highlights from Tuesday’s proceedings:
