Donald Trump and his onetime lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen will square off once again on Wednesday in a Manhattan courtroom, where the former US president faces a civil fraud trial over his family real estate company’s business practices.
Cohen, who cut ties with Trump five years ago, will undergo more cross-examination by Trump’s lawyers determined to undermine his credibility.
Cohen testified on Tuesday that Trump “arbitrarily” inflated the value of the Trump Organization’s real estate assets to secure favorable insurance premiums. Cohen said he doctored financial statements so the property values matched “whatever number Mr. Trump told us.”
The insider testimony could bolster New York Attorney General Letitia James’ argument that Trump, his company and several of its executives inflated property values. The case could break up Trump’s business empire.
Trump, the frontrunner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, has denied wrongdoing and defended the valuations of his properties, calling the case a “fraud” and a political witch hunt.
He and his lawyers have repeatedly called Cohen a “liar” and are likely to use his admitted history of deceit to challenge his testimony.
Cohen in 2018 pleaded guilty to a campaign finance violation and lying to Congress about Trump’s business dealings in Russia, which he testified on Tuesday he did at Trump’s direction.
