Michael Cohen, Donald Trump’s one-time political fixer, was back on the witness stand Tuesday, finishing testimony about his claim that Trump ordered him to make a secret $130,000 hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels just days before the 2016 election. But Cohen is also about to face sharp questioning from a Trump defense attorney.
Cohen testified Monday that the payment was to keep Daniels from talking about an alleged 2006 sexual encounter with Trump, and that Trump disguised reimbursements to Cohen as legal fees.
Cohen said Monday that Trump signed off on the reimbursement plan just days before he was inaugurated as the country’s 45th president in January 2017. On Tuesday, Cohen said he met with Trump at the White House the next month and confirmed the payments.
Trump is accused in a 34-count indictment of falsifying business records at his Trump Organization real estate conglomerate to make it look like payments to Cohen in 2017 were for legal work instead of a repayment for the hush money he sent to Daniels just as voters were heading to the polls for the election eight years ago.
In all, Cohen told the 12-member jury he was paid $420,000 in 2017 in $35,000 monthly checks, most of them signed by Trump. The total payment included money reimbursing him for the hush money payment, extra money to cover his taxes, a 2016 year-end bonus and money for other expenses, but none of it for legal work.
