Who is Michael Cohen, the 'pathological liar' at the center of Trump's hush-money case?
Michael Cohen once boasted he’d take a bullet for his then-boss Donald Trump. Now, the longtime Trump lawyer and fixer will be a key witness in the New York hush-money trial that could send the former president to prison.
Cohen is expected to testify this week that Trump directed him to engineer payments to two women who alleged in the runup to the 2016 presidential election that they had affairs with the married candidate. One of them is adult film actress Stephanie Clifford, better known by her stage name Stormy Daniels, who testified at length last week.
Cohen's payment to Daniels, and Trump's subsequent reimbursement of Cohen, is at the heart of the 34 charges of falsifying business records that Trump faces. Trump has pleaded not guilty, as he has in his three other ongoing criminal cases.
While Cohen is Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's star witness, he may also be the prosecution's greatest vulnerability, given his history of perjury and a felony conviction.
Trump's defense attorneys are certain to point that out at trial, as they did already when Cohen testified against Trump in a separate civil fraud trial.
"He is a serial liar," Trump's defense lawyer Christopher Kise said in that case, which Trump ultimately lost to the tune of $454 million.
But legal experts also note that Cohen may be believable because he will bring receipts ? literally.
“Even a pathological liar will be believed by a jury if there are corroborating and supporting documents and other witnesses who buttress their testimony,” former federal prosecutor Gene Rossi told USA TODAY.
“There’s a saying that you don't call saints to the stand if you're trying to prove a corrupt or violent conspiracy,” Rossi said. “And who better than Michael Cohen, who has credibility issues up the wazoo, to be the star accuser against Donald Trump?”
Cohen declined comment for this article, saying he didn’t want to discuss any aspect of the upcoming trial, including what he might say on the stand. He has cooperated extensively with prosecutors and investigators, including appearing before the grand jury impaneled by Bragg.
What's the hush-money case about?
Bragg’s prosecution focuses on whether Trump criminally falsified business records in order to cover up a $130,000 payment by Cohen to Daniels in exchange for her silence.
Prosecutors allege that Trump authorized the payments because he feared the ensuing controversy would hurt his chances of defeating Democrat Hillary Clinton down the home stretch of the close presidential race.
According to the indictment, Trump then reimbursed Cohen through monthly checks that were disguised as payments for 2017 legal services and documented in the form of falsified business records at the Trump Organization.
Specifically, Trump "agreed to the payoff and directed Lawyer A to proceed" with the effort to buy Daniels' silence, according to a Statement of Facts issued along with the indictment.
"Lawyer A discussed the deal with" Trump, who "did not want to make the $130,000 payment" himself. After discussing "various payment options" with then-Trump Organization chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg, "Lawyer A agreed he would make the payment. Before making the payment, Lawyer A confirmed with the Defendant that Defendant would pay him back."
Cohen is “Lawyer A" in the charging documents and the defendant is Trump.
New York law makes the falsification crime a felony when the purpose of the disguise was to commit or conceal another crime. That applies to Trump, prosecutors say, because he violated federal election laws limiting campaign contributions with a payment intended to aid his campaign.
They also allege that Trump was trying to violate New York election and tax laws, something that Cohen is expected to speak to on the stand as well.
A history of clashes with Trump
Cohen is a brash, trash-talking former lawyer and fixer for Trump who became notorious for his aggressive approach to intimidating anyone accusing "the Boss," as he called Trump, of wrongdoing.
But Cohen had a falling out with Trump, in part because he ended up serving prison time after pleading guilty to making an illegal campaign contribution through arranging hush-money payments to Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal.
Since then, Cohen has publicly called Trump a liar, a fraud, a "racist," a "con man" and a "cheat." Trump, in turn, has called Cohen a “convicted felon” and “disbarred lawyer, with zero credibility.”
During the New York civil trial Trump attorney Alina Habba asked Cohen if he had "made a career of publicly attacking President Trump" and had "significant animosity," and he answered "yes" to both questions. But Cohen also has rejected the claim that he is testifying in the criminal case out of spite.
“My goal is to tell the truth," Cohen said outside the Manhattan courthouse when testifying before a grand jury that ultimately indicted Trump last year. “This is not revenge. This is all about accountability. He needs to be held accountable for his dirty deeds.”
'I am no longer your fixer, Mr. Trump'
Cohen already has testified twice about Trump, including about how the alleged hush-money payments scheme worked.
In February 2019 he acknowledged his past criminal conduct before a congressional committee. But he told lawmakers he was making a clean break from Trump, whose actions he described as akin to those of a Mob boss.
In dramatic testimony, Cohen told the panel that Trump helped engineer and personally reimbursed him for the hush-money payments, then told him to lie about the arrangement.
"I have done bad things, but I am not a bad man. I have fixed things, but I am no longer your fixer, Mr. Trump," Cohen said, adding that he would not seek or accept a pardon should one be offered by the then-president.
In addition to his written testimony, Cohen arrived at the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing with documents that appeared to back up some of his claims, including a $35,000 check signed by Trump.
Cohen said the personal check, signed during the first year of his presidency, was one of 11 "installment" payments to reimburse him for the payments to Daniels.
Cohen also testified at Trump's New York civil fraud trial about boosting the company's assets with "whatever number Trump told us."
What might Cohen say this time around?
Given his extensive cooperation with Bragg’s investigators, Cohen is expected to make similar accusations as those in the grand jury indictment.
The indictment, and Cohen’s testimony before Congress, suggest he will try to implicate Trump not only in falsifying business records in connection with the payments, but in directing him and Weisselberg to make them in the first place.
Cohen also has stated that he paid Daniels, along with $150,000 to McDougal, at Trump's direction because Trump was concerned the potential scandals "would affect the election."
Besides pleading guilty to campaign finance violations connected to the payments, Cohen also pleaded guilty in November 2018 to lying to Congress about a Trump project in Moscow. He was sentenced to three years in prison but served about half the term in home detention because of COVID-19.
In the past, Trump has vehemently denied any involvement in or knowledge of the hush-money payments, saying Cohen acted on his own and was now trying to pin the blame on him.
But Trump has never denied Cohen's role as his lawyer, advisor and fixer.
“Donald Trump chose Michael Cohen. And Donald Trump did that for a reason. He wanted an attorney who would do anything to skirt or bend the law," Rossi, the former prosecutor and trial lawyer said. "So, get out the popcorn. It’s gonna be one hell of a trial.”
Contributing: Bart Jansen and Aysha Bagchi
Follow USA TODAY Domestic Security Correspondent Josh Meyer on X at @JoshMeyerDC
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: How will Donald Trump fixer Michael Cohen testify about former boss?
