{"id":2244028,"date":"2024-05-14T07:30:02","date_gmt":"2024-05-14T11:30:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/michael-cohen-provides-strongest-boost-to-braggs-case-so-far\/"},"modified":"2024-05-14T07:32:59","modified_gmt":"2024-05-14T11:32:59","slug":"michael-cohen-provides-strongest-boost-to-braggs-case-so-far","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/michael-cohen-provides-strongest-boost-to-braggs-case-so-far\/","title":{"rendered":"Michael Cohen significantly bolsters Bragg&#8217;s case"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">12<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fmichael-cohen-provides-strongest-boost-to-braggs-case-so-far%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2244028&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Michael Cohen&#8217;s testimony in Donald Trump&#8217;s trial in New York provided crucial evidence \u200dlinking Trump to the charges. Cohen, Trump&#8217;s former attorney, disclosed their communication about the payment to Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election. Prosecutors aim to establish \u2064Trump&#8217;s knowledge and intent in \u200bconcealing\u200d reimbursement, with Cohen&#8217;s testimony being fundamental in proving Trump&#8217;s involvement.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Michael Cohen offered the strongest evidence to date linking former President <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/donald-trump\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Donald Trump<\/a> to the charges he is facing in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/new-york\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">New York<\/a>, serving as either a blessing or a curse to prosecutors, depending on whether the jury finds their troubled star witness credible.<\/p>\n<p>Cohen, Trump\u2019s former attorney, testified Monday during Trump\u2019s trial that the former president knew every step of the way how Cohen was working to prevent <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/jenna-jameson-marilyn-manson-fantasized-about-burning-me-alive\/\" title=\"Jenna Jameson: Marilyn Manson \u2018Fantasized About Burning Me Alive\u2019\">porn star<\/a> Stormy Daniels from going public right before the 2016 election with a claim that she had a sexual encounter with Trump.<\/p>\n<p>Prosecutors presented evidence that Cohen had two phone calls with Trump right before Cohen went to the bank to use a shell company to wire Daniels\u2019s attorney $130,000 as part of a settlement agreement.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI wanted to ensure that, once again, he approved what I was doing because I require approval from him on all of this,\u201d Cohen said of the two calls.<\/p>\n<figure><figcaption>Michael Cohen testifies on the witness stand in Manhattan criminal court about the calculations that Alan Weisselberg made to determine how to pay back Cohen for the money he paid to Stormy Daniels, Monday, May 13, 2024, in New York. (Elizabeth Williams via AP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger, who led the questioning of Cohen, asked whether he would have made the payment without Trump approving it.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo,\u201d Cohen testified, adding that \u201ceverything required Mr. Trump\u2019s signoff. On top of that, I wanted the money back.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Cohen repeatedly spoke to how involved Trump was in his work, which, Cohen said, involved renegotiating invoices, fighting with the media about bad press, and sometimes bullying or lying.<\/p>\n<p>Cohen said he and Trump spoke daily, that Trump was a micromanager, and that the former president expected to be updated \u201cimmediately\u201d on any new developments in Cohen\u2019s day to day, giving prosecutors foundational testimony about how Trump must have had intimate knowledge about the Daniels payment.<\/p>\n<p>At issue in the trial is a payment Trump made to Cohen in 2017 that included, according to evidence, a reimbursement for the money Cohen paid Daniels to help Trump\u2019s campaign less than two weeks before the presidential election.<\/p>\n<p>Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg charged Trump with 34 counts of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/are-the-charges-brought-against-the-trump-organizations-cfo-part-of-a-witch-hunt-experts-weigh-in\/\" title=\"Are The Charges Brought Against The Trump Organization\u2019s CFO Part Of A Witch Hunt? Experts Weigh In\">falsifying business records<\/a>, alleging that Trump hid the reimbursement and that he did so \u201cwith intent to defraud and intent to commit another crime and aid and conceal the commission thereof.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Cohen, who pleaded guilty in 2018 to several crimes, including a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/breaking-president-trump-gives-pardons-to-73-individuals-and-commutes-another-70-sentences-steve-bannon-is-included\/\" title=\"BREAKING: President Trump Gives Pardons to 73 Individuals and Commutes Another 70 Sentences \u2013 Steve Bannon Is Included\">campaign finance violation<\/a> for his payment to Daniels, lying to a bank, lying to Congress, and tax evasion, is prosecutors\u2019 best chance of proving Trump acted with intent and had knowledge of the illegalities surrounding the Daniels payment.<\/p>\n<p>Bragg is aiming to prove Trump knowingly buried the reimbursement as part of a conspiracy with Cohen to influence his campaign. The reimbursement appeared on the Trump Organization\u2019s books as $420,000 in \u201clegal expenses\u201d paid over 12 months in 2017. In addition to the reimbursement for Cohen, evidence shows, the payment included a bonus, a payment for unrelated technology services, and money to cover taxes.<\/p>\n<p>The payment records also included the brief note that the money was for a \u201cretainer.\u201d Retainers can be verbal agreements, but prosecutors have said no retainer existed between Cohen and Trump and that no <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/prosecutors-offer-plea-deal-to-nyc-lawyers-who-firebombed-police-vehicle\/\" title=\"Prosecutors Offer Plea Deal to NYC Lawyers Who Firebombed Police Vehicle\">legal services<\/a> were rendered.<\/p>\n<p>Trump\u2019s defense team has suggested \u201clegal expenses\u201d was the appropriate way to document the payment to Cohen, who in January 2017 was no longer on the Trump Organization\u2019s payroll but rather worked for Trump as an outside vendor with the title \u201cpersonal counsel.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Hoffinger asked Cohen if he expected Trump to pay him for any work in 2017, and Cohen said no.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBecause I knew there was going to be no compensation,\u201d Cohen said, explaining that he and Trump agreed his only payments as Trump\u2019s personal counsel beginning in 2017 would come from outside work Cohen performed for third parties.<\/p>\n<p>Cohen also spoke about former Trump Organization Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg, who is serving a jail sentence for perjury. Several witnesses, including Cohen, have said Weisselberg was the mastermind behind the payment plan for Cohen.<\/p>\n<p>Cohen testified that he approached Weisselberg in January 2017 seeking reimbursement after Cohen personally had footed the bill for Daniels right before the election. Weisselberg came up with the payment plan, and then the pair told Trump about it and Trump approved it, Cohen claimed.<\/p>\n<p>Prosecutors have sought to prove Trump\u2019s entire motivation for working with Cohen to pay off Daniels was to save his campaign, but defense attorneys have countered that assertion by indicating Trump was also worried about the opinion of his wife, Melania, and how an affair story from a porn star would affect his family.<\/p>\n<p>Cohen, however, testified that Trump \u201cwasn\u2019t even thinking about Melania.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis was all about the campaign,\u201d Cohen said, noting that in the wake of the infamous <em>Access Hollywood<\/em> tape\u2019s release, Daniels\u2019s allegation would be \u201ccatastrophic\u201d\u00a0for Trump\u2019s campaign.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cJust take care of it,\u201d Cohen recalled Trump telling him.<\/p>\n<p>Trump\u2019s fixer obeyed and negotiated the settlement agreement with Daniels\u2019s then-attorney Keith Davidson, and Cohen said Trump urged him to delay making the payment for as long as possible.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI want you to just push it out as long as you can. Just get past the election because if I win, it will have no relevance because I\u2019m president. And if I lose, I don\u2019t even care,\u201d Trump said, according to Cohen.<\/p>\n<p>Cohen\u2019s claims, if true, could be convincing for the jury as it weighs whether Trump knowingly acted with intent to falsify his payment records and violate campaign finance rules.<\/p>\n<p>Prosecutors plan to continue questioning Cohen on Tuesday, but then the tables will turn to Trump\u2019s defense attorneys to cross-examine Cohen.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>They are expected to attempt to wreck Cohen\u2019s credibility, painting him as a felon with a history of perjury who has demonstrated time and again that he wants nothing more than to get revenge on his former boss.<\/p>\n<p>Prosecutors on Monday made efforts to humanize Cohen, who spoke about his background and how he was \u201chonored\u201d to work for Trump. Defense attorneys will have to balance chipping away at Cohen\u2019s credibility with not going too far as to cause him to draw pity from the jury. <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Michael Cohen&#8217;s testimony provided the most compelling evidence connecting Donald Trump to the charges in New York. As Trump&#8217;s ex-lawyer, Cohen&#8217;s credibility as a star witness is pivotal, potentially shaping the outcome of the trial depending on the jury&#8217;s perception of his testimony<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":2244029,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/wex-s3.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/AP23363655580817-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[538],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2244028","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-washington-examiner"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/wex-s3.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/AP23363655580817-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2244028","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/49"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2244028"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2244028\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2244029"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2244028"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2244028"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2244028"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}