Cohen Says Trump Personally Approved Hush-Money Reimbursement Scheme

The most anticipated showdown of Donald Trump’s hush money trial began Monday as Michael Cohen —  the former president’s ex-fixer and lawyer —- took the stand to detail his close relationship with Trump, and how he craved his validation by consistently updating Trump on his efforts to stifle Karen McDougal’s and Stormy Daniels’ stories.

Cohen testified that when he got wind of Daniels’ story potentially going public, he felt it would have been “catastrophic” for Trump’s campaign. “I immediately went to Mr. Trump’s office, knocked on the door. ‘Boss, I’ve got to speak to you.’ Cohen said. “I told him that one of the things that we need to do is obviously take care of it.”

“Absolutely. Do it. Take care of it” Cohen said Trump replied.

Crucially, Cohen testified later that Trump signed off on the plan to reimburse Cohen for the Daniels hush-money payment. “He approved it and turned around and said it’s gonna be one heck of a ride in D.C.,” Cohen testified.

Cohen began the day going into detail about his day-to-day relationship with the former president during his employment between 2007 and 2018, describing Trump as a “micro-manager” whom he spoke to “every single day, and multiple times a day,” either by phone or in person. He also told the jury that ahead of his 2016 campaign announcement, Trump had warned him to “be prepared, there’s going to be a lot of women coming forward.”

Cohen detailed his day-to-day relationship with the former president during his employment between 2007 and 2018, describing Trump as a “micro-manager” whom he spoke to “every single day, and multiple times a day,” either by phone or in person. He also told the jury that ahead of his 2016 campaign announcement, Trump had warned him to “be prepared, there’s going to be a lot of women coming forward.”

As Cohen worked to help suppress potentially damaging stories about Trump, he recounted providing regular updates to the former president to claim “credit” for his actions, and to receive directions on “what he wanted me to do.” Prosecutors hope Cohen’s testimony will show just how much Trump was in the know about every little detail, especially about matters “that worried him,” Cohen testified.

Cohen’s testimony will be pivotal for the prosecution’s case against Trump, who has been charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records. The charges stem from an alleged scheme in which then-candidate Trump and his associates made hush-money payments to women, including $130,000 to adult film actress Stormy Daniels, in order to aid his 2016 presidential election campaign. Prosecutors have accused the former president of unlawfully masking reimbursement payments to Cohen — who paid the money to Daniels out of his own pockets — as legal expenses.

While Cohen’s testimony promises to be some of the most impactful in the trial, he’s already been the subject of heavy discussion amongst prior witnesses, as prosecutors look to draw a connection between his actions and the former president’s intentions. Last month, former tabloid boss David Pecker described to the court how two months before Trump announced his 2016 campaign, he was summoned to Trump Tower for a meeting with Cohen and Trump. Pecker offered to aid Trump by acting as the “eyes and ears” of the campaign and helping kill negative stories that could impact Trump’s chances of winning. 

Pecker testified that Cohen was his point of contact regarding coverage of the former president, and often told him “the boss” — shorthand for Trump — would be happy about decisions made by the pair. Pecker also detailed how in the weeks before the 2016 election, he refused to purchase Daniels’ story after failing to receive repayments for stories purchased from a doorman at Trump Tower, and former Playboy model Karen McDougal. “If you don’t, it’s going to be sold to another media outlet and the boss is going to be very very angry with you,” Pecker told Cohen. 

Jurors heard Trump’s voice in court on Monday in the only recording Cohen testified to creating during his tenure. Worried Pecker might publish McDougal’s story after growing increasingly tired of Cohen’s and Trump’s excuses for their delay in reimbursing him for purchasing McDougal’s life rights, Cohen recorded a conversation between himself and Trump to show Trump’s intention to reimburse him. “So, what do we got to pay for this? One-fifty?” Trump is heard saying in the recording. 

Cohen implicated former Trump Organization Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg, who told him to find creative ways to raise the $150,000 payment because neither Trump nor the organization’s name could be associated with the payment. Cohen detailed how he began to create a separate LLC for the McDougal payment, testifying he was doing this on behalf of Trump, who would own McDougal’s story himself. “I had no reason to own, no need to own the life rights,” he said. “What I was doing, I was doing at the direction and the benefit of Mr. Trump.”

The Access Hollywood tape came out less than a month later. Cohen testified on Monday it was actually Trump’s wife Melania who gave him and Trump the idea to call Trump’s comment “locker room talk,” as it was what “Melania thought it was and said to use that in order to get control of the story,” Cohen testified.

It was the release of this tape, former Trump campaign communications director Hope Hicks testified earlier in the trial, that led to the hush-money scheme. Cohen painted Trump in crisis when news of the tape came out. “This is a disaster. Women will hate me. Guys, they’ll think it’s cool, but women? This is going to be a disaster,” the fixer testified to Trump telling him, alluding to recent polling showing Trump had poor ratings from women. Once again directing Cohen to stop the story from coming out, a frantic Trump reportedly told Cohen to push acquiring Daniels’ life rights as far as possible.

“Just get it past the election because if I win, it would have no relevance because I’m already president and if I lose, I don’t really care,” Cohen said Trump directed.

The strategy of delay, delay, delay only lasted until Daniels gave Cohen the ultimatum to pay up or she would go public before the election. In preparation for this, Cohen spoke with Weisselberg, discussed his fronting the payment, and the two approached Trump to tell him of the plan. “He was appreciative and said ‘good, good,'” Cohen testified Trump told him. “He stated to me, ‘Don’t worry about it, you’ll get the money back.’”

Prosecutors used Cohen’s testimony to repeatedly push back against the defense’s claims that Trump knew nothing of the hush-money payment. Instead, Cohen was asked several times if he would have made the payment on his own accord, to which Cohen responded in the negative. 

“I was doing everything I could and more in order to protect my boss, which was something I had done for a long time, but I would not have laid out $130,000 needed for an NDA, needed for somebody else.”

Cohen also repeatedly asserted that he required Trump’s approval before carrying out the payment. In the moments before he went to wire the funds, Cohen called Trump one last time, again to get his sign-off. “I wanted to ensure that once again he approved of what I was doing because I required approval from him about all of this,” Cohen testified. “Because everything requires Mr. Trump’s sign-off. On top of that, I wanted the money back.”

Trump has claimed he never intentionally falsified business documents around the payments nor attempted to intentionally defraud American voters. Cohen’s testimony could offer prosecutors the legal case for why Trump is being tried on felony charges, and offer an incriminating inside view of the former president’s intentions. More importantly, prosecutors are looking for Cohen’s testimony to act as a buffer for any inevitable appeals the Trump legal team may file.

Trump and Cohen have long been overdue for a face-to-face clash in court. Following Trump’s indictment last year by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, the former president sued Cohen for half a billion dollars, alleging that his former attorney had violated attorney-client privilege in his public discussions of the hush money payments, and his cooperation with prosecutors. 

Trump has also spent plenty of time publicly bashing Cohen ahead of his testimony — despite the implementation of a court order barring him from attacking witnesses. Judge Juan Merchan has held Trump in contempt of the order 10 times since the start of the trial, including over various instances in which he attacked Cohen on social media and in his statements to reporters outside of the courtroom. 

Cohen looked over his shoulder to glance at Trump as he entered the courtroom early Monday morning, but received no reaction from the former president, whose eyes were closed and his head tilted slightly towards the witness stand. Trump once again seemed to nod off — at one point jerking his head as Cohen set the scene for how he came to attain his fixer job title. He did, however, purse his lips when Cohen recounted a conversation the two had in 2011 about a potential run for the presidency. 

Despite complaining that the amount of security around the courthouse prevented his supporters from accessing the space, Trump’s entourage entered in full force on Monday. Attendees present in court included his son Eric Trump, his spokesperson Alina Habba, former advisor Boris Epshteyn, and electeds Nicole Malliotakis, Steve Marshall, J.D. Vance, Brenna Bird, and Tommy Tuberville. Notably absent for the fifth week in a row is Trump’s wife Melania, whom his defense has argued he cares for deeply and is the reason why Trump engaged in the hush-money payment in the first place. 

However, Cohen cast doubt on the defense’s argument around Trump’s concern for his wife early Monday afternoon, testifying that when he asked Trump how Melania was handling the news of Daniels’ story, Trump said: “Don’t worry. How long do you think I’ll be on the market for? Not long.”

“He wasn’t thinking about Melania at all. This was all about the campaign,” Cohen concluded.