Former President Donald Trump’s former fixer Michael Cohen recently testified on Monday that he stole money from Trump’s company as a form of “self- help.” This could sink the guilty verdict many hoped for. This revelation could chip away at his credibility as a star witness at the former U.S. president’s hush money trial via Reuters.
It has been noted that when grilled by Trump’s lawyer Todd Blanche, Cohen admitted stealing from the Trump Organization by including a reimbursement to a technology company in his bonus package and pocketing most of the money.
“So you stole from the Trump Organization, right?” Blanche asked.
“Yes sir,” Cohen, 57, testified.
Cohen has stated that he paid roughly $20,000 of the $50,000 that Trump’s company owed to the tech company in cash, handing it off in a brown paper bag at his office. He stated that he kept the rest. He was reimbursed $100,000 total by the Trump Organization for that payment.
When he was questioned by the prosecutors a bit later, Cohen testified that he stole the money because he was upset about his annual bonus being cut after he fronted $130,000 of his own money to buy the silence of porn star Stormy Daniels, who was threatening shortly before the 2016 election to go public with her account of an alleged sexual encounter with Trump.
“I just felt it was almost like self-help,” Cohen said.
Cohen is the final and most important witness for New York prosecutors as they seek to convince a jury that Trump broke the law by covering up the payment to Daniels. The trial broke for lunch, with questioning due to resume at 2:15 p.m. (1815 GMT).
Cohen testified last week that Trump signed off on the payment and was concerned that her story would negatively impact his appeal to women voters. This contradicts the argument put forth by Trump’s legal team that he was only trying to protect his family from embarrassment.
