‘There’s Going to Be a Lot of Women Coming Forward’: Michael Cohen Kicks Off Blockbuster Testimony By Dishing On Convos With Trump
AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson; AP Photo/Seth Wenig, Pool
Michael Cohen, the former lawyer and “fixer” for former President Donald Trump, took the witness stand on Monday in Trump’s hush money trial to deliver some of the most highly anticipated testimony for the prosecution.
Cohen, who became a vocal critic of Trump after originally serving as his biggest supporter, is at the heart of the trial as the figure who was central to Trump allegedly falsifying business records to cover up a hush money payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels. Cohen’s was allegedly reimbursed by Trump for the $130,000 payment to keep her story of a 2006 sexual affair out of the press ahead of the 2016 election.
Here are some of the highlights from Cohen’s testimony Monday morning:
Prosecution lawyers first established just how close the relationship between Cohen and Trump was back in 2011, when Trump was first considering running for president.
The New York Times‘ Jonah Bromwich reported: “Michael Cohen describes his early days at the Trump Organization as his glory days. ‘It was fantastic. Working for him especially during those 10 years was’ — he pauses — ‘an amazing experience in many many ways.’ He sounds very sincere.”
The Times‘ Jesse McKinley added: “Cohen is describing a remarkably servile attitude towards Trump. ‘The only thing that was on my mind was to accomplish the task, to make him happy,’ he says. I’m curious to know how that lands for the people in the courtroom who have also worked for — or currently work for — Trump.”
Cohen was asked about David Pecker, the former national editor of The National Enquirer who was the prosecution’s first witness and testified how he, Cohen, and Trump had a secret plan to “catch and kill” negative stories about Trump before they hit the press. This included buying those stories so they’d never see the light of day.
The Times‘ Maggie Haberman reported: “Susan Hoffinger, the prosecutor, asks Michael Cohen if he ever talked to Trump about whether he was concerned that negative personal stories would come forward. Cohen describes a conversation before the presidential campaign kickoff, quoting Trump saying, ‘You know that when this comes out, meaning the announcement, just be prepared, there’s going to be a lot of women coming forward.'”
Cohen then confirmed Pecker’s earlier testimony about the “catch and kill” plan:
Michael Cohen has now testified that he, Trump and David Pecker, the publisher of The National Enquirer, entered into a plot to suppress negative stories about Trump. He says Pecker “would be able to help us to know in advance what was coming out” and try to stop it from doing so.
This is the conspiracy that prosecutors allege Trump participated in — one of the potential crimes that transforms the charges Trump is facing into felonies.
Haberman added to that report: “Cohen is now describing the specifics of some of the negative stories that The Enquirer promoted about Trump’s G.O.P. primary rivals in 2016. Some of the smears were directed at Marco Rubio, the Florida senator who is currently a top contender to be Trump’s running mate.”
Part of the relationship with Pecker was also to plant positive pieces about Trump, but also to make sure they didn’t include any questionable details. MSNBC contributor and Just Security fellow Adam Klasfeld also posted some of the publicly available evidence:
Showing internal email messages, prosecutor Hoffinger shows Cohen involved in editing Enquirer articles. In this puff piece, Cohen recommends taking out a line about a Penthouse pet.
Q: Did AMI agree to make the edits that you suggested?
A: Yes, ma’am. pic.twitter.com/zAITq1HHoJ— Adam Klasfeld (@KlasfeldReports) May 13, 2024
Also mentioned was the first story Cohen helped kill, a false story about a Trump love child that was fed to the Enquirer by a doorman: “With very little wind-up, about an hour in, we are already hearing Michael Cohen describe the first of the three hush-money deals that jurors have heard about. The last of them is Cohen’s own $130,000 hush-money payment to Stormy Daniels.”
Bromwich reported: “Michael Cohen says he monitored the progress of the doorman’s story closely, and that The National Enquirer struck a deal to suppress the story. Cohen says that Trump was very happy to hear of it — and that Cohen personally reviewed the agreement, and asked for a copy to show Trump so that he knew it was taken care of. Cohen testified earlier about his general practice of checking in and circling back with Trump, and now we’re hearing about it in action. We’ll see at least two more examples of it.”
Haberman also provided some context to this as it related to Cohen’s past loyalty to Trump: “Michael Cohen is now describing seeking ‘credit’ with Trump for ‘accomplishing the task’ of making sure the doorman’s story stayed dead. Seeking the head-pat from Trump was a big part of Cohen’s daily existence.”
