Michael Cohen to testify in Donald Trump’s hush-money investigation | Michael Cohen

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Michael Cohen, Donald Trump’s former lawyer and mediator in the Stormy Daniels hush-money affair, is scheduled to testify before a Manhattan grand jury on Monday about payments made to the adult film performer, according to a report Saturday.

Cohen’s appearance before a grand jury convened by Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg comes as prosecutors are believed to be nearing completion of an investigation into $130,000 in payments Trump made to Daniels shortly before the 2016 election. to prevent him from discussing their alleged relationship.

Cohen has been meeting regularly with Manhattan prosecutors in recent weeks, according to the Associated Press, which reported that the lawyer was in a day-long sit-down on Friday in preparation for his testimony next week.

He declined to comment as he left the session, saying he was “going to take some time now to remain quiet and allow the DA to build their case.”

On Friday, the New York Times cited four sources as saying that Trump has also been offered to testify in the investigation that could make the 45th president the first former president to be indicted. Trump is considered unlikely to accept the offer.

However, Trump took to social media to mock the investigation, describing it as a “Scam, Injustice, Mockery, and a Complete and Total Weapon of Law Enforcement to Influence a Presidential Election!”

The criminal investigation into the payments to Daniels partially piggybacked on a parallel New York State criminal case in which the Trump Organization was found guilty on multiple counts of tax fraud and falsifying business records in December.

Possible charges against Trump personally stemming from the Manhattan DA’s investigation include alleged crimes committed in arranging Daniels’ payments, charges related to how they were accounted for of the Trump Organization and falsification of business records.

The Manhattan district attorney’s investigation appeared to have drifted away last year when the newly elected district attorney slowed the probe and two prosecutors were fired.

The investigation has been revived and continues its efforts focused on hush payments made to Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal.

Daniels was paid by Cohen through his own company and then paid by Trump, through the Trump Organization who logged the reimbursements as “legal expenses”.

McDougal’s $150,000 payment, arranged by Cohen, was made by the publisher of the supermarket tabloid the National Enquirer, which later killed the story in a so-called “catch-and-kill” operation.

Cohen, now a co-operating witness, pleaded guilty to tax evasion and campaign-finance violations related to Daniels’ payments. He was sentenced to three years in federal prison, ordered to pay a $50,000 fine, and was later disbarred from practicing as a lawyer.

Federal prosecutors said during Cohen’s criminal case that Trump knew about the payments to the women but the US attorney’s office in New York declined to pursue criminal charges against then-US president Trump. living in the White House.

Cohen, who worked as Trump’s lawyer and fixer from 2006 to 2018, is now estranged from his former employer. Earlier this year, he turned over his cell phones, including voice recordings of conversations he had with a lawyer for Daniels, emails and text messages to the Manhattan district attorney.

Cohen isn’t the only former member of Trump’s former inner circle to run into prosecutors. Former political adviser Kellyanne Conway and former speaker Hope Hicks are also believed to have visited the district attorney’s offices in lower Manhattan.

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