Former Attorney General Cohen testified Monday – NBC New York

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Donald Trump’s former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen is expected to testify Monday before a Manhattan grand jury investigating hush payments he arranged and made on behalf of former presidents.

Cohen arrived at the courthouse accompanied by his attorney shortly before his closed-door testimony, which came at a critical time as the Manhattan district attorney’s office nears a decision on whether to seek charges against Trump.

A Trump loyalist turned adversary, Cohen is likely to provide critical details about any involvement by the Republican presidential candidate in payments made during the 2016 campaign to two women who are alleged to have had affairs with him. .

My goal is to tell the truth, Cohen told reporters outside the courthouse, dismissing a suggestion that he might be motivated by a desire to see Trump behind bars.

This is not revenge,” he said. “This is all about accountability. He needs to take responsibility for his dirty deeds.

Trump has denied being involved with any of the women, porn actor Stormy Daniels and model Karen McDougal.

Cohen provided evidence to prosecutors, including voice recordings of conversations he had with a lawyer for one of the women, as well as emails and text messages. She also has recordings of a conversation in which she and Trump talked about an arrangement to pay another woman through the supermarket tabloid National Enquirer.

Prosecutors appear to be looking into whether Trump committed crimes in how the payments were made or how they were accounted for within Trumps company, the Trump Organization.

One possible charge is falsifying business records, a misdemeanor unless prosecutors can prove it was done to cover up another crime. No former US president has ever been charged with a crime.

Appearing Monday on ABCs “Good Morning America,” Trump attorney Joseph Tacopina said it was unlikely the former president would accept an invitation, extended by prosecutors last week, to testify before a grand jury.

We have no plans to participate in this litigation, said Tacopina. This is a decision that still needs to be made. No deadline has been set yet, so let’s stay tuned.

He singled out Trump as the victim, saying he was forced to pay Daniels.

This was a plain extortion and I don’t know since when we decided to start prosecuting extortion victims,” ​​said Tacopina. “He vehemently denied this affair. But he has to pay money because there will be an allegation that will embarrass him publicly, regardless of the campaign.

Daniels and the lawyer who helped arrange the payment for him, Keith Davidson, both denied extorting anyone.

Tacopina is also accusing the Manhattan district attorneys office of prosecutorial misconduct, writing in a letter to New York City’s inspector general that prosecutors are trying to hinder Trump’s chances in the 2024 presidential election. Tacopina asked the city’s Department of Investigation to investigate an apparent political prosecution.

The Manhattan district attorney’s office declined to comment.

Trump’s lawyers have tried several times to get judges in New York and Florida to intervene or halt investigations of Trump and the Trump Organization, arguing that they are politically motivated. All attempts failed.

Cohen served prison time after pleading guilty in 2018 to federal charges, including campaign finance violations, for arranging payments to Daniels and McDougal to prevent them from going public. He was also disbarred.

Trump’s lawyers could point to those factors in an attempt to undermine Cohen’s credibility, if the former president is indicted and Cohen ends up testifying at trial.

Cohen has been meeting regularly with Manhattan prosecutors in recent weeks, including an all-day session on Friday to prepare for his grand jury appearance.

The panel has been hearing evidence since January in what Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, a Democrat, called his office’s next chapter in the long-running Trump investigation. But the hush money payments that are perhaps the funnest of Trump’s questioning methods are familiar ground.

Federal prosecutors and Bragg’s predecessor in the DA’s office, Cyrus Vance Jr., are each investigating the payments but have not charged Trump.

Cohen declined to comment to reporters as he left the meeting, saying he would take some time today to remain silent and allow the DA to build their case.

Trump continued to criticize the investigation on social media on Friday, calling the case a Scam, Injustice, Mockery, and Complete and Total Weaponization of Law Enforcement to affect a Presidential Election!

Cohen paid Daniels $130,000 through his own company and was then paid by Trump, whose company logged the reimbursements as legal expenses.

The McDougals’ $150,000 payment was made through the publisher of the National Enquirer, who suppressed his story in a journalistic dubious practice known as catch-and-kill.

According to federal prosecutors charging Cohen, the Trump Organization grossed Cohens reimbursement for paying Daniels for tax purposes,” giving him $360,000 plus a $60,000 bonus, for a total of $420,000 .

Associated Press writer Jill Colvin contributed to this report.

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