Michael Cohen testifies against Trump — admits he was 'angry, beyond angry' with former president



Michael Cohen, Donald Trump's former attorney, was called to testify on Monday morning as one of the final witnesses for the prosecution in the New York criminal case.

Cohen, often referred to as Trump's "fixer" by the corporate media, is a key witness for the Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's prosecutors in the case. Last year, Bragg charged Trump with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records concerning payments made to Cohen, who claims he was reimbursed for a $130,000 so-called hush money payment to porn actress Stormy Daniels for her to keep quiet about an alleged affair. Trump has pleaded not guilty to all charges and denied the affair allegations.

'I was even for myself unusually angry.'

The prosecution previously called Trump's former White House communications director and campaign aide, Hope Hicks, to the witness stand, Blaze News reported. She claimed that Cohen told her the rumors about the payment to Daniels were not true and that it "would be out of character" for Cohen to make such a payment himself.

Hicks further contended that Cohen was the one who referred to himself as Trump's "fixer" and that he would "insert himself" into the 2016 presidential campaign, despite not being a part of it, and go "rogue."

"He would try to insert himself at certain moments, but he wasn't supposed to be on the campaign in any official capacity," Hicks told the jury. "He liked to call himself a fixer, or Mr. Fix It, and it was only because he first broke it that he was able to then fix it."

During his direct examination on Monday, Cohen testified that he formed Resolution Consultants LLC to pay American Media Inc. $125,000 as compensation for its payment to Karen McDougal, who claimed she had an affair with Trump. The company allegedly purchased the story rights from McDougal and agreed to have her contribute a monthly column. However, Cohen stated that he never sent the funds to AMI because National Enquirer's then-publisher, David Pecker, allegedly told him McDougal's cover on Men's Health magazine sold more copies than anticipated, so the deal was worth it.

"He told me to rip it up, forget it," Cohen said.

Cohen also testified that Trump told him to "take care" of the Daniels story. He created a separate LLC called Essential Consultants to execute the payment after realizing someone he knew owned a company with the same name as his previously opened LLC, Resolution Consultants. He admitted that he provided false information on paperwork to get the bank to create his accounts.

According to Cohen, Trump told him at the time, "I want you to just push it out as long as you can just get past the election," referring to the acquisition of Daniels' story. "Because if I win, it will have no relevance because I'm president. And if I lose, I don't even care."

He noted that Trump "wasn't even thinking about Melania" and that it was "all about the campaign."

Live reports from the courthouse on Monday stated that Trump shook his head in response to Cohen's allegations.

Cohen said, "[Trump] stated to me that he had spoken to some friends, some individuals, smart people, and that it's $130,000. You're a billionaire, just pay it."

"He stated to me, 'Don't worry, you'll get the money back,'" Cohen told the jury.

Cohen claimed he reached a settlement deal with Daniels' then-attorney, Keith Davidson, to ensure the story would not be published by the media. He noted that it was his idea to add a $1 million damages clause to the agreement to "ensure that she didn't speak." He further alleged that he was the only person to retain the side-letter agreement to guarantee "the information would never get out."

Davidson previously testified that he had never seen a copy of the agreement signed by Trump, Blaze News reported. The contract was between "David Dennison," allegedly Trump, and "Peggy Peterson," allegedly Daniels. Davidson claimed a side agreement included the parties' real names. The side agreement listed Peggy Peterson as Stephanie Gregory Clifford, Daniels' legal name. However, the line next to "David Dennison" was left blank.

According to Cohen, the nondisclosure agreement and corresponding side agreement did not include Trump's name, and he did not sign it "because the purpose of it was to ensure his name didn't appear anywhere because he's the candidate for president of the United States of America and this would not have been in his benefit to do so."

During his testimony, Davidson revealed that he received a call from Cohen after Trump won the 2016 presidential election. According to Davidson, Cohen was frustrated and angry Trump had not given him a position in his administration "after everything I've done for that f***ing guy."

On Monday, Cohen told jurors he was disappointed that he was not considered for White House chief of staff.

"I didn't want the role, I didn't believe that the role was right for me or that I was even competent to be chief of staff. I just wanted my name to have been included," Cohen testified. "I wanted to at least be considered. It was more about my ego than anything."

"Every president has a personal attorney. So, my thought was that way I could continue to protect him, to do the things he needed with these other matters. And he would be protected," he continued.

Cohen explained that he partnered with an attorney to help him pitch the idea to Trump to hire him as his personal attorney. He said he did not expect to get paid directly but planned to monetize his relationship with Trump.

Cohen stated he was "angry, beyond angry" that after he paid "$130,000 on [Trump's] behalf to protect him, it was insulting that the gratitude that was shown back to me was to cut the bonus by two-thirds."

"I was even for myself unusually angry," Cohen admitted, adding that he even told Pecker about his dissatisfaction.

Cohen claimed he was reimbursed for the Daniels settlement through a series of future legal services as Trump's personal attorney. He stated he was to receive $420,000 over a 12-month period.

The prosecution will continue its direct examination of Cohen on Tuesday.

Trump told reporters Monday afternoon, "There's nothing illegal, a lot of people say that, they're all saying that. The only person who won't say it is the judge because it's a rigged deal, he's conflicted."

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Ex-attorney for Daniels, McDougal says clients wanted to revive careers — and he never saw Trump’s signature on agreement



The New York criminal case against former President Donald Trump continued Thursday with a hearing on additional alleged gag order violations and testimony from the prosecution's witness attorney, Keith Davidson. Davidson previously represented porn actress Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal, both of whom allegedly had an affair with Trump.

Davidson testified that he never saw a copy of the so-called hush money agreement between "David Dennison," allegedly Donald Trump, and "Peggy Peterson," allegedly Stormy Daniels, that was actually signed by Trump. He saw only an agreement signed by Cohen, allegedly on Trump's behalf.

Additionally, Davidson noted that there was a side agreement that did use the parties' real names. That agreement listed Peggy Peterson as Stephanie Gregory Clifford, Daniels' legal name. However, it read, "David Dennison a.k.a." followed by a blank line.

According to prosecutor Joshua Steinglass, the side agreement did include Trump's name, but Davidson admittedly was the one who handwrote it. Davidson noted that he has never met Trump and had never even been in the same room as him until these court proceedings.

Davidson claimed that he received a call from Cohen after Trump won the 2016 presidential election, expressing frustration and anger that he was "not going to Washington" with Trump "after everything I've done for that f**king guy."

"That f**king guy is not even paying me the $130,000 back," Cohen allegedly stated, according to Davidson. The money referred to the payment Cohen sent to Daniels for the alleged agreement between Trump and her.

According to Davidson, per the agreement, Cohen instructed him to tell the Wall Street Journal that the allegation of an affair between Daniels and Trump was not true.

Davidson made a statement to the WSJ in 2018 on behalf of Daniels that read, "I am saying with complete clarity that this is absolutely false."

The attorney rejected the corporate media's use of the terms "hush money" and "payout."

"It wasn't a 'payout,' and it wasn't 'hush money.' It was consideration in a civil settlement," Davidson argued.

He noted that Daniels made plans to appear on Jimmy Kimmel's show despite the settlement agreement because she wanted to "talk about her life and reinvigorate her career."

Trump's lawyer, Emil Bove, played a recording of Davidson telling Cohen that Daniels wanted the money "more than you could ever imagine."

Davidson went on to say in the recording, "If [Trump] loses this election, and he's going to lose, we all lose all f***ing leverage. ... This case is worth zero."

Davidson testified that like Daniels, former Playboy model McDougal was also attempting to revive her career.

According to Davidson, McDougal said selling her story of having an alleged affair with Trump to the National Enquirer was her "dream deal." He stated the contract between the tabloid and McDougal promised her a monthly column on aging and fitness in Star and OK magazines.

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Trump trial: Judge rules on alleged gag order violations, witnesses discuss Michael Cohen's payment to Stormy Daniels



On Thursday, the prosecution's third witness, finance executive Gary Farro, returned to provide his testimony in the New York criminal case brought against Donald Trump.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg (D) charged Trump with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in an alleged attempt to cover up so-called "hush money" payments made to Stormy Daniels, a porn actress, to keep quiet about an alleged extramarital affair.

Michael Cohen, Trump's former attorney, claimed that he made a $130,000 payment to Daniels at Trump's request. Farro, Cohen's former banker, returned for his second day on the stand Tuesday to detail how Cohen set up a new LLC to allegedly complete the transaction.

Last week, Farro explained that Cohen urgently requested in 2016 that First Republic Bank open a new LLC, Resolution Consultants, for "capital real estate." According to Farro, Cohen never made a deposit after the account was set up. Instead, two weeks later, Cohen backtracked on the plan, stating he no longer wanted to open that account, Farro said. Cohen requested to open a different LLC, Essential Consultants, for the same purpose, Farro testified.

Cohen obtained a home equity line of credit transfer the same day he opened the account, Farro told the court. On October 27, Cohen completed a $130,000 wire transfer from Essential Consultants to attorney Keith Davidson's trust account, Farro continued. At the time, Daniels was one of Davidson's clients.

"It's an account that's held by attorneys on behalf of one of their clients," Farro explained. He claimed that Cohen told him the payment was a "retainer" for a real estate transaction.

Todd Blanche, Trump's attorney, clarified with Farro that Cohen did not indicate on the account's paperwork that he was "acting as an agent" for anyone else.

"We would have to know who he was acting as an agent for," Farro stated. "We would have to ensure that he was not working with a person of interest."

"If [the] client told me it was a shell corporation, it would not have been opened. It would give me pause, very frankly," Farro added.

The prosecution called attorney Keith Davidson to the stand. Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal were previously clients of Davidson.

Davidson claimed that he negotiated with National Enquirer and ABC News on behalf of McDougal to sell her story for top dollar.

"At the time, as is often the case with negotiations, I was trying to play two entities off of each other," he testified.

Davidson claimed McDougal "did not want to tell her story." Instead, she wanted to "rejuvenate her career, to make money and to avoid telling the story and being termed the scarlet letter," he testified.

Dylan Howard, former National Enquirer editor, texted Davidson on July 23, 2016, "Get me a price on McDougall (sic). All in. Consulting gig perhaps as a fitness expert thrown into the mix," according to evidence submitted to the court.

Davidson testified that Trump was not named in the deal with the National Enquirer but claimed that the purchase of McDougal's story would benefit Trump. Davidson received 45% of the $150,000 deal.

He told the court that there were two possible reasons the tabloid purchased the story without plans to run it.

"I think one explanation that was given was that they were trying to build Karen into a brand and didn't want to diminish her reputation. And second was more of an unspoken understanding that there was a close affiliation between David Pecker and Donald Trump and that AMI would not run this story or any story related to Karen and Donald Trump because it would tend to hurt Donald Trump," Davidson testified.

He noted that, prior to the "Access Hollywood" tape, there was little interest in Daniels' story.

"So far as I'm aware, it had tremendous influence," Davidson told jurors. He further claimed that "no one wanted to talk to Cohen" to close a deal on the story. Davidson described Cohen as "not pleasant or constructive."

He explained that the tabloid's parent company, American Media Inc., decided it did not want to purchase Daniels' story, so Cohen "stepped into AMI's shoes."

Davidson testified that the deal was written up using fake names to conceal those involved. "Peggy Peterson" was used for Daniels, and "David Dennison" was used for Trump, he claimed.

According to the agreement, Cohen was to send $130,000 to Davidson by October 14, 2016. However, Davidson did not receive the funds in time, he stated. Cohen allegedly gave many reasons for the delay.

"Goddamnit what do you expect me to do, my guy is in five different states today," Cohen reportedly wrote to Davidson.

Davidson testified that Cohen ultimately decided to send the funds himself. He noted that he had assumptions about how the deal would be funded but did not know.

Gag order ruling

DA Bragg filed a contempt motion against the former president, claiming that his comments about individuals involved in the New York criminal case violated Merchan's gag order.

Trump was accused of violating the judge's order approximately a dozen times, including 10 social media posts published on Truth Social. In one of the posts, Trump mentions "two sleazebags," which the prosecution argued was referring to Cohen and Daniels, who are both expected to testify against Trump.

Bragg urged Merchan to remind Trump that he could face jail time for repeated order violations.

Before continuing with the witness testimony on Tuesday morning, Merchan ruled on the alleged violations, finding Trump in contempt of his order. According to Merchan, Trump violated the gag order nine times. As part of the judge's ruling, Trump must pay $1,000 per violation. He was also ordered to remove "offending posts" from social media and two "offending posts" from his campaign website. The posts must be removed, and the fine must be paid by the close of business Friday.

The judge's order read, "THEREFORE, Defendant is hereby warned that the Court will not tolerate continued willful violations of its lawful orders and that if necessary and appropriate under the circumstances, it will impose an incarceratory punishment."

Trump's attorneys argued that the former president's comments referring to Cohen and Daniels were in response to repeated public attacks made by the two witnesses. His team noted that neither Cohen nor Daniels is restricted from making disparaging comments about Trump, the case against him, or his political campaign.

"President Trump is allowed to respond to political attacks," Trump's attorney told the judge last week.

"To allow such attacks upon protected witnesses with blanket assertions that they are all responses to 'political attacks' would be an exception that swallowed the rule. The Expanded Order does not contain such an exception," Merchan responded.

As of Tuesday afternoon, Trump had already removed the social media posts.

According to prosecutors, four additional comments made by Trump since last week's hearing also allegedly violated the gag order. Merchan will hold another hearing later this week to consider those comments.

The trial will resume on Thursday with a gag order hearing, and Davidson is expected to continue his testimony.

Anything else?

On Tuesday, Trump was joined in court by his son Eric Trump and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.

"With President Trump in NYC to sit through this sham of a trial. This trial is a travesty of justice. I stand with Trump," Paxton wrote on X.

The prosecution stated that if Trump testifies, it would like to use the gag order violations during cross-examination to show "the defendant's attempt to dissuade witnesses, including Michael Cohen and Stormy Daniels."

Trump responded to the gag order violation ruling on Truth Social, writing, "This Judge has taken away my Constitutional Right to FREE SPEECH. I am the only Presidential Candidate in History to be GAGGED. This whole 'Trial' is RIGGED, and by taking away my FREEDOM OF SPEECH, THIS HIGHLY CONFLICTED JUDGE IS RIGGING THE PRESIDENTIAL OF 2024 ELECTION. ELECTION INTERFERENCE!!!"

In addition to ruling on the alleged gag order violations, Merchan granted Trump approval to attend his son Barron Trump's upcoming high school graduation.

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