On Monday, May 20th, Michael Cohen, former lawyer for Donald Trump, testified in court for the fourth time and admitted during his testimony that he had stolen tens of thousands of dollars from the Trump Organization by falsely reporting payment amounts.
During the court proceedings, Trump’s lawyer Todd Blanche asked Cohen, “Did you steal money from the Trump Organization?”
Cohen replied, “Yes, sir.”
This testimony stemmed from his statements from last week when he detailed how he and Allen Weisselberg, former CFO of the Trump Organization, calculated a $420,000 reimbursement, which included repayment for the $130,000 Cohen had paid to adult film star Stormy Daniels. Cohen made the payment to Daniels before the 2016 election to silence her claims of an extramarital affair with Trump in 2006.
Cohen previously testified that this reimbursement was “grossed up” to help him avoid taxes, which included repaying the so-called $50,000 he paid to the tech company Red Finch.
During Monday’s testimony, Cohen revealed that he made several trips to TD Bank to withdraw cash to pay for Red Finch’s services, storing the cash in a paper bag. According to Cohen, the total cash amounted to approximately $20,000, which he handed over to the CEO of Red Finch but did not pay the company the full $50,000.
In a meeting in 2017 regarding the reimbursement plan, Cohen told Weisselberg that he had given Red Finch $50,000, effectively pocketing the $30,000 difference.
Blanche asked Cohen, “So, you lied to Weisselberg about how much you needed to pay Red Finch?” Cohen confirmed that he had lied, stating that the Trump Organization believed he had paid the full amount when he had not.
Blanche then inquired, “Did you later repay the money you stole from them to the Trump Organization?”
Cohen replied, “No, sir.”
Cohen claimed that his motive for taking the money was due to being “angry” about his bonus being cut. He stated that taking the $30,000 was “almost a compensation” for him.
He said, “I was upset over the bonus cut, and I just felt it was almost a compensation.” He later added, “My bonus was cut by two-thirds, so needless to say, I was very frustrated.”
In his previous testimony last week, Cohen described how he used personal funds through a home equity line of credit in 2016 to pay Daniels. Cohen testified that he did so because Trump instructed him to “take care of it” as the matter could potentially harm the election campaign.
Trump has not pleaded guilty in this case and vehemently denies any involvement with Stormy Daniels.
In March, Robert Costello, a lawyer who had previously provided advice to Cohen before his indictment by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, testified before a grand jury, recalling his interactions with Cohen. He described Cohen as a serial liar during last week’s trial.
During Monday’s court proceedings, Blanche questioned Cohen about how much money he made before and after admitting to multiple federal charges, including how much he earned from exploiting the charges facing Trump now.
Cohen admitted that in the fiscal years of 2017-2018, just before he was convicted, he made approximately $4 million. He also acknowledged that since publishing a new book in 2020 and starting a podcast program called Mea Culpa, he has earned about $4 million annually but claimed after pleading guilty to multiple federal charges that he had “no income” and that his income was “insufficient” to cover legal fees and living expenses.
Furthermore, during the court proceedings, Cohen admitted to Blanche that he had previously claimed that Trump himself was not involved in paying hush money to adult film actress Stormy Daniels.
In court, Blanche asked Cohen to confirm, “You told many people when this first broke, the president had no knowledge of the money?” Cohen answered, “That’s right.” However, later, Cohen changed his statement, admitting to lying and claiming that he lied to help Trump.
One of the prosecutors in this case, Susan Hoffinger, mentioned how Cohen earlier this year used AI-generated fake case citations in court.
Cohen cited false cases using Google Bard as part of a motion to seek an early end to supervision.
When Hoffinger asked if he intentionally misled anyone, Cohen replied, “No.” Cohen said, “It (AI) provided me with a lot of case laws that looked legitimate to me.”
He continued, “It looked legitimate, and I copied and pasted the first three case laws, sent them to my lawyer’s office for review, and included them in the documents. I hope they scrutinized them to ensure accuracy.”
Trump’s legal spokesperson Alina Habba once stated on Fox News that the former president wanted to testify but expressed doubt about whether Trump would actually do so.
Habba said, “He must listen to his lawyers’ advice. This is not what he wants to do. We know he wants to testify, he is willing to, and he can testify because he has nothing to hide. He’s absolutely willing to tell the truth. Frankly, I think he has already told the truth.”
She told Fox News that if Trump were to testify, “his answers would be relatively quick, and his testimony would be short, because he was not involved.”
Currently, the hush money case involving Trump is at a critical stage. If Trump is convicted, he will become the first former president and presidential candidate in American history to be convicted, which will have significant implications for the 2024 presidential election and American society.
Trump stated, “The criminal justice system is undergoing a trial in New York.”