Donald Trump’s former lawyer and personal fixer Michael Cohen is set to testify again Tuesday in the hush money trial following his long-awaited first appearance in the Manhattan courtroom Monday.
Cohen, the most important witness for the prosecution, used his first day of testimony to place Trump squarely at the center of the scheme that prosecutors claim was used to bury negative stories in order to protect Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. He also spoke about his experience acting as the former president’s lawyer, claiming: “Everything required Mr. Trump’s sign-off.”
Cohen is key to the current proceedings because he made the $130,000 hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels. Prosecutors say the deal was made to stop her from speaking out about an alleged one-night stand with Trump and potentially hurting his campaign. Trump has denied 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, which the prosecution claims involved falsely recording reimbursements to Cohen as legal expenses in an effort to hide the hush money payment.
