What did Michael Cohen say during his first day of testimony?

Michael Cohen, the star witness of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, took the stand this morning in the trial surrounding an alleged hush money payment made by him on behalf of former president Donald Trump in 2016. The payment was made to adult film star Stephanie Clifford, known professionally as Stormy Daniels. Clifford and Trump are alleged to have had an affair in the early 2000s, and many in the campaign were concerned about the incident becoming public. Thus, the prosecution argues that the campaign used funds to pay Ms. Clifford $130,000 to keep quiet. Donald Trump was charged with 34 felonies related to campaign finance violations.

Cohen’s highly anticipated testimony is taking place over the coming days. Depending on the former Trump fixer, both trial sides will present cases. Thanks to reporters in the courtroom, we can bring you details on what Cohen said and what we can expect to hear about in the coming days.

This story is being updated as the testimony takes place in New York City.

Starting with the basics

The testimony began with the prosecution asking Cohen easy questions about his background, including details about his family and where he grew up. When asked why he went into law, he said he “really didn’t want to be a lawyer,” but his grandma had other opinions. “I wanted to go to Wall Street, and my grandma said that’s not gonna happen,” Cohen recounted.

Cohen met Donald Trump through Don Jr. During his testimony, Cohen said that after completing some tasks for the head of the Trump Organization, he was offered a job “working on issues that were of concern to [Donald Trump].”

In discussing his relationship with Donald Trump, Michael Cohen said his boss had an open-door policy. Additionally, Cohen said that Trump always wanted to be kept up to date with the tasks that Cohen was assigned.

Though his work with Donald Trump cost him a license to practice law, Cohen reflected fondly on the years at the Trump Organization, describing it as a “big family.” Cohen admitted that as Donald Trump’s “fixer,” a moniker he agreed with, he lied and bullied people to achieve the objectives set out by his boss. “The only thing that was on my mind was to accomplish the task to make him happy,” said Cohen.

The Trump campaign in 2016

When Donald Trump decided to run for president in 2016, Cohen played a minor role, serving as a surrogate on TV for the candidate. However, as the election approached, Donald Trump, as well as some of the campaign leadership, became concerned with negative stories circulating, particularly those involving extramarital affairs and accusations of sexual misconduct. When asked about how the campaign responded, Cohen recounted a meeting with David Pecker, who testified in the case a few weeks ago. Pecker was the CEO and Chairmen of A360media, then known as American Media, Inc.,

During a meeting in 2015, Cohen said that Pecker offered to place positive stories about Trump and negative ones about his opponents in the press. Cohen specifically mentioned a few stories about Senator Ted Cruz (TX-R), Senator Marco Rubio (FL-R), and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, where Pecker sent the articles to Trump to be seen as “loyal.”

Additionally, Cohen spoke to a situation wherein he purchased a story from A360media by contacting Pecker when they had planned to run a story about an illegitimate child that Trump had fathered. Cohen paid $30,000 to buy the story and ensure the agreement “fully protected” the former president. Donald Trump was very interested in ensuring Cohen was successful and asked to be kept abreast of any developments.

Karen McDougal, the model

Next, the jury heard about other stories that Cohen had helped to bury, including that involving another alleged affair, this time with model Karen McDougal. This time around, buying the story would cost the Trump team $150,000, and Cohen testified that when he told Donald Trump, he responded, “No problem, I’ll take care of it.”

Access Hollywood recording

Cohen then talked about the aftermath of the infamous behind-the-scenes recording made during the entertainment news program “Access Hollywood,” where Trump is heard saying he could “grab [women] by the p***y and “make them do anything”. The clip was released at the height of his 2016 presidential campaign. Cohen said Trump instructed him to reach out to his media contacts to do some damage control.

Stormy Daniels shops around

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Soon after the Access Hollywood brouhaha, Cohen learned that Stormy Daniels was looking to sell her story. He said that Trump told him to talk to Pecker to get the rights to the story because he was worried about the women’s vote, especially following the release of the behind-the-scenes recording. When Cohen found out that Daniels intended to sell her story to British tabloid Daily, Trump realized he had no choice but to come to an agreement with the actress.

Cohen admitted he personally made one of the “hush money” payments to Daniels. He said that In October 2016, he used his own funds to give $130,000 to the actress to pay for her silence. Cohen stated that he made this payment to shield Trump, who instructed him to delay the deal with Daniels.