Michael Cohen Testifies in Trump Hush-Money Trial

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Facts

• Donald Trump's former lawyer Michael Cohen testified in the former US president's Manhattan hush-money trial Monday. He told the court that Trump ordered him to 'get control' of the National Enquire newspaper's story on his alleged affair with porn star Stormy Daniels.¹
• Jurors also heard a secret recording Cohen kept of Trump regarding another alleged affair with former Playboy model Karen McDougal. Cohen claimed he paid former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker $150K to purchase the McDougal story, adding that Trump never reimbursed him.²
• Reciting what he claims was a conversation between him and Trump, he said he told Trump, 'Effectively, the story has now been caught,' to which Trump allegedly responded, 'Fantastic, great job.' He said what he was doing was 'at the direction of and for the benefit of Mr. Trump.'³
• The recording, which reportedly occurred on Sept. 6, 2016, also included Cohen telling Trump that he needed to 'open up a company for the transfer of all of that info regarding our friend David [Pecker].' Trump replied, 'So what do we got to pay for this? One-fifty?'⁴
• Cohen, who spent 13 months in jail and 1.5 years under house arrest for lying to Congress and financial crimes, also admitted to lying and bullying people on Trump's behalf. Trump's defense team painted him as a serial liar and convicted criminal.⁵
• At the crux of the case is whether Trump falsified business records to hide a $130K hush-money payment to Daniels ahead of the 2016 election. Trump denies the affair and the charges.¹

Sources: ¹CNN, ²New York Times, ³wsj.com, ⁴FOX News and ⁵Washington Post.

Narratives

• Anti-Trump narrative, as provided by Washington Post. This case is about the lengths to which Donald Trump is willing to go to retain his power and silence women. Two brave women at the heart of this case, Daniels and former Trump employee Hope Hicks have provided the evidence necessary to prove Trump's records alteration was ultimately in furtherance of another crime — election influence. Trump may have gotten away with silencing women for years, but this trial won't allow him to hush-money his way out of justice.
• Pro-Trump narrative, as provided by Federalist. This trial isn't a case of brave women taking on a powerful man but rather the state of New York coordinating with maligning 'witnesses' to target its political opponent. District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who campaigned on going after Trump, has been credibly accused of withholding phone records between Cohen and Daniels' manager. Tampering with evidence is a felony in New York, so it appears Bragg, not Trump, should be on trial.

Predictions