In a court showdown five years in the making, Donald Trump’s fixers turn enemies Michael Cohen He testified Tuesday that he is committed to increasing the presumed value of the former president’s assets to “any number that Trump tells us.”
Trump’s lawyers — and Trump himself outside the courtroom — have in turn sought to paint Cohn, who pleaded guilty to tax evasion and lying to Congress and banks, as a serial liar. During a heated cross-examination, the disbarred Cohen even raised his own lawyer objections, answering some questions with “Ask and answer!”
It was a fraught face-to-face encounter between Trump and a man who once vowed to “take a bullet” for him.Cohen ultimately lost in prison and became a high-profile witness against his former boss in venues ranging from courts to Congress.
Now, Cohen is a key figure in a lawsuit by New York Attorney General Letitia James that accuses Trump and his companies of defrauding banks, insurance companies and others by providing them with financial statements that inflated his wealth.
“Mr. Trump asked me to increase my total assets based on a number he arbitrarily selected,” Cohen testified, saying he and Trump’s former finance chief Alan Weisselberg The effort “reverse-engineers a variety of different asset classes and adds to those assets to achieve what Mr. Trump is asking us to accomplish.”
Asked what that number was, Cohen responded: “Whatever Trump tells us.”
Trump denies James’ accusation. Outside court, Trump dismissed Cohen’s claims, calling him a “proven liar.”
“The witness’s credibility has been completely lost,” Trump said. “He was a dishonorable felon and that’s how it happened.”
The former president and Republican 2024 election front-runner has voluntarily appeared in court for the sixth consecutive day this month. Cohen said he had not seen Trump in five years.
“It’s a great reunion,” Cohen said outside court. He insisted, “This is not Donald Trump versus Michael Cohen, or Michael Cohen versus Donald Trump. This is about responsibility, plain and simple.”
Cohen testified that Trump would subpoena him and Weisselberg and said, “I’m not actually worth four and a half billion dollars. I’m really worth more than six.”
Cohen said he and the Treasury secretary would inflate the value of Trump properties by tying them to “comparable” properties that are actually different — for example, new developments with higher ceilings, better views and no rent regulations. project.
Cohen testified that insurance executives were presented with exaggerated representations in which a combination of extremely high value and low debt would result in better premiums for Trump. Additionally, he said, Trump would intentionally show up about three-quarters of the time during meetings between his deputies and insurance companies and spark a conversation to the effect that he was wealthy enough to pay himself if he couldn’t get high premiums. Insurance.
Trump sometimes whispered to his attorney or shook his head during Cohen’s testimony. At other times, the former president hunched in his seat, watching intently, or leaning back with his arms crossed. He was interested in Cohen’s cross-examination, gesturing to his attorney and craning his neck to get a better look.
Trump lawyer Alina Habba blasted Cohen’s 2018 federal guilty plea and his current efforts to distance himself from some of them. Although he admitted to tax evasion and making false statements to banks on loan applications, he said Tuesday that he lied when he admitted those crimes. He said he was simply “tax evading” and did not correct the inaccuracies in the loan documents.
“You won’t lie to me too, will you?” Haba asked sharply. When Cohen objected to certain questions and rattled off cases that he said allowed him to do so, Haba countered that he was wrong.
“If you still have a law license, you know this,” she said. Another Trump lawyer, Christopher Keith, complained that Cohen was a “serial liar” who was “out of control” and trying to “play the judge.”
The real judge, Arthur Engoron, let Cohen answer most of the questions.
Ngorong Already decided Trump and his company are guilty of fraud. The trial involves remaining claims of conspiracy, insurance fraud and falsification of business records.
Trump has said his assets are actually undervalued, insisting that disclaimers on his financial statements essentially tell recipients to check the numbers themselves.
He derided the case as a “hoax,” a “hoax” and part of an effort by James and other Democrats to drag down his campaign.
Cohn served as Trump’s fiercely loyal personal attorney for a decade before breaking with Trump in 2018 amid a federal investigation that sent Cohn to federal prison. He is also the key prosecutorial witness in Trump’s separate Manhattan hush-money criminal case, which is set to go to trial next spring.
James credits Cohen with being the driving force behind her civil investigation, which led to the fraud lawsuit and trial. She cited Cohen’s 2019 testimony to Congress that Trump had a history of misrepresenting the value of assets to obtain favorable loan terms and tax benefits.
Earlier this month, Trump dropped a $500 million lawsuit against Cohen “Spreading lies” and violating confidentiality agreements. A Trump spokesman said the former president had simply paused the proceedings while he campaigned and fought four criminal cases.
In one of the criminal cases, a co-defendant Jenna EllisOn Tuesday, he pleaded guilty to a felony charge of trying to overturn Trump’s 2020 election loss in Georgia.She was the fourth defendant taken away plea agreement in this case.
Trump’s lawyers on Tuesday sought to delay the trial in New York, saying coronavirus cases among James’ staff put the former president’s health at risk. The Attorney General’s Office said in a statement that all steps were taken to notify relevant parties and follow health directives.
Trump later complained outside the court that “what they’re doing in court with COVID-19 is a disgrace,” but he and the lawyers beside him did not wear masks.
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