Stealing from Trump was ‘self-help’, ex-fixer Cohen testifies at hush money trial

NEW YORK – Donald Trump’s former fixer Michael Cohen testified on May 20 that he stole money from Trump’s company as a form of “self-help”, an admission that could chip away at his credibility as a star witness at the former US president’s hush money trial.

Questioned by Trump’s lawyer Todd Blanche, Mr Cohen acknowledged stealing from the Trump Organisation by including a reimbursement to a technology company in his bonus package and pocketing most of the money.

“So you stole from the Trump Organisation, right?” Mr Blanche asked.

“Yes sir,” Mr Cohen, 57, testified.

He said he paid roughly US$20,000 (S$27,000) of the US$50,000 that Trump’s company owed to the tech company in cash, handing it off in a brown paper bag at his office. He said he kept the rest. He was reimbursed US$100,000 in total by the Trump Organisation for that payment.

Under questioning by prosecutors a bit later, he testified that he stole the money because he was upset about his annual bonus being cut after he fronted US$130,000 of his own money to buy the silence of porn star Stormy Daniels, who was threatening shortly before the 2016 election to go public with her account of an alleged sexual encounter with Trump.

“I just felt it was almost like self-help,” he said.

Mr Cohen is the final and most important witness for New York prosecutors as they seek to convince a jury that Trump broke the law by covering up that payment to Ms Daniels.

He testified last week that Trump signed off on the payment and worried that her story would hurt his appeal to women voters. That undercut the argument by Trump’s legal team that he was seeking only to protect his family from embarrassment.

But as a convicted felon and admitted liar, Mr Cohen is a problematic witness. Prosecutors have buttressed his testimony with documentary evidence, while Trump’s lawyers have sought to undermine his credibility through his cross-examination.

Mr Cohen’s testimony concluded on May 20. Trump’s lawyers will now have a chance to present evidence and witnesses of their own.

It was unclear whether Trump, 77, would take the witness stand. Defence lawyers often opt not to call witnesses or present their own evidence when they believe prosecutors have failed to make their case.

Though Trump said before the trial began that he planned to testify, Mr Blanche told the judge last week that it was no longer certain. Outside the courtroom on May 20, Trump did not tell reporters whether he would testify.

Closing arguments next week

At the outset of the May 20 session, Justice Juan Merchan said he expected the prosecution and the defence to wrap up their presentations this week and make their closing arguments next week, followed by jury deliberations.

The first former US president to face a criminal trial has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records to cover up the payment to Ms Daniels, who had threatened to go public with her account of an alleged 2006 sexual encounter – a liaison Trump denies.

Outside the courtroom, Trump, the Republican candidate for president in 2024, has blasted the trial as a politically motivated effort to hobble his attempt to take back the White House from Democratic President Joe Biden in the Nov 5 election.

Inside the courtroom, Trump has sat at the defendant’s table, listening to Ms Daniels give her account of their time together in lurid detail. Other witnesses, including Mr Cohen, have discussed efforts to bury unflattering stories at a time Trump faced multiple accusations of sexual misbehaviour.

Trump’s lawyers said last week that they did not think they would need much time unless Trump opted to testify.

“That’s another decision that we need to think through,” Mr Blanche said on May 16.

If he chooses to testify, Trump will have the opportunity to convince jurors that he was not responsible for the paperwork at the heart of the case, and rebut Ms Daniels’ detailed account of their meeting in Lake Tahoe, Nevada.

He would not be restrained by a gag order that bars him in other settings from criticising witnesses, jurors and relatives of the judge and prosecutors.

But he would face cross-examination by prosecutors, who could try to expose inconsistencies in his story. Any lies told under oath could expose him to further criminal perjury charges.

Trump last appeared as a witness in a civil business-fraud trial in 2023, delivering defiant and rambling testimony that aggravated Justice Arthur Engoron, who was overseeing the case. The judge ordered him to pay US$355 million in penalties after finding he fraudulently overstated his net worth to dupe lenders.

The hush-money trial is widely seen as the least consequential of the four criminal prosecutions Trump faces, but it is likely the only one to go to trial before the election.

Trump faces charges in Washington and Georgia of trying to overturn his 2020 loss to Mr Biden, and charges in Florida of mishandling classified documents after leaving the White House in 2021. He has pleaded not guilty in all three cases. REUTERS