He was Donald Trump’s personal lawyer and called him his “pit bull” before becoming his nemesis: Michael Cohen testified in New York on Tuesday against the former American president in the civil trial that threatens his real estate empire.
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The two men, who now harbor a stubborn hatred of each other in court or on social media, found themselves in the crowded New York State Supreme Court courtroom: one, Michael Cohen, at the witness stand; the other, Donald Trump, the defendant in that civil case, sat across from him, sitting between his lawyers.
In this case, New York Attorney General Letitia James accuses 77-year-old Donald Trump, two of his children Eric and Donald Jr., and two Trump Organization executives of overvaluing their golf courses, apartment buildings, etc. by several billion dollars in New York skyscrapers the 2010s to obtain cheaper loans from banks.
With graying hair, a white shirt and a dark jacket with small checks, Michael Cohen, who answered questions from the prosecutor without looking at Donald Trump, quickly brought charges against his former boss.
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“I was instructed by Mr. Trump to increase the value of the estate based on a number he arbitrarily set,” he said.
“My responsibility, together with Allen Weisselberg, was to reverse engineer and increase the assets to reach the number (…) whatever the requested number,” he said. added.
“He’s a liar. “He’s trying to manage his affairs, but it won’t work,” attacked Donald Trump a little earlier upon his arrival at the court in Manhattan, referring to the conviction of Michael Cohen for lying to the US Congress as part of its investigation into Russian interference during the 2016 presidential election.
AFP
Michael Cohen, a longtime former president of the United States, was sentenced to three years in prison in late 2018, partly for his role in payments to protect Donald Trump’s reputation.
A sulphurous resume that the defense wants to rely on to attack their credibility. Michael Cohen reiterated in court that in these cases he acted at the request and in the interests of Donald Trump.
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Michael Cohen is behind the current civil lawsuit. During a spectacular and caustic hearing in the US Congress in February 2019, he claimed that Donald Trump had “inflated his wealth when it served his interests”, particularly in order to climb onto Forbes magazine’s list of the biggest fortunes.
New York State Attorney General Letitia James opened an investigation and, after a three-year investigation, filed a lawsuit specifically demanding $250 million in financial reparations.
The former lawyer, who describes himself as remorseful, is also one of the prosecution’s key witnesses in one of Donald Trump’s four future criminal trials in New York in March 2024 over payments to cover up embarrassing affairs during the 2016 presidential election.
He himself paid a porn star, actress Stormy Daniels, $130,000 to keep quiet about an alleged relationship with Donald Trump. Michael Cohen has already been convicted in this case.
Even if he cannot be sentenced to prison, Donald Trump still plays a major role in the civil trial in New York.
Even before the debates began, Judge Arthur Engoron ruled that there was repeated fraud and that Donald Trump’s assets were overstated by between $812 million and $2.2 billion per year between 2014 and 2021, which could lead to the collapse of the Trump real estate empire. The application of these measures was suspended on appeal.
The former president attended the debates for several days and continued to violently attack Letitia James, a Democratic and African-American elected official whom he called “racist” and “corrupt,” and her judge, Arthur Engoron, whom he called a “scoundrel.”
The judge fined him $5,000 on Friday for a publication in which he insulted his employee and threatened to send the former president to prison if he did it again.