Remember: I cannot reply while live-posting, so plz use NFL (Not For Laffy.. no hashtag) so I can skip your replies. THANK YOU.
1/… more preamble, via Rupar:
Trump this morning printed out new NYT poll showing him ahead in swing states+ some Fox columns for good measure.
"A legal expense is a legal expense. It's marked down in the book, 'legal expense'" --Trump still pretending he doesn't understand why he was charged w crimes re Stormy payment
There is a very large space between Susan Necheles and Emil Bove--big enough to put another person at the defense table, but it's just empty space. Quite odd.
Judge Merchan disallows the prosecution from introducing the Weisselberg severance agreement to show why he is not here as a witness. Says it is not proof of the charged crime. (I think it shd have been admitted precisely to explain why the witness is not here.)
Cohen recounts his early life: Lawrence, Long Island, part of the five towns in Nassau Co. His father was a holocaust survivor who emigrated to Toronto for med school, met my mom, "four kids later, here I am."
"Actually I really didn't want to be a lawyer, my grandmother wanted me to be a lawyer"..His family is comprised of drs & lawyers, the lawyers are married to doctors and vice versa. "I wanted to go to Wall Street and my grandma said that's not gonna happen."
In addition to law, he also bought part of a business in taxi medallions—in 1995, he invested in "Manhattan Maintenance," as well as some real estate along the years. "Specifically in Trump properties, my very first one," Cohen says.
Cohen is speaking calmly, in his familiar Long Island accent.
Do you see Mr Trump in court today, and can you point him out?
Cohen wheels around two times in his seat, stands up, then points him out.
Cohen says he met Trump through Don Jr.—there was a board issue at a Trump building, where Cohen and relatives had a bloc of apartments, and Cohen and his allies took over the board.
Cohen says he started doing work for Trump, initially at no cost. Finally, Trump asked Cohen to review lengthy documents related to Chapter 11 reorg plan of Trump Entertainment Resorts, so Cohen finally gave Trump a bill for $100k.
Trump summoned Cohen to his office to discuss the bill and asked him if he was happy at his "sleepy little firm," and whether Cohen would want to come work for him instead.
Instead, Trump offered him a position as Executive VP of Trump Org and special counsel to Trump, reporting directly and only to Trump, "working on issues that were of concern to him."
After a negotiation, they settled on a $375k base salary.
"I actually never went back, not even that day," says Cohen, as associates from the Trump organization went over to Cohen's old firm to pack up his things and move them to Trump Tower.
Cohen would work there for ten years: 2007 - Jan 2017.
How old were you when you started at the Trump Org, asks Hoffinger, but Cohen laughs nervously and says I can't recall (despite just saying he started in 2007).
Q: Did he ever ask you to renegotiate bills for him?
A: Yes
Q: Examples?
A: A law firm would send an invoice, Trump didn't believe it was fair, reasonable, justified, so he'd give me the task of renegotiating.
Q: What about for specific vendor bills for Trump University?
A: Yes
Cohen recounts how he renegotiated all the Trump University bills, at Trump's direction. Cohen was able to work out all but two vendors.
"They just...went away," Cohen says of the two vendors who didn't want to accept renegotiations.
Cohen says he wanted Trump to understand that he was "accomplishing what he wanted." After his work in the Trump University matter, Cohen remembers that Trump said "That's fantastic."
Q: How'd that make you feel?
A: Like I was on top of the world.
Now to another problem Cohen the fixer says he fixed: Cohen "brought an arbitration against" a Miss USA Pageant contestant who defamed the pageant organization, which they resolved.
Did you do negotiate for Trump in a strong or threatening matter?, Hoffinger asks.
"I would say so," Cohen responds with a note of regret in his voice. "Not all the time, but often."
Did you threaten to sue people on behalf of Trump during your time at Trump Org? Yes.
He provides an example: If the press said something that angered him, he would reach out to the press and request that they redact or take the article down or else Trump would sue.
Cohen testified that he would talk to Trump every single day and multiple times per day.
McB:
More matters: getting a settlement from a yellow cab that hit a Trump car, handling adjustment with the insurance company about a residence bathroom, and, more to the point, working with the press to minimize negative stories and enhance positive stories about Trump and his biz.
Q: Did you ever contact Mr Trump through somebody else?
A: Yes
Q: Who?
A: Many people, depending on who he was with. Could be Rhona, Keith Schiller (whom Cohen called his "personal attaché"), Trump's children, Hope Hicks.
25/ [Today I learned that my iPad is too old and unreliable. Sigh. I start off my live posts by typing these while still in bed--Calif. time, so early here!--, on my iPad, then switch to my Mac after I break. This will have to change. Moving on...]
Weissmann:
Trump NEVER had an email: said people get into trouble. Trump said he had seen people "go down" because of them.
{See eg Trump:Roy Cohn never took notes]
Q: Did Trump use email?
A: No, Mr Trump never had an email address.
Q: Did Trump share his philosophy on emails?
A: Trump would comment that emails are like written papers, he knows too many people who have gone down as a direct result of having emails prosecutors can use.
Mr Trump had an open door policy, Cohen says. He would often go to Trump's office, knock on the door, say Boss you got a second?, and walk right in.
Would he generally record those meetings in his calendar. "No ma'am," says Cohen.
Cohen says Trump would say, Keep me informed, let me know what's going on—what he's saying, what everybody did, as soon as you had a result or answer, you'd go straight back and tell him.
Prosecutor: Were you told to update him on matters?
Cohen: Yes. If you didn't immediately tell him, it would not go over well for you.
Prosecutor: Was he a micro-manager?
Cohen: Yes ma'am. I called him Boss. There were great times, for the most part I enjoyed it
Q: In working for him for 10 years, what was it like for you?
A: Fantastic. Working for him especially was an amazing experience in many, many ways. There were great times, several less than great times, but for the most part I enjoyed the responsibilities that was given to me..I enjoyed working with my colleagues at the Trump Org, the Trump children, it was a big family.
Q: Did you lie for him?
👉🏼A: Yes, it was what was needed.
Q: Did you at times bully people for him?
👉🏼A: Yes, in order to accomplish the task—the only thing that was on my mind was to accomplish the task to make him happy.
Cohen says he was rewarded for this with titles and seats.
Prosecutor: Did you lie for him?
Cohen: Yes. I bullied people too. I wanted to make him happy.
Prosecutor: Did you get additional titles?
Cohen: I was put on the board of Miss Universe. I was treasurer at some of the properties.
Q: Are you aware that in connection for your work with him, some called you his "fixer"?
A: Yes some have described me as that.
Q: Is that an accurate moniker?
A: It's fair, (he says solemnly).
Hoffinger is asking about two phone numbers (last four digits), likely CP1 and CP2.
Thus far, the jury remains as poker-faced as ever, ping-ponging their gaze between prosecutor and witness like tennis spectators, scribbling down a few notes occasionally.
Q: Did you provide those phones in Jan 2023?
A :Yes, that sounds correct.
In addition to text messages previously entered into evidence, Cohen's phone logs also entered the record on Friday, showing him on the phone with Trump twice on Oct. 26, 2016.
That will be key evidence for prosecutors, and an almost-certain topic of Cohen's testimony.
Cohen testifies that he and Trump decided to sync his contacts into his phone, leading him to have more than 30K contacts in his phone at one time.
McB:
..contacts in his phone—names, email addresses, cell numbers, home numbers.
We ult decided, & Trump agreed, to have his contacts synced to my cell phone as well, so that it would be easier when we traveled together, Cohen says.
Yes, they initially met at a "function" on Long Island, before Cohen worked at Trump Org, but was "reintroduced" once he became Executive VP for Trump.
Did you communicate with David Pecker using encrypted app called @signalapp
?, Hoffinger asks.
Sometimes we thought that encryption and not having the message traceable would be beneficial, Cohen says.
Before 2015, Cohen communicated with Pecker only on a few matters. One example: trying to place a positive story that Trump donated to Harlem for Hoops.
Q: Prior to Trump announcing his run for the presidency, did AMI ever pay to suppress negative stories of Trump?
A: No ma'am.
Q: Do you know someone named Dylan Howard, what was his role?
A: Yes, he worked for Mr Pecker to the same extent that I worked for Mr Trump.
40/ [I'm so dreading having to keep my appt. with Mr. BlowDryer because this testimony is hard enough to keep up with without having to take a break.. so, I WILL catch you up, but it will be a lot]
Ultimately Trump decided not to run, but promised Cohen he would do it in the next election cycle—which they continously talked about in the years leading up to 2015.
Q: What was your campaign role?
A: I wasn't going to be part of it, just going to be a surrogate—someone who speaks on behalf of the candidate and defends him in the press. Speaks to the press, provides color, but not as a member of the campaign, but rather as an outside person.
Cohen says one of the things he noticed about the Trump campaign is that it was very white—he said that if we're going to win, we need diversity.
Q: Prior to the campaign announcement, did Trump express any concern about his past?
👉🏼A: [Trump said] You know that when this comes out—meaning the presidential announcement—just be prepared there's a lot of women that are going to come forward.👈🏼
Cohen describes what was discussed at the meeting with Pecker: the power of the NE in terms of its location at the cash registers of so many supermarkets and bodegas that if can place (+) stories about Mr Trump, that would be beneficial, and if we could place (-) stories about some of the other candidates, that would also be beneficial.
Q: In the course of the election, did AMI preview for Trump and Cohen some of the positive and negative stories they planned to run?
A: Yes, Cohen says, and describes some of the negatives ones: Hillary Clinton wearing very thick glasses w/ allegations that she had brain injury
Cohen discussed the August 2015 meeting w/ Trump and Pecker at Trump tower. Pecker told them that he could place positive stories about Trump and negative stories about his opponents. And Pecker said he could tip off Cohen about negative Trump stories on the market.
Cohen recalls some of the negative stories that Pecker's magazines ran about Trump's opponents. Stories about Ted Cruz's father, Marco Rubio, Hillary Clinton.
According to Cohen, the covers of these stories were sometimes sent over to Trump. Why? To show that David Pecker was "loyal" and doing what he promised to do during the August 2015 meeting.
Hoffinger shows People's 166: it's an email from Cohen to Barry Levine (AMI), cc Howard. Levine sent to Cohen some positive stories, and Cohen responded: "Take out the part of the penthouse pet Sandra, as it offers nothing," along with another bit about Atlantic City.
Cohen said when the presidential announcement comes out be prepared as THERE WILL BE A LOT OF WOMEN coming out with stories.
Mtg with Pecker and Trump and Cohen at Trump Tower. PECKER WILL BE ABLE TO KEEP TABS ON THINGS AND STOP BAD THINGS FROM COMING OUT. AND COULD DISSEMINATE BAD STORIES ON OTHERS, FAVORABLE ONES ON TRUMP. AND STORIES WERE PREVIEWED WITH THEM- EXAMPLES CRUZ FATHER STORYA DN HILLARY ILLNESS.
The email was from Jan 6, 2016, and Cohen thought the Penthouse pet bit would be negative for Trump, the way it dealth with women and penthouse—ultimately AMI agreed to take it out. The article eventually ran as: "World Exclusive: The Donald Trump That Nobody Knows!" (1/13/2016)
Hoffinger asks about the doorman story: after Cohen learned a story was circulating, he spoke to to Trump about it, "to 👉🏼get his direction on what he wanted me to do."
Q: Did you provide his name?
A: Yes, I provided all the information
Cohen says Trump told him to make sure this doorman story doesn't get out: "You handle it."
Q: What did you do?
A: I worked with Pecker and Howard in order to obtain the "life rights" story.
Q: Along the way did you update Trump about the matter?
👉🏼A: Immediately.
Cohen reviewed contract to "catch and kill" Dino the Doorman's story. He showed it to Trump to show that AMI was doing something about it. Cohen recommended a $1 million liquidated damages clause (a "heavy hammer" to make sure Dino didn't break the terms of agreement)
HOFFINGER: Did you tell Howard and Pecker that Mr. Trump would be grateful? COHEN: Absolutely. HOFFINGER: Was he grateful? COHEN: Absolutely
HOFFINGER: did you suggest another term involving perpetuity? COHEN: Yes, the agreement had an end date, so i suggested make it in perpetuity. HOFFINGER: Did AMI agree to that term as well? COHEN: They did.
HOFFINGER: Did you tell Mr. Trump? COHEN: Yes, “In order to get credit for accomplishing the task.” HOFFINGER: What was Mr Trump’s reaction when you told him that? COHEN: “that’s great”
55/ HOFFINGER: Is it your understanding that AMI did buy the life rights as part of Pecker’s agreement with you & Trump at TT in August? COHEN: Yes.
Now, the prosecution moves on to ask Cohen about Karen McDougal story.
HOFFINGER: June 2016, did you learn McDougal was looking to sell her story? COHEN: I received a call from Pecker & Howard & they said that she is a Playboy playmate and there is a story that is looking to be sold to news outlets about her relationship that she had w Mr Trump.
HOFFINGER: What if anything did you think about the potential impact on the presidential campaign
COHEN: “Significant”
“So I went to the office, knocked on it, boss I got to talk to you. Come in. I went in. Told him about what I had just learned. I asked him if he knew who Karen McDougal was, knew anything about the story.”
COHEN: “His response to me was, she's really beautiful.” COHEN: “I said ok but there’s a story that’s right now being shopped.”
HOFFINGER: What did you do? COHEN: We needed to acquire the story so I reached out to Pecker.
Asked whether he communicated regularly with Pecker and Howard from June 16, 2016 through August 5, 2016, Cohen affirms he did in order to ensure the story was purchased and taken off the market:
HOFFINGER: Did you meet regularly with Pecker and Howard re McDougal's story? COHEN: Yes, to stop the story from getting to an outside source. HOFFINGER: did AMI regularly update you about negotiations regarding the story? COHEN: Yes HOFFINGER: How did you communicate with Pecker and Howard? COHEN: it would either be by phone, text, email, Signal app
EXHIBIT shown to Cohen– TEXT MESSAGES BETWEEN MICHAEL COHEN AND DYLAN HOWARD Dated June 16, 2016:
This June 16, 2016 text exchange, Cohen says, was about a meeting with Karen McDougal's people.
Cohen is now shown texts between him and Keith Schilller, Trump's bodyguard.
These texts are dated June 16, 2016, and Cohen is trying to reach Trump (through Schiller) regarding the Karen McDougal matter, after getting an update from Howard.
PEOPLE’S EXHIBIT 349 IN EVIDENCE is now shown to Cohen: A SUMMARY of CALLS BETWEEN MICHAEL COHEN AND DONALD J. TRUMP on 6/16/16
Cohen testifies that he was trying to reach Trump to give him the McDougal update.
SERIES OF TEXTS BW HOWARD & COHEN DATED: JUNE 20, 2016 are shown to Cohen.
DH: “I am about to meet with her. Her name is Karen McDougal. Former Playboy Playmate.” MC: “Ok. We need to speak” DH: “Yes” DH: “When we break.” MC: “Ok. Obviously important.” (more...)
DH: “Spoke to DP. We just broke. I’m wrapping up with them. And then we will convene a three way call between us all to sort this out. Understand I’ve got this locked down for you. I won’t let it out of my grasp." DH: "Just heading to hotel. Will call you when in room for privacy"
HOFFINGER: A little later in June 2016, were you present for a conversation that Trump had with Pecker about the Karen McDougal matter? COHEN: Yes ma’am, I was in Mr. Trump’s office, and Trump used a speaker box on his desk so I heard the conversation
HOFFINGER: Who else was in Trump's office besides yourself and Mr. Trump? COHEN: Just the two of us. HOFFINGER: Did David Pecker call in? COHEN: Yes ma’am, in Mr. Trump’s office, he had the call put through and he had a speaker box on his desk.
He asked Pecker how things are going with the matter and David said we have it under control and we will take care of it.
HOFFINGER: What was the conversation about? COHEN: “David [Pecker] stated that it’s going to cost him $150,000 to control the story, to which
Mr. 👉🏼Trump replied no problem, 'I’ll take care of it.'”
COHEN: “AMI was going to lay out the funds, and as Mr. Trump had stated to David, I’ll take care of it.” HOFFINGER: And what did you understand that to mean?
👉🏼COHEN: “That [Trump] was going to pay him back”
EXHIBIT BEING SHOWN to Cohen – TEXT MESSAGES BETWEEN HOWARD AND COHEN (Cohen is reading a series of texts about conversations to and about Karen McDougal)
HOFFINGER: why were you pressing for this information from Dylan Howard? COHEN: I wanted to know what the number was because I'd have to report back to Mr. Trump.
HOFFINGER: Was there some particular pressure at this point [in time]?
👉🏼COHEN: “There was the campaign, and we were concerned that this story was going to find its way to ABC News.
HOFFINGER: Did you learn an agreement had been finalized with Karen McDougal? What were the terms? COHEN: I was told by David Pecker and Dylan Howard: the terms would be compensation to her in the amount of $150,000 and AMI provide her with 24 penned articles as well as she would be on two covers of one of the various magazines that they owned.
HOFFINGER: Did Pecker tell you the agreement was bulletproof? COHEN: Yes, it would be locked down and prevented from going to ABC News. Effectively, the story had now been “caught”. HOFFINGER: “What was Mr. Trump’s reaction to hearing that an agreement had been signed, and done, and that it was bulletproof"? COHEN: Yes, 👉🏼[Trump's] reaction was “fantastic, great job”
HOFFINGER: After AMI finalized the deal [with KM] and paid the money for her life rights, did you speak to Pecker about Mr. Trump reimbursing? COHEN: Pecker wanted the $150,000 back because it was too much money for him to hide from the CEO of the parent company and he had laid out $30,000 (also for Dino the Doorman) so he was putting pressure on me to get the money to pay him back.
HOFFINGER: Did you have lunch with Pecker where he pressed you on the matter? COHEN: He asked me to meet him at a restaurant and again he expressed his anger saying i need the money back and i said Mr Trump said he will pay you back.
HOFFINGER: “did you talk to Mr Trump about that? Did you inform him about that?” 👉🏼COHEN: he said “don't worry, i'll take care of it.”
COHEN: “There’s a file drawer, or a locked drawer as Pecker described it where files that relate to Mr. Trump existed. And at that point in time, David was being considered for the position of CEO at Time Inc.” COHEN: “And one of the concerns that I had that I expressed to mr trump, was that 👉🏼if Pecker goes, there’s a series of papers there [at AMI] that relate to you. HOFFINGER: Was Mr. Trump concerned about that? COHEN: Yes
Now, the prosecution asks about that now-famous taped conversation in Trump Tower:
HOFFINGER: I now direct your attention to Sept 2016. Did you record a convo with Trump re: purchasing Karen McDougal life rights? 👉🏼COHEN: Yes and this was the only one I taped.
HOFFINGER: Why did you tape this one? COHEN: “It was so I could show it to David Pecker, and that way he would hear the conversation, that he was going to be paying — that he was going to be paying him back.” “And I also wanted him to remain loyal to Mr. Trump.”
HOFFINGER: How did you record it? COHEN: I had the cell phone in my hand and I used voice memo app and hit record and walked in, it was in my hand. HOFFINGER: How far away were you? COHEN: Opposite side of his desk
👉🏼HOFFINGER: “Was Mr Trump aware that you were recording this conversation?” COHEN: “No, ma’am”
PEOPLE’S EXHIBIT 246 - RECORDING PEOPLE’S EXHIBIT 248 - TRANSCRIPT
HOFFINGER: whose voices are on that audio recording? COHEN: Trump, mine, Rhona Graff COHEN: Rhona came in and out but you can hear her voice, she was trump’s assistant.
Cohen explains that before they got to the McDougal payment, they were talking about a real estate project in Charleston and one other topic.
Cohen: "Our friend David" I was referring to David Pecker.
Cohen is testifying that he was discussing opening an LLC to hold all of the information that Pecker would transfer to them; the utility of the LLC was "to 👉🏼keep it away from Mr. Trump" for purposes of his privacy "and for the benefit of Mr. Trump."
HOFFINGER: Why didn’t you use David Pecker’s full name? COHEN: It wasn't necessary. Mr. Trump knew who I was talking about, It was an ongoing conversation that we had.
HOFFINGER: You mentioned in your convo with mr trump Allen Weisselberg. Who’s he? COHEN: CFO of Trump Org HOFFINGER: Why did you tell mr. trump you were setting up the LLC and discussing it with mr. Weisselberg?
COHEN : Because Mr Trump had previously directed me to speak to Mr. Weisselberg about getting this matter handled, because we are going to need money and open up the LLC and resolved this issue.
AW was the Chief Financial Officer and “Every penny that came in or out went through Allen’s office."
HOFFINGER: What did Mr. Trump mean “what do we got to pay for this? COHEN: We were going to have to pay for [KM's] lifetime rights. COHEN: “Trump already knew based upon conversations with David, which is why he mentioned the number 150.”
COHEN: “All that stuff” is referencing the information that David Pecker had accumulated over the years related to Mr. Trump that was in that locked drawer, including the Karen McDougal story.
When Cohen used the word "financing," what he really meant was "funding," or "how much money needed to be paid to David Pecker or AMI," he said.
When Trump instructed him to pay cash, Trump meant green, which would have been one way to avoid papering the transaction, but wasn't "what I thought was the best way to handle it.
HOFFINGER: The tape cuts off and there is a voice, whose voice is that? COHEN: Me, because i received an incoming call
HOFFINGER: Why did you take the call? COHEN: It was an important call. COHEN: “I didn’t want to record more. I already had enough that I would have been able to show David Pecker as to convince him that he was going to receive the $150,000 back.”
EXHIBIT 263 – SHOWING AT&T RECORD OF MICHAEL COHEN’S PHONE CALL LIST
HOFFINGER: ATT record…..calls to and from your cell phone ending in 0114, around the time that your recording shuts off? Does that indicate the number of the incoming call? COHEN: It does, it comes back to Kathy Battle, Branch Manager at Capital One Bank.
HOFFINGER: was it typical for you to discuss financial matters with Allen Weisselberg? COHEN: “It was typical for everyone” to discuss financial matters with Allen Weisselberg because he was the Chief Financial Officer, and it’s also because Mr Trump directed me to speak to Mr. Weisselberg
HOFFINGER: Did AW report directly to DT ? COHEN: Yes
HOFFINGER: Can you describe the conversation with Allen Weisselberg about the Karen McDougal agreement? COHEN: I went to Allen’s office and expressed to him we needed funding of $150,000 to consummate this transaction and Allen said to me 👉🏼“If we do it from a Trump entity, that kind of defeats the purpose, because the point is not to have the Trump name affiliated with this at all. That would create a barrier.”
Rothstein and Cohen communicated via Signal, the encrypted messaging app.
From Daniel Rothstein To Michael Cohen “Please find possible names. I am working on the assignment agreement”
HOFFINGER: Was that just one day after you had taped the conversation with Mr. Trump about setting up an LLC? COHEN: Yes
93/ All caught up. I lied about posting Weissmann... no time.
McB:
Cohen says he had 10-12 convos with Weisselberg about the McDougal matter.
Hoffinger shows People's 209—communications btwn Cohen and David Rotstein, an associate at AMI, about five possible names for the LLC. The first message was from 9/7/2016—just one day after recorded convo
There have been very few objections this morning so Cohen's testimony is clipping along at a steady pace.
Blanche will be crossing Cohen.
Katie's Sidebar:
Todd Blanche is seated at the defense table, listening carefully to Michael Cohen's testimony. He will likely be the one to cross Cohen.
Asked why the LLC invoiced $125,000 — and McDougal's deal was $150,000 — Cohen says Pecker valued the remainder for McDougal's services under the agreement.
Cohen & Pecker decided to have AMI sign over the "life rights" of McDougal's story to Trump, have him pay back the firm.
Sept. 30, 2016, Cohen incoporates the infamous shell company "Resolution Consultants LLC."
That same day he & Pecker sign the rights transfer contract.
erica orden:
Cohen again emphasizes that his work on the McDougal matter was expressly for his boss, Donald Trump. “What I was doing, I was doing at the direction and for the benefit of Mr. Trump.”
Cohen: Pecker stated it was no longer necessary to have Trump pay the $125k. I asked him why, satisfied that I wouldn't have to tell Trump he'd have to pay that much money The reason was bc the McDougal Mens Health front cover had sold more copies than they ever sold.
Q: What about the other materials in Pecker's "locked drawer"?
A: David was no longer considered for Time, he was going to stay at AMI, so there was no need to worry, and he believed none of the docs in the locked drawer were detrimental to Trump anyway.
Fast forward to 10/7/16: where were you on that day?
A: I was in London, for my daughter's 21st birthday as well as my anniversary.
Q: While there, did you become aware of the release of the AH tape, and how?
A: Yes, I received a phone call from Hope Hicks.
Cohen remembers receiving an email forward from Steve Bannon about the AH tape, and Hoffinger shows Cohen that email (which also includes Hope Hicks, Jason Miller, and Kellyanne Conway) on his monitor.
Hoffinger offers People's 218 into evidence, Blanche objects—overruled.
Nearly2 hours into Cohen's testimony, at how little he's been interrupted, even as he's reached heart the case against Trump. He's providing calm, detailed, measured acct as prosecutors seek to shore up his cred for the upcoming cross.
COHEN described giving Trump a "complete & total update" on his efforts to suppress McDougal story.
Sound familiar? Trump routinely offers his "complete & total endorsement" of political allies. Can take the guy out of the Trump Org but...
We all see the email now, from David Fahrenthold to Hicks, re: Urgent WaPo query, asking her for comment w/r/t the leak of the tape from AccessHollywood, with a transcript attached.
Hicks had emailed to Bannon and Miller: "Need to hear the tape to be sure" then "deny, deny, deny" — which Bannon had forwarded to Cohen.
Cohen responded: Please call me, "because I wanted to be sure things were properly being taken care of to protect Mr. Trump."
Cohen writes in another email to Bannon: "It's all over the place. Whose doing damage control here?"
👉🏼Q: Were you concerned about the impact of this tape on Trump's campaign?
A: Yes.👈🏼
@GottaLaff NFL anyone and everyone who thinks Melanie is an innocent prisoner in Trump world needs to open their eyes. She is just as slimy, grifty and corrupt as the rest of them. She lies, plagiarizes, promotes worthless products, and pretends she is naturally (as opposed to cut up and put back together) beautiful. When will everyone stop giving her a pass?!?
At least on direct, prosecutors are showcasing a starkly different Michael Cohen from his public persona: calm, slow, methodical, and even-keeled.
Bower:
We see text messages between Cohen and Chris Cuomo, the former CNN anchor.
Cuomo: You going to defend him?
Cohen: I'm in London. I have been asked by everyone to do shows starting Tuesday. Not sure what I will do.
Cuomo: Will be too late. He is dying right now.👈🏼
117/ Q: What did you understand "he is dying" to mean?
👉🏼A: That this is a tremendously negative story w/r/t the Trump campaign.
Q: What did you understand to be the impact of the AH tape on the campaign?
Objection—sustained.
Hoffinger restates, objection—overruled.
Cohen says that he understood the Access Hollywood tape "would be significantly impactful—especially with women voters."
Another email is now displayed: an email from Cohen to Howard, cc Pecker. It's about a story from Oct 2006, before AMI owned it, Radar Magazine, headline: "Donald Trump, Playboy Man"
Cohen says the 2006 Radar Online story "Donald Trump, Playboy Man" talked about a recorded conversation between Trump just how exacting the real estate blowhard's standards are regarding women"—he asked Pecker/Howard to immediately take it down.
Q: When Howard told you on 10/8/16 that Stormy Daniels' manager was trying to sell her story, did you know who she was?
A: I did—in reference back to the 2011 scenario that I had dealt previously with Davidson on, in order to have the story removed from The Dirty dot com.
Q: In terms of Daniels story getting out, what if anything did you think in terms of potential impact on the campaign?
👉🏼A: Catastrophic, that this is—he pauses—horrible for the campaign.
Prosecutor: Did you have a conversation with Mr. Trump about Stormy Daniels?
Cohen: Yes. I relayed what Dylan Howard said
Cohen: I told him, We need to take care of this. He said, Absolutely, do it.
Prosecutor: What did he tell you about 2006?
Cohen: That he was playing golf with Big Ben and met Stormy, that she liked Mr. Trump over Big Ben.
Prosecutor: Did you ask if they had sex?
...and I told him that one of the things we needed to do was take care of it, and
👉🏼Trump said "Absolutely, take care of it."
Q: Did Trump tell you anything about meeting her in 2006?
A: He told me he was playing golf with Big Ben, and they had met Daniels and others there.
...but she liked Mr Trump, and that women prefer Trump even over someone like Big Ben.
Hoffinger asks about Cohen's efforts taking down a separate article—one from In Touch magazine also in 2011—after which Cohen heard nothing about the Stormy Daniels matter from then until 2016.
We see People's 177A, 10/9/16 texts btwn Howard and Cohen—
DH: Emailed you
DH: Keith will do it, let's reconvene tomorrow
Which Keith would that be? Long pause... Keith Davidson.
There are far too many Keiths mixed up in this case.
More texts, 10/10/16, a 3 way text between Howard, Cohen, and Davidson
DH: Connecting you in regards to that business opportunity. Spoke to the client this AM and they're confirmed to proceed with the opportunity.
DH: Over to you two.
On Oct. 10, Howard connected Cohen with Davidson via text.
The prosecution displays the texts
The "business opportunity" Howard cryptically alluded to in the text was the opportunity to buy Daniels's life rights and squash the story about Trump, according to Cohen.
Q: What was the business opportunity Howard referred to?
A: The acquisition of the life rights to the story of Stormy Daniels.
Q: After you learned from Howard and Davidson about Daniels' story, did you speak to Trump? Why?
A: Yes, because it was a matter that affected him, and that was what I always did, to keep him abreast of everything.
It was also a very serious matter at this time.
Trump was very angry: "I thought you had this under control? I thought you took care of this?" We did in 2011, but I had not control over what she goes out and does. He expressed to me there's previous denial. "Just take care of it," there was a lot going on in the campaign.
Cohen says that upon hearing about Stormy Daniels' intention to sell her story, Trump told him, 👉🏼"This is a disaster—a total disaster—women will hate me. Guys they think it's cool, but this is gonna be a disaster for the campaign."👈🏼
At the time, Trump was polling very poorly with women, Cohen explains, and this coupled with the previous Access Hollywood [tape], he just stated this is a disaster [and told me] "Get control over it."
Q: Any conversation about strategy in dealing with it?
A: Well he told me to work with Pecker and get control over this, purchase the life rights, just stop this from getting out.
Q: Any conversation about period of time?
A: Yes, during the negotiation,
👉🏼Trump told me to push it out long as you can, just get past the election, because if I win it will have no relevance, and if I lose I won't even care.👈🏼
Hoffinger asks about any conversation about Melania. Cohen says he was concerned about Melania, but Trump told him don't worry.
👉🏼"He wasn't thinking about Melania—this was all about the campaign," Cohen says. 👈🏼.
There were negotiations to purchase the Daniels life rights. Regarding the timing of a potential payment, Trump told Cohen to "push it out as long as you can" past the election. If I win, Trump said, then it no longer has relevance. If I lose, then I don't really care.
Cohen also says that Trump wasn't thinking about Melania. This was all about the campaign.
Katie's Sidebar:
If anyone is wondering why Melania has not been attendance at this trial...
Cohen asked Trump: "How are things gonna go upstairs?" [referring to Melania]
Trump responded: "Don't worry; how long do you think I'll be on the market for? Not long."
Cohen interpreted that to mean he was not worried about Melania; he was worried about the campaign.
Cohen recaps the gen terms: for $130k, Daniels would execute a NDA, that the life rights to story would never come out and she wouldn't speak of it. There was a very large, $1m per violation liquidate punitive damages clause.
As we see many now familiar exhibits—the NDA, the side letter agreement—relating to now familiar aspects of the narrative, this is a good reminder of the prosec's strategy w handling Cohen's "baggage" all along: as much as poss rely on him for corroboration only
@GottaLaff, NFL omg, this obsession with his ‘positive’ printouts is demented; his family doesn’t care about him one whit. he is a step or two away from drooling in a wheelchair but no one cares. ride the ride till the bitter end i guess. what a family of savages.
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