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What to know about the trial today
- Key witness Michael Cohen testified today about paying adult film actress Stormy Daniels during the 2016 presidential campaign to keep her quiet about her alleged affair with Donald Trump.
- Prosecutors played an audio recording of Trump directing Cohen to use cash to buy Karen McDougal's story.
- Prosecutors have been preparing Cohen, Trump's former lawyer and fixer, for this moment for more than a year.
- Trump faces 34 counts of falsifying business records to hide the reimbursement to Cohen for the $130,000 hush money payment he made to Daniels. Trump has denied the charges and the alleged affair.
Trump blasts judge in remarks outside courtroom
Trump delivered remarks in the courtroom hallway this afternoon, reading notes that appeared to include quotations from his allies, including Sens. JD Vance, R-Ohio and Tim Scott, R-S.C., who are widely viewed as potential vice presidential picks.
Trump also said he was citing opinions on his case from legal analysts.
"There's nothing illegal, a lot of people say that, they're all saying, that. The only person who won't say it is the judge because it's a rigged deal, he's conflicted," Trump said. "You ought to check that out. But everybody's saying there's no crime."
Cohen says Trump told him not to bill any legal work as his personal attorney
Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger asked Cohen whether he discussed compensation with Trump after he gave him the title of personal attorney.
Cohen said Trump didn't discuss it and told him, “Take it easy on any bills," suggesting, he added, that there would be no compensation for any other work.
Cohen spoke with Allen Weisselberg and Trump about being paid monthly
Cohen testified that he and Weisselberg spoke with Trump about Cohen's being paid in monthly payments, rather than in a lump sum.
Cohen recalled that the conversation happened in Trump's office with Trump present. He said Weisselberg told him he would be paid $35,000 monthly over 12 months to cover a total payment of $420,000.
The payments were set to begin in February 2017, Cohen said, because there was "a lot going on" in January, including Trump's inauguration. Cohen said Trump approved the payment plan, saying, "This is going to be one heck of a ride in D.C.," after the approval. Cohen added that he would be getting paid as a legal service rendered as personal attorney for the president.
Cohen paid RedFinch CEO because he 'needed him for other things' involving Trump — but then pocketed some of the money
Cohen testified that he paid RedFinch Solutions LLC, a small tech firm, for its services, saying Trump "didn’t feel that he had gotten the benefit of what he wanted, which dealt with a ranking."
Cohen added that he knew the company's chief executive, who told him he was out of money.
"And so I said to him, I said, 'I’ll take care of it; I’ll take care of it,'" Cohen said. "I needed him for other things that I was working with him on for Mr. Trump’s benefit.”
When he was striking a deal with Cohen to repay him for the Daniels payment, Trump also agreed to pay him back for the RedFinch payment, Cohen testified. But while Trump reimbursed him for the full $50,000 that was owed, he didn't pay the whole amount to RedFinch, he said.
'I actually had to do a double take': Cohen was 'beyond angry' after his bonus was slashed at the end of 2016
Cohen testified that he was "angry, beyond angry," when he learned that Trump had slashed his year-end bonus by two-thirds in December 2016.
"I was truly insulted, personally hurt," Cohen said, especially after all he "had gone through in terms of the campaigning, as well as things at the Trump Organization, laying out $130,000 on his behalf to protect him."
"I actually had to do a double take," Cohen said.
Cohen discusses texts with daughter after being passed over for Trump's chief of staff
Cohen described texts he exchanged with his then-college-age daughter after he found out he was not being considered to serve as Trump's chief of staff in the White House.
He said his daughter was very concerned that he was upset for not being considered for the role. Cohen followed up, saying that there would be other opportunities and that he would explain them in more depth once they became closer to reality.
Cohen added that there was a hybrid attorney role he was hoping to land that would give him access to Trump while also being able to monetize his relationship with the president.
Hope Hicks sought input from Michael Cohen on responding to critical stories about Trump
Former White House communications director Hope Hicks, who appeared to disparage Cohen by testifying that he bugged staff by trying to insert himself into Trump's campaign, sought input from him about how to respond to the "Access Hollywood" tape and then the Wall Street Journal story, Cohen said.
Prosecutors displayed text messages showing Hicks communicated with Cohen about the incidents in October and November 2016.
Hicks had previously testified during the case that Cohen would annoy staff members by trying to involve himself in Trump’s campaign. “He liked to call himself a ‘fixer’ or ‘Mr. Fix-it,’ and it was only because he first broke it that he was able to come and fix it,” she testified this month.
Cohen didn't have a job after Trump won the 2016 election
Cohen said that after Trump was elected president in 2016, he described himself as not having a job — even after he pitched the president-elect on serving as his "personal attorney" in the White House.
“My service was no longer necessary, as I was special counsel to Mr. Trump, and he was president-elect," Cohen testified.
Asked whether there were discussions about a job for Cohen like assistant general counsel, Cohen said there weren't.
Cohen also said Trump didn't offer him the role of chief of staff.
“I didn’t want the role. I didn’t believe that the role was right for me or that I was even competent to be chief of staff. I just wanted my name to have been included," Cohen said. “It was more about my ego than anything.”
Cohen said he did suggest to Trump that he could serve as his personal attorney, a role most presidents fill with outside counsel to handle nongovernment legal issues.
Trump was 'angry' about Wall Street Journal's McDougal story, Cohen says
Trump called Cohen on his bodyguard Keith Schiller's phone after The Wall Street Journal published an article about McDougal's claims, Cohen testified.
Trump was "angry," Cohen said, "because there was a negative story that once again could impact the campaign as a result of women."
Cohen discusses what he did when WSJ broke story about AMI's payment to Karen McDougal
Cohen said that on Nov. 4, 2016, when The Wall Street Journal broke the story about AMI’s payment to Karen McDougal, he spoke to David Pecker and Hope Hicks, among others.
He said he spoke to them “to get control over the release of that article.”
Prosecutors then entered into evidence a call log of phone conversations between Hicks and Cohen, which showed they spoke to each other a dozen times that day.