’s former fixer, Michael Cohen, is poised to deliver highly anticipated testimony on Tuesday against his ex-boss at the former president’s fraud trial in New York.
Trump is expected to be present during the testimony, marking the first encounter between Cohen and Trump in five years.
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“I eagerly await the reunion,” said Cohen, once Trump’s attorney. “I hope Donald does too.”
Now in its fourth week, the trial has found Trump, his adult sons, and their family business liable for inflating the value of Trump’s assets to deceive banks, insurers, and others on a regular basis. Judge Arthur Engoron will utilize the hearings to determine the punishment, which may involve a substantial fine and possibly the dissolution of Trump’s New York property empire.
Several witnesses, including former Trump Organization employees, have testified in the trial thus far. However, Cohen’s testimony is deemed crucial to the case.
The New York attorney general, Letitia James, who brought the case against Trump, stated that Cohen’s 2019 congressional testimony prompted her office to pursue this fraud case. Cohen had informed Congress that Trump “inflated his assets when it served his purposes.”
In a video clip shown briefly during the prosecutors’ opening argument earlier this month, Cohen informed investigators that Trump “wanted to be higher on the Forbes list” and instructed him to increase asset values to “accommodate” a higher net worth. Cohen will likely face extensive questioning about specific incidents related to this matter while on the witness stand.
Once a fiercely loyal employee of Trump, Cohen distanced himself from the former president in 2018 after pleading guilty to federal charges, including lying to Congress and facilitating illegal hush-money payments. These crimes resulted in a three-year prison sentence, predominantly served under home confinement.
Since his release in November 2021, Cohen has been an outspoken critic of Trump, whom he described in his 2020 memoir as “a cheat, a liar, a fraud, a bully, a racist, a predator, and a conman.”
In response, Trump has referred to Cohen as a “rat” and attempted to sue Cohen for $500 million for “spreading falsehoods” with malicious intent. However, Trump has since dropped the lawsuit.
As this is a civil case, Trump will not face imprisonment if found guilty. Additionally, it is a bench trial, meaning there is no jury, and the judge alone decides the outcome.
Cohen has been a crucial witness in two of the six cases against the former president, including this fraud trial.
In May, Cohen testified before a grand jury for the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office regarding the hush-money payments he made on behalf of Trump to adult film star Stormy Daniels in order to suppress her story about an affair with the ex-president. The trial concerning the hush-money payments is scheduled to commence in March.
