Donald Trump’s former fixer turned star prosecution witness, Michael Cohen, took the stand on Monday and is expected to return tomorrow to continue to be questioned by prosecutor Susan Hoffinger.

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• Cohen said he first met Trump through the former president’s son, Donald Jr, and that the former president asked him to fix an issue with the board at Trump World Tower. Eventually Cohen would work as Trump’s special counsel for 10 years, making approximately $525,000, adding: “I would only answer to him.”

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• Manhattan prosecutor Susan Hoffinger worked to establish that Trump and Cohen had a direct connection and that Cohen was effectively Trump’s right-hand man. “It was whatever concerned him, whatever he wanted,” Cohen said.

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• Hoffinger also tried to convey that Trump was well aware of workings at the office – undermining a potential defense argument that he was distracted when he signed the checks.

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• Cohen testified about a meeting with the American Media Inc publisher David Pecker in summer 2015, shortly after Trump announced his presidential candidacy, in which prosecutors say Pecker, Cohen and Trump hatched a catch-and-kill plan to bury negative press about the then candidate.

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• Cohen said he learned that in fall 2015, he’d heard that a former Trump Tower doorman said Trump had a “love child” and Cohen wanted Trump’s direction on what he wanted done. “He told me to make sure that the story doesn’t get out – you handle it.” Cohen said he worked with Dylan Howard of the National Enquirer, and Pecker, and that Cohen would pass updates “immediately” to Trump. Asked if Trump was grateful, Cohen said: “Absolutely.”

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• Cohen said he was present in 2016 when Trump had a conversation with Pecker, during which Pecker said: “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.’”

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• Cohen said that in 2016, he learned an agreement had been reached with Karen McDougal, a former Playboy model, for $150,000. Trump’s reaction to hearing that an agreement had been done was: “Fantastic! Great job!” Pecker then wanted to know “when he should anticipate receiving, being paid back the $150,000”, Cohen said.

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• Cohen testified that Trump told him to bury Stormy Daniels’s story weeks before the election, demanding that he “just take care of it”. Cohen finalized the $130,000 payments to Daniels and immediately went to Trump to inform him the deal was done, he testified. “Would you have made that payment to Stormy Daniels without getting a sign-off from Mr Trump?” Hoffinger asked Cohen. “No, because everything required Mr Trump’s sign-off. And on top of that, I wanted the money back,” he said.

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• Cohen said Trump urged him to delay sending payment to Daniels’s lawyer Keith Davidson until after the election, and that he had used the Yom Kippur holiday as an excuse to delay the payment. Cohen said he resisted paying out of his own pocket but eventually relented after Trump promised him, “You’ll get the money back.”

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• Cohen said Trump was angry at the possibility that Daniels might come forward surfaced shortly after the “Access Hollywood” tape release in which Trump bragged about groping women “by the pussy” without their consent. “This was a disaster, a fucking disaster,” Cohen recalled Trump saying. “Women will hate me.”

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• Cohen said he asked Trump how Daniels’ story might impact his marriage with his wife, Melania. He said Trump told him, “Don’t worry,” adding: “How long do you think I’ll be on the market for? Not long.” Cohen said he concluded that “this was all about the campaign.”

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Michael Cohen said he was angry about his 2016 bonus. He said his bonus was cut by two-thirds:

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“I was personally insulted, truly hurt,” Cohen said.

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After all I had gone through in terms of the campaign as well as things at Trump Organization, laying out $130,000 on his behalf – it was insulting that the gratitude shown back to me was to cut the bonus by two-thirds.

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Cohen said in some “colorful language,” he told Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg how “pissed off” he was. “I used quite a few expletives,” he said.

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The best that you get for showing loyalty. The best that you get extending yourself, like I did, is getting your bonus cut by two-thirds? I didn’t expect more, but I didn’t expect less.

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Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger is now asking about Michael Cohen’s relationship with Donald Trump post-election.

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Would he keep working for him? No.

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My service was no longer necessary, as I was special counsel to Mr Trump and he was now president-elect.

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“Were you offered a position as assistant general yourself? Cohen said yes.

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Did he want that job? “No ma’am.”

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Was he offered chief of staff? “No ma’am.”

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Was he disappointed? Cohen said:

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I didn’t want the role. I didn’t believe the role was right for me – that I was even competent to be chief of staff. I just wanted my name to be included … I had not once but twice been the campaign’s surrogate … I had other ideas for myself … I wanted to at least be considered. It was more about my ego, than anything.

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Michael Cohen, before the break, said he had a number of calls with Stormy Daniels’s attorney Keith Davidson on 4 November.

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“I wanted to ensure that Ms Daniels did not go rogue,” Cohen said, adding that he was angry with Davidson because he thought someone on his side leaked information to the Wall Street Journal, Reuters reported.

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Cohen confirmed that Trump was “angry” because “there was a negative story that once again could impact the campaign as a result of women”.

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The court is taking a short afternoon break.

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Before the break, judge Juan Merchan asked how much longer the prosecution will take.

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Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger said direct will continue into some portion of tomorrow.

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Michael Cohen was asked about a call he made to Donald Trump on 28 October at 11.48am that lasted more than five minutes. This was the same day that Cohen signed the nondisclosure agreement.

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What did Cohen and Trump discuss in the call? Cohen said:

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That this matter is now completely under control and locked down pursuant to the non disclosure agreement.

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Michael Cohen said he set up an account for Essential Consultants on 26 October 2016, so he could pay.

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“Would you have made that payment to Stormy Daniels without getting a sign-off from Mr Trump?”

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No, because everything required Mr Trump’s sign-off and on top of that, I wanted the money back.

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Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger asked what was the plan for funding this payoff? Michael Cohen said he elected to use a home equity line of credit (Heloc) because if he had taken $130,000 from the joint bank account with his wife, she’d know about it.

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The Heloc, Cohen said, was paperless. Now Hoffinger is showing him a text from 25 October 2016 from then National Enquirer editor Dylan Howard to Cohen:

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Keith [Davidson, Stormy Daniels’ lawyer] calling you urgently. We have to coordinate something on the matter he’s calling you about or its could look awfully bad for everyone

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Cohen said there was a call between him, Howard, and American Media Inc chair David Pecker. He said Howard told him that “it will be catastrophic to the campaign – it will further isolate women.”

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Cohen decided to ask Pecker to front the money, like he had with Karen McDougal. “I figured, why not ask?”

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What did he say?

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Not a chance.

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Did he say why?

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I didn’t get the money back on the 150,000 even though it turned out, I cannot do it again, it could cost me my job.

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Michael Cohen said he later told Donald Trump that he’d front the money.

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Trump was appreciative and told him he’d get the money back, Cohen testified. He said:

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I was doing everything that I could and more in order to protect my boss which is something I had done for a long time, but I would not lay out $130,000 for an NDA needed by somebody else.

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Michael Cohen is asked if there came a time where Donald Trump expressed a desire to get the payment to Stormy Daniels.

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Cohen said yes, then described the conversation.

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He stated to me that he’d spoken to some friends, some individuals, very smart people.

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Cohen said that these people, as Trump told it, noted that:

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‘It’s $130,000. There’s no reason to keep this thing out there, so do it.’ And he expressed to me: ‘Just do it. Go meet up with Allen Weisselberg and figure this whole thing out.’

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We’re now at another email between lawyer Keith Davidson and Michael Cohen from October 2017.

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Davidson is bringing to Cohen’s attention, once again, that he hasn’t been remitted the payment for his client Stormy Daniels – and that she wants out of the agreement if she’s not paid. Cohen told jurors:

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My intent was to continue to delay it as per Mr Trump’s demand, and I clearly did not send funds to Mr Davidson’s lawyer account on this date.

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Then he received another email in which Davidson said he no longer repped Daniels – who considered the agreement null and void.

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“We were losing control of the settlement,” Cohen said, “as a direct result of my failure to wire funds.”

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Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger is now showing Michael Cohen emails between him and Keith Davidson, the lawyer who represented Stormy Daniels, about payment to Daniels.

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The exchange was in mid-October. What was happening at this time? “Continue to delay, delay the execution of the documents, continue the delay execution of funding,” Cohen said.

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In this specific case, I used the holiday of Yom Kippur to once again, delay until after the election.

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Why? “Because after the election, it wouldn’t matter.”

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Recall: Trump is a known cheapskate, who allegedly wanted to delay payment as long as possible, in the hopes of not having to cough up money.

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The case against Donald Trump is likely to succeed or fail on whether jurors believe Michael Cohen’s account, or lean toward the defense claims presented in opening arguments that he is an “admitted liar” with an “obsession to get President Trump”.

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The former president’s lawyers have argued that Cohen perjured himself again when he testified at Trump’s civil fraud trial last year. They claim that Cohen has made a living from antagonizing his former (and only) client. He appeared last week in a live TikTok wearing a shirt featuring a figure resembling Trump with his hands cuffed, behind bars.

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In his opening statement, Trump attorney Todd Blanche told jurors:

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n

He has a goal, an obsession with getting Trump, and you’re going to hear that.

n

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The bitter enmity between Trump, who once praised Cohen as a “fine person with a wonderful family” and predicted he would never “flip”, and his former lawyer is obvious. Both men have been warned by Judge Juan Merchan to stop making public comments about the other.

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Former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen is recounting for prosecutors that Donald Trump knew personally he needed the Stormy Daniels story buried because it would be catastrophic for his 2016 campaign.

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Cohen says Trump told him to “push it out as long as you can, past the election, because if I win, I’ll be president, and if I lose, I wont really care”.

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Cohen also knocks down an alternative reason for Trump wanting the story buried – that he didn’t want to embarrass his wife, Melania – in order to suggest the hush-money scheme wasn’t only related to the 2016 campaign.

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“Don’t worry, he goes, how long do you think I’ll be on the market for, not long,” Cohen recalls Trump asking him about the story, when he asked whether it would cause problems with his marriage. Cohen adds:

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n

He wasn’t thinking about Melania. It was all about the campaign.

n

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Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger is now showing texts between Michael Cohen and former National Enqurier editor Dylan Howard and asking whether he spoke extensively with Stormy Daniels’ lawyer Keith Davidson about buying Stormy Daniels’ life rights.

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After these conversations, Cohen said, he spoke with Donald Trump “because it was a matter that affected him and that was what I always did which was to keep him abreast of everything”.

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Was this also a serious matter at the time? “Very serious matter,” Cohen said.

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What was his reaction? Cohen said:

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n

He was really angry with me. [He said] I thought you had this under control. I thought you took care of this.

n

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Cohen said he told him, “We did, in 2011, I have no control over what [Daniels] goes out and does.”

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“Just take care of it, there’s a lot going on,” Cohen said Trump responded. What did he say, in substance? Cohen said:

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n

This was a disaster, a fucking disaster … women will hate me.

n

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“He told me to work with David,” Cohen said.

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n

We needed to stop this from getting out.

n

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In 2011, when the Stormy Daniels story appeared on The Dirty, Michael Cohen sprang into action. Cohen testified:

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n

After I received the information from Dylan Howard, I immediately went to Mr Trump’s office, knocked on the door [and said] ‘Boss I need to speak to you.’

n

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Cohen continued:

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n

I asked if he knew who she was. He told me that he did. I stated the story that existed on TheDirty.com, they had a relationship that occurred during a golf outing going back to 2006 and I told him that one of the things we need to do is obviously take care of it.

n

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Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger is asking Cohen to recall what Trump said about allegedly meeting Daniels at the Lake Tahoe golf tournament.

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Cohen said Trump had met Daniels “and others there, but she liked Mr Trump and that women prefer Trump” even over famous athletes.

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The prosecution asked: “Did you ask him if he had an encounter with Daniels?” Cohen said yes.

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Did he answer you directly? “No ma’am.” “What did he say, did he say anything in response to that?” “No ma’am.”

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What did he say about Daniels? Cohen says:

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n

He said that she was a beautiful woman.

n

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Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger then showed an 8 October email from the National Enquirer’s Dylan Howard to Michael Cohen, with American Media Inc head David Pecker cc’d, showing that they had deleted a story from Radar from years prior with the Trump tape.

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On the evening of 8 October 2016, Cohen learned that Stormy Daniels was trying to sell her story.

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Asked what he thought Daniels’s story coming out would be for the campaign, Cohen said:

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n

Catastrophic – that this is horrible for the campaign.

n

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The prosecution asks Michael Cohen if he held a call with Donald Trump and Hope Hicks after the email from the Washington Post seeking comment on the “Access Hollywood” tape. Cohen responds in the affirmative.

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Once again, prosecutor Susan Hoffinger is showing phone records that back up Cohen’s account that he had various phone calls with Trump.

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“What, if any discussion, if you remember with Mr Trump about the Access Hollywood tape?” Cohen responded:

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n

He wanted me to reach out to all of my contacts in the media. We needed to put a spin on this. The spin that he wanted put on it was that this is ‘locker-room talk’, something that Melania had recommended or at least he told me that’s what Melania had thought it was, and use that in order to get control over the story and to minimize its impact on him and his campaign.

n

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On 7 September 2016, Michael Cohen is exchanging texts about establishing an LLC to carry out the payment to reimburse David Pecker, the head of American Media Inc (AMI).

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On 23 September, Cohen received a copy of an uncompleted life rights licensing agreement regarding former Playboy model Karen McDougal.

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What was the name of that company you set up to handle the payment? Cohen replies: “Resolution Consultants LLC.”

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The date of formation of the LLC was 30 September 2016. Why?

“,”elementId”:”468ff01b-2845-4acd-951a-88fe0d6a2845″},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.BlockquoteBlockElement”,”html”:”

n

To use this entity for the assignment of the McDougal matter as well as the other information.

n

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“It was very good,” Michael Cohen said of his relationship with former Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg at the time.

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As for Weisselberg’s interactions with Donald Trump, Cohen said they did so on a regular basis.

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The whole point of this line of questioning is to establish that Cohen’s problem-solving was clearly known by Trump’s leadership and Trump himself.

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Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger asked if Weisselberg was involved because it was a lot of money. Cohen said:

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n

It wasn’t even a deal of this magnitude – it was any deal. Allen handled all finances coming in and out.

n

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Cohen said he and Weisselberg talked about ways to pay back David Pecker without leaving fingerprints.

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n

Allen said, ‘if we do it from a Trump entity it kind of defeats the purpose because the whole point is to have this not affiliated … at all.

n

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Weisselberg said they needed to think of ways to create barriers, Cohen said.

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Michael Cohen, again clarifying why he made this 2016 recording of a conversation between him and Donald Trump, said it was to placate American Media Inc chair David Pecker over his payment to Karen McDougal – which still hadn’t been repaid.

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The recording, Cohen said, was meant to be proof that Trump would cover Pecker, “to appease him that he was going to receive the money back.”

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Hoffinger asked shortly thereafter, “did you ever alter that recording?” Cohen says no.

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They’re playing the September 2016 tape in which Michael Cohen and Donald Trump can be heard discussing how they would buy the rights to Karen McDougal’s story.

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In the tape, Cohen can be heard explaining to the then presidential candidate his plans to open a company through which he would finance the purchase of the rights to McDougal’s story.

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Trump can be heard saying:

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n

Let me know what’s happening, OK? … For that one, you know, I think what you should do is get rid of this. Because it’s so false what they’re saying, it’s such bullshit.

n

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Keith Davidson, a lawyer who represented both Karen McDougal and Stormy Daniels, sent Michael Cohen an email in early August 2016, asking Cohen to call him.

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“Great job, [the] Boss is obviously very happy about it. The matter’s now resolved,” Cohen recalled telling Davidson.

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Cohen is now talking about repayment to American Media Inc. “David had asked me when he should anticipate receiving, being paid back the $150,000,” Cohen said. Pecker needed the money, Cohen said:

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n

It was too much money from him to hide from the CEO of the parent company and he had also just laid out 30,000 previous so he was putting pressure on me to speak to Mr Trump and get the money back.

n

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They had lunch in September 2017, where Pecker pressed Cohen more.

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n

He asked me if I would meet him at his favorite Italian restaurant and I went to meet with him and again, he expressed his anger that I need to get this money back. And I said look, Mr Trump told you he’d pay it back.’

n

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In June 2016, Michael Cohen said he was present when Donald Trump had a conversation with former American Media Inc chair David Pecker.

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Trump “had the call put through and he had a speakerbox on his desk and instead of lifting up the phone, he used the speakerbox so I was able to hear,” Cohen testifies.

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What did he recall from that conversation? Cohen says:

“,”elementId”:”d927bde0-6b08-47fa-a0c9-4e53cbc3b951″},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.BlockquoteBlockElement”,”html”:”

n

He asked him how things were going with the matter and David said, ‘we have this under control and we’ll take care of this.’

n

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Cohen continues:

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n

David had stated that it’s going to cost him $150,000 to control the [Karen McDougal] story to which Mr Trump replied, ‘no problem, I’ll take care of it.’

n

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Cohen said that AMI as going to lay out the funds and as Mr Trump had stated to David, said ‘I’ll take care of it.’ It hadn’t been sorted out exactly how Trump would repay Pecker, he said.

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Now we’re on to Karen McDougal,the Playboy bunny who claimed to have had an affair with Donald Trump.

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When Michael Cohen was apprised by his American Media Inc pals that she was trying to tell her story, he went to Trump right away.

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“I asked him if he knew who Karen McDougal was,” Cohen recalled.

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n

His response to me was: She’s really beautiful. I said, OK but there’s a story that’s right now being shopped.

n

“,”elementId”:”d9649f83-9a35-437f-a151-2bb96f508cfc”},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”

What did Trump tell him to do?

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n

Make sure it doesn’t get released.

n

“,”elementId”:”fb496fa3-d4d0-43fe-8351-26dbead72198″},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”

What did you take that to mean?

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n

We need to acquire the story. I went ahead and reached back out to both Dylan Howard as well as David Pecker.

n

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Michael Cohen says he learned that in fall 2016, he’d heard that a former Trump Tower doorman said that he had a “love-child.”

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He told Donald Trump because he wanted to get his direction on what he wanted done. Cohen says:

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n

He told me to make sure that the story doesn’t get out – you handle it.

n

“,”elementId”:”3fa26f87-d82d-4f71-85dd-24072981ff85″},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”

As for the affected employees, Cohen says:

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n

He asked me to speak to them and let me know it’s getting taken care of.

n

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To prevent it from going public, “I worked with [the National Enquirer’s] Dylan Howard and David Pecker.”

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He said that Pecker was going to buy the life rights to the doorman’s story. Along the way, Cohen testified, Pecker and/or Howard would give him updates.

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In turn, Cohen said, he would update Trump “immediately” whenever he learned something.

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The prosecution asks if Michael Cohen made public appearance for Donald Trump and his campaign. Cohen says he did.

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n

While watching the rallies, I went to Mr Trump and I said, one of the things that I noticed is, it’s very white, and we really need diversity. If we’re going to win, we’re going to need diversity. And so I started a group called National Diversity Coalition for Trump along with pastor Darrell Scott.

n

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Cohen said that Trump had expressed concern about negative press when he announced.

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n

You know that when this comes out, meaning the announcement, just be prepared, there’s going to be a lot of women coming forward.

n

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Michael Cohen recalled that he’d call Donald Trump Boss or Mr Trump. He described his time at the Trump Organization in a wistful tone.

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n

It was fantastic. Working for him, especially during those 10 years, was an amazing experience in many, many ways. There were great times, there were several less-than great times, but for the most part, I enjoyed the responsibility that was given to me. I enjoyed working with my colleagues at The Trump organization, the Trump children. It was a big family.

n

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Did you at times lie for him? “I did.”

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Why? Cohen said he did “what [was] needed to accomplish a task.”

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Did you bully people for him?

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n

Again, in order to accomplish a task. The only thing on my mind was [to] accomplish a task to make him happy.

n

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Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger asks whether Donald Trump ever communicated by email. Michael Cohen says no, and provides an eyebrow-raising explanation.

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n

Mr Trump never had an email address.

n

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“Did he ever comment to you about why he didn’t have one?” During certain conversations, he would comment, “emails are like written papers,” Cohen recalls, saying Trump stated:

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n

It’s too many people that have gone down as a direct result of having emails that prosecutors can use in a case.

n

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When you saying going down, do you mean getting in some sort of trouble? Hoffinger asks. Cohen responds: “Yes, ma’am.”

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He also says that Trump had an “open door policy.”

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“Did you work with the press to try to minimize negative stories and sort of enhance positive stories about Mr Trump and his business?” Michael Cohen replies: “Yes.”

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Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger is using Cohen’s testimony to establish that Donald Trump and Cohen worked extremely closely with one another – that the former personal attorney for Trump was effectively his right-hand.

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“Initially, when I started, it was toward’s the back of the office,” Cohen said of his office, “until ultimately I moved to a different office that was maybe 50 feet, 60 feet from his office.”

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How often did they interact?

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n

Every single day – and multiple times per day.

n

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We’re talking about the period before his presidential run? Hoffinger pressed. Cohen replies: “Yes.”

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Michael Cohen is now discussing other binds from which he extricated Donald Trump, including the controversial Trump University business courses.

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“Trump University fell into trouble and there were approximately 50 vendors that had not been paid” but just two million available to pay them, Cohen says.

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n

Unfortunately, the bills exceeded $2m. Trump was not going to fund the balance, so what I did was put them on a spreadsheet …divided it by the $2m, came up with basically 2% of everyone’s invoice, contacted each and every one of the vendors and all but two accepted, ultimately, the 20% releases drafted and upon receipt of the release, within 48 hours.

n

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Trump told him that he’d done a “fantastic” job, Cohen says.

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Asked how Trump’s praise made him feel, Cohen said he felt “like I was on top of the world.”

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Through her questioning, prosecutor Susan Hoffinger is establishing that Donald Trump and Michael Cohen had a direct connection – and that even from the outset, Cohen’s performing legal work was not his only duty. Cohen says:

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n

It was whatever concerned him, whatever he wanted. Initially when I first started working at the Trump Organization I was presented with an opportunity and I brought it to Mr Trump immediately.

n

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It was a landfill remediation project in New Jersey, 1000 acres, Cohen recalled.

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n

It ultimately didn’t come to fruition because funding got pulled by [then New Jersey] Governor Corzine.

n

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Who did you report to at the Trump Organization? The prosecution asks. Cohen replies:

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n

Mr Trump.

n

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He said that he was not part of the general counsel’s office. “That’s not the discussion in terms of when I elected to take the position.”

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Michael Cohen is Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer who was for more than a decade his Mr Fix-It, but is now the prosecution’s star witness as it builds its case that the former president sought to conceal hush-money payments to the adult film star, Stormy Daniels.

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Cohen served as Trump’s trusted adviser, personal attorney and self-described “attack dog with a law license”. But the relationship soured after Trump won the US presidential election in 2016 and did not offer Cohen a role in his administration.

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Cohen, a native of Long Island, began practicing law as a personal injury lawyer in 1992 and joined the Trump Organization in 2006. He’d told Trump he’d read his book The Art of the Deal twice and soon became a close confidant.

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In a 2018 profile, it was noted that Cohen performed a role much like that of Roy Cohn, the notorious New York political and legal fixer who had worked for Trump and his father. Cohen’s duties led him into fixing situations of a sensitive nature, including setting up “catch-and-kill” arrangements with David Pecker, publisher of the National Enquirer, which has circuitously led to today’s court confrontation.

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Michael Cohen, Donald Trump’s former fixer and lawyer, has been called to the witness stand.

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Cohen entered judge Juan Merchan’s courtroom just before 9.40am ET.

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Donald Trump just entered the courtroom. He was carrying papers, once again.

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He was indeed trailed by supporters, including son Eric Trump and Nicole Malliotakis.

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Donald Trump appeared frustrated at the Manhattan courtroom for his hush-money criminal trial on Friday, after sitting through two days of testimony from the adult film actor Stormy Daniels, who provided a detailed account of an alleged sexual liaison with him some 20 years ago.

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Daniels’s testimony described their relationship in graphic detail and over lengthy periods of court time, despite the alleged criminal behavior at the heart of the charges being due to the way the payments were accounted for as prosecutors have claimed they were an election expense.

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Here are the key takeaways from the first and second day of Daniels’s testimony.

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}],”data”:{“alt”:”courtroom sketch”,”caption”:”Donald Trump watches as Stormy Daniels is questioned by defense attorney Susan Necheles on 9 May 2024 in this courtroom sketch.”,”credit”:”Photograph: Jane Rosenberg/Reuters”}}],”attributes”:{“pinned”:false,”keyEvent”:true,”summary”:false},”blockCreatedOn”:1715601588000,”blockCreatedOnDisplay”:”07.59 EDT”,”blockLastUpdated”:1715604864000,”blockLastUpdatedDisplay”:”08.54 EDT”,”blockFirstPublished”:1715604864000,”blockFirstPublishedDisplay”:”08.54 EDT”,”blockFirstPublishedDisplayNoTimezone”:”08.54″,”title”:”Key takeaways from Stormy Daniels’s testimony last week”,”contributors”:[] ,”primaryDateLine”:”Mon 13 May 2024 17.33 EDT”,”secondaryDateLine”:”First published on Mon 13 May 2024 07.59 EDT”},{“id”:”663e6c458f0804774c89575d”,”elements”:[{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”

Good morning and welcome to our live coverage of Donald Trump’s criminal trial over his hush-money payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels, which enters its fifth week today with proceedings due to start at about 9.30am ET in New York.

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Michael Cohen, Trump’s former attorney and personal fixer, is expected to take the stand as soon as today. As trial wrapped for the week on Friday afternoon, the prosecution said they expected to call two more witnesses – one of whom will be Cohen. Last week, the jury heard testimony from Daniels, who provided a detailed – and embarrassing – account of an alleged sexual liaison with Trump some 20 years ago.

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Cohen’s hush-money payment to Daniels is at the very heart of the historic trial in Manhattan criminal court. Prosecutors charge that Cohen wired $130,000 to Daniels’s then attorney just 12 days before the presidential election to keep quiet about her alleged sexual encounter with Trump.

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Trump is charged with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in connection with the payments and had pleaded not guilty.

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We’re at the courthouse again today. Stay with us.

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Trump’s criminal hush-money trial: what to know

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n

• A guide to Trump’s hush-money trial – so far

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• The key takeaways from Daniels’ testimony last week.

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• The jurors: who is on the Trump trial jury?

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• The key arguments prosecutors will use against Trump

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• How will Trump’s trial work?

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• From Michael Cohen to Stormy Daniels: the key players

n

“,”elementId”:”ac7ade58-ee09-43ac-aec2-26cb88b17a00″}],”attributes”:{“pinned”:false,”keyEvent”:true,”summary”:false},”blockCreatedOn”:1715601588000,”blockCreatedOnDisplay”:”07.59 EDT”,”blockLastUpdated”:1715605160000,”blockLastUpdatedDisplay”:”08.59 EDT”,”blockFirstPublished”:1715601588000,”blockFirstPublishedDisplay”:”07.59 EDT”,”blockFirstPublishedDisplayNoTimezone”:”07.59″,”title”:”Michael Cohen, prosecution’s star witness, expected to take the stand”,”contributors”:[],”primaryDateLine”:”Mon 13 May 2024 17.33 EDT”,”secondaryDateLine”:”First published on Mon 13 May 2024 07.59 EDT”}],”filterKeyEvents”:false,”id”:”key-events-carousel-mobile”}” config=”{“renderingTarget”:”Web”,”darkModeAvailable”:false,”assetOrigin”:”https://assets.guim.co.uk/”}”>

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Closing summary

Donald Trump’s former fixer turned star prosecution witness, Michael Cohen, took the stand on Monday and is expected to return tomorrow to continue to be questioned by prosecutor Susan Hoffinger.

• Cohen said he first met Trump through the former president’s son, Donald Jr, and that the former president asked him to fix an issue with the board at Trump World Tower. Eventually Cohen would work as Trump’s special counsel for 10 years, making approximately $525,000, adding: “I would only answer to him.”

• Manhattan prosecutor Susan Hoffinger worked to establish that Trump and Cohen had a direct connection and that Cohen was effectively Trump’s right-hand man. “It was whatever concerned him, whatever he wanted,” Cohen said.

• Hoffinger also tried to convey that Trump was well aware of workings at the office – undermining a potential defense argument that he was distracted when he signed the checks.

• Cohen testified about a meeting with the American Media Inc publisher David Pecker in summer 2015, shortly after Trump announced his presidential candidacy, in which prosecutors say Pecker, Cohen and Trump hatched a catch-and-kill plan to bury negative press about the then candidate.

• Cohen said he learned that in fall 2015, he’d heard that a former Trump Tower doorman said Trump had a “love child” and Cohen wanted Trump’s direction on what he wanted done. “He told me to make sure that the story doesn’t get out – you handle it.” Cohen said he worked with Dylan Howard of the National Enquirer, and Pecker, and that Cohen would pass updates “immediately” to Trump. Asked if Trump was grateful, Cohen said: “Absolutely.”

• Cohen said he was present in 2016 when Trump had a conversation with Pecker, during which Pecker said: “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 said that in 2016, he learned an agreement had been reached with Karen McDougal, a former Playboy model, for $150,000. Trump’s reaction to hearing that an agreement had been done was: “Fantastic! Great job!” Pecker then wanted to know “when he should anticipate receiving, being paid back the $150,000”, Cohen said.

• Cohen testified that Trump told him to bury Stormy Daniels’s story weeks before the election, demanding that he “just take care of it”. Cohen finalized the $130,000 payments to Daniels and immediately went to Trump to inform him the deal was done, he testified. “Would you have made that payment to Stormy Daniels without getting a sign-off from Mr Trump?” Hoffinger asked Cohen. “No, because everything required Mr Trump’s sign-off. And on top of that, I wanted the money back,” he said.

• Cohen said Trump urged him to delay sending payment to Daniels’s lawyer Keith Davidson until after the election, and that he had used the Yom Kippur holiday as an excuse to delay the payment. Cohen said he resisted paying out of his own pocket but eventually relented after Trump promised him, “You’ll get the money back.”

• Cohen said Trump was angry at the possibility that Daniels might come forward surfaced shortly after the “Access Hollywood” tape release in which Trump bragged about groping women “by the pussy” without their consent. “This was a disaster, a fucking disaster,” Cohen recalled Trump saying. “Women will hate me.”

• Cohen said he asked Trump how Daniels’ story might impact his marriage with his wife, Melania. He said Trump told him, “Don’t worry,” adding: “How long do you think I’ll be on the market for? Not long.” Cohen said he concluded that “this was all about the campaign.”

Donald Trump, speaking to reporters after court adjourned, name dropped around a dozen so-called “legal experts” who agreed with him that his criminal trial is a “threat to democracy’.

Among those he mentioned included JD Vance, an Ohio Republican senator who is on the list of Trump’s potential running mates, and Iowa attorney general Brenna Bird. Both Bird and Vance attended the trial today in a show of support for Trump.

Donald Trump addressed the media as he left the courtroom, where he once again railed against judge Juan Merchan for being “corrupt” and “highly conflicted”.

The judge was “keeping me from campaigning,” Trump told reporters.

He’s an appointed New York judge … You know who appointed him? Democrat politicians. He’s a corrupt judge and he’s a conflicted judge and he ought to let us go out and campaign.

The former president added that what was happening in the courtroom was “a threat to democracy” and “a terrible thing”.

Court has wrapped for the day and the jury has left the courtroom.

Michael Cohen is expected to return to the stand tomorrow to continue questioning by prosecutor Susan Hoffinger.

“At some point did Mr Trump confirm to you that he was going to give you the title as personal counsel to the president?” Michael Cohen says yes.

Were the monthly payments supposed to be for work as personal counsel? Cohen replies:

That was what it was designed to be, but it was repayment of Stormy Daniels payment as well as … the bonus and Red Finch money.

Cohen said that he was excited to get the title of Trump’s personal attorney.

I was proud to accept that title which I wanted so I knew there would be no compensation for any of the other work.

Did you have any expectation that you’d be paid? “None at all,” Cohen says.

How would he be getting paid for that title? Cohen says by monetizing the role of personal attorney and creating consulting agreement relationships.

Michael Cohen was asked to explain why he was owed $180,000 instead of just $150,000 for the hush money. He said he was owed $50,000 to pay a firm called Red Finch for “tech services”.

Cohen is asked if Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg was able to approve the repayment to Red Finch for $50,000 without Mr Trump’s approval. Cohen says no.

“Was there something else that you were going to be repaid?” Cohen says:

In addition to the bonus that had previously ready been given to me, $60,000.

What did he tell you about that $60,000 additional bonus? “That this is the best he’s going to get,” Cohen said.

“Did he say anything about trying to make it right because your bonus had been cut?” Cohen says: “Yes.”

Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger is now asking Michael Cohen to tally how much he was owed and invoiced for.

The jury is shown a text from Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg to Michael Cohen. The text reads:

Take it easy, you know Mr Trump loves you, will do right by you, we’ll make this right.

Did Cohen’s anger have an impact on Weisselberg? Cohen said he thought so, adding:

Even for myself, I was unusually angry.

Cohen said that Donald Trump called him when he was on winter vacation and told him not to worry, and that everything would get taken care of.

Cohen says he was ‘insulted and truly hurt’ by bonus cut

Michael Cohen said he was angry about his 2016 bonus. He said his bonus was cut by two-thirds:

“I was personally insulted, truly hurt,” Cohen said.

After all I had gone through in terms of the campaign as well as things at Trump Organization, laying out $130,000 on his behalf – it was insulting that the gratitude shown back to me was to cut the bonus by two-thirds.

Cohen said in some “colorful language,” he told Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg how “pissed off” he was. “I used quite a few expletives,” he said.

The best that you get for showing loyalty. The best that you get extending yourself, like I did, is getting your bonus cut by two-thirds? I didn’t expect more, but I didn’t expect less.

Michael Cohen is asked what role he pitched to Donald Trump after the 2016 presidential election.

“Personal attorney to the president,” Cohen testifies. Why?

First of all I thought he would need it because there were still outstanding matters that we were dealing with … Every president has a personal attorney.

He said he thought he could continue to protect him and do what was needed.

I also had another thought in mind, which was consulting, and that’s what I really wanted. It also afforded me the opportunity to stay at home, in New York, with my son, my daughter, my wife.

Cohen says he was disappointed not to be considered for Trump’s chief of staff

Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger is now asking about Michael Cohen’s relationship with Donald Trump post-election.

Would he keep working for him? No.

My service was no longer necessary, as I was special counsel to Mr Trump and he was now president-elect.

“Were you offered a position as assistant general yourself? Cohen said yes.

Did he want that job? “No ma’am.”

Was he offered chief of staff? “No ma’am.”

Was he disappointed? Cohen said:

I didn’t want the role. I didn’t believe the role was right for me – that I was even competent to be chief of staff. I just wanted my name to be included … I had not once but twice been the campaign’s surrogate … I had other ideas for myself … I wanted to at least be considered. It was more about my ego, than anything.

Court has resumed after a short afternoon break.

Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger is now asking Michael Cohen about a Wall Street Journal article which described how American Media Inc paid for Karen McDougal’s story but never published it – from early November 2016.

She is showing Cohen the texts between him and Hope Hicks where he says “So far I see only 6 stories. Getting little to no traction,” he wrote. She said, “same” and then “Keep praying!!! It’s working!”

Cohen says Trump was angry Wall Street Journal story could affect his campaign

Michael Cohen, before the break, said he had a number of calls with Stormy Daniels’s attorney Keith Davidson on 4 November.

“I wanted to ensure that Ms Daniels did not go rogue,” Cohen said, adding that he was angry with Davidson because he thought someone on his side leaked information to the Wall Street Journal, Reuters reported.

Cohen confirmed that Trump was “angry” because “there was a negative story that once again could impact the campaign as a result of women”.

Cohen to return to the stand tomorrow

The court is taking a short afternoon break.

Before the break, judge Juan Merchan asked how much longer the prosecution will take.

Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger said direct will continue into some portion of tomorrow.