Cohen admits stealing from Trump Organization
Hugo Lowell
Trump lawyer Todd Blanche is offering an alternative explanation for the jury about why the repayment to Michael Cohen was “grossed up” – doubled for tax purposes.
Cohen was paid a bonus of $150k in 2015, but only got a $50k bonus in 2016. Blanche argues Cohen used the repayment scheme to get himself the bonus money he thought he was owed.
The logic appears to go like this: Cohen paid the IT company RedFinch $20k during the 2016 campaign. But Cohen told Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg that he needed to be paid back $50k. That meant Cohen stole $30k from the Trump Org.
As the payment was “grossed up”, Cohen actually made $60k. “So you stole from the Trump Organization?” Blanche asks. “Yes sir,” Cohen concedes.
Key events
Trump attorney Todd Blanche’s line of questioning now is doubling down on the defense’s strategy that Michael Cohen was, in fact, providing legal services for him during the period when prosecutors say he was not.
This involved working with another Trump attorney on a case, subpoenas, and doing battle with potential defamation issues.
“In May of 2017, a special counsel was appointed by the name of Robert Mueller …what if any impact did that have on the attorney-client relationship?” Blanche asked. “It did not.”
“Were you happy, sad, or indifferent, that Mr Kasowitz had been appointed Mr Trump’s personal attorney for that?”
Cohen says: Probably happy. Why? He says because he had a good relationship with him.
Trump attorney Todd Blanche is now pointing to a January 2017 email in which Michael Cohen announces his resignation from the Trump Organization to his colleagues there. Blanche says:
Here, you again tell everybody at the Trump Organization that you’re starting a new job to be President Trump’s personal attorney?
Cohen says: Correct.
Trump attorney Todd Blanche points to early 2017, when Michael Cohen was becoming Donald Trump’s personal attorney/attorney to the president of the United States.
“You told everybody that that was happening, correct?” Blanche said of when Cohen’s gig came to fruition. Cohen says:
Not everybody but I certainly was proud of the role and I announced it.
“You told TMZ?” Blanche asks. Cohen says: Yes, sir.
“You also told the New York Times?” Yes, sir.
“You actually gave them a little scoop on it?” Yes, sir.
“You went on TV, you actually told about it?” Cohen says: I did.
“You told him you’d have the same role you already had?” Cohen answered in the affirmative.
“Do we have any understanding why Don Jr and Eric would approve your payment as opposed to President Trump?” Trump attorney Todd Blanche asks.
Michael Cohen says:
Because they were trustees of the Trust.
Recall: Cohen initially got paid out of the Trust, not from Trump directly.
The first two checks for the first three months were signed by Trust representatives. Cohen said, “either Eric or Don, in association with Allen Weisselberg”.
Blanche is now pointing to Cohen’s email signature in 2017. “It always said personal attorney to President Trump?” Cohen conceded, “Yes, sir.”
Blanche is noting how Cohen had always had something like this on his email when he was at the Trump Organization, firming up that Cohen was acting as a lawyer for Trump.
Trump attorney Todd Blanche is now showing Michael Cohen emails from Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg to him from January 2017.
The email exchange has a subject line about a refinancing agreement with an apartment in a Trump building. One line in the email exchange said:
Thank you, you never stopped on for a bro hug. Anyway please prepare the agreement … so we can pay you monthly.
The point that Blanche seems to be making is that Cohen was doing legal services for Donald Trump and that the lack of a written retainer agreement was entirely normal, pointing to how Cohen didn’t have one before.
Cohen admits stealing from Trump Organization
Hugo Lowell
Trump lawyer Todd Blanche is offering an alternative explanation for the jury about why the repayment to Michael Cohen was “grossed up” – doubled for tax purposes.
Cohen was paid a bonus of $150k in 2015, but only got a $50k bonus in 2016. Blanche argues Cohen used the repayment scheme to get himself the bonus money he thought he was owed.
The logic appears to go like this: Cohen paid the IT company RedFinch $20k during the 2016 campaign. But Cohen told Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg that he needed to be paid back $50k. That meant Cohen stole $30k from the Trump Org.
As the payment was “grossed up”, Cohen actually made $60k. “So you stole from the Trump Organization?” Blanche asks. “Yes sir,” Cohen concedes.
Trump attorney Todd Blanche is now asking about Michael Cohen’s repayment to Red Finch, a company which, he testified, Donald Trump had stiffed.
Part of the $420,000 in payments Cohen received was $50,000 for services to the company. Cohen said he repaid $20,000 owed to Red Finch in cash.
“You had what, a duffle bag of cash?” Blanche asked. No, it was a small bag, Cohen said, describing it as a brown paper bag.
“So you stole from the Trump Organization, right?” Blanche said. “Yes, sir,” Cohen said.
Trump attorney Todd Blanche is asking Michael Cohen whether he remembers Donald Trump’s plan to sit down with George Stephanopoulos, the former White House communications director, on the 26th with his whole family.
Did he recall that the Old Post Office building in Washington DC was opening that day? No, Cohen said.
“On those two phone calls, you just talked about the Stormy Daniels, that’s it?” Cohen said, “because they were important to me.”
“So, was fixing Tiffany Trump’s situation important to you?” Cohen replied:
It was important that I take care of it, but it was not personally important to me.
“But would that have been something you’d update her father about when you spoke to him in the morning?” Cohen says no.
Trump attorney Todd Blanche asks Michael Cohen about his testimony that he had two phone calls with Donald Trump the morning he made the payment to Stormy Daniels’s lawyer.
Blanche pointed to Cohen’s testimony that he wanted to speak with Trump about the Daniels’ matter during those calls because he was going to make the payment and “wanted his blessing”.
Cohen said, “Yes, sir.”
“This is a pretty big deal for you and the campaign?” Trump attorney Todd Blanche asks of Michael Cohen’s work on the Trump diversity coalition.
Cohen said it was. Asked about whether an endorsement from a relative of Martin Luther King Jr: “It was big deal for everyone.”
This was also around the Stormy Daniels payment.
“All that was happening the week of the 24th, 25th, 26th?” Blanche presses. Cohen answered yes.
“Do you recall her communicating with you about her concerns that someone was trying to blackmail her?” Cohen replies: Yes, sir.
“Do you recall trying to handle it immediately.” Cohen says: Yes, sir.
Cohen says he spoke to David Pecker, the former publisher of the National Enquirer, and the general counsel at American Media Inc (AMI).
“And that was all to figure out a way to shut this down, right?” Correct, Cohen said.
Michael Cohen, wearing a slate grey suit and baby shower-pink tie, looks tired on the stand today.
It’s still early in Trump attorney Todd Blanche’s continued cross-examination, but Cohen doesn’t seem to be as punchy.
Blanche’s cross is pushing on the idea that Cohen was suffering financial woes related to his holding of taxi medallions and business relationship with Gene Freidman, the late taxi king of New York City.
Freidman reportedly helped inflate the price of medallions in this city which, of course, was problematic with the advent of Lyft and Uber, which gutted the taxi cab industry. Since medallions were expensive and people took on lots of debt for them, the crash of the industry harmed lots of players, big and small.
Blanche asked Cohen whether he was trying to help Freidman with his marriage around October 2016. “I tried,” Cohen said.
Tried to assist in bringing them back together, as well as talking to potential lawyers.
“Do you remember helping one of President Trump’s daughters, Tiffany Trump, with a possible extortion [involving] photographs?” Trump attorney Todd Blanche asked.
Michael Cohen answered in the affirmative. He mentions harassing phone calls.
“Do you know someone named John Lydon?” Blanche asks. Lydon is a mortgage broker in Florida whose company is named Resolution Consultants.
Note: Cohen testified last week that he lied on documents to create a bank account for Resolution Consultants, before it “dawned on me that it’s actually the name of a company of someone I know.” So, Cohen said, he changed it to “Essential Consultants LLC.
Trump attorney Todd Blanche is now focusing on October 2016. He asks Michael Cohen:
You’ll agree that you had a lot going on in your personal life and with President Trump in those first few weeks of October?
Cohen said yes. Blanche also asked Cohen about re-structuring his taxi medallion business.
Still on October 2016, Blanche is now asking Cohen about his work for the National Diversity Coalition for Donald Trump and getting and endorsement from one of Dr Martin Luther King Jr’s relatives.
Trump attorney Todd Blanche asks Michael Cohen if he knows somebody named Dan Goldman. Cohen says he does and that Goldman is “now a member of Congress.”
Blanche is now going to October 2016.
So, early October until October 26, ok. You said last week, and correct me if I’m wrong, that there was significant urgency to the [Stormy] Daniels situation at that time?
Cohen responds, “Correct.” Blanche continues:
That issue, the Daniels issue, was taking a lot of your time?
Cohen says, “yes, sir.”
Trump attorney Todd Blanche resumes his cross and asks Michael Cohen how many reporters he spoke to last week. Cohen says:
I’ve spoken to reporters who have just called to say hello, see how I’m doing, check in, but not talk about this case.
Michael Cohen takes the stand
Court has resumed after a short break.
Michael Cohen is entering the courtroom. “Good morning Mr Cohen, welcome back,” Judge Juan Merchan says.
Cohen responds, “Good morning.”
Hugo Lowell
Judge Juan Merchan rules that Donald Trump’s proposed Federal Election Commission (FEC) expert Bradley Smith witness can testify only about:
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What the FEC is and its purpose
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Who makes up the FEC
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What the FEC is responsible for enforcing
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General definitions for contributions, expenditures
But Merchan is adamant that Smith cannot offer an interpretation of FECA statute, because he doesn’t want the jury to be effectively “instructed” on the law by an expert witness – which is a job for the judge.
Judge Juan Merchan declined to broaden the scope of testimony that the defense can elicit from the potential witness, a Federal Election Commission (FEC) expert.
Bradley A Smith, a former Bill Clinton-appointed Republican FEC member, can give general background on the FEC but he may not define three terms in federal election law, the judge noted, saying it would breach rules preventing expert witnesses from interpreting the law.
Donald Trump addressed the media before heading inside the courtroom this morning, where he complained once again of not being allowed to campaign, the cold courtroom and Joe Biden, per pool reports.
“I’m here instead of campaigning,” the former president told reporters.
I was supposed to be making the speech. for political purposes. I’m not allowed to have anything to do with politics because I’m sitting in a very freezing cold, dark room for the last four weeks. It’s very unfair.
Trump once against took aim at judge Juan Merchan, saying he was “highly conflicted” and “corrupt”.
