Former Malignant Loser attorney and fix-it man Michael Cohen will take the stand again this morning to complete his testimony in the Malignant Loser's hush money/ coverup/ falsifying business records trial. It's then expected he'll be cross examined by the defense, which is likely to spend its time focusing on Cohen's character and criminal conviction for his part in the hush money scheme. Here's a recap of the damage Cohen has done so far to the Malignant Loser's case, and what the defense will try to undercut today:
Ex-Trump attorney Michael Cohen is set to resume his direct examination this morning in former President Trump's criminal hush money trial.
Across six hours of testimony yesterday, Cohen laid out the trial's most incriminating testimony so far regarding Trump's involvement in a scheme to hide information from voters by falsifying business records in order to disguise a hush money payment to Stormy Daniels just days before the 2016 election.
Cohen testified that he helped coordinate a "catch and kill" scheme with David Pecker of the National Enquirer, making a $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels in exchange for her silence about an alleged sexual encounter with Trump, then devising a reimbursement arrangement with then-Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg in 2017. Trump, who has steadfastly denied Daniels' allegations, has denied all wrongdoing.
Cohen told jurors that Trump approved the Daniels hush money payment in October 2016, and that Cohen wired the money from a shell company he funded using a home equity line of credit.
He then recounted a 2017 meeting with Trump and Weisselberg in Trump Tower just days before the inauguration where Trump agreed to the plan to reimburse Cohen for the hush money payment.
"He approved it," Cohen said of Trump. "What I was doing, I was doing at the direction and for the benefit of Mr. Trump."
Finally, you may have heard of Exhibit 35, which was presented yesterday. Here's Rachel Maddow explaining why it's the "smoking gun" document in the trial:
