Trump's former lawyer and fixer took the stand in New York on Monday
Michael Cohen testifies during Donald Trump's hush money trial on Monday in New York. |
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Michael Cohen says he knows where Donald Trump's skeletons are buried, because he buried them himself.
Trump's former lawyer, fixer and self-described "thug" took the stand in New York on Monday as the star witness in a hush money trial that could end with his former boss becoming the first ex-president convicted of a crime.
Cohen once said he'd take a bullet for his boss. But he's since learned a lesson that many other Trump acolytes have also come to understood from bitter experience; spending time in the ex-president's proximity can mean falling foul of the law.
Cohen has already spent time in prison for offenses linked to a payment of $130,000 to adult film star Stormy Daniels that is at the center of the current case: Prosecutors allege Trump falsified financial records to cover up the payment. Cohen also pleaded guilty and served time for tax offenses before he was released to home confinement during the Covid-19 pandemic. Ever since, he's been on a redemption tour, atoning for his Faustian pact with Trump.
The current case turns on Cohen because he spent a decade cleaning up the mess from Trump scandals and personal business deals.
On the stand on Monday, he directly implicated Trump in the hush money scheme that Cohen financed himself with a home equity loan. Prosecutors say the ex-president's subsequent reimbursements led to the falsification of financial records that constitute a crime – and the culmination of a scheme to interfere in the 2016 election to secure Trump's victory.
According to Cohen, Trump told him at the time, "I want you to just push it out as long as you can just get past the election. Because if I win, it will have no relevance because I'm president. And if I lose, I don't even care."
"Just do it," he told Cohen of the hush money payment, per the testimony on Monday.
But Cohen obviously has a grudge against Trump – as witnessed by his recent social media trolling of the ex-president. And that offers an opening for the ex-President's defense to brand him an unreliable witness bent on revenge, who has a history of lying.
It only takes one juror to doubt Cohen's story or find he's not credible for Trump to be acquitted. That's why Trump's lawyers' cross-examination of Cohen (taking place possibly as soon as Tuesday) will be savage. The defense wants to crush any impression that jurors can trust Cohen. And Trump wants him destroyed. |
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'You need to kick that f***ing door down' |
US Vice President Kamala Harris on Monday reflected on her experiences as a barrier-breaking public figure, telling a crowd in blunt terms that sometimes they need to take it upon themselves to fight for their own opportunities and successes. "We have to know that sometimes people will open the door for you and leave it open," Harris said in a moderated conversation with actor and comedian Jimmy O. Yang in Washington. But "Sometimes they won't – and then you need to kick that f***ing door down," she added, to applause and laughter from the crowd. |
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'Chaos ... anarchy ... Hamas' |
The Biden administration now believes that Israel has amassed sufficient troops outside the southern Gaza city of Rafah to launch the full-scale incursion that the US had repeatedly warned against.
Two senior administration told CNN they're not sure whether Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will cross Joe Biden's red line in a move that would humiliate the President and plunge relations with Washington into a deeper crisis. But the breach is widening by the day. Biden faces extreme pressure at home and abroad over his failure to do more to rein in Israel, whose ongoing retaliation for the Hamas October 7 terror attacks has left tens of thousands of people dead. US officials' criticism of Netanyahu's approach is sharpening. Going "headlong into Rafah" could have dire consequences, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned on Sunday on NBC. "Israel's on the trajectory, potentially, to inherit an insurgency with many armed Hamas left, or, if it leaves, a vacuum filled by chaos, filled by anarchy and probably refilled by Hamas," he said.
On ABC, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan warned that a full scale Israeli operation in Rafah would cause "really significant civilian casualties." And "while Israel would also be able to kill some Hamas folks, many Hamas folks would melt away because they're terrorists," he added. Sullivan reinforced his warning from the White House briefing room on Monday. If Israel doesn't have a political plan for Gaza's future, "the terrorists will keep coming back," he said – adding that this is already happening in Gaza City.
The US is now going far beyond warning against a major offensive in densely-populated Rafah. It's publicly saying Netanyahu's entire war strategy is failing.
These are extraordinary times in one of the world's closest diplomatic relationships. | |
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Thanks for reading. On Tuesday, Maryland, North Carolina, Nebraska and West Virginia hold primary elections. Foreign ministers from across the Middle East will meet in Bahrain. |
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