The key points from Michael Cohen’s testimony this morning
From CNN’s Eric Levenson
Michael Cohen, Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer, testified under cross-examination Monday morning, his fourth day on the stand. Here are the key points from his testimony.
Cohen stole from the Trump Organization: Cohen was paid $420,000 by Trump over the course of 2017, bank records show. According to Cohen and several handwritten notes, the money broke down to $130,000 to reimburse him for the payment to Stormy Daniels, $50,000 to reimburse him for unrelated tech services to a company called Red Finch, $180,000 to account for estimated taxes and a $60,000 bonus.
However, Cohen testified Monday he only paid back Red Finch $20,000 – in cash in a brown paper bag – and kept the rest for himself.
“So you stole from the Trump Organization?” Blanche asked.
“Yes, sir,” Cohen said.
He said he has told the district attorney’s office about the theft but did not face criminal charges.
He previously said Trump didn’t know about hush money: Cohen admitted that when the hush money payments to Stormy Daniels became public in 2018, he repeatedly told reporters and others that Trump was not aware of the payments at the time – the opposite of his testimony in this trial.
Lots of meetings with prosecutors: Cohen testified he met with prosecutors about 20 times this year, most recently the weekend before he took the stand.
Business is good: Cohen testified he’s made about $4.4 million since the fall of 2020, including $3.4 million from books and about $1 million from podcasts.
Cohen-Costello chats: Defense attorney Todd Blanche walked Cohen through messages, emails and phone calls he exchanged with attorney Bob Costello. Costello testified last week in front of a House Judiciary subcommittee that “virtually every statement” Cohen made on the stand about Costello was a lie, and he could be a defense witness.
