New York hush money trial: What to expect on Day 17Alex Woodward and Kelly Rissman are back at Manhattan Criminal Court for us this morning and send this dispatch:<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2018Handle it.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2018Make sure it doesn\u2019t get released.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2018Just do it.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cMichael Cohen\u2019s testimony in Donald Trump\u2019s hush money trial on Monday was crucial.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor the first time, a witness tied Trump directly to a series of payments that kept politically devastating stories out of the press and away from voters before Election Day in 2016.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen it came to burying Stormy Daniels\u2019 story by paying her $130,000 for her silence, Trump told Cohen: \u2018Just do it.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cLess than two weeks before Election Day, Cohen finalized a contract and wired her attorney the cash. Then he told Trump that the deal was done.<\/p>\n
\u201cJurors then heard how after the election, a satisfied president-elect Trump confirmed a payment plan to reimburse his attorney before heading to Washington, where he signed the checks.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2018What I was doing,\u2019 Cohen testified, \u2018was at the direction of and benefit of Mr Trump.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cTrump also knew that he had a deadline to secure that silence, according to Cohen. He gave excuse after excuse to Daniels\u2019 attorney, hoping that he could avoid paying him with the election approaching, when, if Trump won, \u2018it wouldn\u2019t matter\u2019 anymore, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2018My intent was to continue to delay it, as per Mr Trump\u2019s demand,\u2019 he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cCohen\u2019s testimony gave jurors the connective tissue for the trial\u2019s weeks-long narrative: Trump warned Cohen to \u2018be prepared\u2019 for stories about women when he launched his 2016 campaign, instructed him to pay them off, then signed the checks that reimbursed him.<\/p>\n
\u201cThose checks and Cohen\u2019s approved invoices are the allegedly falsified records at the heart of the falsified records charges.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday, Cohen returns to the stand, after prosecutors left Monday on a bombshell cliffhanger revealing a Trump Tower meeting where Trump approved a 12-month payment plan to reimburse him for paying off Daniels.<\/p>\n
\u201cProsecutors are now preparing to go through those payments pursuant to Cohen\u2019s \u2018retainer\u2019 that he said never existed.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn cross-examination, which could also begin today, Trump\u2019s attorneys are hoping to destroy Cohen\u2019s credibility by painting him as a convicted liar and an opportunist willing to throw his former boss under the bus to save his skin. They will also likely bring up his antagonistic social media posts and TV and podcast appearances to argue that he can\u2019t be trusted on the stand.<\/p>\n
\u201cOutside the courthouse in Manhattan, a long line of press and members of the public has been growing since before 5am, hoping to catch a glimpse of the former president on trial facing down his once-loyal counsel turned very public enemy.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
New York hush money trial: What to expect on Day 17Alex Woodward and Kelly Rissman are back at Manhattan Criminal Court for us this morning and send this dispatch: \u201c\u2018Handle it.\u2019 \u201c\u2018Make sure it doesn\u2019t get released.\u2019 \u201c\u2018Just do it.\u2019 \u201cMichael Cohen\u2019s testimony in Donald Trump\u2019s hush money trial on Monday was crucial. \u201cFor the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3210,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[173],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3209","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n