Former President Donald Trump’s ex-attorney Michael Cohen testified in Manhattan court on Monday that he used his own money to pay former adult film actress Stormy Danies to cover up an alleged affair with Trump ahead of the 2016 election.
NY v. Trump: Cohen testifies to paying Stormy Daniels from his own pocket https://t.co/vkkNOI0vAW
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In his testimony in the hush money case against Trump, Cohen told the court that he took out a line of credit on his home so as to pay Daniels the sum of $130,000 and obtain rights to her claims of the affair and get her to sign a non-disclosure agreement.
According to Cohen, he told Trump in October 2016 that Daniels had to be paid in order to silence her claims of an affair with the former president in 2006 during a celebrity golf tournament in Lake Tahoe.
Cohen said that he had a conversation about funding the payment with Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg who said that he was not in a position to foot the bill.
Noting that the matter was urgent with the election just days away, Cohen testified, “I ultimately said, ‘OK, I’ll pay it.’”
He added that he did not inform his wife of his plan and had mortgaged his home instead of taking from the family’s joint account to avoid her knowing.
The former Trump lawyer claimed that Daniels’ allegations would have been disastrous for Trump and his presidential campaign if he did not pay Daniels and see to the NDA.
According to him, Weisselberg had told him “Don’t worry, we’ll make sure you get paid back.”
Cohen also said that Trump was aware that he was going to use his personal funds to make the payment, as he said Trump responded, “good, good,” when he was informed of the plan.
Cohen insisted that he did not proceed with paying Daniels without getting Trump’s approval, as he said that “everything required Mr. Trump’s signoff… on top of that, I wanted the money back.”
The funds were wired on Oct. 27, 2016 to Daniels’ attorney Keith Davidson marked as a “retainer” and described as payment for “management consulting.” According to Cohen, he had used the fraudulent description out of fear that the bank would not allow him to proceed with the payment had they known its true purpose.
Trump has pleaded not guilty in the case, calling the case a “scam” promoted by the Biden administration and the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office to beat down his chance of success in the 2024 election.
At a rally in New Jersey on Saturday, the Republican presidential candidate slammed prosecutors pursuing criminal cases against him, saying, “Every time the radical left Democrats, Marxists, communists, and fascists indict me, I consider it a great badge of honor!”
“I am being indicted for you. And never forget, our enemies want to take my freedom because I will never let them take away your freedom,” he told supporters, adding, “In the end, they’re not after me, they’re after you.”
