Former President Donald Trump speaks to the media during a break in his civil fraud trial at New York State Supreme Court on October 24, 2023 in New York City. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images/AFP)
For the first time in five years, Donald Trump came face to face in court with his former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen, who is now a bitter foe and a star witnesses in New York’s $250 million civil fraud trial against the former president.
Trump, who has attended the trial periodically since it began three weeks ago, returned on Tuesday amid tight security and a heavy media presence. The former president, accused of inflating the value of his assets by billions of dollars to dupe banks and insurers, was seated at the defense table about 20 feet from Cohen, whose testimony could last into Wednesday.
"Let me just turn around and say that this is not about Donald Trump versus Michael Cohen or Michael Cohen versus Donald Trump,” Cohen, 57, told reporters gathered outside the courthouse before his testimony began. "This is about accountability, plain and simple.”
Cohen’s star role in the lawsuit filed last year by New York Attorney General Letitia James became inevitable after he told Congress in 2019 that Trump was a "con man” and "a cheat” who lied about his wealth. The trial is one of six that Trump is facing as the Republican frontrunner seeks reelection in 2024, including in four criminal prosecutions. Trump denies any wrongdoing.
Trump, 77, also commented on Cohen’s presence, telling a throng of reporters outside the courtroom that his former lawyer was a "proven liar” and that he’d lied "trying to get a better deal for himself.”
Cohen, who served time in prison for tax evasion and has become a staunch Trump critic, kept the real estate mogul’s business and personal secrets for years before a bitter falling out in 2018.
Early in his testimony Tuesday, Cohen said he worked with former Trump Organization Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg to inflate asset values at Trump’s direction.
"I was tasked by Mr. Trump to increase the total assets based upon a number he arbitrarily selected,” Cohen said. "My responsibility, along with Allen Weisselberg, predominately, was to reverse engineer the various different asset classes and increase those assets in order to achieve the number that Mr. Trump had tasked us.”
Cohen began his testimony by recounting the background as a Trump employee and the circumstances surrounding his legal troubles. Trump, wearing a blue tie, folded his arms tightly and stared in Cohen’s direction when he wasn’t leaning over to whisper to his lawyers.
Cohen appeared to look at Trump only once.
"When all of this started, it was overwhelming the amount of misinformation, disinformation about me,” Cohen testified. "It was enormous.”
Cohen’s testimony comes less than a month after Trump dropped a $500 million lawsuit against his former lawyer, who the former president accused of violating their attorney-client bond and spreading "embarrassing or detrimental” lies. He also accused Cohen of violating a non-disclosure agreement and fraudulently misrepresenting a $74,000 business expenditure.
Four years ago, Cohen had testified during a congressional hearing about his work for Trump.
"It was my experience that Mr. Trump inflated his total assets when it served his purposes, such as trying to be listed among the wealthiest people in Forbes, and deflated his assets to reduce his real estate taxes,” Cohen told the House Committee on Oversight and Reform at the time.
The comments triggered a probe by James, who spent almost three years issuing dozens of subpoenas to Trump Organization employees and others who did work for the company, including real estate appraisers, engineers and outside lawyers. His testimony helped James, a Democrat, overcome claims by Trump that the probe was politically motivated. A judge ruled that Cohen’s public commentary had provided a good-faith basis for James to investigate.
Public statements by Cohen also helped form the basis for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s indictment of Trump for allegedly falsifying business records tied to hush-money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election.
Cohen began representing Trump and his company around 2006 and resigned from his company after Trump was inaugurated in January 2017. Cohen then started a law firm and a consulting business, winning clients with his close ties to the then-president. But Trump and Cohen fell out over a criminal probe into Cohen’s work for Trump as well as the lawyer’s own business activities.
"If anyone is looking for a good lawyer, I would strongly suggest that you don’t retain the services of Michael Cohen!” Trump said in an Aug. 22, 2018, post on the social media platform then known as Twitter.
Cohen pleaded guilty in November 2018 to crimes including campaign finance violations and bank fraud. Ever since, he has blamed Trump.
"It was my duty to cover up his dirty deeds,” Cohen said when he was sentenced.
