Cohen says Trump wanted Stormy Daniels’ story buried until after 2016 election – live | Donald Trump trials
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‘It was all about the campaign’: Cohen says Trump wanted Daniels story buried until after 2016 election.
Hugo Lowell
Trump’s ex-lawyer Michael Cohen tells for prosecutors that Donald Trump knew personally that he needed Stormy Daniels the story was buried because it would have been disastrous for his 2016 campaign.
Cohen says Trump told him to “push it as long as you can after the election, because if I win, I’ll be president, and if I lose, I won’t care.”
Cohen also dismissed an alternative reason Trump wanted the story buried — that he didn’t want to embarrass his wife Melania — to suggest the hush money scheme was not just related to the 2016 campaign.
“Don’t worry, he’s going, how long do you think I’m going to be on the market, not long,” Cohen recalled Trump asking him about the story when he asked if it would cause problems for his marriage. Cohen adds:
He wasn’t thinking about Melania. It was all because of the campaign.
Key events
Court is in recess for lunch and will resume at 2:00 PM ET.
‘It was all about the campaign’: Cohen says Trump wanted Daniels story buried until after 2016 election.
Hugo Lowell
Trump’s ex-lawyer Michael Cohen tells for prosecutors that Donald Trump knew personally that he needed Stormy Daniels the story was buried because it would have been disastrous for his 2016 campaign.
Cohen says Trump told him to “push it as long as you can after the election, because if I win, I’ll be president, and if I lose, I won’t care.”
Cohen also dismissed an alternative reason Trump wanted the story buried — that he didn’t want to embarrass his wife Melania — to suggest the hush money scheme was not just related to the 2016 campaign.
“Don’t worry, he’s going, how long do you think I’m going to be on the market, not long,” Cohen recalled Trump asking him about the story when he asked if it would cause problems for his marriage. Cohen adds:
He wasn’t thinking about Melania. It was all because of the campaign.
Hugo Lowell
Trump’s ex-lawyer Michael Cohen testified that he gave instant updates to Donald Trump for hush money schemes at every turn to “get credit”.
In doing so, prosecutors are trying to establish that Cohen had a track record of notifying Trump of every small development — to cast doubt on the defense theory that Trump was unaware of the secret money and illegal payout plan.
‘Women are going to hate me’: Cohen says Trump was ‘really angry’ over Stormy Daniels story
Prosecutor Susan Hofinger now shows texts between Michael Cohen and former editor of the National Enquirer Dylan Howard and asked if he had spoken extensively with Stormy Daniels’ attorney Keith Davidson about buying Stormy Daniels‘ rights to life.
After those conversations, Cohen said he spoke with Donald Trump “for it was a matter that concerned him, and that was what I always did, which was to keep him abreast of everything.”
Was this also a serious question at the time? “A very serious question,” Cohen said.
What was his reaction? Cohen said:
He was really mad at me. [He said] I thought you had this under control. I thought you took care of that.
Cohen said he told him, “We did it in 2011, I have no control over what [Daniels] goes out and does.
“Just take care of it, there’s a lot going on,” Cohen said, Trump replied. What did you essentially say? Cohen said:
It was a disaster, a fucking disaster…women are going to hate me.
“He told me to work with David,” Cohen said.
We had to stop this from getting out.
No cameras are allowed in the Manhattan courtroom while the case is pending, but here’s a court sketch of the Michael Cohenthis morning’s testimony.
Cohen can be seen on the witness stand as prosecutor Susan Hoffinger questions him.
Cohen says he told Trump he would “take care” of the Stormy Daniels story
In 2011, when Stormy Daniels story appeared in The Dirty, Michael Cohen take action. Cohen testified:
After receiving the information from Dylan Howard, I immediately went to Mr. Trump’s office, knocked on the door [and said] “Boss, I need to talk to you.”
Cohen continued:
I asked if he knew who she was. He told me it was. I laid out the story that existed on TheDirty.com, they had a relationship that started on a golf outing from 2006, and I told him that one of the things we needed to do was obviously take care of him.
Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger is asking Cohen to recall what Trump said about the alleged meeting with Daniels at the Lake Tahoe golf tournament.
Cohen said Trump has met Daniels “and others there, but she likes Mr. Trump and that women prefer Trump” even over famous athletes.
The prosecution asked: “Did you ask him if he had a meeting with Daniels?” Cohen said yes.
Did he answer you directly? “No, ma’am.” “What did he say, did he say anything in reply to that?” “No, ma’am.”
What did you say about Daniels? Cohen says:
He said she was a beautiful woman.
Cohen says he thought Stormy Daniels story would be ‘disastrous’ for Trump campaign
Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger then showed an Oct. 8 email from the National Enquirer’s Dylan Howard to Michael Cohen, with head American Media Inc David Packer cc’d showing they deleted a Radar story from years ago with the Trump tape.
On the evening of October 8, 2016, Cohen learned this Stormy Daniels was trying to sell his story.
Asked what he thought Daniels’ story would be about the campaign, Cohen said:
Disastrous – that this is terrible for the campaign.
Prosecutor Susan Hofinger is now showing texts from October 8, 2016 between Michael Cohen and Chris Cuomo, ex of CNN, the day after the “Access Hollywood” tape was released.
Cuomo texted Cohen, “You’re going to defend him,” to which Cohen replied, “I am in London” as well as: “I’ve been asked by everyone to do shows since Tuesday.”
At one point, Cuomo responded that it was “too late, he’s dying right now.”
What is Cohen’s understanding of what this means? Cohen responds that he understands that this was a very negative story for the Trump campaign.
Cohen says Trump instructed him to “spin” the release of the Access Hollywood tape
– asks the prosecution Michael Cohen if he had a conversation with Donald Trump and Hope Hicks after the Washington Post email requesting comment about the Access Hollywood tape. Cohen answers in the affirmative.
Once again, prosecutor Susan Hoffinger is showing phone records that support Cohen’s account that he had various phone conversations with Trump.
“What if there was any discussion if you remember with Mr. Trump about the Access Hollywood tape?” Cohen responded:
He wanted me to contact all my contacts in the media. We had to pay attention to that. The spin he wanted to put on it was that it was “dressing room talk”, something Melania had recommended, or at least he told me Melania thought it was, and was using that to gain control over the story and to minimize its impact on him and his campaign.
Steve Bannon forwarded Michael Cohen a copy of an email regarding the “Access Hollywood” tape. The email was from David Farenthold of the Washington Post to Hope Hicks with the subject line “Urgent request for the Washington Post.”
Cohen said he was “seeking comment on the leak of the Access Hollywood tape.” A transcript was attached to this forwarded email. Cohen answered and said, “Please call me.”
Why did he write this email? asked the prosecution. Cohen replied:
I wanted to make sure things were done right to protect Mr. Trump.
He sent another email to Bannon. “It’s all over the place, who’s doing damage control here?” Why did Bannon ask this?
To protect Mr. Trump.
Were you concerned about the impact this tape might have had on the Trump campaign? “Yes.”
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