Michael Cohen Says He Lied for Trump … and That’s Not the Worst of It
Donald Trump’s former fixer Michael Cohen testified Monday that he regularly bullied and harassed people who posed a threat to his boss’s ambitions—and his efforts were all rewarded.
While on the stand in Trump’s hush-money trial, Cohen admitted that completing “the task” was the only thing that mattered while working for Trump, specifying that lying for him “was needed” and that bullying Trump’s opposition was also sometimes necessary “in order to accomplish the task.”
“The only thing that was on my mind was to accomplish the task to make him happy,” Cohen said, adding that he was rewarded for the aggressive behavior by being given more power in Trump’s organization, including through job titles and seats.
Cohen described Trump as a “micromanager” who was aware of his every move and said that the pair spoke “every single day, and multiple times a day.” Other times, Cohen would communicate with Trump via one of his other close confidants, including his former assistant Rhona Graff, Trump Organization employee turned director of Oval Office Operations Keith Schiller, Trump’s children, or Hope Hicks.
Those admissions are not good for Trump’s legal team, who have attempted to frame the former president as an individual completely unaware of the behind-the-scenes actions intended to clean up his public profile ahead of the 2016 presidential election.
Earlier this month, Hicks testified under subpoena that Trump understood it was prudent to bury the hush-money scandal before the election—even after Trump claimed he had no knowledge of the hush-money payments.
“Mr. Trump’s opinion was that it was better to be dealing with it now and it would’ve been bad to have that story come out before the election,” Hicks said.
Trump is accused of using Cohen to sweep an affair with porn star Stormy Daniels under the rug ahead of the 2016 presidential election. The Republican presidential nominee faces 34 felony charges in this case for allegedly falsifying business records with the intent to further an underlying crime. Trump has pleaded not guilty on all counts.