Michael Cohen, known as Trump’s right-hand man, admitted to stealing money from Trump’s company in the “hush money” case.
The trial of former US President Donald Trump on charges that he paid Stormy Daniels, the movie actress with whom he had an affair, for “hush money” during the 2016 presidential election continued at the Manhattan Criminal Court in New York.
As the court continued its cross-examination of Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen, known as his right-hand man, an incident occurred that could undermine Cohen’s credibility as a witness.
Under questioning by Trump’s lawyer Todd Blanche, Cohen admitted to stealing money from the Trump Organization. Explaining that he embezzled money by irregularities in a payment to a technology company, Cohen said that he delivered about $ 20,000 of the $ 50,000 debt in cash in a paper bag and hid the rest. Noting that he did this because he received a low annual bonus, Cohen said, “I was angry about the reduction in the bonus, so I felt it was like self-help.” Cohen was asked by Trump’s lawyer Blanche, “So you stole money from the Trump Organization. Didn’t you?” Cohen answered, ‘Yes.’Trump’s lawyer Todd Blanche, on the other hand, asked for the case to be dismissed, claiming that the prosecution had failed to present sufficient evidence and that Cohen was not credible as a witness. Responding to Judge Juan Merchan’s question, “So you want me to rule that Mr. Cohen is not legally credible?” Blanche said, “Yes,” referring to Cohen, “We didn’t just catch him lying, your honor. He came here with a history of lies. He testified under oath in this courtroom and he lied.” The court announced that a decision to dismiss the case will be made later.
