By JAKE OFFENHARTZ and JENNIFER PELTZ (Associated Press)
NEW YORK (AP) — Five years after publicly turning on Donald Trump, his former fixer Michael Cohen confronted off with him Tuesday on the civil fraud trial that threatens to upend the ex-president’s actual property empire.
Cohen didn’t take a look at Trump whereas strolling previous him to testify as a key witness in opposition to his former boss.
Trump, the previous president and Republican 2024 front-runner, voluntarily got here to courtroom for the extremely anticipated testimony, attending the Manhattan trial for a sixth day this month. Cohen, whose look was delayed from final week by an unspecified well being subject, has mentioned it’s his first time seeing Trump in 5 years.
“This is not about Donald Trump vs. Michael Cohen or Michael Cohen vs. Donald Trump,” Cohen mentioned as he arrived on the courthouse. “This is about accountability, plain and simple.”
Trump, heading into courtroom, famous that Cohen served jail time after pleading responsible to tax evasion, mendacity to Congress and marketing campaign finance violations.
“He’s a proven liar,” mentioned Trump, who is predicted to testify later within the trial.
After Cohen took the stand and started answering questions on his profession and prison convictions, Trump at instances whispered to his legal professionals. At different factors, the previous president hunched ahead in his seat, watching intently, or leaned again with crossed arms.
The trial stems from New York Attorney General Letitia James’ lawsuit alleging that Trump and high executives at his firm, the Trump Organization, conspired to pad his internet price by billions of {dollars} on monetary statements. They had been offered to banks, insurers and others to make offers and safe loans.
Judge Arthur Engoron already has dominated that Trump and his firm dedicated fraud, however the trial includes remaining claims of conspiracy, insurance coverage fraud and falsifying enterprise data.
Trump denies any wrongdoing. He says his belongings had been truly undervalued, and he maintains that disclaimers on his monetary statements primarily informed recipients to examine the numbers out for themselves.
He has derided the case as a “sham,” a “scam” and “a continuation of the single greatest witch hunt of all time.” The ex-president argues that the case is a part of an effort by James and different Democrats to tug down his marketing campaign.
Cohen spent a decade as Trump’s fiercely loyal private lawyer earlier than famously breaking with him in 2018 amid a federal investigation that despatched Cohen to federal jail. He can also be a significant prosecution witness in Trump’s separate Manhattan hush-money prison case, which is scheduled to go to trial subsequent spring.
James has credited Cohen because the impetus for her civil investigation, which led to the fraud lawsuit being determined on the trial. She cited Cohen’s testimony to Congress in 2019 that Trump had a historical past of misrepresenting the worth of belongings to realize favorable mortgage phrases and tax advantages.
Cohen gave copies of three of Trump’s monetary statements to the House Committee on Oversight and Reform. Cohen mentioned Trump gave the statements to Deutsche Bank to inquire a couple of mortgage to purchase the NFL’s Buffalo Bills and to Forbes journal to substantiate his declare to a spot on its listing of the world’s wealthiest folks.
Earlier this month, Trump dropped a $500 million lawsuit that accused Cohen of “spreading falsehoods,” inflicting “vast reputational harm” and breaking a confidentiality settlement for speaking publicly in regards to the hush-money funds. A Trump spokesperson mentioned the previous president was solely pausing the lawsuit, whereas campaigning and combating 4 prison instances, and would refile later.
Cohen took the stand after William Kelly, the legal professional for Trump’s longtime former accounting agency, Mazars USA. The agency reduce ties with Trump final yr after James’ workplace raised questions in regards to the reliability of his monetary statements.
Kelly mentioned that the agency’s choice was primarily based on the legal professional normal’s lawsuit and on Mazars’ personal investigation, which urged that the Trump Organization’s chief monetary officer, Allen Weisselberg, had offered “compromised” monetary statements. Mazars mentioned it hadn’t discovered any “material discrepancies” within the statements as an entire, nevertheless.
Defense lawyer Jesus M. Suarez urged that the accounting agency deserted its longtime purchasers to get within the legal professional normal’s good graces and head off potential authorized issues for the agency. But Kelly insisted “there was no currying favor.”
“It was being a good corporate citizen and explaining what we do,” he mentioned.
Trump’s attorneys had sought to delay the trial on Tuesday, arguing {that a} rash of coronavirus instances in James’ workplace had put the previous president’s well being in danger.
Trump lawyer Christopher Kise mentioned it was “frankly irresponsible” to not postpone the continuing. Another protection legal professional, Alina Habba, objected to sharing a “contaminated” microphone with members of the legal professional normal’s workplace.
James’ workplace, in an announcement, mentioned it had taken all steps to inform the related events and had adopted well being steerage, including that protection legal professionals might put on masks if involved. Trump and the attorneys on the protection desk with him didn’t don masks.
Associated Press author Michael R. Sisak contributed.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”