Visit our website:
http://www.france24.com
Like us on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/FRANCE24.English
Follow us on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/France24_en
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00He once boasted he would take a bullet for Donald Trump, but is now at the centre of
00:04the case against him.
00:06Michael Cohen took to the stand Monday to testify against his former employer, who he
00:11said had complete and intimate knowledge of a scheme to bury uncomfortable stories during
00:17the 2016 presidential campaign.
00:20What I was doing was at the direction and benefit of Mr Trump.
00:25Cohen is the prosecution's star witness in the so-called Hush Money trial, in which
00:29Trump is accused of having secretly paid women he slept with, including adult film star Stormy
00:35Daniels, to buy their silence.
00:38When the story broke out in 2018, Michael Cohen, who carried out the payments, initially
00:43said he acted of his own accord, before eventually pleading guilty to federal charges and admitting
00:49he was following Trump's orders.
00:52Cohen was disbarred and sentenced to three years in prison, something which Trump allies
00:57hope could now affect his credibility as a witness.
01:00This guy is a convicted felon who admitted in his testimony that he secretly recorded
01:06his former employer.
01:07Does any reasonable, sensible person believe anything that Michael Cohen says?
01:13Jurors on Monday were played an audio recording secretly made by Cohen in 2016, in which he
01:19and Trump discussed plans to buy another woman's silence, Karen McDougal, for $150,000.
01:26Most of the 37 felony charges against Trump center around the reimbursement of these fees
01:31to Cohen, which the prosecution says were falsely logged as legal expenses.