Michael D. Cohen, the former personal lawyer for Donald J. Trump and the star witness in his criminal trial, ended four days of bruising, intense and revealing testimony on Monday as the case against Mr. Trump neared an end.
Both the prosecution and the defense appeared to score points during his testimony. Prosecutors had Mr. Cohen confirm essential evidence and events involving Mr. Trump, notably that he sought to suppress information damaging to the presidential campaign of his then boss. Mr. Trump’s lawyers repeatedly portrayed Mr. Cohen as a serial liar and a thief bent on taking him down in the first criminal trial of a former president.
Here are the key moments and testimony from Mr. Cohen on the stand:
‘Just take care of it.’
On his first day on the stand, Mr. Cohen told jurors that Mr. Trump was involved in the hush-money deal to buy the silence of Stormy Daniels, the adult film actress who considered going public before the 2016 election with her account of a sexual encounter with Mr. Trump, a story that Mr. Trump denies.
Mr. Cohen testified that before the election, Mr. Trump directed him to pay off Mr. Daniels, who received $130,000 from Mr. Cohen, and also approved a reimbursement plan for Mr. Cohen. Mr. Trump, he testified, conveyed a general instruction to him: “Just take care of it.”
The hush-money deal to Ms. Daniels and Mr. Trump’s reimbursement to Mr. Cohen are at the heart of the 34 felony charges of falsifying business records against Mr. Trump. There is one count for each record involved in the reimbursement of Mr. Cohen: 11 checks, 11 invoices and 12 entries in the former president’s ledger.
Key meetings between Cohen and Trump
Under questioning from prosecutors, Mr. Cohen gave his account of two crucial meetings with Mr. Trump about the records. The first was in January 2017, where he said Mr. Trump approved of a plan to falsify them. The second occurred the following month, in the Oval Office, where Mr. Trump again confirmed his knowledge of the plan, and told Mr. Cohen that he would soon start receiving checks.
Other witnesses, including Madeleine Westerhout, the former director of Oval Office operations under Mr. Trump, testified about the White House meeting between them.
There was no legal retainer, Cohen testified
The repayments to Mr. Cohen in 2017 were recorded as having been for legal expenses by the Trump Organization, which cited a legal retainer with Mr. Cohen. But prosecutors have said there was no such retainer, and Mr. Cohen confirmed there had not been one.
Mr. Cohen received $420,000 in repayments in 2017 — to cover the deal to Ms. Daniels, a bonus, a reimbursement for his payment to a tech company on Mr. Trump’s behalf, and additional cash for tax considerations.
On Monday, a prosecutor, Susan Hoffinger, asked Mr. Cohen to confirm that the financial documents connected to the repayment were false. Mr. Cohen agreed.
A 14-year-old prankster
During cross-examination, a lawyer for Mr. Trump, Todd Blanche, offered an alternative theory for a 2016 conversation that Mr. Cohen testified he had with the former president about Ms. Daniels’s deal. Mr. Blanche said that Mr. Cohen had been dealing with a 14-year-old prankster around that time who was making harassing phone calls.
Mr. Blanche told Mr. Cohen that the purpose of that 2016 conversation was to discuss the prankster with Keith Schiller, Mr. Trump’s bodyguard.
“That was a lie,” Mr. Blanche shouted. “You can admit.”
Mr. Cohen said that he was telling the truth, and that he had reached Mr. Trump on Mr. Schiller’s phone.
On Monday, prosecutors introduced as evidence a photo showing Mr. Trump with Mr. Schiller about the same time as the call took place.
Mr. Cohen is seeking revenge, the defense team said
It was Mr. Cohen’s dream to work for Mr. Trump. But on the stand, Mr. Cohen underscored just how much his admiration and loyalty had faded.
“Do you want President Trump to get convicted in this case?” Mr. Blanche asked.
“Sure,” Mr. Cohen replied.
Mr. Blanche pressed Mr. Cohen again later during his cross-examination, suggesting that his drive for revenge was a major motivation for testifying against Mr. Trump in the trial.
Mr. Cohen admitted that his association with Mr. Trump had lifted his profile, but said that as far as his ability to generate content about Mr. Trump was concerned, he thought an acquittal would actually be “better” for him than a guilty verdict.
“It gives me more to talk about in the future,” Mr. Cohen said.
Mr. Cohen admitted he stole money from the Trump Organization
Of the $420,000 Mr. Cohen received in 2017, $50,000 of it was supposed to be paid to a tech company in an unrelated matter. But when pressed on Monday by Mr. Blanche, Mr. Cohen acknowledged that he had kept $30,000 of the money earmarked for the company.
“You stole from the Trump Organization, is that right?” Mr. Blanche asked.
“Yes, sir,” Mr. Cohen replied.
