Michael Cohen, Donald Trump’s former lawyer, has admitted to stealing $30,000 from the Trump Organization after overestimating the amount he needed to be reimbursed for sending funds to Red Finch, a poll-rigging tech business.
Cohen was once a Trump supporter who has now become one of his fiercest critics. Trump’s defense team claims he turned against the former US president after being rejected a White House position.
On Monday, May 20, Cohen said that he gave the CEO of the company $20,000 in cash in a brown paper bag in exchange for services that included rigging 2016 election polls in Donald Trump’s favor.
But when Trump’s chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg asked him if he needed $50,000 for this in a mid-2017 meeting, Cohen agreed and pocketed the difference, he claimed.
“You did steal from the Trump Organization based on the expected reimbursement from Red Finch, correct?” Trump lawyer Todd Blanche, his voice rising to a high pitch, asked Cohen.
“Yes, sir,” Cohen calmly replied.
Trump broke away from his eyes-closed position during this exchange and popped a mint before appearing to pay close attention to Cohen’s testimony.
“Have you paid back the Trump Organization for the money you stole from them?” Blanche asked later.
“No, sir,” Cohen responded.
In one of the final questions he was asked during cross-examination, Michael Cohen answered “no” when asked whether a conviction would benefit him financially.
The opposite is actually true, Cohen claimed, saying that an acquittal would give him more material to discuss on his podcast and other media appearances.
“It’s better if he’s not [convicted] because it gives me more to talk about in the future,” he testified.
Former President Donald Trump is in the fifth week of a trial in which he faces 34 felony counts of first-degree falsifying business documents.
To secure a conviction, prosecutors must demonstrate that Trump not only falsified business records related to payments made to adult film star Stormy Daniels, but also did so illegally conceal information from voters that could have harmed his 2016 presidential campaign — a crime that elevates these charges from a misdemeanor to a felony.