Former President Donald Trump has called New York state court Judge Juan Merchan “highly conflicted” and politically biased ahead of the testimony of Michael Cohen in the case against Trump. Trump has repeatedly accused Merchan of being biased against him, citing his daughter’s work as a political consultant for Democratic politicians.
The case focuses on Cohen paying former adult film actress Stormy Daniels $130,000 to allegedly quiet her claims of an alleged extramarital affair with Trump in 2006, which Trump has denied. Prosecutors allege that the Trump Organization reimbursed Cohen and fraudulently logged the payments as legal expenses.
Cohen took the stand on Monday and detailed to the court that he spent his own funds to pay Daniels $130,000 in order to execute a non-disclosure agreement and obtain rights to her claims of the affair. In October 2016, according to Cohen’s testimony, he told Trump that Daniels must be paid in order to quiet her claims ahead of Election Day the following month. He testified that he spoke with Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg about how to fund the payment, with Weisselberg saying he was not in a position to initially foot the bill.
Cohen said he did not discuss the matter with his wife and decided to gather funds through a home equity line of credit instead of drawing the money from his personal account.
Cohen’s testimony also included detailing that he secretly recorded Trump in 2016 regarding another payment to former Playboy model Karen McDougal. McDougal also claimed having an affair with Trump in 2006, which the 45th president has repeatedly denied. Former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker purchased exclusive rights to her story to bury the claims ahead of the 2016 election, according to trial testimony.
Cohen said he secretly recorded Trump in September of 2016 to share with Pecker as proof Trump planned to reimburse Pecker for purchasing the potentially damaging story, according to the testimony. Cohen added that in addition to easing Pecker’s mind that he would be repaid, he also made the recording to keep Pecker “loyal” to Trump.
Cohen said Trump was unaware he was being recorded at the time. Cohen is anticipated to return to the stand on Tuesday morning.
