Michael Cohen to testify at Trump fraud trial Tuesday with the former president expected in court
By Kara Scannell, Kristen Holmes and Devan Cole, CNN
(CNN) — Michael Cohen plans to testify Tuesday at the Trump civil fraud trial in New York, Donald Trump’s ex-attorney said, with the former president expected to attend.
“It appears that I will be reunited with my old client @realDonaldTrump when I testify this Tuesday, October 24th at the @NewYorkStateAG civil fraud trial. See you there!” Cohen posted on the social media site Threads.
Trump is expected to attend the trial on Tuesday and Wednesday, according to two sources close to the former president, who said the details were still being finalized.
Cohen was previously scheduled to testify this week but it was delayed after he cited a medical issue. Whenever he does appear, Cohen’s testimony will be the latest in a series of high-profile public clashes between Trump and his onetime “fixer” over the past several years.
A longtime attorney of the former president before he occupied the Oval Office, Cohen had been one of Trump’s closest allies, famously pledging years ago that he would “take a bullet” for his then-boss.
The relationship deteriorated after the start of Trump’s presidency, and broke down fully in public view after Cohen released a recording in which he and Trump can be heard discussing how they would buy the rights to former Playboy model Karen McDougal’s story about an alleged affair she had with Trump years earlier, which Trump denies.
Cohen later provided dramatic testimony to a House committee about Trump’s involvement in the hush-money scheme involving both McDougal and adult-film star Stormy Daniels, who also alleges Trump had an affair with her. (Trump has also denied that affair.)
New York Attorney General Letitia James’ office has said it opened its investigation after Cohen alleged during his congressional testimony that Trump inflated the value of his properties to get better interest rates on loans and insurance.
Cohen is also a central figure in the hush money criminal case brought against Trump by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. Trump was indicted in March on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. The charges relate to how he reimbursed Cohen, who made a $130,000 payment to stop Daniels from going public days before the 2016 election about the alleged affair with Trump. Trump has pleaded not guilty in that case.
Cohen’s 2019 congressional testimony came just before Cohen reported to prison for a three-year sentence after he pleaded guilty to tax crimes, campaign finance violations and lying to Congress in 2017.
In 2020, Cohen penned a dishy memoir in which he apologized for his role in the rise of Trump, whom he describes as “a cheat, a liar, a fraud, a bully, a racist, a predator, a con man” and a person interested in using the presidency exclusively for his personal financial benefit.
Earlier this month, Trump abruptly dropped a lawsuit he had brought against Cohen in April that alleged his former attorney breached his professional obligations as Trump’s confidant and attorney through the publication of his books as well as podcasts and media appearances.
The-CNN-Wire
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