Donald Trump’s former fixer Michael Cohen said he testified for a second and final time before a New York grand jury investigating the former president for potential crimes tied to hush-money payments made to a porn star during the 2016 campaign.
(Bloomberg) — Donald Trump’s former fixer Michael Cohen said he testified for a second and final time before a New York grand jury investigating the former president for potential crimes tied to hush-money payments made to a porn star during the 2016 campaign.
Following his appearance before the grand jury Wednesday, which lasted at least two hours, Cohen told reporters he looked forward to testifying at trial if prosecutors decide to charge Trump. Cohen made his first appearance before the panel on Monday.
Cohen would be a crucial witness for prosecutors. He pleaded guilty to federal fraud and campaign finance charges in 2018, admitting that he arranged illegal hush-money payments to adult film actress Stormy Daniels. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is probing whether Trump and his company falsified records to conceal payments to Daniels to keep her from going public about an alleged sexual encounter with Trump.
Cohen said he paid Daniels $130,000 and was reimbursed. He showed a congressional committee a check for the amount signed by Trump. He said he acted at the direction of Trump.
Asked if he felt vindicated going before the grand jury, Cohen replied: “This isn’t a question of vindication.”
“At the end of the day, Donald Trump needs to be held accountable for his dirty deeds, if in fact, that’s the way the facts play out. Plain and simple,” Cohen said. “This is about holding accountability, truth to power and everything in between.”
Lanny Davis, Cohen’s lawyer, said they wouldn’t comment on what questions, if any, the jurors asked him at the end of his session. “When I met Michael, he had decided to tell the truth and face the consequences,” Davis said. “He could have decided otherwise the way some people have and been pardoned. Instead, he told the truth and did his time and he took responsibility, and he’s still telling the truth.”
Trump has denied any wrongdoing and called Bragg’s investigation “a political witch hunt.”
In a post on his social website Truth Social, Trump said: “I never had an affair with Stormy Daniels, nor would I have wanted to have an affair with Stormy Daniels.”
Even as he runs for president in the 2024 race, Trump faces legal threats on several fronts. Besides Bragg’s investigation, he is contending with a Georgia criminal probe into his efforts to overturn the state’s 2020 election results and a US Justice Department inquiry into his handling of classified documents.
Daniels’s lawyer Clark Brewster issued a statement on Twitter Wednesday, saying that he and his client met with Manhattan DA Bragg about the Trump investigation.
“At the request of the Manhattan DA’s office Stormy Daniels and I met with prosecutors today. Stormy responded to questions and has agreed to make herself available as a witness, or further inquiry if needed,” Brewster said.
(Updates with Cohen comment)
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