Michael Cohen, who served for years as an attorney and fixer for failed and multiply-indicted former president Donald Trump, testified today in a New York courtroom against his ex-boss, and what he had to say clearly triggered the Donald, according to reporters who were in the court.
According to Politico, Cohen laid out how he helped Trump and top executives at the Trump Organization inflate the value of properties owned by the disgraced former head of state.
“I was tasked by Mr. Trump to increase the total assets based upon a number that he arbitrarily elected,” Cohen said, “and my responsibility, along with [former Trump Organization CFO] Allen Weisselberg, predominantly, was to reverse engineer the various different asset classes, increase those assets in order to achieve the number that Mr. Trump had tasked us.”
Trump’s reaction was palpable. Again, quoting Erica Orden of Politico:
As Cohen delivered that testimony, Trump, who was seated at the defense table, grew red in the face and shook his head. Trump didn’t look at Cohen as he entered the courtroom, but as Cohen spoke on the witness stand, Trump trained his eyes on him and either crossed his arms or leaned forward over the defense table.
Jose Pagliery of The Daily Beast was also in the courtroom and shared his observations of how Trump’s attorneys had to try and keep their client from an outburst.
As Cohen recalls meeting with @KathyClarkeNYC and showing her a financial document purporting to represent Trump's vast wealth, Trump keeps turning to his lawyers and grumbling while shaking his head.
— Jose Pagliery (@Jose_Pagliery) October 24, 2023
As Cohen reminisces about the Trump Org culture of deceit, Trump is fussing at the defense table.
His attorneys keep patting him on the arm to calm down his (muted) outbursts.
He's not loud, just annoyed.
— Jose Pagliery (@Jose_Pagliery) October 24, 2023
This fraud trial is the one that worries Donald Trump the most, according to experts. Why? Because it shows that almost everything Trump has acquired was obtained through fraud, lies, and manipulation. He’s not rich. He’s not successful. And he’s certainly not a good person. He’s just a wannabe mafia don who got caught in his lies and cannot stand the thought that the world is finding out what a crook he is.
Michael Cohen knows all about Trump’s financial crimes, and that infuriates Donnie to the nth degree.
