Donald Trump's Ex-Lawyer Stole From Trump Organization, Lied About Stormy Daniels Hush Money Payment

Donald Trump's former lawyer, Michael Cohen, has finally admitted the truth: that he stole money from the Trump organization and lied about Stormy Daniels' hush money payment in 2018.

Trump's current lead defense attorney, Todd Blanche, has also insisted the payment was the work of Cohen and former Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg.

Once Cohen finishes his testimony, the Republican presidential hopeful will decide whether he is testifying in his own defense.

Cohen, Trump's former lawyer, testified that he lied about the Stormy Daniels hush money payment. Cohen's payment of $130,000 to the adult film star has been the crux of a criminal case against Trump, and now he's revealing the truth.

At the Monday court sitting, Coben admitted that he knew the payment was against federal campaign contributions, which he previously denied in a 2018 letter.

Cohen's testimony implies that Trump must also have been aware, to some extent, that the payment violated the Federal Election Campaign Act. The testimony is a crucial moment in the fraud criminal trial, which is the first criminal trial of any former US president.

Cohen's testimony is the closest prosecutors have come to connecting Trump with the charges of falsifying business records with an intent to commit a crime.

According to The Guardian, during the re-direct examination by prosecutor Susan Hoffinger, Cohen was asked if his 2018 letter to the Federal Elections Commission was a "truthful sentence," and he said, "No, ma'am."

The letter Cohen wrote in 2018 stated that the payment of $130,000 was made in his personal capacity and was not a campaign expense.

Prosecutors are now trying to prove that Trump authorized the payments as hush money and not "legal expenses" as were stated in the Trump Organization's records.

The re-examination by prosecutors came after Trump's lead defense, Todd Blanche, finished cross-examining Cohen.

During Blanche's cross-examination, he argued that Cohen created an illicit repayment plan with former Trump Organization chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg and that Trump himself was completely unaware.

Blanche also suggested that it was all Cohen's idea to "gross up" the repayment, which prosecutors claim was approved by Trump. He argued that Cohen's ultimate aim was to increase his payment from the Trump organization for 2016 because he got a lower bonus than in 2015.

According to Blanche's idea of the scheme, Cohen billed Trump's organization for $50,000, which was meant to be payment for RedFinch, an IT company.

However, Cohen said on the stand that he actually only paid $20,000 to RedFinch, which means he pocketed $30,000. When Blanche asked directly if he "stole from the Trump Organization," Cohen responded, "Yes, sir."

Cohen is a crucial witness for the prosecution in this case, as he directly ties Trump to the hush money payment.

However, he's not a credible witness for the prosecution because the defense has strong grounds to question his honesty on the stand and motivation for testifying against Trump.

Last week, Blanche suggested that Cohen's motivation to lie was that he wanted to see Trump in jail after he abandoned him when Cohen was charged with felony tax evasion and false statement charges about six years ago.

From the start, Cohen had lied about not wanting a White House job and not wanting a pardon when he had asked lawyers to check for the possibility.

Last week, when Trump's former lawyer testified, he claimed that Melania Trump was the brain behind her husband's "Locker Room" excuse.

"We needed to put a spin on this," Cohen told the jury about the Access Hollywood tape, per Yahoo. "That this is locker room talk, something that Melania had recommended—that's what Melania had thought it was—and use that in order to get control over the story and to minimize its impact on him and his campaign."

As part of his testimony, Cohen also corroborated the claims of former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker about working for Trump to "catch and kill" negative stories about him.

The former Trump special counsel also revealed that he indeed wired the sum of $130,000 as a hush payment to Stormy Daniels, the former adult star who is central to the ongoing hush money trial.

After Cohen finishes his testimony, the prosecution is expected to rest its case against the billionaire mogul.

The former President will then decide whether to testify in his defense. Legal experts have insisted that this will be a crucial mistake, as Trump has a track record of incriminating himself.

The presiding judge on the case, Juan Merchan, also needs to decide whether to issue instructions to the jury and what form they would take.

Thus, even if Trump doesn't take the stand, closing arguments from the prosecution and defense aren't expected until Tuesday, May 28.