MANHATTAN (CN) — Michael Cohen’s cross-examination at Donald Trump’s criminal trial started about as fiery as one could expect.
Barely a minute into questioning, Trump’s attorney Todd Blanche asked Cohen, “On April 23... you went on TikTok and called me a crying little shit, didn’t you?”
“Sounds like something I would say,” Cohen replied bluntly, over prosecutors' objections.
Cohen took the stand on Tuesday for his second straight day of testimony in Trump’s Manhattan hush-money trial, in which the former president is accused of falsifying business records to cover up an illicit 2016 election scheme.
Blanche started cross-examining Cohen Tuesday afternoon, forcing Cohen to answer for inflammatory comments on social media. Defense lawyers focused in particular on Cohen’s recent foray into TikTok, where he airs grievances about his former boss and sometimes discusses this very trial.
“You referred to President Trump as a dictator douche bag, correct?” Blanche asked.
“Sounds like something I said,” Cohen replied again.
Cohen also conceded that he recalled saying on TikTok that he believes Trump belongs “in a cage, like a fucking animal.” Blanche asked about other insults Cohen supposedly hurled in Trump's direction, including “boorish cartoon misogynist” and “Cheeto-dusted cartoon villain.”
Cohen denied none of them.
Blanche jumped from topic to topic and sometimes appeared frustrated as Cohen forced follow-up questions and corrected trifling details. At one point, Blanche asked if Cohen was serving his jail sentence at his apartment in 2020.
“Condo,” Cohen clarified.
Blanche asked Cohen about his motivations during a line of questioning aimed at demonstrating that Cohen, since his falling out with Trump, has been clout-chasing off the ex-president's name.
Cohen wouldn't agree that he’s motivated by fame or publicity, but he readily admitted he makes money talking about Trump as a media figure — and that he'd like to see him get convicted.
Just as he did during direct examination, Cohen acknowledged on cross that he'd once been fiercely loyal to Trump as his longtime personal attorney and fixer.
“At that time, I was knee-deep into the cult of Donald Trump,” Cohen said.
Earlier on Tuesday, prosecutors took Cohen line-by-line asking him to confirm that Donald Trump falsified each and every business record involved in the hush-money repayment scheme for which Trump is on trial.
Trump is accused of misrepresenting payments to Cohen by tagging checks and invoices as standard legal fees when in fact the money was to pay back the attorney after he fronted a $130,000 payment to buy the silence of adult film star Stormy Daniels.
Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger asked Cohen if each check he received from Trump was a falsified record.
“Yes ma’am,” Cohen replied every time.
Cohen said he was instructed by Trump Organization executives Allen Weisselberg and Jeff McConney to submit phony invoices to receive his monthly repayment checks.
Cohen began his emails each month: “Pursuant to the retainer agreement, kindly remit payment for services rendered for the month…”
But there was no retainer agreement, Cohen testified, and he wasn’t providing Trump legal services that would justify the money he was receiving.
Prosecutors portray the Daniels payment as part of a broader effort by Trump to illegally suppress coverage of his salacious behavior to benefit his 2016 presidential campaign, and Cohen's testimony provided an opportunity to support the claim.
Asked the reason for paying Daniels, he said it was "to ensure that the story would not come out, would not affect Mr. Trump’s chances of becoming president of the United States.”
Daniels testified last week that she had sex with Trump in 2006, while Trump was married. But it wasn’t until 2016 that she was paid to keep quiet about the supposed encounter. Hoffinger asked Cohen if he would have paid the money to Daniels if Trump wasn’t running for president.
“No ma’am,” Cohen replied, adding that he did so at the direction and on the behalf of Trump.
Once Trump became president, Cohen’s loyalty continued, despite his no longer being on Trump’s official payroll. Cohen testified that he continued to lie for Trump “out of loyalty and in order to protect him.”
That included making false statements to Congress about the Trump Tower Moscow project, Cohen said. He admitted to that lie in his 2018 guilty plea.
Prosecutors continued to showcase that Cohen’s loyalty to Trump started to crumble only after Cohen’s home was raided by the FBI in 2018. Cohen became angry and scared when his life was “turned upside down” by the event, he testified.
Shortly after the raid, Cohen had his last direct phone call with Trump, who ultimately left him high and dry, Cohen said.
“I received a phone call from President Trump in response to me leaving a message for him to call me," he said. "He said to me, ‘Don’t worry. I am the president of the United States. There is nothing here. Everything is going to be okay. Stay tough.'”
“Have you spoken directly with Mr. Trump since that time?” Hoffinger asked.
“No, ma’am,” Cohen replied.
Trump rarely looked at Cohen throughout the day's testimony, opting to keep his eyes closed as he slouched at the defense table. A small Republican posse joined Trump in court, including former 2024 presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy and House Speaker Mike Johnson.
Trump is barred from speaking about Cohen for the remainder of the trial, thanks to a gag order Merchan imposed to protect witnesses and others involved in the case. A state appellate court Tuesday morning upheld Merchan’s order after Trump questioned its constitutionality — one of several failed bids to delay the proceedings.
“Justice Merchan properly determined that petitioner’s public statements posed a significant threat to the integrity of the testimony of witnesses and potential witnesses in this case as well,” the judicial panel wrote in their Tuesday ruling.
With trial dark on Wednesdays, Cohen will return to the witness stand on Thursday to resume his cross-examination.
Read daily transcripts of the Trump hush-money criminal trial here. Note there is a delay of several days before new transcripts are posted.
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