(ConservativeInsider.org) – On May 20, Michael Cohen admitted that he stole money from the Trump Organization during the already-dramatic hush money trial against former President Donald Trump in New York.
Attorneys in the case called former Trump attorney Cohen to the stand, questioning him about payments made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels in 2016. According to the prosecution, Cohen paid Daniels $130,000 on Trump’s orders in 2016 to secure her silence surrounding an alleged affair between herself and Trump.
Cohen was questioned by Trump’s defense attorney, Todd Blanche, for over two hours on Monday morning. During that line of questioning, Blanche asked Cohen about a payment dispute with a technology company called Red Finch over a poll run by CNBC over the most famous businesspeople of the last 100 years. According to Cohen, Trump hired the company to help make Trump appear at the top. However, when Trump came in ninth place on the poll, he did not want to pay the company the full amount.
While under oath, Cohen was asked if he paid Red Finch $50,000 as records indicated. Cohen stated that he only paid the company $20,000, to which Blanche asked if that meant Cohen stole the remaining $30,000. Cohen replied in the affirmative.
Under cross examination, prosecutor Susan Hoffinger asked Cohen why he stole the money from the Trump Organization, to which Cohen replied it was due to anger that his annual bonus in 2016 had been reduced from previous years, despite doing what he felt was good work for Trump that year. Cohen described his illicit actions as “almost like self-help.”
Many have suggested that Cohen’s admission of theft has irrevocably damaged his credibility as a witness, including Zach Smith, a senior legal fellow at the Heritage Foundation. Smith questioned whether the prosecution knew of Cohen’s theft before putting him on the stand before stating they were likely aware of his actions and chose to make him a witness in the case regardless.
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