Donald Trump’s red-tie loyalists were in the courtroom to lend their support to the former president as his former lawyer-turned-nemesis gave testimony.
What they got was a cautionary tale about a man who once wore the red tie and went on to become a vital part of the Trump machine before serving 13 months in prison for tax evasion, lying and other offenses.
“At the time, I was deep into the cult of Donald Trump,” Michael Cohen, 57, said during his cross-examination Tuesday afternoon, explaining how he once spoke warmly about the man across from him in the courtroom. “That’s how I felt.”
He lost his moral compass, as he put it, in the relentless pursuit of the boss’s approval.
These days, he’s more likely to view his former employer as a “Cheeto-smeared cartoon villain” or as a “dictator douchebag” who should be locked up, he admitted.
In front of him, Trump leaned back in his chair, eyes closed, as if to signal sleep or contempt, while his surrogates in the two rows played with their phones.
Donald Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen offered a cautionary tale for those trying to get close to the former president as he returned to court Tuesday to continue testifying
Vice presidential candidates Doug Burgum and Vivek Ramaswamy sat next to Republican Reps. Byron Donalds and Cory Mills.
It was another extraordinary day in the extraordinary criminal trial of a former president who could return to power in November. The country’s politics degenerated into a courtroom drama, complete with Cohen’s morality tale.
With Trump locked up in court defending himself on 34 counts of falsifying business documents and barred from attacking witnesses or court officials, he moved the campaign to the 15th floor of the dilapidated courthouse.
His four surrogates showed up, dressed identically in the Trump uniform: a navy blue suit, white shirt and red tie.
They ducked out early in the hearing for a news conference in a park across the street, where they attacked the court, the judge and the case.
“Michael Cohen has no credibility, no integrity,” Mills said. “This is weaponizing against our president.”
In doing so, he uttered words that Trump is not allowed to say through a silence order, demonstrating the power the former president has over his party.
Cohen is the prosecution’s star witness. In eight hours of testimony, he described how he covered for his boss and paid porn star Stormy Daniels for her silence before being reimbursed.
His wife watched as he said he had written a deliberately misleading denial. It said he was involved in a private transaction in which he used his own money to give Daniels $130,000, and that neither the Trump Organization nor the Trump Campaign were involved in the deal.
‘Just because something isn’t true doesn’t mean it can’t harm you. I will always protect Mr. Trump,” it concluded.
North Dakota Governor and former US presidential candidate Doug Burgum speaks during a press conference with businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, US Representative (R-FL) Cory Mills and US Representative Byron Donalds (R-FL), after attending the trial
Trump leaned back in his chair, eyes closed for much of Cohen’s testimony, sleeping or showing deep contempt for his once loyal lawyer and fixer
Trump denies 34 charges of falsifying company records to hide $130,000 hush-hush payment
Trump and Cohen in happier times, when Cohen would wear the red tie. In his testimony, Cohen said he was once “deep in the cult of Trump” before putting his family above his employer. They are seen here during a visit to New Hampshire in 2011
On the stand, he admitted that the statement showed he had been reimbursed by Trump.
In fact, he said, his repayment was hidden in 12 monthly payments as an “advance payment for legal services.”
That description was fraudulent, but he continued to claim for months that he was acting alone and simply wanted to protect his boss before setting the record straight.
His evidence was delivered without the bombast and bullying that once defined his interactions with journalists, lawyers and politicians when he was Trump’s chief troubleshooter.
Instead, he quietly joined the dots between invoices, checks and the White House, helping the prosecution lead the jury all the way to Trump as the alleged architect of the cover-up.
All the time he said he just wanted to get his boss’s approval.
And he described how he ultimately decided to attack his employer by pleading guilty to federal charges in 2018.
“Based on the conversation I had with my family, I made the decision that I would no longer lie for President Trump,” he said.
There was a brief commotion in the court as Trump’s supporters returned from their press conference.
Judge Juan Merchan shifted his attention from witness Cohen and cast an icy stare at the Republican lawmakers as they returned to the courtroom after their press appearance
Judge Juan Merchan looked up and gave a decidedly icy stare, as if to protest any politics in his courtroom.
It was the largest entourage to join Trump so far. Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives Mike Johnson watched the proceedings in an adjacent courtroom before stepping outside to tell reporters that the justice system was “corrupt.”
It was a vivid reminder of how Trump upended political norms and pitted the Republican Party against the legal and judicial systems.
Still, the day came with something of a morality tale: TThe story of an earlier generation of loyalists, who rose to the elbow of power before his life fell apart, spending thirteen months in prison.
‘I regret doing things for him that I shouldn’t have done: lying, bullying people to achieve a goal. I have no regrets working with the Trump Organization,” said Cohen, who worked for Trump for more than a decade.
“Like I said before, there were some very interesting, great times. But in order to maintain loyalty and do the things he asked me to do, I violated my moral compass and suffered the punishment, just like my family.”
Team Trump was unimpressed, claiming its evidence amounted to a citizen of nothing.
“No one can tell you what exactly Trump is being prosecuted for,” Ramaswamy posted after two hours in the courtroom, accusing the prosecutor of trying to bully the jury into submission. “After Cohen’s testimony this morning, it is now *LESS* clearer than ever.”
Trump, flanked by his lawyer Todd Blanche, spoke to the media at the end of the proceedings
Cohen’s testimony was a cautionary tale for Trump’s supporters in court
Trump supporters outside the Manhattan courthouse on Thursday
The defense had its moment after lunch when it had the opportunity to cross-examine Cohen.
Instead of diving into his testimony and refuting it point by point, attorney Todd Blanche went on the attack, attempting to discredit the witness because of his criminal record and his apparent obsession with Trump.
“On April 23rd, after the trial started, you went on TikTok and called me a crying little sh*t, didn’t you,” he asked him
Cohen nodded, “Sounds like something I would say.”
The public gallery in the overflow room erupted in laughter as Cohen’s various insults and epithets were read out.
But at the same time, Blanche walked him through the warm words he once said about Trump: how the Trumps were his surrogate family and that he would have taken a bullet for his boss.
“I said that,” Cohen said.
It was another reminder of how Cohen linked his star to Trump’s and climbed to the inner sanctum on the 26th floor of Trump Tower, only to end up in a detention center in Otisville, NY.