What to know about Trump fixer-turned-foe Michael Cohen’s pivotal testimony in the hush money trial

NEW YORK — The hush money trial of Donald Trump reached a pivotal moment on Monday when Trump’s former loyal lawyer and fixer, Michael Cohen, took the witness stand to testify against his former boss.

As the prosecution’s case enters its final stages, Cohen is giving jurors an insider’s account of hush-money payments at the center of the trial — payments he says were ordered by Trump to prevent damage to his 2016 bid for the White House.

Cohen is the key witness for prosecutors as they try to prove that Trump engaged in a scheme to buy and bury unflattering stories about himself to illegally influence the 2016 election.

Cohen is expected to be on the stand for several days and face intense criticism from Trump’s lawyers, who have portrayed him as a liar trying to take down the presumptive Republican presidential nominee. Trump has denied all allegations in the case.

Here are some takeaways from Cohen’s testimony so far:

Cohen spoke highly of his early days with Trump, telling jurors he was surprised and honored when the former president first offered him a job. Cohen said he and Trump became so close during the 10 years Cohen worked for him that the two spoke in person or by phone several times a day.

Cohen did everything from talking to the media to renegotiating bills on Trump’s behalf, including outstanding invoices from 50 suppliers to Trump’s failed Trump University project. The praise he received from Trump afterward made him feel like he was “on top of the world,” he told the judges.

“All I was thinking about was completing the task and making him happy,” Cohen said, referring to Trump.

Cohen kept Trump’s contact list merged with his on his phone so he could quickly call someone for him. One of Cohen’s phones had more than 30,000 contacts.

He also lied and bullied on Trump’s behalf, he said. Part of his job included reaching out to reporters whose stories upset Trump, asking them to make changes or take them down — and sometimes threatening legal action. When asked if he had done so in a “strong and threatening manner,” Cohen said he had.

But overall, Cohen told the judges, the job was “fantastic.”

“It was a great experience in many ways,” he added. “Those were good times. There were some less than great times.”

Cohen portrayed Trump as a hands-on boss, deeply involved in the details and decisions of his company, the Trump Organization.

Prosecutors have tried to elicit such testimony throughout the trial to support the idea that Trump knew about the $130,000 hush money payment to porn actor Stormy Daniels and subsequent repayment to Cohen. Trump denies Daniels’ claims that they had a sexual encounter in 2006.

Cohen testified that Trump wanted to be kept informed immediately of any developments regarding the tasks he had assigned. Cohen said Trump had an “open-door policy” so executives could meet him in his office without an appointment and keep him informed of developments.

“If he would charge you with something, he would say, ‘Keep me informed,’ ‘Let me know what’s going on,’” Cohen testified. This was especially true ‘if there was something that worried him’.

If Trump “learned about it any other way, it wouldn’t look good to you,” Cohen testified.

Cohen described for jurors the negotiations that led to former Playboy model Karen McDougal being paid $150,000 to suppress a story about an alleged affair with Trump. Trump denies having sex with McDougal.

Cohen testified that he had no personal interest in acquiring the rights to McDougal’s story, telling jurors, “What I did was at the behest and benefit of Mr. Trump.”

Cohen said he immediately went to Trump after the National Enquirer informed him of McDougal’s story. Cohen said Trump told him to “make sure it doesn’t get released.”

Cohen also told jurors about a conversation he said he heard between Trump and National Enquirer publisher David Pecker in which the two discussed how much it would cost to suppress McDougal’s story.

“David said it would cost $150,000 to get the story under control,” he said. Cohen said Trump then told the publisher, “No problem, I’ll take care of it.”

After the National Enquirer spent $150,000 to suppress McDougal’s story about Trump, Cohen testified that the tabloid’s publisher hounded him to get Trump to reimburse him for the costs. He said he met Pecker at his favorite Italian restaurant and that the publisher was angry because he wasn’t being reimbursed.

With Cohen on the stand, jurors again heard the audio recording he secretly made of a September 2016 meeting with Trump in which they discussed the plan to buy McDougal’s silence. In the recording, Trump can be heard saying: “What do we have to pay for this? Fifty one?”

Cohen testified that this was the only time he had ever recorded a conversation with Trump. He said he made the recording so Pecker, the National Enquirer publisher, could hear the conversation and be assured that Trump would pay him back.

Cohen testified that the recording was abruptly cut off because he received an incoming call on his phone, a claim substantiated by cell phone company records shown in court. Cohen said the number in the carrier’s records belonged to a bank official who tried to reach him.

Cohen said the recording was not altered and sounded exactly the same as the day it was recorded. The prosecutors’ questions that elicited this testimony were intended to refute a suggestion previously made by the defense that Cohen may have altered the tape.

Earlier in the trial, Trump’s lawyers pressed a witness about the “gaps” in the handling of the phone after Cohen made the recording, along with the abrupt cut at the end of the tape.

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Associated Press reporter Jake Offenhartz in New York contributed. Whitehurst and Richer reported from Washington.