Oct. 24 (UPI) — Michael Cohen, the disgraced former lawyer for ex-President Donald Trump, will testify in a New York courtroom Tuesday in the $250 million civil fraud case in which Trump was found guilty in September of grossly exaggerating the value of his real estate.
Cohen is a key witness in the penalty phase of the trial, which will determine the amount of damages Trump will pay. Judge Arthur Engoron has issued a summary ruling that found Trump’s real estate business enriched itself by inflating the value of his New York properties, including his hotels and golf clubs.
Trump, who continues to deny he did anything wrong, is expected to be present at the proceeding to hear Cohen’s testimony in what could be the first time the former partners have crossed paths in at least five years.
“It appears that I will be reunited with my old client @realDonaldTrump when I testify this Tuesday, October 24th at the @NewYorkStateAG civil fraud trial. See you there!” Cohen wrote Friday on social media.
Cohen was originally scheduled to appear last week but his testimony was delayed to attend to a pre-existing medical condition.
Under the Sept. 26 ruling, all of Trump’s New York business licenses were revoked, as well as those of his co-defendants, including his two sons Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., his longtime finance chief Allen Weisselberg and his company, the Trump Organization.
Cohen, who was once one of Trump’s most trusted aides, has admitted to being a central figure in Trump’s illegal business schemes after spending a decade falsifying financial records before federal agents raided his New York home in April 2018.
Subsequently, Cohen cooperated with the investigation and took on a new role as chief witness against Trump following his own arrest and conviction for financial crimes, campaign finance violations and tax evasion, culminating in more than a year of imprisonment.
Testifying before the House Oversight Committee in 2019, Cohen said Trump consistently lied about the value of his New York real estate, which defrauded banks and insurers for years, prompting an investigation by New York Attorney General Letitia James into Trump’s holdings throughout the state.
Cohen was deposed ahead of the trial by prosecutors who presented portions of his sworn testimony during opening statements in late September before Engoron found Trump liable without a jury trial, citing overwhelming evidence in the case.
In a critical part of the deposition, Cohen said Trump “wanted to be higher on the Forbes list, and he then said, ‘I’m actually not worth $6 billion. I’m worth 7. In fact, I think it’s actually now worth 8, with everything that’s going on,'” Cohen said, adding that he doctored Trump’s assets alongside Weisselberg, who pleaded guilty to tax evasion in August 2022.
Years before exposing Trump’s fraudulent business dealings, Cohen described his unwavering loyalty to Trump, pledging to act against Trump’s adversaries on the campaign trail and elsewhere.
“It means that if somebody does something Mr. Trump doesn’t like, I do everything in my power to resolve it to Mr. Trump’s benefit,” Cohen told ABC News in 2011. “If you do something wrong, I’m going to come at you, grab you by the neck and I’m not going to let you go until I’m finished.”
Tuesday’s appearance comes as the trial has taken several unexpected turns.
Last week, the proceedings were briefly halted after one of Trump’s lawyers accused a witness of lying, which triggered several minutes of shouting in the courtroom. Trump hit the defense table with both hands in an apparent moment of frustration with his legal team.
Two days later, Engoron fined Trump $5,000 for violating a gag order placed on him Oct. 3, prohibiting Trump from making any public remarks about the judge and his staff.
In April, Trump filed a $500 million lawsuit against Cohen, accusing his former “fixer” of false statements and breach of attorney-client privilege. Trump dismissed the action earlier this month.
Part of Cohen’s 2018 conviction was related to illegal hush money paid to former adult film star Stormy Daniels, with whom Trump allegedly had a sexual encounter that threatened to upend his 2016 campaign for president. In that case, Trump will go on trial in early 2024 after pleading not guilty to 34 felony charges of falsifying business records to repay Cohen hundreds of thousands of dollars off the books.
Trump is also scheduled to go on trial in New York on Jan. 15 in a defamation lawsuit brought by author E. Jean Carroll, who seeks $10 million in damages from Trump, claiming he defamed her in 2019 when he denied raping her in the 1990s, saying she was “not my type.”
Another three criminal cases related to classified documents and election interference are due to take place during the height of the 2024 campaign, in which Trump is seeking the Republican nomination for re-election.
