Michael Cohen Testifies That He Inflated Asset Values to ‘Whatever Number’ Trump Wanted
Former Trump attorney Michael Cohen testified against Donald Trump today in New York’s civil fraud lawsuit against the former president. The courtroom encounter marked the first time Trump and his infamous former fixer have been in the same room in over five years.
The trial will determine how much Trump owes to the state of New York after he, several of his adult children, and his business associates were found liable for fraud. The court determined Trump overvalued his properties and inflated his net worth over several years, thus deceiving banks, investors, and insurers.
Cohen testified on Tuesday that Trump directed him and former Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg to inflate the value of his assets to “whatever number” the former president asked for.
“He would look at the total assets and say ‘I’m actually not worth 4.5 billion. I am really worth more like $6 billion,’” Cohen said. “My responsibility, along with Allen Weisselberg predominantly, was to reverse engineer the various different asset classes and increase those assets […] to achieve a number Mr. Trump asked us.”
Trump told reporters outside of the courtroom that he and his attorneys were “not worried at all about his testimony.”
“I haven’t seen him in years. And you know his record. His record is a horrible one. All you have to do is ask the Southern District of New York, he’s got a horrible record,” Trump said
Reporter: “How did it feel to see Michael Cohen here?”
Donald Trump: “Uh, well, I haven’t seen him in years. And you know his record. His record’s a horrible one. All you have to do is ask the Southern District of New York … We’re not worried at all about his testimony.” pic.twitter.com/0fCn4i8xQU— The Recount (@therecount) October 24, 2023
Cohen’s falling out with the former president dates back to 2018, when Cohen was embroiled in allegations that he had helped coordinate hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels to buy her silence ahead of the 2016 election over an alleged affair with Trump.
In 2018, Cohen was convicted of having committed campaign finance violations when he made the payments and sentenced to 36 months in prison. Cohen was released from prison early in 2020. In a separate case that same year, Cohen pleaded guilty to having lied to Congress about the details of a proposed business deal between Russia and the Trump Organization.
During the proceedings on Tuesday, Trump took to Truth Social to make several digs against Cohen, posting quotes from past articles in which Cohen defended the former president.
Donald Trump's latest Truth Social posts are about his former attorney Michael Cohen who is… currently on the stand testifying against him in a civil trial. pic.twitter.com/1rpUMSaTVK
— Jordan Fischer (@JordanOnRecord) October 24, 2023
When entering the court, Cohen attempted to tamp down the fervor surrounding his encounter with the former president. “This is not about Donald Trump vs. Michael Cohen, or Michael Cohen vs. Donald Trump,” he told reporters, “this is about accountability, plain and simple.”
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