NEW YORK — He’s nowhere to be seen at Donald Trump’s New York criminal trial, but he’s everywhere: Michael Cohen, the former president’s ex-fixer.
Two witnesses on Tuesday testified to key questions in the hush money scheme which put Cohen at the center. Cohen’s former banker, Gary Farro, discussed the man’s finances, while a Los Angeles attorney detailed his interactions with the former Trump attorney in the run-up to the 2016 election.
According to that witness, Keith Davidson, those interactions were usually unpleasant. “The moral of the story is no one wanted to talk to [Michael] Cohen,” Davidson said.
Cohen is seen as a uniquely vulnerable and valuable witness for the DA. He can testify to key parts of the prosecution’s case, namely that Trump falsified business records in reimbursing him for the hush money payments.
For that reason, his testimony is expected to be a major moment in the trial. It is unknown when — or if — he will appear on the witness stand.
But on Tuesday, the prosecution seemed to be building toward calling Cohen.
Prosecutors called Davidson on Tuesday morning, introducing a witness with direct involvement in allegations at the core of the first criminal case against a former president. Davidson represented both Karen McDougal and Stormy Daniels in their hush money negotiations with the National Enquirer and Cohen.
Davidson at first appeared stiff and unhappy to be on the stand, but loosened up as time went on, joking at times with prosecutor Joshua Steinglass. His testimony earned laughs at times from myself and other journalists in the overflow room. But Davidson is an attorney, and his knowledge of law