As former Donald Trump devotees are dropping like flies, including Jenna Ellis and Sidney Powell, the current GOP frontrunner was delivered another blow recently.
Longtime Ally Testifies Against Donald Trump
Michael Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer, confidant, and longtime “fixer” testified that the former president personally authorized the fraudulent inflation of his net worth and property valuations in a New York court on Tuesday.
Trump has been charged in a civil case brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James for allegedly committing fraud by repeatedly misrepresenting his wealth by hundreds of millions of dollars. While the former president is also facing four different criminal indictments, it’s this case that could tear down his entire empire and devastate his fortune, currently worth $2.6 billion according to Forbes.
Trump’s value is the very thing being contested in the case, as Cohen testified.
While Cohen has unabashedly spoken out against Trump on social media, in the press, and in his tell all book, this is the first time he has faced his former boss in person in five years. He didn’t seem intimidated in the least.
Cohen took to the witness stand to attack Trump and told the jury that during his time working for the Trump Organization he inflated the former president’s assets to “whatever number Trump told us to.”
“I was tasked by Mr. Trump to increase the total assets based upon a number that he arbitrarily elected,” Mr. Cohen testified, saying that it was his responsibility to “increase those assets in order to achieve the number.”
Cohen also testified that he and former Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg worked to “reverse-engineer the various different asset classes, increase those assets, in order to achieve a number that Mr. Trump had tasked us.”
Trump contests that his assets were repeatedly undervalued.
Trump Retaliates
Trump was sitting in on the trial when Cohen made the claims against him and was seen shaking his head throughout his former acolyte’s testimony and has blasted Cohen, calling him “a proven liar.”
“I’m not worried at all about his testimony,” Trump said. “He’s not a credible witness.”
Trump sued Cohen for $500 million back in April of this year for allegedly breaching his attorney-client relationship by “spreading falsehoods” about Trump that were “likely to be embarrassing or detrimental, and partook in other misconduct.” He also claimed Cohen breached contractual terms of a confidentiality agreement he signed as a condition of employment with Trump.
The lawsuit claimed the fabrications from Cohen were told “with malicious intent and to wholly self-serving ends.”
It details Cohen’s “myriad of public statements, including the publication of two books, a podcast series, and innumerable mainstream media appearances,” while ignoring “cease and desist” orders.
The former president dropped the lawsuit against Cohen earlier this month just after James filed her suit against Trump and amidst knowledge of Cohen’s testimony against him.
Cohen considered Trump’s suit nothing more than bullying.
He claimed the suit was “nothing more than a retaliatory intimidation tactic” and said, referring to Mr. Trump, that “his attempt to hide from routine discovery procedures confirms as much.” He added, “Mr. Trump’s cowardly dismissal spells the end of this latest attempt to deter me from providing truthful testimony against him.”
Trump Drama Sees Less Press
As existential crises unfold around the globe, it’s difficult to get riled up about Trump’s legal woes or any other lawsuit that involves a bunch of million and billionaires bickering back and forth.
Increasingly, even Donald Trump’s drama seems to be taking a backseat in the press.
That’s always how it goes. Drama only makes the headlines until the next crisis ensues.
Jennifer Galardi is the politics and culture editor and opinion writer for 19FortyFive.com. She has a Master’s in Public Policy from Pepperdine University and produces and hosts the podcast Connection with conversations that address health, culture, politics, and policy. In a previous life, she wrote for publications in the health, fitness, and nutrition space. In addition, her pieces have been published in the Epoch Times and Pepperdine Policy Review. You can follow her on Instagram and Twitter.
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