1:09 PM ET, May 13, 2024
Key takeaways from Michael Cohen’s testimony on Stormy Daniels’ contract
From CNN’s Eric Levenson
Ahead of the lunch break, Donald Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen testified about the campaign’s concerns about Trump’s stance on women and Cohen’s efforts to buy into the story of adult film actress Stormy Daniels. .
On October 7, 2016, the Washington Post published a 2005 “Access Hollywood” video in which President Trump used vulgar language to describe his sexual approaches to women. The article threatened to damage the Trump campaign, especially with women voters.
Mr. Cohen testified that he learned from higher-ups at the National Enquirer that Ms. Daniels was trying to sell her story about her alleged 2006 affair with Mr. Trump. Cohen said she would be “devastating” to her campaign if her story became public.
“[Trump]said to me, ‘This is a disaster, a complete disaster. Women are going to hate me. This is a real disaster. Women are going to hate me. “Guys, they think it’s cool, but this is going to be a disaster for the campaign,” Cohen testified.
Trump testified that he instructed him to block Daniels’ story from getting out. President Trump said at the time, “I want you to push through the election as much as possible, because even if I win, it doesn’t matter because I’m the president, and if I lose, it doesn’t matter to me.” You don’t even care,” Cohen says.
“He wasn’t thinking about Melania. It was all about the campaign,” Cohen testified.
On October 10, National Enquirer editor Dylan Howard texted Cohen and Daniels’ attorney, Keith Davidson, to contact him about a “business opportunity,” but this was in response to Daniels’ article. , Cohen testified, is a reference to “catch-and-kill” transactions in The next day, they agreed to a deal that would pay Daniels $130,000 in exchange for the rights to the article.
Cohen later asked for a 10-day delay to raise funds, but said he would follow President Trump’s instructions and postpone the event again to extend beyond the Nov. 8 election.
