Cohen to testify before grand jury in Trump probe
Egypt’s authorities refused to produce or renew documents for dozens of journalists, critics and lawyers living abroad, a leading rights group said Monday, in a clampdown on dissent that reaches overseas. According to an investigation undertaken by U.S.-based Human Rights Watch last year, Egyptian authorities refused to provide or renew birth certificates, passports and other essential documents despite requests from some 26 Egyptians residing abroad.
The 26 dissidents, journalists and lawyers were living in Turkey, Germany, Malaysia, Qatar and two other undisclosed countries in Africa and the Gulf when the investigation took place, HRW said.
NEW YORK — Donald Trump’s former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen is expected to testify Monday before a Manhattan grand jury investigating hush money payments he arranged and made on the former president’s behalf.
Cohen’s impending grand jury appearance was confirmed by two people familiar with the matter who were not authorized to speak publicly about grand jury proceedings and did so on the condition of anonymity.
Cohen’s closed-door testimony is coming at a critical time as the Manhattan district attorney’s office closes in on a decision on whether to seek charges against Trump.
A Trump loyalist turned adversary, Cohen is likely to provide critical details about whatever involvement the Republican presidential candidate may have had in the payments, made in the final weeks of the 2016 campaign, to two women who alleged affairs or sexual encounters with him.
Trump denies being involved with either of the women, the porn actor Stormy Daniels and model Karen McDougal.
Cohen has given prosecutors evidence, including voice recordings of conversations he had with a lawyer for one of the women, as well as emails and text messages. He also has recordings of a conversation in which he and Trump spoke about an arrangement to pay the other woman through the supermarket tabloid the National Enquirer.
Prosecutors appear to be looking at whether Trump committed crimes in how the payments were made or how they were accounted for internally at Trump’s company, the Trump Organization.
One possible charge would be falsifying business records, a misdemeanor unless prosecutors could prove it was done to conceal another crime. No former U.S. president has ever been charged with a crime.
Appearing Monday on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” Trump lawyer Joseph Tacopina said it is unlikely the former president will accept an invitation, extended by prosecutors last week, to testify before the grand jury.
“We have no plans on participating in this proceeding,” Tacopina said. “It’s a decision that needs to be made still. There’s been no deadline set, so we’ll wait and see.”
He characterized Trump as a victim, saying he was pressured into making the payment to Daniels.
“This was a plain extortion and I don’t know since when we’ve decided to start prosecuting extortion victims,” Tacopina said. “He’s denied — vehemently denied — this affair.”
Cohen served prison time after pleading guilty in 2018 to federal charges, including campaign finance violations, for arranging the payouts to Daniels and McDougal to keep them from going public. He has also been disbarred.