Judge tells ex-Trump fixer to hush ahead of trial testimony
With Donald Trump’s fixer-turned-foe Michael Cohen expected to take the witness stand tomorrow, the judge in the former president’s hush money case issued prosecutors a stern warning: Get Cohen to stop his taunting posts and jabs at Trump.
Judge Juan M. Merchan’s comments came as a dramatic week in the first criminal trial of a former American president drew to a close yesterday.
Prosecutors have been building up their case ahead of important testimony from Cohen, who arranged the US$130,000 ($215,000) payout to porn actor Stormy Daniels to keep her from going public ahead of the 2016 election about an alleged sexual encounter with Trump a decade earlier.
Trump denies ever having sex with Daniels.
Once a Trump loyalist, Cohen has become one of his fiercest critics since pleading guilty to federal charges, routinely mocking the former president on social media.
Defence attorneys will argue the now-disbarred lawyer who served prison time is out to get Trump and cannot be believed.
Trump’s lawyers complained after Cohen in a social media video last week wore a shirt featuring a figure resembling their client behind bars.
Merchan told prosecutors to inform Cohen “the judge is asking him to refrain from making any more statements” about the case or Trump.
Prosecutors told the judge they had already requested that Cohen and other witnesses not talk about the case, but they have no direct means of controlling witnesses’ behaviour.
Cohen did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press.
As the third week of testimony wrapped up, the case that ultimately hinges on record-keeping returned to technical testimony – a sharp contrast from Daniels’ dramatic, if not downright seamy, account of the alleged sexual encounter with Trump that riveted jurors earlier this week.