Another fallen tree brings traffic to standstill in KL’s Golden Triangle, less than a week after Jalan Sultan Ismail incidentMichael Cohen in 2018 pleaded guilty to violating federal campaign finance law with the payment to Daniels. He testified that Trump directed him to make the payment. Prosecutors in that federal case never charged Trump with a crime.
Video showed Cohen not stopping to answer journalists’ questions when he left early on Monday for his day in court.On Friday, Justice Juan Merchan urged prosecutors to tell Cohen to stop making public statements about the case after defence lawyer Todd Blanche said Cohen had spoken on social media while wearing a T-shirt showing Trump behind bars.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to all 34 counts and denies having had a sexual encounter with Daniels. He argues the case is a politically motivated attempt to interfere with his campaign. Bragg, the prosecutor, is a Democrat.Prosecutors say the payment to Daniels was part of an illegal scheme to influence the 2016 election by buying the silence of people with potentially damaging information. Trump’s lawyers say it was to spare him embarrassment with his family.
Cohen has admitted to lying under oath multiple times, providing substantial fodder for the defence to undermine his credibility. However, neither that employee nor another who testified last week was able to say whether Trump himself directed the paper trail to be falsified to hide the payment to Daniels - a hole that prosecutors will aim to fill with Cohen’s testimony.
Merchan has fined Trump US$10,000 for 10 violations of the order and warned the former president he could face time in jail if he keeps up his attacks.