Michael Cohen's Testimony Breaks Donald Trump

Donald Trump was seen shaking his head in a New York courtroom during Michael Cohen's testimony in his business fraud trial Tuesday afternoon.

New York Attorney General Letitia James has sued Trump for $250 million, accusing him of inflating his net worth by billions of dollars to obtain benefits such as better bank loans and reduced tax bills between 2011 and 2021. Trump maintains his innocence in the case, accusing prosecutors of targeting him for political purposes. The lawsuit is civil, not criminal, meaning that Trump will not face jail time in this case.

New York Judge Arthur Engoron ruled last month that Trump, his adult sons, their businesses and executives committed fraud and will now decide on six other accusations, including falsifying business records, insurance fraud, and conspiracy claims during the trial.

Cohen's testimony during the trial appeared to draw a reaction from Trump, reported Politico journalist Erica Orden.

"I was tasked by Mr. Trump to increase the total assets based upon a number that he arbitrarily elected, and my responsibility, along with Allen Weisselberg, predominantly, was to reverse engineer the various different asset classes, increase those assets in order to achieve the number that Mr. Trump had tasked us," he said.

Orden noted that Trump "shook his head, looking red in the face" during that section of his testimony.

Newsweek reached out to Trump's campaign for comment via email.

Former federal prosecutor Joyce White Vance responded to Cohen's testimony to in a post to X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.

"Sounds like fraud to me," she wrote.

Cohen was onetime a Trump ally but turned on him after serving a sentence for allegedly helping make hush payments to adult film actor Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 presidential election. He served a three-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to charges including lying to Congress, tax crimes and campaign finance violations.

He wrote in an X post on Monday, ahead of the testimony, that he would "continue to speak truth to power" despite an alleged "smear and harassment campaign" against him.

Trump has displayed other signs of displeasure throughout the civil trial. During real estate appraiser Doug Larson's testimony last week, Trump threw his hands up in the air and began to speak with his attorneys after Larson said he "undershot" the value of a Trump-owned building by $114 million.

His reaction prompted Engoron to remind him to "be quiet when the witness is testifying."

Trump has also faced backlash from Engoron for violating a gag order imposed on him that limits his ability to discuss the case. Engoron fined him $5,000 for violating the order last Friday, warning him that the court "is way beyond the 'warning' stage."