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Michael Cohen lashed out at Donald Trump's "moron lawyers" who cross-examined him during the former president's civil fraud trial.
Cohen, Trump's former attorney, gave evidence across two days as part of New York Attorney General Letitia James' lawsuit accusing Trump of fraudulently inflating the value of his property and assets in financial statements for years. Trump denies all wrongdoing in connection to James' suit.
Trump's lawyers accused Cohen of lying under oath after backtracking on his Tuesday testimony in which he said Trump had told him to increase the value of assets in financial statements based on a number the former president had "arbitrarily" set.
Cohen then said while answering questions on Wednesday from Trump attorney Clifford Robert that Trump did not directly instruct him to inflate the numbers of financial statements, suggesting that Trump spoke like "a mob boss" and that the former president "tells you what he wants without specifically telling you."
Fellow Trump attorney Alina Habba also had a heated exchange with Cohen during cross-examination, including attempting to suggest he is an unreliable witness because he previously pleaded guilty to lying to Congress in 2018. Habba also accused Cohen of purposely feuding and criticizing Trump for financial gain.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump said Cohen "admitted his statements were all a big lie" and "he broke down in court" while calling on Judge Arthur Engoron to throw out the case.
Cohen hit out at Trump's attorneys in a post on X, formerly Twitter, while also suggesting it was the former president who lied under oath on Wednesday while speaking to the judge.
"When did I break down? Is he referring to me laughing at him and his minion of moron lawyers? In fact, Judge Engoron stated 'I do not find you (Trump) credible'. Meaning...Donald, you're a f****** liar and perjurer as you were under oath!" Cohen wrote.
Newsweek reached out to Trump's legal team via email for comment.
Engoron ordered Trump to take the witness stand on Wednesday to answer questions about comments he gave to reporters about a "very partisan" individual "sitting alongside" the judge in the courtroom, an apparent reference to Engoron's longtime law clerk, Allison Greenfield.
While under oath, Trump suggested the comment was about Cohen, a claim Engoron said "doesn't make sense to me" while noting that his law clerk, not Cohen, sits beside him on the bench during the civil trial in New York.
Engoron said Trump "is not credible" as a witness and fined the former president $10,000 for violating a gag order the judge imposed to stop Trump from attacking his staff members. It was the second time that Trump has been fined by Engoron for failing to abide by the gag order.
Commenting on the cross-examination, Cohen previously told Newsweek: "While he didn't specifically say go inflate the numbers on his [statement of financial condition], he raised the net worth number and directed myself and [Trump Organization former chief finance officer Allen Weisselberg] to go and figure it out. He knows he will be held accountable and the disgorgement will bankrupt him and his eponymous company."
Cohen has also previously suggested that Trump broke the law while trying to say under oath his comments to reporters outside the courtroom about the partisan individual were not aimed at Greenfield.
"While on the stand, he 'under oath', asked who he was talking about in his speech. He LIED and said me. No one bought his bulls***. That's called perjury!!!" Cohen posted on X.
Engoron has already ruled that Trump had committed fraud while inflating the value of several properties—the main allegation in James' suit—and that the proceedings in New York will now consider six remaining claims in the case, as well as the size of the penalty.
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About the writer
Ewan Palmer is a Newsweek News Reporter based in London, U.K. His focus is reporting on US politics, and Florida ... Read more