Hush money trial: ‘Bullied people to accomplish Trump’s tasks,’ admits ex-lawyer Michael Cohen

Donald Trump’s former lawyer and fixerMichaelCohenonMonday (May 13) testified in the New York court of Judge Juan Merchan in the ongoing hush money trial against the former US president.

Cohen worked with Trump for more than10years but is now astar witness of the prosecutors.Their relationship reportedly soured after Trump didn’t give him any seat in his administration.

During his testimony on Monday, Cohen admitted in court to having bullied and lied to people to ‘accomplish a task’ given by Trump.

“It was fantastic. Working for him, especially during those 10 years, was an amazing experience in many, many ways. There were great times, there were several less-than great times, but for the most part, I enjoyed the responsibility that was given to me. I enjoyed working with my colleagues at The Trump organization, the Trump children. It was a big family,” Cohen said.

When prosecutors asked Cohen whether he ever lied for Trump, Cohen replied: “I did”.

Cohen said he did “what [was] needed to accomplish a task.” “The only thing on my mind was [to] accomplish a task to make him happy,” he said in the courtroom.

Cohen also talked about Trump allegedly expressing concerns over “a lot of women” coming forward as he announced his candidature.

“You know that when this comes out, meaning the announcement, just be prepared, there’s going to be a lot of women coming forward,” Cohen said.

Cohen also told the courtroom that Trump had asked himto “handle” negative stories about an alleged “love-child” and an affair with the playmate Karen McDougal.

He explained how he extricated Trump from the controversial Trump University business courses by offering “approximately 50 vendors that had not been paid” a lesser amount, and claimed all but two accepted.

He also described legal fixing for Trump with the press: “If they said something that angered him, I would reach out to the press and express to them they needed to redact or take the article down, or we would file an action against him.”

(With inputs from agencies)