Disgraced former attorney Michael Cohen took the witness stand in New York federal court on Tuesday to testify against former President Donald Trump, his onetime employer, in the ongoing civil fraud case against him. Cohen, who worked as a lawyer and financial “fixer” for the Trump organization, testified that he was compelled to overinflate the value of the former president’s assets to “whatever number Trump told us to.”
The $250 million civil fraud trial brought against former President Donald Trump by New York Attorney General Letitia James alleges that Trump spent decades misrepresenting the value of his various properties and the size of his net worth. These fraudulent assessments allowed him to secure more favorable loans from banks while he built his real estate empire.
Manhattan Judge Arthur Engoron, who is overseeing the trial without a jury, already ruled that Trump and his company committed fraud. As a result, several Trump Organization LLCs—including Trump Tower in midtown—are to be removed from the former president’s control and dissolved. This also led to a reassessment of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, producing a valuation of an anemic $18 million. This dissolution process is on hold pending appeals.
The continuing trial now focuses on claims of conspiracy, insurance fraud, and falsifying business records.
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In a confrontation five years in the making, Trump and Cohen, onetime allies, faced off with barely-concealed hostility during a contentious cross-examination.
“I was tasked by Mr. Trump to increase the total assets, based upon a number that he arbitrarily elected,” Cohen said, describing how he worked with former Trump Organization finance chief Allen Weisselberg to “reverse-engineer the various different asset classes, increase those assets, in order to achieve a number that Mr. Trump had tasked us.”
Cohen went on to testify that Trump would contact him and Weisselberg with statements like “I’m actually not worth four and a half billion dollars. I’m really worth more like six.” The two would then make the necessary adjustments to paperwork and property assessments to greatly exaggerate their value. These changes were allegedly made to assets including Trump Tower headquarters on Fifth Avenue, Trump Park Avenue, the Trump Seven Springs estate in Westchester, the Miss Universe pageant, and more.
Cohen claimed that the high valuations, combined with low liabilities and Trump’s sheer force of personality helped to secure more favorable premiums on bank loans.
Former President Trump, who observed the testimony from the man who once pledged to “take a bullet” for him with crossed arms and a stony expression, has long denied any financial wrongdoing. In fact, he has at various times claimed that his assets are grossly undervalued.
When the time came for the defense’s cross-examination, Trump and his attorneys seized on Cohen’s own legal troubles to discredit his testimony. In 2018, the former attorney was disbarred and sentenced to three years in prison for lying to Congress, tax and bank fraud, and campaign finance violations related to alleged hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels on Trump’s behalf. Cohen completed his sentence in 2021.
Given the witness’ questionable credibility, Trump’s team attacked him as a “serial liar” attempting to capitalize on the political persecution of his former employer.
After the day’s proceedings concluded, Trump stated that the witness was “totally discredited.” “He’s a disgraced felon, and that’s the way it’s coming out,” he said. Trump followed this up with a post on Truth Social declaring Cohen’s testimony “a complete and total disaster.”
“Heck of a reunion,” Cohen said to reporters outside the court. “This is not about Donald Trump vs. Michael Cohen or Michael Cohen vs. Donald Trump. This is about accountability, plain and simple.”
Cohen is expected to give further testimony on Wednesday.
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