Trump’s former ‘thug’ Michael Cohen set for trial-defining testimony in hush money case

CNN — Michael Cohen once described himself as Donald Trump’s “spokesman, thug, pit bull and lawless lawyer.”

But this week, he has a new role. He will be the star witness for prosecutors trying to prove Trump illegally falsified business records after paying off adult film actress Stormy Daniels as part of an alleged election interference scheme in 2016.

Cohen’s testimony is set to be the critical moment of the hush money trial that could make Trump the first ex-president to be convicted of a crime. His appearance will mark the zenith of a bitter personal feud between two brash New Yorkers obsessed with betrayal and revenge. And it marks one of the most lurid twists yet in the presumptive Republican nominee’s legal morass that is entwined with the 2024 election.