Former American president Donald Trump faced brutal testimony on Tuesday from Michael Cohen, his former lawyer and longtime fixer.
Trump faces court action in a $250 million civil fraud lawsuit filed by New York Attorney General Letitia James. She alleges the Trump Organization, under the direction of Trump and his adult sons, inflated financial assets like golf courses and hotels to defraud insurance companies and obtain favorable loans from banks.
Tuesday was the first time Trump and Cohen had reportedly crossed paths in five years. Cohen served three years in prison for bank fraud, campaign finance violations, tax fraud and lying to Congress.
“I was tasked by Mr. Trump to increase the total assets, based upon a number that he arbitrarily elected,” Cohen testified, according to the Associated Press.
Cohen said he and former Trump Organization finance chief Allen Weisselberg worked “to reverse-engineer the various different asset classes, increase those assets, in order to achieve a number that Mr. Trump had tasked us.”
Before the testimony, Trump told reporters that Cohen was a “proven liar” who couldn’t be trusted to give honest testimony.
Trump, like all Americans, is presumed innocent until proven guilty. The trial is expected to conclude early next month.
