Donald Trump went head-to-head with former “fixer” Michael Cohen at the former president’s fraud trial in Manhattan on Tuesday — beaming as Cohen claimed his old boss told him to value his assets at “whatever number” Trump wanted.
“He would say, ‘I’m not really worth $4.5 billion, I’m really worth more like 6 [billion],” Cohen recalled, as Trump faced charges he lied about his profits to defraud banks and insurance companies to save money.
The Manhattan Supreme Court battle marks the first time Cohen, who worked for Trump from 2007 to 2018, has been in the same room as the New York City real estate mogul since being sentenced to three years in prison for campaign-finance violations, tax and bank fraud and lying to Congress.
“Heck of a reunion,” Cohen quipped to a crowd of news photographers on his way out of court for a lunch break.
Cohen testified on Tuesday that he worked with former Trump Organization Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg to reverse engineer the values on the former president’s financial filings to meet Trump’s desired final amount.
Trump, wearing a dark blue suit and bright blue tie, glared at Cohen with his arms folded tightly across his chest as his former personal lawyer testified against him during the third week of a $250 million New York attorney general’s fraud lawsuit that could endanger the president’s Big Apple property empire. 45.
Donald Trump faces off with former “fixer” Michael Cohen at the former president’s fraud trial in Manhattan on Tuesday.REUTERS
Cohen, who once served as Trump’s special counsel and self-described “fixer,” has consistently admitted to committing crimes on behalf of The Donald, the man he once boasted he would “take a bullet for.”
But Trump’s current personal attorney, Alina Habba, tore into Cohen during cross-examination, after Cohen tried to distance himself from part of his earlier guilty plea with federal prosecutors in Manhattan’s Southern District.
Follow The Post’s live blog for the latest on former President Donald Trump’s fraud trial
Cohen testified Tuesday morning that he never personally made secret payments to former Playboy model Karen McDougal — while also saying he had “complete complicity” in paying Trump’s more famous lover, former porn star Stormy Daniels.
Cohen said it was American Media Inc, the former owner of the National Enquirer, that arranged the 2016 payment to McDougal to keep quiet about her alleged affair with the then-Republican presidential candidate.
Trump has long denied McDougal and Daniels’ claims.
“Heck of a reunion,” Cohen quipped to a crowd of news photographers on his way out of court for a lunch break.Steven Hirsch
Cohen also claimed from the stand Tuesday that he had never evaded taxes — despite previously pleading guilty to that charge as well.
“At best, it can be described as a tax lien,” Cohen testified. “I have never in my life not paid taxes.”
Cohen answered, “Yes” on the stand when asked by Habba if he lied to federal Judge William H. Pauley III during his plea hearing in 2018.
As the proceedings ended for the day, Trump branded Cohen a “proven liar” who could not be trusted.
“The witness has been completely discredited,” Trump told reporters on his way out of court.
Here’s how Donald Trump’s NY fraud decision is impacting his business
A grand court ruling finding Donald Trump liable for fraud has his own lawyers scratching their heads — asking a judge on Wednesday to explain his decision to revoke the former president’s New York business license.
Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron’s 34-page ruling from Tuesday will force Trump, 77, to hand over control of his Empire State properties — including Trump Tower in Midtown — to an independent third party, known as a receiver.
In his ruling, the judge wrote a receiver must be appointed “to manage the liquidation of the revoked business certificate” for the Limited Liability Corporation, or LLC, under the umbrella of the Trump Organization.
A Manhattan judge found former President Donald Trump liable for fraud by exaggerating the value of his assets. Photo by Sean Rayford/Getty Images
Here’s how the ruling affects Trump’s businesses, according to legal experts:
What is a business certificate and what does it mean if it is revoked?
Business certificates are issued by the government to prove the legitimacy of the company and are used for business transactions.
Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron revoked Trump’s business license in New York.REUTERS/Jane Rosenberg
They can be treated like a birth certificate for someone, former financial crimes prosecutor Diana Florence told The Post.
When a judge overturns them, it’s like being given a “death certificate” — with the verdict amounting to a “corporate death sentence,” Florence said.
Judge revokes Trump’s NY business license, finds he committed fraud by raising wealth
This certificate is required for entities such as LLCs and comes with privileges such as protecting personal assets if the company fails, said Cornell Law Professor Robert Hockett.
Hockett said “a common but unfortunate business practice” is for a company to pretend they have more money then they really do to help them get an LLC certificate.
In this case, the LLC functions like a “shell” meant to “avoid accountability.”
“What the judge found yesterday is that Trump effectively did this,” Hockett told The Post. “He pretends that most of these businesses he owns are well capitalized and able to pay their creditors — actually doing good work that benefits the public and warrants limited liability certification.”
“They used someone who was a criminal,” he said of the prosecutor.
“You all know the record. It is something horrible,” the former president said during a break that day. “All you have to do is ask the Southern District of New York.”
Cohen previously testified that he manipulated the volume of Trump’s financial filings — marking the documents in red pen — with the help of Weisselberg, who is a co-defendant in the New York attorney general’s civil suit.
US Attorney General Colleen Flaherty asked Cohen to explain how he and Weisselberg decided the amount to include in the financial filing.
“Whatever number Mr. Trump tells us,” Cohen replied.
Among the assets Cohen said he has in mind to raise in value are Trump Tower in Midtown, Trump World Tower at United Nations Plaza, and Trump’s Seven Springs mansion.Steven Hirsch
Among the assets Cohen said he has in mind to raise in value are Trump Tower in Midtown, Trump World Tower at United Nations Plaza, and Trump’s Seven Springs mansion.
Cohen testified that he would arrive at the inflated figure by valuing Trump’s property like other, more valuable assets that have benefits such as unobstructed views or higher ceiling heights.
“You can call them comparable but that would imply they are similar,” Cohen testified. “So no, they’re not comparable – they’re just different.”
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