Former Trump aide Michael Cohen meets with Manhattan prosecutors investigating former president

Former Trump aide Michael Cohen met for the 15th time Wednesday with Manhattan prosecutors investigating his former boss as their investigation into the ex-president continues.

“Their knowledge of this case is extraordinary,” Cohen said after leaving the meeting in Lower Manhattan. “They are very well prepared.”

Trump’s former right-hand man declined to discuss the details, but said he suspected he would soon meet again with Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s investigators.

His lawyer Lanny Davis called the conversation thorough.

“The impressive part of today was the thoroughness and detailed approach of this team of prosecutors. Mr. Bragg said his team is taking this seriously, and today, based on Mr. Cohen’s interrogation, that was confirmed,” Davis told Daily News.

Former President Donald Trump and Michael Cohen.

There have been many twists and turns in the years-long investigation, and it ended with prosecutors focusing on paying $130,000 to porn star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 presidential election to buy her silence about her alleged affair with Trump.

The money for silence, which has long been known to everyone, landed Cohen in federal prison. After pleading guilty to multiple tax evasion and campaign finance offenses, he admitted in 2018 that he paid Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, “for the primary purpose of influencing” the election, and named Trump in a statement “personal face”. “.

Cohen said he was working on a plot to pay off Daniels along with National Enquirer boss David Pecker “at the request” of Trump. He said the Enquirer’s parent company, American Media Inc., was involved in another payout to Playboy model Karen McDougal. The New York Times reported that Pecker testified before a grand jury began hearing evidence against the former president last week.

Stormy Daniels (left) and Karen McDougal.

Cohen, in his federal case, said he withdrew $130,000 from his home equity account and then transferred it to an LLC to transfer it to Daniels. In February 2019, he told the House Oversight Committee that Trump and his eponymous real estate business were gradually reimbursing him with interest.

The question, sources say, is whether Trump sent the money to the hush for politically motivated reasons, representing a campaign donation without classifying it as such.

Misclassification of the company’s expenses has landed longtime Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg on Rikers Island serving a five-month sentence. The two companies that were indicted with him in June 2021 were convicted in December of criminal tax fraud and fined $1.6 million last month. Cohen alleges that Weisselberg was involved in discussions of silence payments. The CFO received federal immunity when he testified before the grand jury in the Cohen case.

Trump called the district attorney’s investigation a “witch hunt” and vehemently denies all allegations of criminality and alleged sexual encounters with Daniels and McDougal. In a post on his social media platform last week, he called Cohen “SleazeBag the disenfranchised lawyer from hell.”

Lawyers for Daniels, McDougal and Pecker did not immediately respond to requests for comment. A spokeswoman for Manhattan District Attorney Danielle Filson declined to comment.

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