Trump jurors must decide: Can they believe Cohen?

As hush-money trial nears its end, fate of ex-president and perhaps his re-election bid hinges on testimony from one flawed witness

- RICHARD WARNICA

Michael Cohen, Donald Trump’s former lawyer, testifies in New York on Monday.

The 2024 presidential election, a contest some see as a life-and-death struggle for the future of democracy, may now hinge on a surprising question: Just how big of a dirtbag do 12 New Yorkers think Michael Cohen is?

That Cohen  Donald Trump’s former attorney, fixer, bagman and heavy — is not an ideal witness is not really in dispute. The People of the State of New York have all but stipulated that. He is also a liar, a perjurer, a tax cheat and, based on testimony Monday, about the worst value for money a lobbyist can be.

But Cohen is also something else: a career follower. For more than a decade he was Trump's liar, and Trump's cheat. He was the man who made Trump's problems go away. (He was paid very well for that job, typically more than $500,000 a year.)

The main business of Trump's criminal trial-on charges he falsified business records to hide the hush-money payment to porn actress Stormy Daniels - is coming to a close.

On Tuesday, Trump's defence is expected to rest. The jury should have the case by early next week.

For all the promises and bluster, they admitted Monday, tacitly at least, that Trump will not testify in his own defence.

It is clearer than ever now that this trial is the presidential campaign.

There's no real election business happening anywhere else. So the most important question in American politics right now might be this: Who did Cohen lie for and when? Was he lying in 2018, as he claims now, when he said Trump had no part in the plan to pay off Daniels, or is he lying now, on the stand, when he says Trump personally directed him to funnel $130,000 (U.S.) to Daniels in the lead-up the 2016 presidential vote?