Michael Cohen admitted in court on Monday morning that he stole thousands of dollars from former President Donald Trump’s company before the 2016 election.
Trump’s former personal attorney made the admission as he was cross-examined by Trump’s legal team in Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s ongoing “hush money” trial against Trump.
Cohen, Bragg’s star witness, had previously claimed he had paid money out of his own pocket to make a claim of an alleged affair between Trump and former adult film actress Stormy Daniels go away.
The convicted felon, who has been accused of perjury by House Republicans, admitted on the stand Monday that he stole $30,000 from The Trump Organization.
NBC News reported that while being cross-examined on the stand by current Trump attorney Todd Blanche, Cohen was asked about a $50,000 payout that was supposed to go to a tech firm called Red Finch, which have previously done business with Trump’s company.
The company was owed $50,000, but Cohen only paid the firm $20,000 to keep its owner happy.
He pocketed the remaining $30,000, he admitted under oath.
Blanche asked Cohen, “You did steal from the Trump Organization, correct?”
Cohen responded, “Yes, sir.”
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Cohen added that while he kept 60 percent of a cash payout that was supposed to go to Red Finch, the firm’s owner had been “placated for the time being.”
Cohen’s admission of embezzlement from his employer’s company comes amid existing questions about his credibility as Bragg’s star witness.
Bragg’s controversial prosecution of Trump is based on a theory that Cohen paid Daniels and Trump later falsified records in order to reimburse him without arousing suspicion.
Trump has denied any wrongdoing and has also denied he had an affair with Daniels, which she said happened almost two decades ago.
Bragg is seeking to convict Trump on 34 felony counts of alleged business fraud.
In August 2018, Cohen pleaded guilty to felony counts of campaign finance violations and tax evasion.
He was sentenced to spend three years in federal prison but was released early during the COVID pandemic when prisons across the country were lowering their populations to minimize infections.
Some have theorized Cohen holds a vendetta against Trump because he was not offered a prominent role in the White House after the 2016 election.
Under oath last week, Cohen told Blanche that he never had any aspirations to secure a high-profile West Wing job for himself after his then-boss was elected, The Hill reported.
“The View” co-host and former Trump White House Director of Strategic Communications Alyssa Farah Griffin said on CNN last week that Cohen’s claims under oath shocked her.
The former Trump administration official said, “My jaw hit the floor when I heard him denying that.”
While Griffin said she never personally heard Cohen ask for a federal government job, it was not a secret he wanted a coveted job in the Trump administration.
“[I]t was widely discussed that he was angling for attorney general or to be White House counsel,” Griffin said. “That’s, I mean, there’s dozens and dozens of people around Washington who could corroborate that.”
Cohen was referred for prosecution by Republican Reps. Jim Jordan of Ohio and James Comer of Kentucky last week.
In a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland, the pair said Cohen lied when testifying before Congress in 2019.
The duo offered six examples of what they cited as perjury from Cohen.
