Why Was Michael Cohen Jailed?

Donald Trump’s hush money trial begins in earnest today with witnesses, including former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen, set to stand in New York over the coming weeks.

The first of four criminal cases the former president faces, Trump faces 34 felony counts of illegally falsifying business records to hide payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels during his 2016 White House campaign.

Trump has pleaded not guilty to all charges; while the former president has said he reimbursed the $130,000 his then-lawyer Michael Cohen to pay Daniels, he denies having an affair with her.

On Monday, David Pecker, the former chairman of the National Enquirer’s parent company, was expected to be the first witness to be called.

Pecker was allegedly at a meeting with Trump in 2015 about how the Enquirer could get him elected. This allegedly led to the tabloid being used by Trump as a front to silence women he was said to have had affairs with.

Prosecutors say the magazine would buy up stories and never publish them to hide any scandal.

Pecker has been granted immunity from prosecution in exchange for his testimony.

Among the other witnesses expected to be called up are Stormy Daniels, former White House Communications Director Hope Hicks, former White House advisor Kellyanne Conway, and Michael Cohen.

Cohen, expected to be one of the star witnesses in the trial, is anticipated to testify that he paid Daniels $130,000. The former Trump lawyer has already served prison time, in part related to the hush-money allegations already. Newsweek has examined the story behind Cohen’s prison sentence and when we might expect to see him testify.

Why was Michael Cohen imprisoned?

Federal authorities began investigating Michael Cohen after it was revealed he paid Stormy Daniels $130,000. The FBI raided his New York office in April 2018.

Cohen pleaded guilty in August 2018 to charges of tax evasion, making false statements to a federally insured bank, and campaign finance violations.

According to a Department of Justice announcement, it was alleged that Cohen had “concealed more than $4 million in personal income from the IRS, made false statements to a federally-insured financial institution in connection with a $500,000 home equity loan, and, in 2016, caused $280,000 in payments to be made to silence two women who otherwise planned to speak publicly about their alleged affairs with a presidential candidate, thereby intending to influence the 2016 presidential election.”

Cohen pleaded guilty to five counts of income tax evasion, one count of making false statements to a bank, one count of causing an unlawful corporate contribution and one count of making an excessive campaign contribution.

In his plea deal, Cohen said “in coordination and at the direction of a candidate for federal office,” he withheld information about hush money payments to two women from going public that would have hurt the candidate and his campaign.

He was sentenced to three years in prison at the federal prison camp in Otisville, New York, but was released and placed under house arrest in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. His sentence officially ended in November 2021.

He has since become an outspoken critic of Donald Trump and is seen as a star witness in the case.

When will Cohen appear as a witness?

While anticipation surrounds Cohen’s appearance, there’s no firm information about when he will take the stand.

Cohen told Politico earlier this month that he did not expect to be among the first called-up, commenting that Trump’s defense would try to discredit him as far as they could.

“I’m not even expected to be one of the first witnesses,” Cohen said.

“I’ll probably be more like in baseball: clean-up. I’ll be like a fourth or fifth batter.

“They’re going to keep me on that stand for as long as they possibly can, trying to discredit me.

“So that way, they can use that to try to make a case during appeal, why this case should not stand, and have it overturned.”

Newsweek has contacted a representative for Michael Cohen via email for comment.