NEW YORK: Former Donald Trump attorney Michael Cohen admitted Monday to jurors in the Republican’s hush money trial that he stole tens of thousands of dollars from Trump’s company as defense lawyers seized on the star witness’ misdeeds to attack his credibility.
With the prosecution’s case nearing its end, Trump’s attorneys hope Cohen’s admission — on top of his numerous other past lies and crimes — will sow doubt in jurors’ minds about Cohen’s crucial testimony implicating the presumptive Republican presidential nominee in the hush money scheme. The defense has painted Cohen as a serial fabulist who is on a revenge campaign aimed at taking down Trump.
Back on the witness stand for a fourth day, Cohen admitted while being questioned by defense attorney Todd Blanche that he pocketed cash that was supposed to be reimbursement for a $50,000 payment Cohen claimed he had shelled out to a technology firm. But Cohen actually gave the technology firm just $20,000 in cash in a brown paper bag, he said.
“So you stole from the Trump Organization?,” Blanche asked.
“Yes, sir,” Cohen replied. Cohen said he never paid the Trump Organization back. Cohen has never been charged with stealing from Trump’s company.
Cohen is the last prosecution witness, and it’s not yet clear whether Trump’s attorneys will call any witnesses, let alone Trump himself.
After more than four weeks of testimony about sex, money, tabloid machinations and the details of Trump’s company recordkeeping, jurors could begin deliberating as soon as next week to decide whether Trump is guilty of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in the first criminal trial of a former US president.
The charges stem from internal Trump Organization records where payments to Cohen were marked as legal expenses, when prosecutors say they were really reimbursements for Daniels’ hush money payment.
Trump has pleaded not guilty. His lawyers say there was nothing criminal about the Daniels deal or the way Cohen was paid.
“There’s no crime,” Trump told reporters after arriving at the courthouse Monday. “We paid a legal expense. You know what it’s marked down as? A legal expense.”
While Cohen is prosecutors’ most important witness, but he is also vulnerable to attack.
The now-disbarred attorney has admitted on the witness stand to previously lying under oath and other falsehoods, many of which he claims were meant to protect Trump. Cohen served prison time after pleading guilty to various federal charges, including lying to Congress and a bank and engaging in campaign finance violations related to the hush money scheme.
And he has made millions of dollars off critical books about the former president, whom he regularly slams on social media in often profane terms.
Blanche grilled Cohen on Monday about his initial public denials that Trump knew about the Daniels payoff. After The Wall Street Journal reported in January 2018 that Cohen had arranged the payout to the porn actor more than a year earlier, Cohen told journalists, friends and others that Trump had been in the dark about the arrangement.
He did not change his account until after federal authorities in April 2018 searched Cohen’s home, office and other locations tied to him. Four months later, Cohen pleaded guilty to campaign-finance violations and other charges and told a court that Trump had directed him to arrange the Daniels payment.
Known for his hot temper, Cohen has remained mostly calm on the witness stand despite sometimes heated interrogation by the defense about his misdeeds and the allegations in the case.
Jurors remained largely engaged with Cohen’s testimony, though some appear to be dragging as his testimony stretched into another day. Several jurors stifled yawns while peering at the witness and looking at monitors in front of them as emails and other evidence were displayed. Some took notes. Others sat back and took in the testimony, occasionally peering at the gallery of reporters and public observers.
Cohen told jurors that Trump was intimately involved in the scheme to pay off Daniels to prevent her from going public late in his 2016 presidential campaign with claims of a 2006 sexual encounter with Trump. Trump says nothing sexual happened between them.
Cohen told jurors about meetings and conversations with Trump, including one in 2017 in which Cohen says he, Trump and then-Trump Organization finance chief Allen Weisselberg discussed how Cohen would recoup his outlay for the Daniels payment and how the reimbursement would be billed as “legal services.”
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office is expected to rest its case once Cohen is off the stand, but prosecutors would have an opportunity to call rebuttal witnesses if Trump’s lawyers put on witnesses of their own. Judge Juan M. Merchan, citing scheduling issues, says he expects closing arguments to happen May 28, the Tuesday after Memorial Day.
Defense lawyers said they have not decided whether Trump will testify. And Trump did not respond to shouted questions from reporters about whether his lawyers have advised him not to take the stand. Defense attorneys generally are reluctant to put their clients on the witness stand and open them up to intense questioning by prosecutors, as it often does more harm than good.
Trump’s lawyers have said they may call Bradley A. Smith, a Republican law professor who was appointed by former President Bill Clinton to the Federal Election Commission, to refute the prosecution’s contention that the hush money payments amounted to campaign-finance violations. But the judge has limited what Smith can address.
There are often guardrails around expert testimony on legal matters, on the basis that it’s up to a judge — not an expert hired by one side or the other — to instruct jurors on applicable laws in a case.
Merchan has ruled that Smith can give general background on the FEC, the laws it enforces and the definitions of such terms as “campaign contribution.” But he cannot interpret how federal campaign-finance laws apply to the facts of Trump’s case or opine on whether the former president’s alleged actions violate those laws.
Michael Cohen says he stole from Trump’s company as defense presses key hush money trial witness
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Michael Cohen says he stole from Trump’s company as defense presses key hush money trial witness
- The defense has painted Cohen as a serial fabulist who is on a revenge campaign aimed at taking down Trump
- Cohen is the last prosecution witness, and it’s not yet clear whether Trump’s attorneys will call any witnesses, let alone Trump himself
Trial to begin in human smuggling case after freezing deaths of Indian family at Canada-US border
- The family, from the village of Dingucha in Gujarat state, is believed to have spent hours wandering fields in blizzard conditions
- The US Border Patrol arrested more than 14,000 Indians on the Canadian border in the year ending September 30
FERGUS FALLS, Minnesota: A criminal network stretching from India to Canada made money smuggling families seeking better lives in the United States, including a man who died holding his 3-year-old son in gusting snow and bone-chilling temperatures two years ago, federal prosecutors plan to argue at a trial starting Monday in Minnesota.
Prosecutors have accused Indian national Harshkumar Ramanlal Patel, 29, of running the scheme and Steve Shand, 50, of Florida of waiting in a truck for 11 migrants, including the couple and two children who died after they tried to walk across the border to the US
Prosecutors say Patel recruited Shand at a casino near their homes in Deltona, Florida, just north of Orlando.
Jagdish Patel, 39, died along with his wife, Vaishaliben, who was in her mid-30s, and with their 11-year-old daughter, Vihangi and their 3-year-old son Dharmik. Patel is a common Indian surname and the victims were not related to Harshkumar Patel, who has pleaded not guilty, as has Shand.
The family, from the village of Dingucha in Gujarat state, is believed to have spent hours wandering fields in blizzard conditions as the wind chill reached minus 36 Fahrenheit (minus 38 Celsius). Canadian authorities found the Patels’ frozen bodies on the morning of Jan. 19, 2022. Jagdish Patel was holding Dharmik, who was wrapped in a blanket.
Federal prosecutors say Patel and Shand were part of an operation that scouted clients in India, got them Canadian student visas, arranged transportation and smuggled them into the US, mostly through Washington state or Minnesota.
The US Border Patrol arrested more than 14,000 Indians on the Canadian border in the year ending Sept. 30. By 2022, the Pew Research Center estimates there were more than 725,000 Indians living illegally in the US, behind only Mexicans and El Salvadorans.
Harshkumar Patel’s attorney, Thomas Leinenweber, told The Associated Press that his client came to America to escape poverty and build a better life for himself and now “stands unjustly accused of participating in this horrible crime. He has faith in the justice system of his adopted country and believes that the truth will come out at the trial.” Attorneys for Shand did not return messages.
Court documents filed by prosecutors show Patel was in the US illegally after being refused a US visa at least five times.
Over a five-week period, court documents say, Patel and Shand often communicated about the bitter cold as they smuggled five groups of Indians over a quiet stretch of border. One night in December 2021, Shand messaged Patel that it was “cold as hell” while waiting to pick up one group, the documents say.
“They going to be alive when they get here?” he allegedly wrote.
During the last trip in January, Shand had messaged Patel, saying: “Make sure everyone is dressed for the blizzard conditions, please,” according to prosecutors.
Prosecutors say Shand told investigators that Patel paid him about $25,000 for the five trips.
Jagdish Patel grew up in Dingucha. He and family lived with his parents. The couple were schoolteachers, according to local news reports.
Satveer Chaudhary is a Minneapolis-based immigration attorney who has helped migrants exploited by motel owners, many of them Gujaratis. He said smugglers and shady business interests promised many migrants an American dream that doesn’t exist when they arrive.
“The promises of the almighty dollar lead many people to take unwarranted risks with their own dignity, and as we’re finding out here, their own lives,” Chaudary said.
Sri Lanka reappoints Amarasuriya as prime minister
- Dissanayake, whose leftist coalition won 159 seats in the 225-member parliament in general election, also reappointed veteran legislator Vijitha Herath
COLOMBO: Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake reappointed Harini Amarasuriya as the prime minister of the Indian Ocean island nation on Monday.
Dissanayake, whose leftist coalition won 159 seats in the 225-member parliament in general election, also reappointed veteran legislator Vijitha Herath to helm the foreign affairs ministry.
Dissanayake did not name a new finance minister during Monday’s swearing-in, signaling that he will keep the key finance portfolio himself as he had done in September after winning the presidential election.
A political outsider in a country dominated by family parties for decades, Dissanayake comfortably won the island’s presidential election in September and named Amarasuriya as prime minister while picking Herath to helm foreign affairs.
But his Marxist-leaning National People’s Power (NPP) coalition had just three seats in parliament, prompting him to dissolve it and seek a fresh mandate in Thursday’s snap election.
The president leaned toward policy continuity as the sweeping mandate in general elections handed Dissanayake the legislative power to push through his plans to fight poverty and graft in the island nation recovering from a financial meltdown.
A nation of 22 million, Sri Lanka was crushed by a 2022 economic crisis triggered by a severe shortage of foreign currency that pushed it into a sovereign default and caused its economy to shrink by 7.3 percent in 2022 and 2.3 percent last year.
While the strong mandate will strengthen political stability in the South Asian country, some uncertainty on policy direction remains due to Dissanayake’s promises to try and tweak terms of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) rescue program that bailed the country out of its economic crisis, analysts said.
Some Arab Americans who voted for Trump are concerned about his picks for key positions
- The selections have prompted mixed reactions among Arab Americans and Muslims in Michigan, which went for Trump along with all six other battleground states
- Beyond promising peace in the Middle East, Trump has offered few concrete details on how he plans to achieve it
LANSING: Just a week after winning a majority of the vote in several of the nation’s largest Arab-majority cities, President-elect Donald Trump has filled top administration posts with staunch Israel supporters, including an ambassador to Israel who has claimed “there is no such thing as Palestinians.”
Meanwhile, the two Trump advisers who led his outreach to Arab Americans have not secured positions in the administration yet.
The selections have prompted mixed reactions among Arab Americans and Muslims in Michigan, which went for Trump along with all six other battleground states. Some noted Trump’s longstanding support for Israel and said their vote against Vice President Kamala Harris was not necessarily an endorsement of him. Others who openly supported him say he will be the final decisionmaker on policy and hope he will keep his promise of achieving an end to the conflicts in the Middle East.
Albert Abbas, a Lebanese American leader whose brother owns the Dearborn, Michigan, restaurant Trump visited in the campaign’s final days, stood beside the former president during that visit and spoke in support of him.
Now, Abbas says it’s “too early” to judge Trump and that “we all need to take a deep breath, take a step back and let him do the work that he needs to do to to achieve this peace.”
“I just want you to think about what the alternative was,” said Abbas, referring to the current administration’s handling of Israel’s war in Gaza and its invasion of Lebanon. He added, “What did you expect from myself or many members of the community to do?”
Beyond promising peace in the Middle East, Trump has offered few concrete details on how he plans to achieve it. His transition team did not respond to a request for comment.
Throughout the campaign, his surrogates often focused more on criticizing Harris than outlining his agenda. And visuals of the conflict — with tens of thousands of deaths collectively in Gaza and Lebanon — stirred anger among many in Arab and Muslim communities about President Joe Biden and Harris’ backing of Israel.
Amin Hashmi, a Pakistani American in Michigan who voted for Trump, urged him to stay true to his campaign commitments to bring peace.
“I am disappointed but not surprised,” said Hashmi, who urged Trump to “keep the promise you made to the people of Arab descent in Michigan.”
Trump picks what pro-Israel conservatives call a ‘dream team’
Those in the community with concerns have specifically pointed to former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, nominated as Trump’s ambassador to Israel. Huckabee has consistently rejected the idea of a Palestinian state in territories seized by Israel, strongly supported Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and opposed a two-state solution, claiming “there really isn’t such a thing” as Palestinians in referring to the descendants of people who lived in Palestine before the establishment of Israel.
While Huckabee has sparked the most concern among community members, other Trump Cabinet picks have strongly spoken in Israel’s favor as it targets Hamas following the militant group’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack in which it killed 1,200 Israelis and took hundreds more as hostage.
Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, nominated for secretary of state, has opposed a ceasefire in the war, stating that he wants Israel to “destroy every element of Hamas they can get their hands on.”
Trump’s pick to be his ambassador to the United Nations, New York Rep. Elize Stefanik, led the questioning of university presidents over antisemitism on campuses. She has also opposed funding for the UN Relief and Works Agency, which oversees aid to Gaza.
The Republican Jewish Coalition, which organized for Trump in Michigan, has been outspoken in its support for many of Trump’s Cabinet picks. Sam Markstein, the group’s political director, described the proposed lineup as a “pro-Israel dream team,” adding that “folks are giddy about the picks.” He praised Trump’s pro-Israel record as “second to nobody.”
“The days of this mealymouthed, trying to have support in both camps of this issue are over,” Markstein said. “The way to secure the region is peace through strength, and that means no daylight between Israel and the United States.”
No roles yet for key figures in Trump’s Arab American outreach
Among the reasons some Arab American voters supported Trump was that they believed his prominent supporters would be key in the next administration.
Massad Boulos, a Lebanese businessman and father-in-law of Trump’s daughter Tiffany, led efforts to engage the Arab American community, organizing dozens of meetings across Michigan and other areas with large Arab populations. Some sessions also featured Richard Grenell, former acting director of national intelligence, who was well-regarded by those who met with him.
Neither Boulos nor Grenell has been tapped yet for the coming administration, though Grenell was once considered a potential secretary of state before Rubio was selected. Boulos declined to comment and Grenell did not respond to a request for comment.
“Some people expected Trump to be different and thought Massad would play a significant role,” said Osama Siblani, publisher of the Dearborn-based Arab American News, which declined to endorse a candidate in the presidential race.
Siblani himself turned down a suggested meeting with Trump after the non-endorsement announcement.
“But now people are coming to us and saying, ‘Look what you’ve done,’” Siblani said. “We had a choice between someone actively shooting and killing you and someone threatening to do so. We had to punish the person who was shooting and killing us at the time.”
Philippines cleans up after sixth major storm in weeks
- There have been no other reports so far of deaths or injuries
- Power outages across the island province of Catanduanes could last for months
Manila: Filipinos cleared fallen trees and repaired damaged houses on Monday after the sixth major storm to batter the Philippines in a month smashed flimsy buildings, knocked out power and claimed at least one life.
The national weather service had warned of a “potentially catastrophic” impact from Man-yi, which was a super typhoon when it hit over the weekend, but President Ferdinand Marcos said Monday it “wasn’t as bad as we feared.”
Packing maximum sustained wind speeds of 185 kilometers an hour, Man-yi slammed into Catanduanes island late Saturday, and the main island of Luzon on Sunday afternoon.
It uprooted trees, brought down power lines, crushed wooden houses and triggered landslides, but did not cause serious flooding.
“Though Pepito was strong, the impact wasn’t as bad as we feared,” Marcos said, according to an official transcript of his remarks to media, using the local name for Man-yi.
One person was killed in Camarines Norte province, which Marcos said was “one casualty too many.” Police said the victim, a 79-year-old man, died after his motorbike was caught in a power line.
There have been no other reports so far of deaths or injuries.
“We will now carry on with the rescue of those (in) isolated areas and the continuing relief for those who are, who have been displaced and have no means to prepare their own meals and have no water supplies,” Marcos said.
Power outages across the island province of Catanduanes could last for months after Man-yi toppled electricity poles, provincial information officer Camille Gianan told AFP.
“Catanduanes has been heavily damaged by that typhoon — we need food packs, hygiene kits and construction materials,” Gianan said.
“Most houses with light materials were flattened while some houses made of concrete had their roofs, doors and windows destroyed.”
In the coastal town of Baler in Aurora province, clean-up operations were underway to remove felled trees and debris blocking roads and waterways.
“Most of the houses here are made of light materials so even now, before the inspection, we are expecting heavy damage on many houses in town,” disaster officer Neil Rojo told AFP.
“We’ve also received reports of roofs that went flying with the wind last night... it was the fierce wind that got us scared, not exactly the heavy rains.”
Storm weakens
Man-yi weakened significantly as it traversed the mountains of Luzon and was downgraded to a severe tropical storm as it swept over the South China Sea toward Vietnam on Monday.
More than a million people in the Philippines fled their homes ahead of the storm, which followed an unusual streak of violent weather.
Climate change is increasing the intensity of storms, leading to heavier rains, flash floods and stronger gusts.
At least 163 people in the Philippines died in the past month’s storms, which left thousands homeless and wiped out crops and livestock.
About 20 big storms and typhoons hit the Southeast Asian nation or its surrounding waters each year, killing scores of people, but it is rare for multiple such weather events to take place in a small window.
Man-yi also hit the Philippines late in the typhoon season — most cyclones develop between July and October.
This month, four storms were clustered simultaneously in the Pacific basin, which the Japan Meteorological Agency told AFP was the first time such an occurrence had been observed in November since its records began in 1951.
India’s capital shuts schools because of smog
NEW DELHI: India’s capital New Delhi switched schools to online classes Monday until further notice because of worsening toxic smog, the latest bid to ease the sprawling megacity’s health crisis.
Levels of PM2.5 pollutants — dangerous cancer-causing microparticles that enter the bloodstream through the lungs — were recorded at 57 times above the World Health Organization’s recommended daily maximum on Sunday evening.
They stood around 39 times above warning limits at dawn on Monday, with a dense grey and acrid smog smothering the city.
The city is blanketed in acrid smog each year, primarily blamed on stubble burning by farmers in neighboring regions to clear their fields for plowing, as well as factories and traffic fumes.
The restrictions were put in place by city authorities “in an effort to prevent further deterioration” of the air quality.
Authorities hope by keeping children at home, traffic will be significantly reduced.
“Physical classes shall be discontinued for all students, apart from Class 10 and 12,” Chief Minister Atishi, who uses one name, said in a statement late Sunday.
Primary schools were already ordered to cease in-person classes on Thursday, with a raft of further restrictions imposed on Monday, including limiting diesel-powered trucks and construction.
The government urged children and the elderly, as well as those with lung or heart issues “to stay indoors as much as possible.”
Many in the city cannot afford air filters, nor do they have homes they can effectively seal from the misery of foul-smelling air blamed for thousands of premature deaths.
The orders came into force on Monday morning.
New Delhi and the surrounding metropolitan area, home to more than 30 million people, consistently tops world rankings for air pollution in winter.
Cooler temperatures and slow-moving winds worsen the situation by trapping deadly pollutants each winter, stretching from mid-October until at least January.
India’s Supreme Court last month ruled that clean air was a fundamental human right, ordering both the central government and state-level authorities to take action.
