Michael Cohen will testify for the prosecution of Donald Trump in the civil case on the overvaluation of properties in New York State. I think at this point there is hardly anything that Trump’s defense team doesn’t know. Trump’s Chief Financial Officer, Allen Weisselberg, has already testified that properties were overvalued, followed by an outside appraiser who corroborated this, and provided his involvement in the process.

What Cohen will bring to the table today, is testimony that Donald Trump met with Allen Weisselberg and gave his approval. That connection is essential. The defense will likely attack Michael Cohen’s credibility. Cohen officially surrendered to the FBI on August 21, 2018. That afternoon, Cohen pleaded guilty to eight criminal charges: five counts of tax evasion, one count of making false statements to a financial institution, one count of willfully causing an unlawful corporate contribution, and one count of making an excessive campaign contribution at the request of a candidate (Trump) for the “principal purpose of influencing [the] election”. (Wikipedia, see link at bottom)

Donald Trump is expected to attend. I am sure his defense team wishes he would not. He has been warned to be quiet in the courtroom, and is restricted on what he can say about court employees outside of court. What is motivating Trump, is that he wants to be in front of the cameras and tell his followers that the charges are baseless.

All this political rhetoric is wearing thin. The court already ruled in a summary judgement that there was overvaluation of properties. So, Trump will be found guilty. He will lose control of valuable properties in NY State, and pay millions in fines. Michael Cohen is there to fill in some of the gaps of who was responsible.

So, today’s question is can Trump control himself? If there is an outburst, will the judge jail him, at least for a day? Will his followers continue to buy his story that his is just a witch hunt? We shall see.

Stay tuned,

Dave

Wikipedia Michael Cohen