Michael Cohen, former attorney for former U.S. President Donald Trump, arrives to the Latest York Courthouse in Latest York City, U.S., March 13, 2023.Â
Eduardo Munoz | Reuters
Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer Michael Cohen told journalists outside a Manhattan courthouse Monday that the ex-president “must be held accountable for his dirty deeds,” as Cohen arrived to testify to a grand jury probing Trump, NBC News reported.
“My goal is to inform the reality,” said Cohen, the important thing witness within the investigation into the hush-money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election to maintain her quiet about an alleged sexual tryst with Trump.
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Cohen served for years as Trump’s attorney. He paid Daniels $130,000 on the eve of the 2016 election, and Trump’s company later reimbursed him for the payment.
Cohen later pleaded guilty in Manhattan federal court to multiple crimes, including one related to the payoff to Daniels. He has since grow to be an outspoken critic of Trump.
Trump has declined a proposal to testify to the identical grand jury, his lawyer said Monday.
Such a proposal is common shortly before prosecutors seek indictments against the people prolonged the possibility to testify.
Cohen told reporters that his goal in providing evidence against Trump “isn’t revenge.”
“That is all about accountability. He must be held accountable for his dirty deeds,” Cohen said.
Trump has denied having sex with Daniels and has condemned the investigation into the payoff. The probe is being conducted by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.
In a post on his social media site over the weekend, Trump said the late former Manhattan DA Robert Morgenthau could be “spinning in his grave if he were told that his Office was even occupied with bringing charges against the forty fifth President of the USA & leading Republican contender for the 2024 Nomination” based on what Trump called a “Scam” led by Daniels, Cohen and Daniels’ ex-attorney Michael Avenatti, who’s serving a federal prison sentence for defrauding clients.
