Michael Cohen testified that Donald Trump did not care if his wife, Melania Trump, found out about an alleged affair between him and adult film star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 presidential election, RadarOnline.com can report.
In a bombshell development to come shortly after Trump’s criminal hush money trial started back up in Manhattan on Monday, Cohen took to the witness stand to testify in the ongoing proceedings against the embattled ex-president.
Cohen’s bombshell testimony came just days after Daniels testified for more than six hours in connection to the case.
Cohen also provided new details regarding the alleged $130k hush money payment paid to Daniels ahead of the 2016 presidential election.
But while Trump previously suggested that he did not want Melania to find out about his alleged affair with Daniels, Cohen claimed that that was not the reason for the hush money payment.
Instead, Cohen testified that the $130k payment was “all about the campaign” and keeping Daniels quiet about the alleged affair so as not to hurt the then-presidential candidate’s chances of winning the White House.
“Michael Cohen says that Trump explicitly told him they needed to do whatever they could to suppress Stormy Daniels’s story until at least after the election, because it wouldn’t matter at that point,” New York Times reporter Jonathan Swift reported from inside the courtroom on Monday.
“Cohen also recalls asking Trump how Melania Trump might take everything that was happening,” fellow New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman added from inside the courtroom. “He describes Trump’s reply as follows.”
Haberman then included a direct quote from Cohen’s testimony on Monday afternoon.
“He goes: How long do you think I’ll be on the market for? Not long,” Cohen said regarding Trump’s alleged reaction to Melania potentially finding out about the purported affair with Daniels.
“He wasn’t thinking about Melania,” Cohen continued. “This was all about the campaign.”
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Haberman then noted how the alleged conversation relayed by Cohen on the witness stand this week was a “hearsay conversation” and that Cohen’s credibility “could be at issue” come cross-examination from Trump’s defense team.
“This is a hearsay conversation,” Haberman explained, “and if defense lawyers challenge it during cross-examination, Cohen’s credibility will be at issue.”
According to CNN, ex-President Trump “smirked and shook his head when Cohen made his remarks about Melania.”
While Cohen is expected to be cross-examined by Trump’s defense attorney Todd Blanche, it is unclear whether Trump’s defense team would want such a potentially devastating piece of testimony repeated in front of the jury deciding the case.
As RadarOnline.com previously reported, Trump is on criminal trial for the suspected falsification of New York business records ahead of the 2016 presidential election.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and the prosecution have argued that Trump falsified the business records to cover up damaging information and unlawful activity from American voters before and after the 2016 election.
