Trump's lawyer Michael Cohen confirms $130,000 hush-money payment

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00:00He once boasted he would take a bullet for Donald Trump, but is now at the centre of

00:04the case against him.

00:06Michael Cohen took to the stand Monday to testify against his former employer, who he

00:11said had complete and intimate knowledge of a scheme to bury uncomfortable stories during

00:17the 2016 presidential campaign.

00:20What I was doing was at the direction and benefit of Mr Trump.

00:25Cohen is the prosecution's star witness in the so-called Hush Money trial, in which

00:29Trump is accused of having secretly paid women he slept with, including adult film star Stormy

00:35Daniels, to buy their silence.

00:38When the story broke out in 2018, Michael Cohen, who carried out the payments, initially

00:43said he acted of his own accord, before eventually pleading guilty to federal charges and admitting

00:49he was following Trump's orders.

00:52Cohen was disbarred and sentenced to three years in prison, something which Trump allies

00:57hope could now affect his credibility as a witness.

01:00This guy is a convicted felon who admitted in his testimony that he secretly recorded

01:06his former employer.

01:07Does any reasonable, sensible person believe anything that Michael Cohen says?

01:13Jurors on Monday were played an audio recording secretly made by Cohen in 2016, in which he

01:19and Trump discussed plans to buy another woman's silence, Karen McDougal, for $150,000.

01:26Most of the 37 felony charges against Trump center around the reimbursement of these fees

01:31to Cohen, which the prosecution says were falsely logged as legal expenses.

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