Michael Cohen admits calling Trump ‘Cheeto-dusted cartoon villain’ as ex-prez’s lawyers try to paint him as scorned, lying hater
Michael Cohen admitted Tuesday to ripping Donald Trump as a “dictator douchebag” and a “Cheeto-dusted cartoon villain” who “belongs in a cage” — as the ex-president’s lawyers tried to paint his former “fixer” as a self-serving turncoat out for revenge.
“Did you call Trump a ‘boorish cartoon misogynist’ and a ‘Cheeto-dusted cartoon villain’ on your podcast?” defense attorney Todd Blanche asked Cohen during two hours of oft-fiery cross-examination Tuesday at Trump’s hush money trial.
“Sounds like something I would say,” Cohen, 57, coolly quipped from the stand in Manhattan Supreme Court, just 15 feet away from Trump, 77, who sat leaning back with his eyes closed at the defense table.
The exchanges came as Trump’s attorneys took aim at Cohen’s credibility near the end of a month-long-trial in which the presumptive GOP presidential nominee is charged with fudging his company’s records to hide a $130,000 hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s prosecution hinges on jurors believing that Cohen paid Daniels at Trump’s behest to silence her story about having sex with the real estate mogul on the eve of the 2016 election — and that Trump had the “intent” to hide a damaging scandal from voters.
Asked if he’d like to see Trump convicted in the case, Cohen nonchalantly replied: “Sure.”
Cohen also admitted to profiting handsomely after turning against Trump, having earned about $3.4 million from writing books about his former longtime boss called “Disloyal: The True Story of the Former Personal Attorney to President Donald J. Trump” and “Revenge: How Donald Trump Weaponized the US Department of Justice Against His Critics.”
“I wanted it all: power, the good life, public acclaim, fame, big deals, fast cars, private planes, the excess and glamor and zest for life,” Cohen wrote in an excerpt of “Disloyal” read aloud for jurors by Blanche.
“Those are my words, yes,” Cohen confirmed when asked about it by the defense attorney.
And Cohen was quizzed about a slew of merchandise he hawks referencing Trump, including a “Convict 45” enamel pin is being sold for $17, a $22 “Send Him To The Big House Not The White House” coffee cup and a shirt depicting Trump in an orange jumpsuit behind bars that Cohen wore on a recent TikTok livestream.
Cohen claimed he goes on TikTok for live streams six nights a week to “vent” and as a way to deal with struggles winding down at night.
“I was having a difficult time sleeping,” he testified. He also described his TikToks as an “outlet.”
“As a matter of fact, on April 23rd, so after the trial started in this case, you went on TikTok and called me a ‘crying little sh-t;’ didn’t you?” a normally soft-spoken Blanche yelled, while pointing at Cohen, at the start of cross-examination.
But his bid at drama didn’t appear to get a rise out of Cohen, and seemed to land flat in the room.
“That sounds like something I would say,” Cohen replied calmly. Prosecutors then objected and Judge Juan Merchan sustained the objection — wiping the whole exchange from the record.
Blanche later painted a picture showing how Cohen was once an avid fan and admirer of Trump — until he turned on the ex-president around the time that he pleaded guilty to a slew of federal crimes in 2018.
Cohen, a convicted felon, has done prison time for campaign finance law breaches stemming from payoffs to Daniels and Trump’s other alleged mistress, Playboy Playmate Karen McDougal, as well as unrelated personal financial crimes.
Blanche took aim at Cohen’s documented history of lying to investigators and Congress — which Cohen claimed he did to protect his then-beloved boss Trump.
“The info I gave was not accurate,” Cohen conceded, referring to bogus testimony he gave during the Robert Mueller special counsel investigation on Russian interference in the 2016 election about the Trump Tower real estate project in Moscow.
“Is not accurate information a lie?” Blanche probed.
“Sure. It was inaccurate, yes,” Cohen said, prompting Blanche to push again, “Was it a lie?”
After more back-and-forth, Cohen eventually admitted: “Sure, I’ll say it’s a lie.”
Cohen also admitted to lying to the special counsel’s team about speaking with Trump about the notorious “Access Hollywood” tape, in which Trump brags on a hot mic about grabbing women by their genitals.
“You told them on August 7, 2018, that you didn’t recall speaking with Trump about the tape, correct?” Blanche asked.
“I don’t recall that,” Cohen replied.
“But you testified yesterday you had a specific recollection about speaking to Mr. Trump about the ‘Access Hollywood’ tape,” Blanche continued — to which Cohen responded “correct.”
Cohen had told jurors earlier in the day that he decided to stop being loyal to Trump after speaking with his family about his federal guilty plea.
“I made a decision, based again on a conversation with my family, that I would not lie for President Trump any longer,” Cohen said, shifting in his chair to face the jury.
Wearing a dark blue suit and baby blue tie and taking sporadic sips from a bottle of water, Cohen also told jurors that, of Trump, “I regret doing things for him that I should not have — lying, bullying people in order to effectuate the goal.”
The now-disbarred attorney said he had repeatedly lied to cover for Trump “out of loyalty and to protect him.”
He said he didn’t regret working for the Trump Organization, “But to keep the loyalty and to do things that he asked me to do, it violated my moral compass and I suffered a penalty, as did my family.”
Before their relationship soured, Cohen admitted to “admiring” Trump for years, and reading the real estate mogul’s book “The Art Of The Deal” twice.
“You have called it a masterpiece?” Blanche asked him.
“Yes,” Cohen replied.
“At that time, I was knee-deep into the cult of Donald Trump, yes,” Cohen testified when asked about comments he made in praise of Trump in 2015.
Blanche asked him if he was “obsessed” with Trump during that period, but Cohen wouldn’t budge.
“I don’t think I’d categorize the word obsessed. I admired him tremendously,” Cohen said.
Trump perked up at the start of cross-examination after the Tuesday lunch break, chatting animatedly to his lawyers.
But after a few minutes, he slouched again deep in his chair with his eyes closed, leaning back.
He then kept his eyes closed for at least a half hour.
Cohen’s cross-examination will continue Thursday morning.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records and has claimed the case is a politically motivated revenge plot to get him off the presidential campaign trail.
“Can you believe I’ve been here for five weeks instead of campaigning,” he told reporters in a 10-minute rant in the courthouse hallway Tuesday.
“This is election interference at the most obvious,” Trump claimed.
