Trump's tax trial nightmare: Expert says 'the star witness could be Michael Cohen'

Legal analyst Elie Honig outlined how much of a nightmare former President Donald Trump could face if the Manhattan District Attorney's Office charges him with tax fraud.

Appearing on CNN Tuesday morning, Honig broke down what we know about the Manhattan DA's investigation, based on assorted court filings the office has made.

"The core theory of the case is that the Trump Organization would falsely inflate or deflate the value of their assets depending on the situation," he said. "For example, when they were applying for a large bank loan the theory is they would falsely inflate the value of their assets so they could get bigger loans, but when it came time to pay taxes, they would falsely deflate the value of their assets because they didn't want to pay as much taxes."

Honig said that this case could be particularly tough for Trump to stomach given that his former "fixer" would likely play a major role in helping the prosecution.

"The star witness could be Michael Cohen," he said. "We know he's talking to the Manhattan D.A., spoke to them last month, January 2021, and we have an idea of what he might be telling them because he testified about this in Congress back in 2019."

Honig predicted that the Manhattan D.A. would bring a "strong case" if it decided to bring charges, although he warned that Trump "is not going to take this case lying down."

Watch the video below.