Michael Cohen 'has been dismantling' Trump's only defense: expert

Michael Cohen effectively wrecked Donald Trump's argument that he made hush money payments to women who claimed to have had affairs with him to protect his marriage, according to a legal expert.

The former president is standing trial for falsifying business records to cover up those payments, which prosecutors say amounted to illegal campaign contributions before the 2016 election, and legal analyst Lisa Rubin told MSNBC's "Morning Joe" that Trump's former lawyer had delivered damning evidence of that conspiracy.

"You'll recall, the defense wants to say this was about the family," Rubin said. "The principal objective here – even if Donald Trump knew about it, the principal objective was not for the campaign, there was no conspiracy here to promote Donald Trump's election through unlawful means. Michael Cohen sort of dismantling that. He said at one point he asked Trump, 'How is this going to go upstairs,' meaning when a story broke about [Playboy model] Karen McDougal, and Trump said back to him, 'Don't worry about that, how long do you think I'd be on the market for? Not long.'"

"You know, Trump basically also saying to Cohen, 'Even if my wife is that upset by that, don't worry about that, I'll be taken care of. I'll find another woman other than Melania,'" Rubin added. "That's not a person who is principally concerned about the impact on their family."

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Cohen told the jury about a number of conversations he had with Trump, former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker, and Trump Organization chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg, who other witnesses and Pecker himself have testified was involved in the scheme to buy off and bury damaging stories about the Republican nominee in the lead-up to his first election.

"Again and again, Michael Cohen showed when he said he made the payments in coordination with and at the direction of Donald Trump, he meant it," Rubin said. "You'll recall that [Monday], I sat here and said, I'm interested to see how Michael Cohen flushes out that phrase, 'at the direction of.' Was that code, meaning, did Trump wink-wink, nod-nod, please take care of this, or was he explicit in asking Michael Cohen to make sure Stormy Daniels got paid, and also equally explicit in how they were going to account for that through paperwork?"

"Michael Cohen left that unambiguous," Rubin added. "Donald Trump knew he intended Cohen to pay Stormy Daniels. He intended that Michael Cohen will not only be repaid but paid in a way that left Michael Cohen in good standing, A., with taxes, and, B., with a little extra for the bonus he was stiffed at the end of 2016. He knew the entire time that it would be papered over as legal expenses. Michael Cohen filled those gaps."

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