Donald Trump's art of the dodge failed him in the New York City courtroom where the future of his eponymous empire hangs in the balance because, as his former attorney Michael Cohen told Raw Story on Tuesday, it revealed his Achilles heel.
"It only took them four hours to get him to crack," said Cohen. "Because he has no stamina."
Cohen spoke to Raw Story just one day after a "disaster" day for Trump on the witness stand and one day before his daughter Ivanka is slated to give potentially damaging evidence.
While Trump's attorneys have accused Cohen of lying both in and outside the courtroom, the lawyer — who testified on the witness stand that he helped Trump falsify documents artificially inflating Trump's assets — turned the accusation on them.
"It's all about deception — more than just deception," Cohen said. "It's almost devious."
Trump, who has denied the wrongdoing alleged in the $250 million lawsuit, claims that he never explicitly said to change the documents to defraud banks or insurance companies. But Cohen argues Trump never says anything directly.
"With Trump, nothing is ever explicit," Cohen told Raw Story.
On the stand, Cohen testified he worked on statements of financial condition, complete listings of Trump Organization assets and liabilities, according to MSNBC's legal correspondent Lisa Rubin, who has been reporting from the courtroom. "
New YorkAttorney General Letitia James contends the Trump family purposefully inflated the company's worth in such documents and ultimately defrauded investors and lenders.
Cohen reportedly told the court the financial statements would be used to demonstrate how much the Trump Organization was worth and would be shared outside the company.
To Raw Story, Cohen said Trump signed off on those documents.
In Trump's fraud case, the question will be whether Judge Arthur Engoron believes Trump's contention that lower-level staffers took the initiative to inflate his net worth.
"Not only is it not believable," Cohen said of Trump's defense, "it’s ludicrous."
Cohen is not the only person to criticize Trump's performance on the witness stand Monday.
Judge Arthur Engoron repeatedly admonished the twice-impeached ex-president to answer prosecutors' questions and stop giving "irrelevant" testimony more suited to a campaign rally than a courtroom.
And legal experts say Trump made a "critical" admission when he agreed on the witness stand that a Deutsche Bank term loan agreement he verified and signed was issued "in order to induce lending."
