Former President Donald Trump is scheduled to return to the courtroom for his civil fraud trial in New York on Tuesday, after a brief hiatus due to COVID-19 exposure. All of this comes as his former attorney and fixer Michael Cohen, who had to delay his testimony due to a pre-existing medical condition, finally takes the stand against his former boss.
On Sunday, Cohen told Raw Story that he thinks Trump's lawyer, Alina Habba, will likely run afoul of the judge.
Trump has already lost the case on the merits in summary judgment, where Judge Arthur Engoron ruled for New York Attorney General Letitia James that he and his adult sons systematically lied about their companies' asset values for loan and tax benefits. But the trial will determine how much he owes in damages — and there's a lot of potential for things to get even worse for him, wrote MSNBC legal analyst Lisa Rubin on the social media site now known as "X."
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"Tomorrow, Donald Trump is expected to return to the civil fraud trial against him in New York as his former lawyer Michael Cohen takes the stand. What could go wrong?" wrote Rubin.
Cohen told Raw Story that court begins at 10 a.m. EST and he'll be second on deck to answer questions.
"Well, for starters, Trump is already under a very narrow gag order in that case after an incendiary post about the judge’s law clerk," explained Rubin. "After the court learned that the post in question was still up last week, he fined Trump $5k. But he warned that future violations could result in much harsher penalties, including possible jail time. After that experience, how is Judge Engoron going to react if Trump goes after Cohen *as he is testifying*?"
"There was also an episode last week during the testimony of appraiser Doug Larson, who provided Trump Org employees with some information about allegedly comparable properties but testified that he did not actually consult with them about the value of Trump Org assets," wrote Rubin. "Trump’s reactions to Larson’s testimony were distracting, loud and in the AG’s team’s view, inappropriate. Judge Engoron 'asked everyone to keep their voices down, ‘particularly if it's meant to influence the testimony.’'"
Ultimately, Rubin said, Trump's behavior in reaction to Cohen could easily land him in even more trouble.
"Again, Trump’s been warned," she wrote. "Now imagine how Judge Engoron might respond if Trump puts on a scowling, scoffing show while Cohen’s on the stand. To channel Pete Campbell, I’d expect some variation on 'Not good, Bob!' before something worse than shushing happens."
