Cohen in court

Donald Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen finally took the stand Monday in the so-called “hush-money” trial against his old boss in Manhattan. Cohen’s testimony has been much hyped by Trump’s critics, as the legal claim is that Trump improperly claimed payments made by Cohen to adult film star Stormy Daniels as legal expenses instead of campaign expenses. Cohen testified that his former client signed off on everything that he did, indicating that Trump directed him to pay off Daniels and suggesting that he would have known that they shouldn’t be marked down as a legal expense or retainer in the company books. 

It is a misdemeanor to falsify business records, but New York City DA Alvin Bragg takes the accusations a step further by claiming that Trump falsified his records to cover up another potential crime. Bragg says Trump either hid the payments to Daniels to obscure a campaign finance violation, tax fraud or a conspiracy to prevent or promote an election. Cohen claims he was told multiple times to pay women to keep quiet or suppress media stories about Trump’s alleged affairs, which the prosecution argues was part of a broader conspiracy to protect Trump’s campaign.

Trump and his legal team have attempted to blunt Cohen’s testimony by pointing out that he is a convicted liar — he pleaded guilty in 2018 to, among other crimes, making false statements to Congress — and that at Trump’s civil fraud, he appeared to lie under oath again. Cohen suggested then that he didn’t commit tax evasion, even though he pleaded guilty to that offense. Cohen also testified in court Monday that he often lied, especially to the media, but that it was done on behalf of or at the request of his boss.

In other legal news, New Jersey senator Bob Menendez appeared in court for the first time Monday in his corruption case. Menendez and his wife are accused of providing favors for New Jersey businessmen and coordinating with the governments of Egypt and Qatar in exchange for cash, cars, gold bars and other goods. Menendez stepped down from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee after the indictment was handed down, but has opted not to resign from the Senate. Menendez was previously cleared on other corruption charges in 2017 after the case ended in a mistrial; he is accused of starting the racket at the center of the current case one year later, in 2018.

-Amber Duke 

On our radar

NO CEASEFIRE ON CLINTON Chris Van Hollen, the Democratic senator from Maryland, slammed Hillary Clinton’s comments about pro-Palestinian college protesters as “dismissive.” Clinton suggested in an interview last week that the protesters “don’t know very much” about the Middle East. 

COMING UP TRUMP A new Siena College poll found that former president Donald Trump leads President Biden in five of six swing states: Pennsylvania, Arizona, Michigan, Georgia and Nevada. Biden leads by two points in Wisconsin. 

BIG MONEY IN BIG SKY COUNTRY A conservative group called One Nation is dumping $70 million dollar into key Senate battleground states, adding to its major investment in the Montana race between Tim Sherry and incumbent Jon Tester. One Nation is pouring money into Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin and Nevada.  

RFK’s abortion flip-flop

Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is “clarifying” his stance on abortion once again, reports the Hill. But is his position really “clarified” if his latest “belief” is a just a contradiction layered over his other past contradictions on the issue? 

The Spectator’s Amber Duke wondered in last week’s DC Diary if RFK knows what he believes on abortion. Days ago, the Democrat-turned-Independent said he wasn’t a fan of late-term abortions, but would legalize them, “even if it’s full-term.” “I think we have to leave it to the women rather than the state,” he said in an interview with Sage Steele. 

Over the weekend, however, RFK took to Twitter/X to say “abortion should be legal up until a certain number of weeks, and restricted thereafter.”

And as recently as August, Duke reminded us, “RFK had said he would cap abortions at three months, adding that he believes states ‘have a right to protect a child once the child becomes viable, and that right, it increases.’” 

Plus, “A certain number of weeks” and “restricted” are vague terms — hardly the “clarification” the Hill generously reports. 

RFK Jr.’s all-over-the-place positioning may be attributable to his newbie status as a politician. Or it could be due to the worm that allegedly ate part of his brain.

Either way, Donald Trump’s campaign appears to be threatened by the wonky challenger and has been upping attacks on his fellow candidate.

–Teresa Mull

Psaki still spinning for Biden

Former White House press secretary turned MSNBC show host Jen Psaki claims in her new book that President Joe Biden did not look at his watch during the dignified transfer ceremony for US soldiers killed following the 2021 Afghanistan withdrawal. 

“The president looked at his watch only after the ceremony had ended. Moments later, he and the First Lady headed toward their car,” Psaki writes in her memoir, Say More. 

This retelling contradicts photos, which have been consistently used by Republicans in ads, as well as the testimony of Gold Star families. Snopes even fact-checked the claim “Did Biden check watch multiple times during transfer of fallen soldiers?” as true.

In a statement, Psaki tells Axios that the “detail in a few lines of the book about the exact number of times he looked at his watch will be removed in future reprints and the ebook.”

“The story on Afghanistan is really about the importance of delivering feedback even when it is difficult, told through my own experience of telling President Biden that his own story of loss was not well received by the families who were grieving their sons and daughters,” she added. 

–Juan P. Villasmil