He was known by many titles — “lawyer,” “special counsel,” even one he gave himself, “designated thug” — but when Michael D. Cohen’s testimony began Monday morning at the criminal trial of his former boss, Donald J. Trump, he was asked about the most common: fixer.
“It’s fair,” the witness acknowledged, before describing the job.
He tried to manage what the news media said about Mr. Trump, even the puff pieces — he instructed the National Enquirer, wary of how it would play among women, not to mention that Trump used to date a Penthouse magazine model.
Over time, Mr. Cohen became a key player in the catch-and-kill deals described to jurors over several days of testimony thus far. Mr. Cohen said Monday that when he learned of Karen McDougal, a Playboy model who said she had an affair with Mr. Trump, his response was: “She’s really beautiful.” Mr. Cohen says he warned Mr. Trump that Ms. McDougal was shopping her story, and Mr. Trump told him to “make sure it doesn’t get released.”
They enlisted the help of The National Enquirer, whose parent company, American Media Inc., ended up paying $150,000 to buy the rights to her story and then bury it.
By then, in the lead-up to the 2016 election, he talked to Mr. Trump every single day, by phone or in person at impromptu meetings that began, “Boss, do you have a second?” he testified. Mr. Trump avoided email, because of a fear of creating a paper trail, potentially for prosecutors, he testified.
His work included scouting the occasional deal, including foreign projects that never materialized, like a plan for a Trump Tower in Moscow.
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Source: Elections - nytimes.com
