New York (AFP) - Donald Trump's former fixer Michael Cohen testified before a grand jury in New York Monday, as prosecutors near a momentous decision on whether to charge the ex-president over hush money paid to a porn star.
If Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg files an indictment against the 76-year-old Trump, it would mark the first time a former US president has been charged with a crime.
It would send shockwaves through the United States and upend Trump's bid to win the Republican nomination for the 2024 presidential election.
"My goal is to tell the truth," Cohen told reporters as he arrived at a courthouse for his testimony, adding that Trump "needs to pay for his dirty deeds."
Cohen's lawyer confirmed to AFP that his client was being questioned.A spokeswoman for Bragg declined to comment.
Bragg's investigation centers on a $130,000 payment made two weeks before the 2016 presidential election to an adult film actress known as Stormy Daniels.
The money was allegedly intended to stop Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, from publicly disclosing an affair she says she had with Trump years earlier.
The payment was made by Cohen, Trump's former lawyer, who said he was later reimbursed.
In America, prosecutors put witnesses and evidence in front of a grand jury, which then decides whether there is a case to answer. The proceedings are not public.
Cohen's appearance comes after the New York Times and Washington Post reported last week that Bragg's team had offered Trump an opportunity to testify.
Trump is almost certain to decline, to avoid potentially incriminating himself, but experts say the invitation is a sign that he will almost certainly be charged.
The payment to Cohen, if not properly accounted, could result in a misdemeanor charge that could be raised to a felony if the false accounting was designed to cover up a second crime, such as a campaign finance violation.
Combining the two laws in one case has never been tried before, according to the New York Times, and presents a gamble for Bragg, who took office in January last year.
Cohen was sentenced to three years in prison in 2018 on federal charges related to the hush payment.He pleaded guilty but said he had been carrying out Trump's orders.
Trump denies the affair and last week lashed out on his Truth Social page, calling the New York investigation "a political Witch-Hunt, trying to take down the leading candidate, by far, in the Republican Party."
He is facing several criminal probes at the state and federal level over possible wrongdoing before, during and after his first term in office that threaten his third run at the White House.
