Former President Trump's lawyer Todd Blanche attempted to undermine the credibility of Trump's onetime fixer Michael Cohen during cross-examination Tuesday.
Why it matters: Cohen has been a key witness in the hush money case, providing details about how he was reimbursed for facilitating a payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels.
The big picture: After testifying Monday about how Trump approved of a plan to pay Daniels $130,000 to keep quiet about an alleged affair with Trump, Cohen on Tuesday detailed a 2017 meeting with the former president about how he would be reimbursed.
- Cohen testified about false invoices he sent to the Trump Organization and the checks he received — many of which were signed by Trump — as a result. The checks were the vehicle for his reimbursement for fronting the payment to Daniels.
- In an apparent effort to get ahead of Trump's lawyers' moves to discredit him, Cohen recounted several instances in which he'd lied in order to protect Trump.
State of play: During cross-examination, Blanche portrayed Cohen as disobedient by noting he has continued to comment on the trial publicly on social media and in interviews with media outlets after prosecutors asked him to stop, according to the New York Times.
- Blanche also painted Cohen as being obsessed with Trump through a line of questioning about his podcast, Mea Culpa, which predominantly concerns the former president's legal developments.
- Blanche also sought to portray Cohen as hating Trump but continuing to make money off of him from merchandise sales using his likeness.
Worth noting: Cohen, who is central to the case, testified that he's never met Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, the prosecutor in the case.
Zoom out: This is the fifth week of Trump's ongoing criminal hush money trial.
- Trump has been charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records in connection with the hush money payment to Daniels. He has denied wrongdoing.
Go deeper: What to know about Michael Cohen, who is testifying at Trump's hush money trial
