Former President Donald J. Trump has taken different approaches to those who may testify at his trials. Some, he attacks publicly. Others he rewards for loyalty.
Donald J. Trump watched anxiously from the White House in April 2018 as news broke about federal agents searching the home of Michael D. Cohen, the man entrusted to conceal some of the president’s deepest secrets.
After Mr. Weisselberg signed the deal last year, Mr. Trump’s lawyers privately pressed him to testify in a civil fraud case filed against the former president, hoping the finance chief’s testimony would aid their defense, according to people with knowledge of the discussions, which have not previously been reported.
When he pleaded guilty to federal charges that August, Mr. Cohen pointed the finger at Mr. Trump, saying he had paid the hush money “at the direction of” his former boss — an accusation he is expected to repeat on the witness stand in the Manhattan trial.
The New York attorney general’s office, which had sued Mr. Trump and Mr. Weisselberg for fraudulently inflating the former president’s net worth, was set to question the onetime finance chief under oath in a deposition soon after his release from jail.
The cases, brought by a special counsel, Jack Smith, include one in Florida, where Mr. Trump is accused of mishandling classified documents, and one in Washington, where the former president has been charged with plotting to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
Mr. Trump also paid for lawyers for his two co-defendants in the classified documents case: Walt Nauta, a personal aide who works for the former president at his Mar-a-Lago estate, and Carlos De Oliveira, the property manager there.
The original article contains 2,427 words, the summary contains 254 words. Saved 90%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Donald J. Trump watched anxiously from the White House in April 2018 as news broke about federal agents searching the home of Michael D. Cohen, the man entrusted to conceal some of the president’s deepest secrets.
After Mr. Weisselberg signed the deal last year, Mr. Trump’s lawyers privately pressed him to testify in a civil fraud case filed against the former president, hoping the finance chief’s testimony would aid their defense, according to people with knowledge of the discussions, which have not previously been reported.
When he pleaded guilty to federal charges that August, Mr. Cohen pointed the finger at Mr. Trump, saying he had paid the hush money “at the direction of” his former boss — an accusation he is expected to repeat on the witness stand in the Manhattan trial.
The New York attorney general’s office, which had sued Mr. Trump and Mr. Weisselberg for fraudulently inflating the former president’s net worth, was set to question the onetime finance chief under oath in a deposition soon after his release from jail.
The cases, brought by a special counsel, Jack Smith, include one in Florida, where Mr. Trump is accused of mishandling classified documents, and one in Washington, where the former president has been charged with plotting to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
Mr. Trump also paid for lawyers for his two co-defendants in the classified documents case: Walt Nauta, a personal aide who works for the former president at his Mar-a-Lago estate, and Carlos De Oliveira, the property manager there.
The original article contains 2,427 words, the summary contains 254 words. Saved 90%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!