Michael Cohen, former President Trump’s former personal lawyer, believes he will be called to testify to the New York grand jury investigating the former president “very soon.”
Cohen told reporters his prediction on the way to meeting with the Manhattan district attorney’s office, which is investigating alleged hush money payments Cohen arranged on behalf of the former president to two women who said they had sex with Trump.
He has met with investigators more than a dozen times throughout the course of the Manhattan investigation.
Cohen arranged large sums for adult film star Stormy Daniels and playboy model Karen McDougal before the 2016 election. Cohen paid Daniels $130,000 and McDougal was paid $150,000 by American Media, the then-parent company of The National Enquirer tabloid.
Trump has denied that he had sexual relations with either of the women. Cohen pled guilty to a bevy of charges related to the payoffs and other conduct last year. He was sentenced to three years in prison but served little of it due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The Manhattan investigation appeared to stall last year following the resignation of the top prosecutor, but new prosecutor Alvin Bragg reempaneled a grand jury in January to consider charges against Trump regarding possible financial crimes.
Legal experts say Trump’s labeling of the payoffs as part of Cohen’s retainer — apparently to avoid embarrassment during the presidential campaign — may qualify as falsifying business records.
Trump faces three other criminal probes across the country.
In Georgia, a grand jury is looking into allegations that the former president asked the Georgia secretary of state to rig the 2020 election on his behalf, overturning the state’s result that President Biden won.
In Washington D.C., a special counsel continues to investigate Trump’s role in attempts to overturn the 2020 election and the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection. The special counsel investigation also includes the classified documents recovered from Trump’s Palm Beach, Fla., property, Mar-a-Lago.