Michael Cohen, Lawrence native, at center of Donald Trump case
Former Trump Attorney Michael Cohen speaks with reporters as he arrives to meet with the Manhattan district attorney in February. Credit: TNS/Michael M. Santiago
WASHINGTON — Former President Donald Trump’s criminal indictment by a Manhattan grand jury is due in large part to the testimony of his former attorney Michael Cohen, a Long Island native who went from professing unwavering loyalty to Trump to ultimately testifying against him.
“The one thing he always spoke about was how much he loved Donald Trump, how he would take a bullet for the guy, how there’s nobody better than [Trump],” former Rep. Peter King (R-Seaford) said of his past interactions with Cohen.
“I’d be at some White House events and Michael would call me and ask if the president mentioned his name … he so much wanted to be in the Trump orbit,” King told Newsday.
Cohen, who grew up in Lawrence and was tapped by Trump in 2006 to serve as his general counsel, testified before a Manhattan grand jury for two days last month.
Cohen has not disclosed specifics about his testimony.
But he has said in television interviews there is a trail of documents that can prove his prior assertions that Trump was aware of hush money payments made through Cohen to adult film star Stormy Daniels, to keep her from going public with allegations of an affair with Trump.
"I promise the American people that all the information that is needed in order to create the indictment to get a prosecution and a conviction is in the hands of the district attorney," Cohen told ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos on March 17 when asked about his cooperation with the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office investigation.
In sworn testimony before Congress in February 2019, Cohen said he fronted the money to pay Daniels $130,000 for her silence.
Once elected, Trump reimbursed him with checks issued by the Trump Organization that were logged as retainer fees for Cohen’s legal services, Cohen said.
Cohen, 56, of Manhattan, graduated from the Hillel Academy in Lawrence, since renamed the Hebrew Academy of the Five Towns and Rockaways.
He graduated in 1984 from Lawrence Woodmere Academy, according to the school's newsletter. In 2012, when the school celebrated its centennial, Cohen was among 100 alumni featured in the school's annual alumni magazine.
Cohen started his legal career as a personal injury attorney.
Cohen reportedly caught Trump’s attention beginning in 2001 when he bought an apartment at the Trump World Tower in midtown Manhattan.
Later, Cohen purchased other investment properties with his in-laws at Trump-branded properties in New York and South Florida.
Cohen was seen as intensely loyal to Trump, with one Trump campaign surrogate once dubbing him Trump’s “Secretary of Loyalty.”
But the relationship took a turn in February 2018, when FBI agents raided Cohen’s office and home seeking documents involving the Daniels case. Trump sought to distance himself, telling reporters months later that Cohen was no longer his personal attorney.
In August 2018, Cohen pleaded guilty to eight felony charges including tax evasion, fraud and making an illegal campaign contribution stemming from the Daniels payment.
In December 2018, he was sentenced to three years in federal prison. He ultimately served about 14 months in prison and a year and half in home confinement, before being released.
In February 2019, Cohen testified before the House Oversight Committee, telling lawmakers he viewed Trump as a “con man.”
Former Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr., District Attorney Alvin Bragg's predecessor, told NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday that Cohen’s testimony before the grand jury and any future testimony of his should not be discounted despite efforts by Trump’s legal team to discredit him.
“Of course, Cohen will be attacked heavily, but the flip side of that, of course, is Cohen worked for Mr. Trump, and they obviously had a working relationship,” Vance said. “So we often find in criminal cases that the witnesses who are involved aren't necessarily priests or nuns.”
Laura Figueroa Hernandez is the White House correspondent and previously covered New York City politics and government. She joined Newsday in 2012 after covering state and local politics for The Miami Herald.
