Trump Plans Return to NY Court for a Showdown With Michael Cohen

NEW YORK — Donald Trump plans to return next week to the New York courtroom where his civil fraud trial is slowly proceeding, according to two people with knowledge of the matter, a reappearance that is likely to bring him face-to-face with his former fixer Michael Cohen.

Trump attended the first three days of the trial that stems from a lawsuit brought by the New York attorney general, Letitia James, and used the camera-lined courthouse hallway as an impromptu campaign stop.

He attacked James and the trial judge, Arthur Engoron, who has already ruled that the former president fraudulently inflated the value of his assets to gain favorable terms on loans and insurance deals. He used his social platform to attack the judge’s law clerk, Allison Greenfield, prompting Engoron to levy a limited gag order barring the former president from attacking court staff.

Trump complained on Oct. 4 that he was “stuck here” and departed, leaving behind a calmer and more orderly courtroom — so calm, in fact, that at least one member of the public has dozed off during the trial. Since he left, four witnesses have testified, including two of his fellow defendants: Allen Weisselberg, the former chief financial officer of the Trump Organization, and Jeffrey McConney, its former controller.

Trump’s return, first reported by The Messenger, is likely to coincide with the appearance of the most hotly anticipated witness so far: Cohen, whose congressional testimony in February 2019 that Trump inflated the value of his assets was the impetus for James’ investigation, which began the following month.

“It’s been five years since we have seen one another,” Cohen said in a response to a request for comment on Trump’s plans to attend the trial. “I look forward to the reunion. I hope Donald does as well.”

On the trial’s first day, a lawyer for the attorney general’s office, Kevin Wallace, played a video of Cohen saying under oath that he had been involved in preparing years’ worth of the annual financial statements on which the former president listed the value of his assets.

In the video, Cohen said that he and others at the company had inflated the value of individual assets to achieve Trump’s desired overall net worth. While it played, Trump shook his head and scowled.

Cohen is not just testifying against Trump in the civil fraud case. He is also expected to be the star witness in a criminal case brought by the Manhattan district attorney’s office, which stems from a hush-money payment Cohen made to a porn star during the 2016 presidential election on Trump’s behalf.

This article originally appeared in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/12/nyregion/trump-fraud-trial-michael-cohen.html">The New York Times</a>.