Democracy Dies in Darkness

Did Trump’s lawyers catch Michael Cohen in a ‘lie’? Let’s take a look.

Parsing what is potentially the most consequential exchange of the hush money trial so far.

Analysis by
Staff writer
May 17, 2024 at 11:15 a.m. EDT
Former president Donald Trump leaves for a lunch break during his Manhattan criminal trial on Thursday. (Victor J. Blue for The Washington Post)
5 min

Prosecutors took care to emphasize at the start of former president Donald Trump’s Manhattan criminal trial last month that their credibility-challenged witness Michael Cohen’s testimony would be corroborated by evidence. The message: You don’t have to take his word for it.

But on some key aspects of the case, they’ve still been forced to rely on Cohen’s say-so. That made the cross-examination of Cohen this week the most high-stakes moment of the trial.