With Donald Trump's fixer-turned-foe Michael Cohen expected to take the witness stand Monday, the judge in the former president's hush money case issued prosecutors a stern warning: Get Cohen to stop his taunting posts and jabs at Trump.
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Judge Juan M. Merchan's comments came as a dramatic and consequential week in the first criminal trial of a former American president drew to a close Friday. The prosecution could rest its case by the end of next week, prosecutor Joshua Steinglass said.
Prosecutors have been building up their case ahead of important testimony from Cohen, who arranged the $130,000 payout to porn actor Stormy Daniels to keep her from going public ahead of the 2016 election about an alleged sexual encounter with Trump a decade earlier. Trump denies ever having sex with Daniels.
The judge's warning underscores how Cohen is not only prosecutors' most crucial witness, but their most complicated. Once a Trump loyalist, he has become one of his fiercest critics since pleading guilty to federal charges, routinely bashing and mocking the former president on social media.
Defense attorneys will argue that the now-disbarred lawyer who served prison time is out to get Trump and cannot be believed.
Two people familiar with the matter told The Associated Press that Cohen is expected to take the stand Monday. The people could not discuss the matter publicly and spoke to AP on condition of anonymity.