Then-candidate Donald Trump repeatedly demanded that porn star Stormy Daniels be kept from going public with allegations they had an affair, saying women would "hate" him and it would be a "disaster" for his 2016 campaign, his former lawyer testified Monday.
During his first day on the witness stand at the ex-president's historic "hush money" trial, Michael Cohen quoted Trump as saying, "Stop this from getting out" and "Just do it" during the run-up to the election, according to reports.
"He said, 'This is a disaster, a total disaster. Women will hate me. Guys may think it's cool but this is going to be a disaster for the campaign,'" Cohen said Trump responded after learning that Daniels was trying to sell her story.
Cohen also told jurors in New York City that Trump's third wife, Melania Trump, allegedly came up with the idea of downplaying his remarks on the infamous "Access Hollywood" tape as "locker room talk."
Trump was caught on a hot mic bragging that his fame allowed him to grab women's private parts without their permission, and the release of the recording in October 2016 threatened to derail his bid for the White House.
"He wanted me to reach out to all my contacts in the media. We needed to put a spin on this -- that this is locker room talk, something that Melania had recommended - at least that's what he told me," Cohen said. "Use that in order to get control over the story to minimize its impact on him and the campaign."
Trump, the first former U.S. president to face criminal prosecution, denies that he had sex with Daniels, real name Stephanie Clifford, who testified last week about the alleged affair at a golf tournament in Lake Tahoe, Nevada, in 2006.
Trump is in court fighting 34 counts of falsifying business records to allegedly cover up a $130,000 payment Cohen made to buy her silence.
The presumptive Republican nominee to challenge President Joe Biden reportedly kept his eyes closed during much of Cohen's testimony Monday but at times scoffed, muttered and shook his head.
Cohen served a three-year prison term, most of it in home confinement, for crimes that included lying to Congress and violating campaign finance laws by helping arrange payments to Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal, who also claims to have had an affair with Trump that he denies.
Cohen testified that the former Trump Organization chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg, now jailed for perjury in an unrelated case in which Trump was found liable for $454 million in civil fraud, assured him he would be reimbursed for the money he paid Daniels.
When he told Trump about that conversation, Cohen said, Trump responded, "Good, good," and also assured Cohen he'd be repaid.
Cohen said he told Trump about the deal because "everything required Mr. Trump's sign-off."
Cohen is set to continue testifying for the prosecution on Tuesday, after which he's expected to face harsh cross-examination by the defense, which portrayed him during opening statements as an "admitted liar" with an "obsession to get President Trump."
