Michael Cohen

Quick facts

Michael Cohen served as Donald Trump’s personal attorney and self-described “fixer” for over a decade. In 2018 he pleaded guilty to charges including tax evasion, bank fraud, campaign-finance violations, and lying to Congress, and subsequently cooperated with federal prosecutors. He testified publicly before Congress in February 2019, and his 2024 testimony was central to the Manhattan District Attorney’s successful prosecution of Trump on falsified-business-records charges.

Key positions

Biography

Michael Cohen served as Donald Trump’s personal attorney and self-described “fixer” for over a decade before his 2018 guilty pleas on charges including tax evasion, bank fraud, campaign-finance violations, and lying to Congress. His cooperation with federal prosecutors made him a central witness against Trump and produced documented evidence of the hush-money payments to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal, the Trump Tower Moscow negotiations that continued into the 2016 campaign, and the internal workings of the Trump Organization.

The hush-money scheme ran through a “catch-and-kill” arrangement involving David Pecker and the National Enquirer’s parent company, which acquired and suppressed damaging stories; the publisher later admitted to making hush-money payments on Trump’s behalf and was fined $187,500 over the Karen McDougal payment. Cohen routed the Stormy Daniels payment through a shell company, Essential Consultants LLC, that he also used to collect consulting payments after the 2016 election. Separately, the Trump Tower Moscow project — which Cohen had told Congress ended early in the campaign — was documented as having continued well into 2016, with Trump signing a letter of intent during the campaign.

Cohen testified publicly before Congress in February 2019, and his 2024 testimony was central to the Manhattan District Attorney’s successful prosecution of Trump on falsified-business-records charges. His trajectory — from a loyal enforcer who once said he would “take a bullet” for Trump to a cooperating witness — illustrates how the fixer relationship functions and what happens when it breaks down.

Sources

• Mueller Report, Volume I: Trump Tower Moscow Project — U.S. Department of Justice. https://www.justice.gov/archives/sco/file/1373816/download
• “Trump signed letter of intent for Trump Tower Moscow project during campaign” — CNN, Dec. 18, 2018. https://www.cnn.com/2018/12/18/politics/trump-signed-letter-of-intent-rudy-giuliani/index.html
• “Publisher of the National Enquirer admits to hush money payments made on Trump’s behalf” — Washington Post, Dec. 12, 2018. https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/publisher-of-the-national-enquirer-admits-to-hush-money-payments-made-on-trumps-behalf/2018/12/12/ebf24b76-fe49-11e8-83c0-b06139e540e5_story.html
• “National Enquirer publisher fined $187,500 for Trump hush money payment” — NBC News. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/national-enquirer-publisher-pay-187-500-fine-trump-hush-money-n1269370
• “How money flowed through Michael Cohen’s multi-purpose shell company” — Washington Post, May 8, 2018. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/politics/wp/2018/05/08/how-money-flowed-through-michael-cohens-multi-purpose-shell-company/
• “David Pecker testifies on Trump hush money catch-and-kill scheme” — NPR, Apr. 23, 2024. https://www.npr.org/2024/04/23/1246542372/david-pecker-trump-trial-catch-and-kill