Former Trump attorney Michael Cohen testifies at civil trial

Former President Donald Trump on Tuesday watched his former lawyer, Michael Cohen, testify in a civil trial in New York. Cohen said that Trump ordered him to falsify business documents, listing the value of some of Trump’s assets as higher than their actual worth. When asked by how much, Cohen answered that it was “whatever number” the former president desired. Trump disputed Cohen’s account, calling him a “proven liar.”

What is the case against Trump? New York Attorney General Letitia James alleges that Trump regularly inflated his net worth by more than a billion dollars for roughly a decade. Judge Arthur Engoron has already ruled that Trump defrauded banks and insurers by falsifying the value of assets on paperwork used to make business deals. Trump has condemned the entire case against him, calling it a “witch hunt.”

Dig deeper: Listen to Mary Reichard’s discussion with Hans Von Spakovsky on The World and Everything in It podcast about “lawfare” in American politics.