Donald Trump’s lawyer Todd Blanche, has accused Michael Cohen of lying.
Cohen is a key witness in the hush money case where the former president is being tried. He claims Trump told him to “take care” of payments to porn star Stormy Daniels.
The payments were made to buy Daniels’s silence over her claims that she had sex with the former president. She said that this took place before the 2016 elections.
Cohen claims that one of the chats took place on this in the White House in 2017. This was when Trump was president.
The trial has gone on for a month.
Blanche said the phone call was about harassment from a prank caller, and not about the payments. He told the court that Cohen has previously lied to Congress and the US Justice Department.
He said that Cohen had privately sought a pardon from Trump. Blanche added that Cohen continued to claim publicly he did not want a pardon.
Cohen will face more questioning when the trial resumes on Monday.
Trump has pleaded not guilty. He may also take the stand to testify in his defence. However, this has not been confirmed.
The verdict should come by next week.
Trump faces three other criminal prosecutions. These involve trying to overturn his presidential defeat and the handling of classified documents while in office.
He has pleaded not guilty to these cases as well.
Trump faces a total of 91 felony counts.
(REUTERS)
