US: Donald Trump's former lawyer wants him convicted in 'hush money' case

A day after Michael Cohen the erstwhile lawyer of exPresident Donald Trump testified against his former boss he faced an intense crossexamination by the defence lawyers in the hush money trial on Tuesday local time CNN reportedIn one of the major takeaways Cohen admitted that he wants Trump to be convicted in the case As the fiery crossexamination started Trumps attorney Todd Blanche asked Cohen about comments he made on social media including one in which he said Trump belongs in a cageOn being asked if he wanted Trump to be convicted Cohen answered sure according to CNN The former Trump aide admitted that he continued to pressure people like attorney Keith Davidson in 2018 to lie about the deals with Karen McDougal and adult film actress Stormy Daniels He said he continued to lie out of loyalty and in order to protect him TrumpRecalling being raided by the FBI in 2018 Cohen said he was concerned despondent angry He claimed when he spoke to Trump about the case he reassured him after which Cohen continued to be in Trumps camp Trump said Dont worry Im the president of the United States according to CohenSpeaking about Trump Cohen said he admired him tremendously But he later acknowledged that he changed his views about his former boss when Trumps attorney pointed out Cohens 2019 comments to Congress that Trump had potentially committed a variety of financial crimesDescribing his fallout Cohen said he pleaded guilty after talking to his family and deciding he would not lie for President Trump anymore Meanwhile Cohen will be the last witness to testify for the prosecution CNN reported citing the court transcriptBlanche said he expects the crossexamination of Cohen will continue until the end of the day Thursday according to the transcript Blanche also said it is not clear if Trump would testifyEarlier on Monday Cohen while testifying in the case admitted that he lied and bullied on behalf of his former boss He also said that Trump authorised the payment of hush moneyNotably Trump wanted to end the gag order against him in the hush money criminal trial but it was denied by a New York appeals court Trump said that the gag order implemented by Judge Juan Merchan is unfair to him and should be liftedTrump is accused of falsifying business records related to a hushmoney deal with an adult film actress made ahead of the 2016 election Trump however has pleaded not guilty denying any such encounter and calling the charges politically motivatedAccording to prosecutors formulation Donald Trump skirted campaign finance laws by funneling a payment of USD 130000 to adult film actress Stormy Daniels through Michael Cohen his attorney and then falsely claiming that the money used to repay Cohen was for legal workThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever