Then came Stormy Daniels and the possibility of her going public with an account of a sexual liaison with Trump. Cohen said Trump told him that he had met Daniels at a golf tournament and that she liked him, and that women preferred him even over football stars, like those at the tournament.
Cohen pressed on, asking whether he had had sex with Daniels. Trump did not answer him, but called Daniels “a beautiful woman,” Cohen said. When Trump heard she was considering sharing her account, “he was really angry with me,” Cohen testified. Trump called the story a “total disaster” and said “women are going to hate me.”
“Guys may think it’s cool,” Trump said, according to Cohen, “but this is going to be a disaster for the campaign.”
Cohen said he had no control over Daniels’ story. “Just take care of it,” he says Trump told him.
To that end, Cohen established a bank account for Essential Consultants LLC, an entity he created in October 2016 and funded from his home equity line of credit at First Republic Bank. He has previously said he did so to ensure his wife would not know about any transaction with Daniels. When checks were printed, per Cohen’s wishes, they included no address.
About two weeks before the 2016 presidential election, he wired the payment to Keith Davidson, a lawyer for Daniels.
To Gary Farro, a banker formerly with First Republic who was used to routine requests, the transactions stood out, he testified earlier in the trial.
“Every time Michael Cohen spoke to me, he gave me a sense of urgency,” Farro testified.