Live updates: Michael Cohen to testify in Donald Trump’s hush money trial

The $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels at the center of the hush money case was made by Michael Cohen, then Trump’s personal attorney, who landed in federal prison over that transaction for breaking campaign finance laws.  

Cohen has alleged Trump directed him to make the payment to Daniels in the final days of the 2016 presidential campaign. 

Trump and his legal team attempted to bar Cohen from testifying, arguing that he’s committed perjury more than once in other cases, but the request was denied. 

A longtime attorney of the former president before he occupied the Oval Office, Cohen had been one of Trump’s closest allies, famously pledging years ago that he would “take a bullet” for his then-boss. 

The relationship deteriorated after the start of Trump’s presidency, and broke down fully in public view after Cohen released a recording in which he and Trump can be heard discussing how they would buy the rights to former Playboy model Karen McDougal’s story about an alleged affair she had with Trump years earlier, which Trump denies. 

Cohen later provided dramatic testimony to a House committee about Trump’s involvement in the hush-money scheme involving both McDougal and Daniels, who also alleges Trump had an affair with her. (Trump has also denied that affair.) 

New York Attorney General Letitia James’ office has said it opened its investigation after Cohen alleged during his congressional testimony that Trump inflated the value of his properties to get better interest rates on loans and insurance. 

Read more about Cohen and his role in the case.