Cohen said he learned Daniels was planning to tell his story to the Daily Mail, a British tabloid. He said the time had come when President Trump realized he had no choice but to get a deal done.
“(Trump) talked to some friends, some individuals, very smart people and said, ‘It’s $130,000 and you’re a billionaire, so just pay it. There’s no reason to keep this here. Just do it,'” Cohen testified. “So he told me, ‘Just do it. I said, ‘Go meet Allen Weisselberg and find out all this.’”
Weisselberg was the Trump Organization’s longtime chief financial officer. Cohen said the payment should be made “immediately” and suggested that Weisselberg pay it himself.
“I suggested to Allen, ‘You’re the CFO, you’re making seven figures, why don’t you just go and do it?’” Cohen recalled. According to Cohen, Weisselberg has four grandchildren in private schools and summer camps, and he declined, saying he couldn’t come up with the money.
“Because of the urgency and because they were heading to the Daily Mail, I ended up saying, ‘Okay, I’ll pay,’” Cohen said, adding that Weisselberg assured him that Trump would pay him back. He said the three men talked and Cohen told him he would advance the money.
“He told me, ‘Don’t worry, you’ll get your money back,’” Cohen testified.
When asked if he ever made a payment without any expectation of receiving compensation, Cohen said: “No, ma’am. Well, $130,000. I did everything I could to protect my boss, and more.” . “I couldn’t afford to pay $130,000 for an NDA that someone else needed for a long time.”
He opened a home equity line of credit, knowing that if he used money from his own bank account, his wife would question such a large transaction. “If I get money from Mr. Trump, I’m going to deposit it and no one will be the wiser,” he said.
