Michael Cohen was Trump’s consummate inside man. Now, friends say he’s on the stand and at risk

Michael Cohen was once so close to Donald Trump that he “would take a bullet for” him, he said.

In the seven years since professing this unwavering loyalty, the former lawyer and “fixer” has suffered his own very public downfall and criminal conviction, and is now recast as star witness in the Manhattan district attorney’s hush money case against the former president.

It is a role that Cohen both relishes — as reformed “truth-teller” who enthusiastically pulls back the curtain on the alleged murky dealings of Trump world — and reviles.

Some of those close to Cohen recently told The Independent that he faces significant risks by taking the stand against his former boss. He is expected to testify at Mr Trump’s criminal trial in lower Manhattan later this week.

“His family and Michael are still under risk because of Mr Trump’s hateful attacks and what he does on social media,” said Lanny Davis, Mr Cohen’s friend and legal advisor, who is not involved in the hush money trial.

Cohen is “a wounded human being who fears for his family,” Mr Davis added.

The former lawyer will testify for the prosecution against Mr Trump at the first criminal trial of a US president, which could see him spend four years in prison.

He is accused of 34 counts of falsifying business records over payments made to porn star Stormy Daniels to keep quiet about their alleged affair ahead of the 2016 election. Cohen, who at that point had been Mr Trump’s attorney and “fixer” for a decade, said that he delivered the payments, totalling $130,000, to Ms Daniels — and did so “at the direction of” the former president.

Mr Trump has repeatedly denied the affair but admitted on <a rel=«nofollow» target="_blank"