The credibility of a convicted liar could determine Trump’s fate

Handle it.”

“Make sure it doesn’t get released.”

“Just do it.”

During Donald Trump’s hush money trial, Michael Cohen did what the 19 other prosecution witnesses could not: directly tie the former president to the $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels that is at the heart of the criminal case against him. But will jurors buy his story?

No single person was closer to Mr Trump’s alleged scheme to corruptly influence the 2016 presidential election than his one-time “fixer,” who abandoned his position as the pugilistic “consigliere” for a more civic-minded — and lucrative — role as Mr Trump’s chief antagonist.

Cohen openly loathes Mr Trump. He at least partially blames him for his prison sentence for crimes tied to the New York case. He admitted in court to calling Mr Trump a “boorish cartoon misogynist” and “Cheeto-dusted” villain. Jurors heard clips from Cohen’s podcast screaming that “revenge is a dish best served cold.”

Defense attorneys depicted Cohen as a disgruntled, selfish and fame-hungry opportunist. He was furious with a lower-than-usual bonus check, so he stole from Mr Trump’s company, and then flipped against him when federal prosecutors snooped around his home and office, eventually turning the newfound attention into a multimillion-dollar business that revolves around trashing his old boss.

But on the witness stand in the Republican presidential nominee’s criminal trial in Manhattan, Cohen — his eyes wide and sunken, his hair graying and his Long Island accent softened — admitted to and directly confronted his history of lies, convictions and shameful behavior that compromised his freedom and family.

Over four days, he walked jurors through dozens of pieces of evidence, including the allegedly falsified business