United States | Hush puppy

A mano-a-mano contest between Michael Cohen and Donald Trump

The hush-money trial hinges on the testimony of the former president’s former fixer

Court drawings of Donald Trump and Michael Cohen from the hush money trial.
Not his Roy CohnPhotograph: Reuters
|New York

Jurors heard the voice before they saw the man. And what a voice: pushy, impolite, pure Long Island. A fuhgeddaboudit accent. Sometimes boastful, sometimes defensive, sometimes self-pitying, always mouthy. Days before he appeared in court to testify against his ex-boss and sworn enemy, prosecutors played a recording of a phone call during which Michael Cohen sounded terribly sorry for Michael Cohen. Or as he complained to the guy on the other end of the line: “Nobody is thinking about Michael. You understand?”

Explore more

This article appeared in the United States section of the print edition under the headline “Hush puppy”

From the May 18th 2024 edition

Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents

Explore the edition

More from United States

 Pam Bondi is sworn in as she prepares to testify during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing to examine her expected nomination to be Attorney General, at the U.S. Capitol in Washington DC.

Pam Bondi seems like a relatively safe pair of hands

But is America’s next attorney-general an independent operator?

US President Joe Biden delivers his farewell address to the nation from the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, USA.

Checks and Balance newsletter: Joe Biden’s farewell shot at the oligarchy

The outgoing president warns of a new “tech-industrial complex”


Xiaohongshu And TikTok Logos

A protest against America’s TikTok ban is mired in contradiction

Another Chinese app is not the alternative some young Americans think it is


Joe Biden wound up serving Donald Trump

In some ways, his administration will look less like an interregnum than like MAGA-lite

How bad will the smoke be for Angelenos’ health?

Expect more sickness and disrupted schooling

Should you have to prove your age before watching porn?

America’s Supreme Court weighs a Texan law aimed at protecting kids