Testifying just a few feet away from his former boss of a decade, Michael Cohen walked a Manhattan courtroom through the highs and lows of working behind-the-scenes for Donald Trump, a man for whom he once pledged to take a bullet.
“The only thing that was on my mind was to accomplish the task, to make him [Trump] happy,” Cohen told the court on Monday.
Mr Trump has pleaded not guilty to charges of falsifying business records, relating to a hush-money payment Cohen, his former lawyer and fixer, claims he made to an adult-film star on the former president’s behalf.
Leading up to Cohen’s testimony, Mr Trump and his ex-attorney traded fiery insults on social media.
But on Monday, the former friends didn’t even glance at each other as Cohen – calm and collected – told the court about their tumultuous past.
Over five hours of testimony, he shed light on what being the New York businessman’s fixer involved, including burying women’s stories that could be damaging and lying when necessary.
Monday was one of the few times the two have been in the same room recently, since Cohen, 57, came to work for Mr Trump, 77, decades ago.
The son of a Holocaust survivor from Long Island, Cohen never wanted to be a lawyer, he testified, saying his grandmother pressured him into it.
But after going to law school, he found himself working at a personal injury firm, where he did some “legal” and “non-legal” work for Mr Trump, he testified.
In 2007, Cohen said he accepted a job as Mr Trump’s special counsel, a role with a base salary of $375,000 (£298,000).
It was a coveted job for Cohen, who would remain in the role for 10 years.
