Michael Cohen blasts the previous President

Michael Cohen, former attorney for former US President Donald Trump arrives at the New York Courthouse on March 13, 2023 in New York City, USA.

Eduardo Munoz | Reuters

Donald Trump’s former personal attorney Michael Cohen testified for three hours Monday before a Manhattan grand jury investigating the former president and will return Wednesday to answer more questions from prosecutors about a hush money payment to a porn star he made arranged for Trump.

“Michael has had a long and productive afternoon,” Cohen’s attorney Lanny Davis told reporters outside Manhattan Criminal Court, NBC News reported.

Davis added that Cohen plans to return Wednesday afternoon to “complete his testimony.” The attorney declined to go into detail about what Cohen told prosecutors.

Before entering the courthouse early Monday, Cohen told reporters his “goal is to tell the truth” and not to engage in “revenge” against Trump.

“This is all about accountability. He must be held accountable for his dirty deeds,” Cohen said.

Cohen, who served as Trump’s attorney for years, paid porn star Stormy Daniels $130,000 just before the 2016 presidential election to conceal an alleged sexual tryst with Trump.

The Trump Organization later reimbursed him but classified the payout as legal costs. False characterization is now the focus of the criminal investigation into the former president.

CNBC Policy

Read more about CNBC’s political coverage:

• Australia gets nuclear-powered submarines under deal with US and UK
• Former Trump attorney Michael Cohen testifies before the grand jury and beats up the ex-president
• GOP presidential candidates blame Silicon Valley bank collapse
• “That’s how capitalism works,” Biden says of SVB, investors in Signature Bank who have lost money at failed banks
• DeSanti’s memoir sales in the first week far outpace the books by Trump, Pence, Clinton and Obama
• North Carolina lawmakers step in to defend abortion pill restrictions if FDA’s power is tested
• House Conservatives are releasing a new list of demands that could upend the debt ceiling talks
• House of Representatives votes unanimously to release intelligence information on the origins of the Covid pandemic
• Judge in Trump rape libel case admits Access Hollywood tape into evidence
• Gulf cartel apologizes after Americans are kidnapped and killed in Mexico
• Mitch McConnell suffered a concussion after a fall and will remain in hospital “a couple of days,” his office says
• Senate confirms Daniel Werfel as IRS commissioner in bipartisan vote
• California will not renew a $54 million deal with Walgreens over abortion pill policy
• House Republicans are targeting the CFPB while the agency targets “junk fees.”
• The Biden budget would cut the deficit by $3 trillion over the next decade, with a 25% minimum tax on the wealthiest Americans
• The Biden budget would cap monthly insulin prices for people with private insurance at $35
• Senate confirms Daniel Werfel as IRS commissioner in bipartisan vote
• US spymasters testify before House Intelligence Committee on global threats
• House Democrats are fighting back against the GOP bill to scrap the IRS and introduce a national sales tax
• US intelligence chiefs warn that Putin is becoming increasingly dependent on nuclear weapons as the war in Ukraine drags on
• The Oklahoma Republican tells the Teamsters president to shut up in a terse exchange at the Senate hearing
• Russia has tried to sway US elections in 2022 and will do so again, says the country’s top intelligence agency

Cohen later pleaded guilty in Manhattan federal court to multiple felonies, including one related to the Daniels payoff. He has been an outspoken critic of Trump ever since.

Trump declined an offer to testify before the grand jury investigating him, his attorney said Monday.

Such an offer is common just before prosecutors file charges against those who have extended the chance to testify.

Trump has denied having sex with Daniels and condemned the probe into the payout. The investigation is being conducted by the Manhattan Attorney’s Office.

In a post on his social media page over the weekend, Trump said the late former Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau would “turn in his grave if told that his office was even considering indicting the 45th… leading Republican contender for the 2024 nomination.”

Trump called the case a “scam” spearheaded by Daniels, Cohen and Daniel’s ex-attorney Michael Avenatti, who is serving a federal sentence for cheating clients.