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Why Michael Cohen could make or break the case against Donald Trump: The prosecution and defense have already spent days preparing the jury for a very difficult witness
Even before he set foot inside courtroom 1530, Michael Cohen's role as a key witness in Donald Trump's hush money case put the former president's lawyer-cum-fixer at the center of proceedings.
Celebrity lawyer Keith Davidson, for example, was asked about a message he received asking him to 'call that jerk back.'
'Who was that jerk?' he was asked by prosecutor Joshua Steinglass during the second week of the trial.
'Michael Cohen,' he replied to laughter in the public gallery.
It is one thing for Trump's defense to start to case doubt on the testimony of a disbarred lawyer who has changed his story about paying $130,000 to porn star Stormy Daniels; it is quite another for the prosecution, which will rely on Cohen's testimony to draw a direct link from Trump to the payment, to highlight his shortcomings.
Michael Cohen has come in for intense criticism from witnesses at the Donald Trump hush money trial, even without setting foot in the Manhattan court room
Copies of checks from Donald Trump to attorney Michael Cohen from 2017, shown as exhibits by prosecutors in the hush money trial
Yet legal experts see the two sides in the case setting out their strategies for a courtroom showdown when he finally appears on Monday.
The defense is planting the idea in the jury that someone who served time in prison after pleading guilty to federal crimes in 2018 cannot be trusted to tell the truth.
Meanwhile the prosecution is happy to get the dirty laundry out of the way, with a string of witnesses who have gently ridiculed Cohen.
'I think the prosecution are hoping the jury when they see him won't be shocked,' said Catherine Christian, a former Manhattan assistant district attorney.
'That could be a double edged sword. Will the jury say: "Oh, here's that liar. We're not gonna believe what he says.'
The digs so far have come from Trump world insiders such as Hope Hicks, who went to the White House with her boss.
She was asked about Cohen's role as a fixer for Trump. 'I used to say that he liked to call himself "a fixer" or "Mr. Fix It," and it was only because he first broke it that he was able to come and fix it,' she said.
And the Trump Organization's controller triggered laughter when he was asked if it was correct to say that Cohen was a lawyer. 'OK,' was his pointed answer.
Trump denies 34 felony charges of falsifying documents to hide hush money payments
Trump and Cohen in happier times, pictured in 2011 during a visit to New Hampshire amid intense speculation that the New York property mogul was about to enter politics
A string of prosecution witnesses, including former Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks, have poured scorn on Cohen from the witness stand
Davidson, another witness for the prosecution, compared Davidson to the eager dog character in the animated movie 'Up,' repeatedly pulled off course by random things.
Cohen is central to the prosecution's case. It alleges that Cohen helped his boss, who was then a presidential candidate, to silence Daniels and prevent a damaging story being published just before the 2016 election.
The court has seen documents showing how Daniels entered into a non-disclosure agreement for $130,000, and been shown the invoices and checks signed by Trump for $35,000 a month through 2017.
Prosecutors have traced the path from Cohen to Trump Organization employees showing how a scheme came together.
But Christian said that still left one missing link: 'So far, not one witness has said Donald Trump directed me to do this.'
That is where Cohen's testimony is likely to prove crucial, and where the defense will see its best shot for sabotaging the case.
Cohen began working for the Trump Organization in 2006, after helping the property mogul in a tussle with the condominium board at the Trump World Tower.
The court has also seen the handwritten 'chicken scratch' note the Trump Organization's controller had taken as he discussed a repayment scheme for Cohen
The court has seen text messages sent between Cohen and Hicks as the story broke, days before the 2016 election, about hush money payments to women
He soon reveled in the idea that he was Trump's enforcer, telling ABC News in 2011: 'If somebody does something Mr. Trump doesn't like, I do everything in my power to resolve it to Mr. Trump's benefit.
'If you do something wrong, I'm going to come at you, grab you by the neck and I'm not going to let you go until I'm finished.'
Days before the 2016 election, the Wall Street Journal revealed that Cohen had made a secret payment to Stormy Daniels.
The loyal fixer, who once said he would take a bullet for Trump, at first insisted he acted alone.
'Neither the Trump Organization nor the Trump campaign … reimbursed me for the payment,' he said in 2018.
But he turned on his former employer midway through Trump's presidency as federal investigators closed in. He was eventually sentenced to three years in federal prison after pleading guilty to campaign finance violations, tax fraud and bank fraud, related in part to the hush money schemes.
In 2019, he told a congressional committee: 'I am ashamed because I know what Mr. Trump is. He is a racist. He is a con man. He is a cheat.'
Yet that was only the start of his credibility problems.
Cohen initially said he acted alone in arranging payment for Stormy Daniels (pictured) but he later changed his story to say that he was acting for Trump
Trump Organization controller Jeff McConney testified about payments made to Cohen
Last year he appeared in New York state court in a civil fraud case against Trump and claimed, under oath, that he had not committed tax evasion. He said he had lied to the judge in 2018 when pleading guilty.
Trump's lawyers used that to ask the judge in the Manhattan criminal case to bar Cohen from appearing and warned of the risk of 'further perjury' if he appeared.
Judge Juan Merchan denied their request without exactly offering Cohen much praise, simply pointing out there was no law or statute that barred witnesses whose credibility had been called into question.
It all means that not only must prosecutors prepare the ground for his testimony they must also prep their witness properly.
Andrew Weissmann, a former top prosecutor at the Department of Justice, said: 'They need to prepare him to own his wrongdoing and not be thin skinned. Easier said than done.
'I don’t think they can put him on quickly as he has a lot of information that is relevant to the trial.'
In the meantime, Cohen has done nothing to suggest he is anything other than a highly partisan witness, using a podcast and social media platforms to demand that the former president gets prison time.
'Trump 2024?' he said in a recent TikTok post. 'More like Trump 20-24 years.'
Christian said it was one thing for prosecutors to prepare for witnesses with credibility issues...
'Michael Cohen is different. I have to say I had witnesses that had criminal records, including for violence,' she said.
'I never had a witness that had a conviction for lying ... ever.'