Michael Cohen predicts Trump will be convicted ‘on all charges’ in New York hush money case

Former fixer to the ex-president is set to testify at trial

Michael Cohen, who served as the vice president of the Trump Organization and as counsel to former president Donald Trump, said he’s confident his ex-boss will be convicted in the Stormy Daniels hush money case.

Mr Trump’s legal team has tried to get the case tossed out, but that effort was rejected by New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan on Thursday. His trial has now been scheduled for 25 March.

“This is a very simple case,” Cohen told CNN on Thursday. “This case could and should be over in a month with a decision.”

Mr Trump’s former employee has been subpoenaed to testify in the case and will be a key witness at the trial. Mr Cohen was previously sentenced to serve three years in federal prison for criminal tax evasion and campaign finance violations, but spent about 13-and-a-half months behind bars and a year-and-a-half under house arrest.

The case is set to be Mr Trump’s first criminal trial as he faces 91 charges across four separate indictments. Speaking outside the courthouse, he expressed his reservations about the upcoming proceedings.

“We want delays,” he said. “Obviously, I’m running for election.”

A Monmouth University poll found that 58 per cent of voters believe that Mr Trump should be taken off the ballot if he’s convicted of a crime before the Republican Party convention this summer.

Last year, a grand jury under Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg charged the former president with 34 counts of falsifying business records in connection with repayments to Cohen, who arranged the so-called “hush-money” scheme to prevent the release of potentially damaging stories about Mr Trump and his affairs.

While appearing on CNN’s “Erin Burnett OutFront”, Cohen was asked about whether he thinks Mr Trump will be convicted in the case.

“This is not even a six-week case,” he said. “At best it would be a four-week case.”

He added that he believes Mr Trump’s legal team has only secured one witness, while the prosecution has multiple people lined up.

“I believe based upon the information that I know, and based upon not just the documentary evidence but the corroborating testimony from so many people, I believe that he will be found guilty on all charges,” he said.

When asked if he had any reservations about seeing his old boss in the courtroom, he said, “There’s no intimidation by him. He’s the one sitting at the defendant’s desk. Not me.”

Still, when it comes to testifying, he said: “Nobody wants to do this. This isn’t fun. They get personnel. They get nasty.”