'I would not lie for President Trump any longer,' Cohen testifies
Michael Cohen testified that in the summer of 2018, then-President Trump carried out a "pressure campaign" on him through Cohen's then-attorney Robert Costello.
"You are making a very big mistake if you believe the stories these 'journalists' are writing about you. They want you to cave. They want you to fail. They do not want you to preserve and succeed," Costello wrote in an email to Cohen that was shown to the jury. "If you really believe you are not being supported properly by your former boss, then you should make your position known."
Cohen summarized Trump's message as "Don't flip. Don't speak. Don't cooperate."
Cohen testified that he "didn't trust" Costello.
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"I believed based upon all of our conversations that he would immediately run back to Mr. Giuliani and that communication would be divulged to Mr. Trump," he said.
"My family -- my wife, my daughter, my son -- all said to me, 'Why are you holding onto this loyalty? What are you doing? We're supposed to be your first loyalty," Cohen testified.
"So what decision did you make?" asked prosecutor Susan Hoffinger.
"That it was about time to listen to them," Cohen said. "To my wife, my son, my daughter, to the country," Cohen said in emotional testimony.
Cohen testified that he pleaded guilty to federal charges in August 2018.
"I would not lie for President Trump any longer," Cohen said.