Defense challenges that repayment was for hush money
Defense attorney Todd Blanche tried to downplay prosecutors' theory of the case and emphasized that Cohen was Trump's attorney in 2017 and that the $35,000 paid each month over that year was Trump paying him for his services.
"Take a step back. Nobody disputes that Mr. Cohen was President Trump's lawyer in 2017," Blanche said. "So what makes more sense, that president was paying his personal attorney in 2017 the $35,000 per an agreement he made with his personal attorney?... Or the version that Mr Cohen said?"
Blanche then mimicked Cohen's testimony, as Michael Cohen:
![](https://i.abcnewsfe.com/a/c77c7df9-eb89-4abd-99d8-86486dc2dd80/donald-trump-8-gty-gmh-240528_1716903646145_hpMain.jpg)
"No, I was not paid, I was going to work for free ... I'll just work for free and make a lot of money as a consultant," Blanche said, mimicking Cohen.
"For the first time in President Trump's life, he decided to pay me back triple," Blanche continued, mimicking Cohen. "He doubled up the $130,000, he gave me $50,000 for some online poll -- by the way, I stole from him a little bit on that -- and I decided I wanted a bigger bonus. That's what really happened, ladies and gentlemen.
"There's a reason why in life usually the simplest answer is the right one -- and that's certainly the case here," Blanche said.