Day 2 of Michael Cohen Trump trial testimony

We begin our report here in Manhattan for the second day of testimony by Donald Trump's former fixer, Michael Cohen. Prosecution wrapped up its questioning of their star witness after he shared with the court his regrets. In talking about his old boss. Cohen told the jury, quote, "To keep the loyalty and to do things that he has asked me to do, I violated my moral compass. And I suffered the penalty, as did my family." It was then the defense's turn to cross-examine Cohen and paint him as a liar, vengeful, and flippant. Qualities that Trump put to good use when Cohen was an employee. Lawyers asked Cohen about comments he made in 2015, praising Trump, asking if Cohen was telling the truth then. The witness said yes, but that at the time he was, quote, "knee deep in the cult of Trump." Cohen was also on trial outside the courtroom too. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson traveled to New York to attack Cohen, and the prosecution, and the judge, lending a hand to Trump, who is barred by a gag order from saying such things. Also showing their loyalty, two of Trump's former challengers in the presidential primary sat behind him in court as a show of support. CBS News campaign reporter and attorney Katrina Kaufman joins me now. Katrina has been covering every inch of this trial. OK, Katrina, if there's a-- boxes that the prosecution has to check with the Michael Cohen testimony, what are they? And did they check those boxes?

The biggest boxes they need to check is that he is the one who can really tie Trump into this with certain key meetings and conversations that they had. And they actually seem to do a very good job, because up until now, they had been laying out this case with all of these witnesses. And then, when Michael Cohen got on the stand, really we were seeing his side of the story, we'd seen many times. So they were bringing up exhibits that we'd seen with Keith Davidson, for example, the former attorney for Stormy Daniels, and other people. And it really corroborated Cohen's story. But then, what he brought was these key moments. We saw call logs where he had called Donald Trump between different moments of this agreement. And then he was the only one who can really tell us what happened on those calls. And that was him keeping Trump informed, he said, Trump signing off on things that were happening. We also learned about a meeting that happened with Trump, Allen Weisselberg, and Michael Cohen, where he says that they laid out how this was going to work, the amount that Cohen would pay back-- be paid back, and that it was going to be called for legal expenses related to a retainer agreement, as well as a later meeting that he had with Trump at the White House. And there's a record of it in his phone logs, which we got through some of our data experts. And so, you can see that he had-- that he was meeting Trump at the White House. There was a photo of him from that day, and he said that Trump asked him if he needed money and said that his check for January and February would be coming at that meeting.

Does the prosecution have to show that Trump knew that this was going on or that he was actively saying, please cook these books on my behalf?

They just have to show that he aided and had knowledge of this happening. So he doesn't have to be the one who actually falsified the records. But he has to have had knowledge that it was happening, that these payments were not, in fact, for legal expenses to Michael Cohen, that they were really paying him back for the Stormy Daniels payoff. And that they really showed us through so many ways, even Trump's own books and words, what a micromanager he was at the company, and how unlikely it is that all of this would have been going on and that he wouldn't have had any sense that Michael Cohen was being paid money, that he shouldn't have been paid.

So the defense got a chance-- got a shot at Cohen. What was that like? And how long is that likely to last?

It was surprisingly calm, I would say. Cohen stayed very collected, but right out the gate, Todd Blanche, Trump's attorney, started off with something profane that I won't actually say on television that Cohen had said about Blanche, the attorney on TikTok. And apparently, there was actually a sidebar, which I just read on the way here, where the judge said, why are you making this about you? Because he had kind of insulted the attorney. But really, they're trying to undercut Cohen's credibility, his motivation to show how he was really quite loyal and obsessed with Trump for a long time. They even brought back him saying previously that Trump had the best memory, that everything he said was accurate. And Cohen said that, at the time, he was knee deep in the cult of Trump. So they are doing everything they can. Also, of course, bringing up his history as a liar. We know that Michael Cohen has perjured himself on the stand. So they're presenting all of this to the jury to make them feel like maybe they shouldn't believe what Michael Cohen says about Donald Trump's involvement in the scheme.

And just as a super quick reminder, all they need is one, right,--

That's true.

--to convince one juror that he maybe isn't on the level.

Yes. Every juror has to be convinced beyond a reasonable doubt of the prosecution's case.

Katrina Kauffman, thank you, as always.

Thank you.