Trump Approved Porn Star Hush-Money Payments, Star Witness Says

NEW YORK CITY — Donald Trump personally approved hush-money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels and others to bury embarrassing stories about him during the 2016 presidential campaign, a star witness testified in a Manhattan courtroom.

"Everything required Mr. Trump's sign-off," said Michael Cohen, the one-time fixer for the former president, in dramatic testimony Monday.

Cohen's appearance on the witness stand signaled Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is close to the end of his historic prosecution of Trump, whom he has accused of falsifying business records related to hush-money payments.

Trump, for his part, reiterated his oft-repeated assertion that the case is part of a witch hunt by his political enemies.

"This all comes from Biden in the White House, by the way," he said, without providing evidence, during an appearance outside the courtroom that meandered from poll results to attacks on Judge Juan Merchan.

The former president contended that he paid a lawyer — Cohen — a "legal expense."

But prosecutors hope to use Cohen's testimony to show that Trump's payments, which ultimately went to Stormy Daniels and Playboy model Karen McDougal, served to conceal accusations of sexual affairs with both women from the American public.

Cohen testified that the release of the "Access Hollywood" tape — in which Trump can be heard bragging about sexually assaulting women — during the 2016 campaign heightened concerns that Daniels could go public with her story of a sexual encounter with Trump.

"He said to me, 'This is a disaster, total disaster. Women are going to hate me. Women will hate me. Guys, they think it’s cool, but this is going to be a disaster for the campaign,'" Cohen testified about Trump's reaction.

Daniels testified last week that she received $130,000 to stay silent about a 2006 sexual encounter with the businessman.

Cohen's reimbursements for arranging payments form the backbone of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records against Trump.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.