Michael Cohen to confront old boss Trump at NYC fraud trial

Michael Cohen is expected to face down his former boss Donald Trump in a Manhattan courtroom on Tuesday when he takes the stand in the New York attorney general’s $250 million fraud lawsuit against the ex-president.

Cohen told The Post that he wasn’t afraid to confront Trump, 77, at the 60 Centre St. courthouse, adding he’d be arriving around 10 a.m. and would be the second witness called by the AG’s lawyers on Tuesday.

“As to Donald’s presence in the courtroom, it will not affect me either way,” he said Monday.

A source close to Trump said the 45th president was also expected to arrive at around 10 a.m.

It’ll be his third stint in Manhattan Supreme Court since trial over Attorney General Letitia James’ suit began on Oct. 2.

The 2024 Republican presidential frontrunner — who has maintained his innocence and blasted the case as a politically-motivated witchhunt — attended two days last week and three on the first week of trial.

The trial went on hiatus Monday due to COVID exposures on both sides, sources said.

Cohen — Trump’s former personal attorney and “fixer” — will take the stand after the ex-president’s attorneys wrap up their cross-examination of William “Bill” Kelly, general counsel for Mazars USA.

Kelly is expected to testify about the Trump Organization allegedly withholding appraisals from Mazars, its longtime accounting firm, and about the company’s decision to cut ties with the ex-president and his real estate company in February 2022.

James – who alleges Trump and his company fraudulently inflated the value of his assets for years to gain an edge in business – launched her investigation following Cohen’s testimony about his longtime former boss before Congress in February 2019.

Cohen, who served as Trump Org vice president and special counsel to Trump from 2006 to 2018, was sentenced to three years in prison following his guilty pleas to campaign finance violations, tax and bank fraud and lying to Congress in 2018.

The convicted felon is expected to be a major witness in the AG’s case.

AG attorneys, during opening statements earlier this month, played what they called a damning video clip in which Cohen said that the ex-president coached him and former Trump Org chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg to lie about the value of Trump’s real estate empire to meet his preferred totals.

“Let’s say it said he was worth $6 billion. Well, he wanted to be higher on the Forbes list, and he then said, ‘I’m actually not worth $6 billion. I’m worth seven. In fact, I think it’s actually now worth eight, with everything that’s going on,’” Cohen said in the clip of the April 23 deposition.

“Allen and I were tasked with taking the assets, increasing each of those asset classes in order to accommodate that $8 billion number,” Cohen added.

It’s unclear whether cross examination of Cohen will begin Tuesday but if openings were any indication, Trump’s attorneys are likely to aggressively attack his credibility.

“The government hinges its proof of conspiracy on a serial liar,” Trump lawyer Chris Kise has charged.

Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron — who is deciding the trial without a jury — has already found Trump liable for James’ key claim of fraud for making “indisputably” false claims to secure favorable terms with banks.

The AG is seeking at least $250 million in fines and to effectively end Trump’s ability to do business in New York.

Additional reporting by Larry Celona