Michael Cohen, perhaps the most anticipated trial witness in modern memory, took the stand Monday morning in the Manhattan district attorney’s hush money prosecution of Donald Trump. Even before his testimony began, Cohen was the most visible character in the trial save Trump himself.

In the early hours of his testimony, the former Trump attorney covered the National Enquirer’s alleged agreement to “catch and kill” stories that might damage the then-candidate, which like much of Cohen’s expected testimony had been detailed by other witnesses. He then discussed the revelation of the “Access Hollywood” recording that threw the campaign into a tailspin, including Trump’s instructions to spin his comments about sexually assaulting women as mere “locker room talk.”

Cohen testified that it was during the feverish efforts to manage that crisis that he learned that the adult-film actor Stormy Daniels was shopping her story of a liaison with Trump, something that he said would have been “catastrophic” for the campaign. He said Trump ordered him to do what he had to do to keep the story from coming out before the election.

Cohen came across on the stand as responsive, matter-of-fact and unguarded in response to Assistant Dist. Atty. Susan Hoffinger’s low-key questioning.

From the opening arguments, both sides have acknowledged Cohen’s central role in the charges against his former boss, for whom he was an uber-loyal fixer and attack dog. And both sides have taken pains to stress Cohen’s credibility problems to the jury.

The defense in fact has put nearly all its chips on the chances that the jury will reject Cohen’s story, making his coming cross-examination the dramatic centerpiece of the trial. More surprisingly, the prosecution has also peppered its presentation with disparagement of Cohen, whom several witnesses portrayed as a self-interested blowhard.

The most significant instance came during the testimony of Hope Hicks, who related that Trump had told her that Cohen paid off Daniels “out of the goodness of his heart” rather than any direction from him. The prosecution then asked a devastating follow-up: Did that seem in keeping with Cohen’s character? No, Hicks responded, she “didn’t know Michael to be an especially charitable person or selfless person.”

Translation: Trump had reimbursed Cohen and lied to Hicks about it. It may have been this honest and damaging assessment that caused Hicks to break into tears.

The prosecution’s participation in pummeling Cohen was good strategy. It likely lowered the jury’s expectations, decreasing the enormous weight on the shoulders of the government’s star witness.

The jury had to be prepared for a witness whose record comprises multiple criminal convictions, such as the illegal payments at issue in this very trial. The prosecution is betting that having already absorbed the bad news, the jurors can listen to Cohen with relatively open minds.

And here’s the thing about Cohen, in my subjective opinion: It comes through that he is telling the truth.

Yes, he is a strong personality — a native New Yorker through and through — and, yes, he has an enormous ax to grind with Trump, who has remained free (so far) while Cohen went to jail for him. But there’s a difference between a witness with credibility problems, however great, and one who is lying, and divining that distinction is what the jury system is for.

We’ve seen that already in this trial with the testimony of Daniels and David Pecker, the louche tabloid muckraker who described the “catch and kill” scheme. Both gave the defense plenty of ammunition for cross-examination, but both came across essentially as telling the truth.

Cohen has been consistent in his story since he turned traitor on Trump, and his earlier lies are easy to understand in the context of his former sycophancy.

Most important, if the cornerstone of the defense is what will no doubt be a savage cross-examination of Cohen, the foundation of the government’s case is its corroboration of his testimony. Starting with the prosecutors’ smart decision to lead with Pecker, their presentation has been designed to prospectively corroborate Cohen. The jurors will be able to recognize nearly every detail from having heard it before.

Cohen will have to carry a few key details alone, however, the most important of which concern two meetings. One was a January 2017 meeting among Trump, Cohen and Allen Weisselberg, the Trump Organization’s longtime chief financial officer and ultimate loyal fall guy, in which Trump allegedly told the two men to work out a plan to reimburse Cohen. The other is a February 2017 meeting between Cohen and Trump in which the then-president allegedly signed off on reimbursing his fixer with monthly payments camouflaged as a legal retainer.

Strong corroborating evidence of the arrangement can be found in what is probably the most important document in the case: an invoice with Weisselberg’s handwritten annotations explaining how Cohen’s $130,000 payment became $420,000 in reimbursements, including taxes and other considerations.

But as far as the jury is concerned, Weisselberg, who could confirm the arrangement and Trump’s role in it, is nowhere to be seen. That’s because he’s at Rikers Island serving a perjury sentence for lying to protect Trump. In fact, it emerged last week that the district attorney’s office hadn’t even tried to reach the former executive, presumably assuming he would continue to do whatever he could to help Trump.

Weisselberg’s absence is a reminder that prosecutors have to play with the cards they’re dealt. Trump continues to exercise a powerful influence over those in his orbit, and Weisselberg is just one example of a witness the district attorney can’t rely on for that reason.

All of which only heightens Cohen’s importance for the prosecution. This week’s testimony will determine whether his word is strong enough to support a measure of accountability for his former boss.

Harry Litman is the host of the “Talking Feds” podcast and the Talking San Diego speaker series. @harrylitman

The White House on Monday pushed back on reports from the Times of Israel and Washington Post that it is offering “sensitive intelligence” to Israel on the whereabouts of Hamas leaders, if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declines to engage in a full-scale invasion of Rafah.

President Biden has in recent days warned Israel against incurring into the southern Gaza city, threatening to halt munitions shipments if an invasion commences.

Four people familiar with the situation told the Washington Post the administration is offering intel on Hamas tunnels and the hideouts of its leaders if Israel pulls back.

In a statement to Fox News Digital, a National Security Council spokesperson said the U.S. continues to help the IDF target Hamas leadership.

BIDEN’S HOLD ON ISRAEL WEAPONS SHIPMENT STUNS RETIRED US GENERAL: ‘THIS IS A TURNING POINT’

“[T]hat work continues on an ongoing basis. We’re not holding anything back,” the official said.

“We believe [Hamas chief Yahya] Sinwar should and indeed must be held accountable for the horrors of the October 7 attack.”

Former Trump National Security Council official Victoria Coates told Fox News Digital late Monday that intelligence sharing is the “bedrock of our security partnership with Israel.”

“It’s unique and extremely sophisticated, and if one partner is not fulfilling their obligations, it calls the whole thing into question,” Coates said.

“So, if the administration has information on Hamas leadership, which… still holds eight Americans — five alive and three dead in Gaza — and isn’t sharing that with the Israelis and hasn’t shared it with the Israelis, this is deeply troubling.”

Coates, who is now the Heritage Foundation’s national security and foreign policy institute vice president, said that, if true, the report depicts the Biden administration as playing a “political game” versus a battle for the survival of the Jewish State.

BIDEN DONORS RAGE OVER HIS PLEDGE TO PAUSE WEAPON SHIPMENTS TO ISRAEL: ‘BAD, BAD, BAD DECISION’

When asked about allegations that the Biden administration has been playing politics with the Israel issue, Coates indicated Biden’s need to win the youth vote, which she described as more in favor of the Palestinians than any other U.S. age bloc.

“That’s what elected Biden in 2020 and staved off the red wave in 2022. So they know they need the 18-to-24 group. And what’s been revealed over the last six months is that group is strongly pro-Palestinian, if not overtly pro Hamas,” she said.

“And so I think that’s actually the demographic they’re pandering to.”

Ric Grenell, who served as both Trump’s intel chief and ambassador to Germany, called the president’s behavior an “impeachable offense.”

“Let’s be clear, Joe Biden is using U.S. intelligence as a weapon to first demand help from Israel to win Michigan — when he should be providing every piece of intel we have in order to bring the American hostages held by Hamas home,” Grenell said on X, formerly Twitter.

Meanwhile, Fox News radio host Guy Benson called the report, “surreal.”

According to the Post report, Biden and senior aides have also offered to help construct food delivery systems and shelter for Palestinians evacuated from Rafah. 

The White House has tried to sway the Israelis to conduct only targeted strikes within Rafah versus the tack threatened by Jerusalem, as well as hope more granular intelligence assistance to Israel could dissuade them from major offensives.

In an interview with CBS News on Sunday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the U.S. government retains the same objectives as the Israelis.

“We want to make sure that Hamas cannot govern Gaza again,” Blinken said.

President Biden and former President Trump are heading to Southern California in June for big-dollar fundraisers.

The former president arrives first for an event June 7 in Beverly Hills where top tickets go for $250,000 per person, according to an invitation obtained by The Times. The following day, he will headline a fundraiser in Newport Beach with donors being asked to contribute up to $100,000, and with multimillionaire tech entrepreneur Palmer Luckey among the hosts.

The locations of the events were not included on the invitations, but Luckey hosted a major fundraiser for the former president in the final weeks of the 2020 election at his Lido Isle estate.

The following weekend, Biden will appear at a major fundraiser at the Peacock Theater in downtown Los Angeles that will include appearances by former President Obama and celebrities George Clooney and Julia Roberts, according to a source who is raising money for the event and requested anonymity to speak candidly.

The event, first reported by NBC News, comes after Biden’s West Coast swing last week that raised $10 million. The top donation amounts were not disclosed by the fundraiser or the campaign.

But at a December event in Holmby Hills, donors were asked to contribute up to $929,600 to the Biden Victory Fund, a joint fundraising committee that supports the president’s reelection campaign, the Democratic National Committee and state Democratic parties.

In 2012, Clooney hosted a fundraiser for Obama at his Studio City house that raised $15 million for his reelection effort, believed at the time to be the largest one-night campaign haul.

Despite California’s overwhelming Democratic tilt, the state’s donors bankroll presidential campaigns on both sides of the aisle. Biden and Trump have both raised more in the state for their reelection bids than anywhere else, according to fundraising disclosures filed with the Federal Election Commission.

Biden has raised $21 million from Californians through March 31, while Trump has raised $11.1 million.

The disparity reflects Biden’s overall fundraising advantage over Trump. However, the president’s reelection bid is challenging, as seen in a poll released Monday that shows Trump leading Biden in five battleground states that are likely to decide the election.

The poll by the New York Times, Siena College and the Philadelphia Inquirer found Biden losing support among young and minority voters because of the economy and the war in Gaza.