It appears that Cohen has just admitted to embedding a theft from Trump in the same $420,000 amount that is the bull of the Stormy Daniels repayment.
To review:
here's the math we knew before today:
Cohen had paid:
130,000 to Daniel's lawyer via wire.
50,000 to Red Finch
= 180,000 needed to repay Cohen for money Cohen had previously shelled out on Trump's behalf.
Double it to 360,000 to cover takes. (NY state plus Fed tax brackets =50%.)
Add a taxable 60,000 bonus to Cohen for handling it.
= $420,000
Divided by 12 months = $35,000
Cohen subsequently received a bunch of $35,000 checks paid to Cohen monthly signed by Trump in the Oval Office - these were booked as legal services and disguised to look like a legal retainer. But Cohen never did any work for Trump during the time that the checks were dated.
Trump could have simply REPAID Cohen the $180,000 for Stormy and Red Finch but a direct paper trail tying them together was undesirable. So, the typically penny-pincher, negotiator of bills and financial overseer of all checks over $10,000 (as testimony from accounting staff last week covered) designed this cover-up scheme - even though it cost him far more to do so (the doubling up for taxes).
But, the question remained, what was Red Finch?
Red Finch was the firm Cohen paid for two things:
1) when Trump announced he was running for President in 2015 - when he came down the Trump Tower escalator and first said Mexicans were horribly flooding across the border - Red Finch paid people to show up and cheer.
2) Red Finch also engaged in online polling or social media influence campaigns.
Trump needed to repay Cohen.
Again, repayments are not subject to income taxation. But trump wanted to distance himself, so he paid double by pretending it was legal services rendered (income for Cohen). That is fraud. But a misdemeanor fraud.
It becomes a felony because it was in furtherance of another crime of affecting the election.
However, today we learned that Cohen lied to Weisselberg and Trump about how much he paid Red Finch! He apparently only paid Red Finch $20,000 and not $50k, and thus pocketed the rest for himself.If Trump was such a wise examiner of all outgoing checks, how was Cohen able to fool him into over repaying. Essentially, Cohen is a thief and Trump is a dumbass - some jurors might have doubt about Trump knowing what he was doing in committing the alleged felony.
The whole case may be over now.
Trump will declare a setup, victimhood, victory.
WW3, here we come. Hitler is back in charge. https://www.yahoo.com/news/live/trump-trial-live-updates-michael-cohen-returns-for-more-cross-examination-as-judge-eyes-conclusion-of-trial-121636675.html 
