was signed by the president six months into his presidency. it marks the first time in american history that we have seen a check signed by a president for an illegal purpose. >> as exhibit 5a to my testimony shows, i am providing a copy of a $35,000 check that president trump personally signed from his personal bank account on august 1st of 2017. when he was president of the united states. pursuant to the cover-up, which was the basis of my guilty plea, to reimburse me. >> the crime as described by federal prosecutors and in michael cohen's guilty plea testimony took place weeks before the presidential election when michael cohen used his own funds to arrange a payment of $130,000 to stormy daniels to buy her silence. what america learned from michael cohen today is that that criminal scheme extended forward