There’s no justifying it, but I have a sneaky soft spot for Michael Cohen, the former lawyer, fixer and – as Fox News is keen to remind us – “ex-con” testifying against Donald Trump in the Stormy Daniels hush-money trial. Coming hard on the heels of Daniels’ explosive appearance last week, Cohen’s testimony could have been anticlimactic. Not so!

The 57-year-old, navigating a tricky line between languid, affable and sheepish, met tough questioning by Trump’s lawyers with the calmness of a man with nothing to lose and a lot of unfinished business to get through. Cohen, you’ll remember, literally did time for those hush-money payments (among other things), so it’s fair to say he might have a few scores to settle.

If Cohen’s return to court felt inevitable, it is in line with so many members of Trump’s former inner circle, all of whom, given time, seem to revolve back into view like the fish at Yo! Sushi. Cohen is one of an effective Marvel Universe of characters unleashed by the Trump administration who, eight years after Trump entered the White House, are serious contenders as our era’s lasting, historical villains.

Among these Cohen, much like Anthony Scaramucci, the banker and Trump’s former press........

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