DONALD TRUMP’S criminal trial is nearing its denouement at last. The prosecutors’ star witness is due on the stand imminently, at which point their tale of the former president’s duplicity will start to cohere. In 11 days of testimony other witnesses have skewered Mr Trump, flattered him and revealed his predilections, including his habit of signing cheques in Sharpie pen. But none has yet implicated him directly in the charged crimes. That is up to Michael Cohen, his former lapdog lawyer who, after going rogue six years ago, has been busy writing books with the subtle titles “Disloyal” and “Revenge”.

Jurors heard the voice before they saw the man. And what a voice: pushy, impolite, pure Long Island. A fuhgeddaboudit accent. Sometimes boastful, sometimes defensive, sometimes self-pitying, always mouthy. Days before he appeared in court to testify against his ex-boss and sworn enemy, prosecutors played a recording of a phone call during which Michael Cohen sounded terribly sorry for Michael Cohen. Or as he complained to the guy on the other end of the line: “Nobody is thinking about Michael. You understand?”