Top French diplomat arrives in Lebanon in attempt to broker a halt to Hezbollah-Israel clashes

BEIRUT (AP) — French Foreign Minister Stéphane Séjourné arrived in Lebanon on Sunday as part of diplomatic attempts to broker a de-escalation in the conflict on the Lebanon-Israel border.

Séjourné met with United Nations peacekeeping forces in south Lebanon and with Lebanon's parliament speaker, army chief, foreign minister and caretaker prime minister.

France “is refusing to accept the worst-case scenario" of a full-scale war in Lebanon, he told journalists after the meetings.

“In southern Lebanon, the war is already here, even if it's not called by that name, and it’s the civilian population who’s paying the price,” he said.

The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah has exchanged near-daily strikes with Israeli forces in the border region — and sometimes beyond — for almost seven months against the backdrop of Israel’s war against Hezbollah ally Hamas in Gaza.

Israeli strikes have killed more than 350 people in Lebanon, most of them fighters with Hezbollah and allied groups but also including more than 50 civilians. Strikes by Hezbollah have killed at least 10 civilians and 12 soldiers in Israel. Tens of thousands are displaced on each side of the border.

A French diplomatic official who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to journalists said the purpose of Séjourné’s visit was to convey France’s “fears of a war on Lebanon” and to submit an amendment to a proposal Paris had previously presented to Lebanon for a diplomatic resolution to the border conflict.

Western diplomats have brought forward a series of proposals for a cessation of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah. Most of those would hinge on Hezbollah moving its forces several kilometers (miles) from the border, a beefed-up Lebanese army presence and negotiations for Israeli forces to withdraw from disputed points along the border where Lebanon says Israel has been occupying small patches of Lebanese territory since it withdrew from the rest of south Lebanon in 2000.

The eventual goal is full implementation of a U.N. resolution that brought to an end a brutal monthlong war between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006.

The previous French proposal would have involved Hezbollah withdrawing its forces 10 kilometers (6 miles) from the border.

Hezbollah has signaled willingness to entertain the proposals but has said there will be no deal in Lebanon before there is a cease-fire in Gaza. Israeli officials, meanwhile, have said that a Gaza cease-fire does not automatically mean it will halt its strikes in Lebanon, even if Hezbollah does so.

Séjourné declined to provide more details about the latest version of France’s proposal ahead of his planned trip to Israel on Tuesday. He said he will have “consultations” with Israeli authorities to move toward an agreement.

The French foreign minister also pushed for the Lebanese political factions to come to an agreement on a candidate to fill a year-and-a-half-long presidential vacuum. Séjourné said that Lebanon needs a president in place in order to be “invited to the negotiating table” and to be able to implement any agreement that might be reached on the border issue.

During the talks, Lebanese officials also raised the issue of the ongoing presence of more than 1 million Syrian refugees in Lebanon, which has become an increasingly contentious issue. Lebanese officials have increasingly called for Western countries to facilitate their return to Syria.

Séjourné acknowledged the burden placed on Lebanon by hosting such a large number of refugees, and said that "all concerned parties must work to make this return possible in a voluntary, dignified and safe manner in accordance with international law."

Associated Press writers Ali Sharaffedine in Beirut and Sylvie Corbett in Paris contributed to this report.

French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne speaks during a press conference at the Pine Palace, which is the residence of the French ambassador, in Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, April 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne adjusts his glasses as he listens to a question during a press conference at the Pine Palace, which is the residence of the French ambassador, in Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, April 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne gestures as he speaks during a press conference at the Pine Palace, which is the residence of the French ambassador, in Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, April 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne adjusts his glasses as he listens to a question during a press conference at the Pine Palace, which is the residence of the French ambassador, in Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, April 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne, gestures as he speaks during a press conference at the Pine Palace, which is the residence of the French ambassador, in Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, April 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne gestures as he speaks during a press conference at the Pine Palace, which is the residence of the French ambassador, in Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, April 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne, left, meets with Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati, in Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, April 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bouhabib, right, welcomes his French counterpart Stephane Sejourne, during their meeting, in Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, April 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne, center, meets with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, right, in Beirut, Sunday, April 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, right, gestures after he shows a map that details Israel's strikes on Lebanon since Oct. 7, to visiting French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne during their meeting, in Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, April 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, right, shows a map that details Israel's strikes on Lebanon since Oct. 7, to visiting French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne during their meeting, in Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, April 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, right, shows a map that details Israel's strikes on Lebanon since Oct. 7, to visiting French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne during their meeting, in Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, April 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne, left, speaks with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri during their meeting in Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, April 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

NEW YORK (AP) — The star prosecution witness in Donald Trump's hush money trial is set to take the stand Monday with testimony that could help shape the outcome of the first criminal case against an American president.

Michael Cohen, Trump's former lawyer and personal fixer, is by far the Manhattan district attorney's most important witness in the case, and his expected appearance signals that the trial is entering its final stretch. Prosecutors say they may wrap up their presentation of evidence by the end of the week.

Cohen is expected to testify about his role in arranging hush money payments on Trump's behalf during his first presidential campaign, including to porn actor Stormy Daniels, who told jurors last week that the $130,000 that she received in 2016 was meant to prevent her from going public about a sexual encounter she says she had with Trump in a hotel suite a decade earlier.

He also matters because the reimbursements he received form the basis of the charges — 34 felony counts of falsifying business records — against Trump. Prosecutors say the reimbursements were logged as legal expenses to conceal the payments' true purpose.

Defense lawyers have teed up a bruising cross-examination of Cohen, telling jurors during opening statements that the fixer-turned-foe is an “admitted liar” with an “obsession to get President Trump.”

The testimony of a witness with such intimate knowledge of Trump's activities could heighten the legal exposure of the presumptive Republican presidential nominee if jurors deem him sufficiently credible. But politically, prosecutors' reliance on a witness with such a checkered past — Cohen pleaded guilty to federal charges related to the payments and to lying to Congress — could be a boon for Trump as he fundraises off his legal woes and paints the case as the product of a tainted criminal justice system.

Either way, his role as star prosecution witness further cements the disintegration of a mutually beneficial relationship that was once so close that Cohen famously said he'd “take a bullet for Trump.” After Cohen's home and office were raided by the FBI in 2018, Trump showered him with affection on social media, praising him as a “fine person with a wonderful family” and predicting — incorrectly — that Cohen would not "flip."

Months later, Cohen did exactly that, pleading guilty that August to federal campaign-finance charges in which he implicated Trump. By that point, the relationship was irrevocably broken, with Trump posting on the social media platform then known as Twitter: “If anyone is looking for a good lawyer, I would strongly suggest that you don’t retain the services of Michael Cohen!”

Cohen later admitted lying to Congress about a Moscow real estate project that he had pursued on Trump's behalf during the heat of the 2016 Republican campaign. He said he lied to be consistent with Trump's “political messaging.”

Prosecutors are expected to elicit detailed testimony from Cohen about his past crimes in hopes of blunting the impact of defense lawyers' questioning and showing that they're not trying to hide his misdeeds. But it's unclear how effective that will be, given that defense lawyers will be prepared to exploit all the challenges that accompany a witness like Cohen.

In addition to painting Cohen as untrustworthy, they're also expected to cast him as vindictive, vengeful and agenda-driven. Since their fallout, Cohen has emerged as a relentless and sometimes crude critic of Trump, appearing as recently as last week in a live Tik Tok wearing a shirt featuring a figure resembling Trump with his hands cuffed, behind bars. The judge on Friday urged prosecutors to tell him to refrain from making any more statements about the case or Trump.

“He has talked extensively about his desire to see President Trump go to prison,” Trump attorney Todd Blanche said during opening statements. “He has talked extensively about his desire to see President Trump’s family go to prison. He has talked extensively about President Trump getting convicted in this case.”

No matter how his testimony unfolds, Cohen is indisputably central to the case, as evidenced by the fact that his name was mentioned in the jury's presence during opening statements more than 130 times — more than any other person.

Other witnesses, including former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker and former Trump adviser Hope Hicks, have testified at length about the role Cohen played in arranging to stifle stories that were feared to be harmful to Trump's 2016 candidacy. And jurors heard an audio recording of Trump and Cohen discussing a plan to purchase the rights to a story of a Playboy model, Karen McDougal, who has said she had an affair with Trump.

During a massive rally on Saturday in the southern New Jersey resort town of Wildwood, Trump revived his criticism of the case, wrongly blaming President Joe Biden for orchestrating the New York charges, calling the case a “Biden show trial.”

That argument ignores the reality that the hush money case was filed by local prosecutors in Manhattan who do not work for the Justice Department or any other White House office. The Justice Department has said the White House has had no involvement in the two criminal cases against Trump brought by special counsel Jack Smith.

Michael Cohen leaves his apartment building on his way to Manhattan criminal court, Monday, May 13, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)

Michael Cohen leaves his apartment building on his way to Manhattan criminal court, Monday, May 13, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)

Michael Cohen, right, leaves his apartment building on his way to Manhattan criminal court, Monday, May 13, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)

Michael Cohen leaves his apartment building on his way to Manhattan criminal court, Monday, May 13, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)

Michael Cohen leaves his apartment building on his way to Manhattan criminal court, Monday, May 13, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)

Michael Cohen leaves his apartment building on his way to Manhattan criminal court, Monday, May 13, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)

Donald Trump, left, a possible 2012 presidential candidate, left, and attorney Michael Cohen, are pictured at a stop at the Roundabout Diner, April 27, 2011, in Portsmouth, N.H. Cohen is prosecutors’ most central witness in former President Donald Trump's hush money trial. But Trump’s fixer-turned-foe is also as challenging a star witness as they come. The now-disbarred lawyer has a tortured history with Trump. (AP Photo/Jim Cole)

FILE - People lay hands in prayer on Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, right, as attorney Michael Cohen looks on during a visit to the Pastors Leadership Conference at New Spirit Revival Center, Sept. 21, 2016, in Cleveland. Cohen is prosecutors’ most central witness in former President Trump's hush money trial. But Trump’s fixer-turned-foe is also as challenging a star witness as they come. The now-disbarred lawyer has a tortured history with Trump. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci, File)

Trump trial arrives at a pivotal moment: Star witness Michael Cohen is poised to take the stand

FILE - Michael Cohen, former attorney to Donald Trump, leaves the District Attorney's office in New York, March 13, 2023. Cohen is prosecutors' most central witness in former President Donald Trump's hush money trial. But Trump's fixer-turned-foe is also as challenging a star witness as they come. The now-disbarred lawyer has a tortured history with Trump. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura, File)

Trump trial arrives at a pivotal moment: Star witness Michael Cohen is poised to take the stand