Closing summary
Judge Juan Merchan and lawyers for the prosecution and defense are meeting to work on jury instructions, after Donald Trump’s defense rested its case earlier this morning. The jury has been sent home and instructed to return next Tuesday.
Here’s a recap of today’s developments:
Trump declined to testify at his own criminal trial after the defense rested its case after calling just two witnesses. Trump had previously railed about being silenced and falsely claimed he was not allowed to testify, but ultimately elected of his own volition not to take the stand in his own defense.
Trump was joined by a huge entourage of supporters, including his sons Donald Trump Jr and Eric Trump, former acting attorney general Matt Whitaker, former Florida attorney general Pam Bondi, actor Joe Piscopo and Republican members of Congress.
The trial resumed earlier this morning with continued cross-examination of Robert Costello, whom the defense has used to try to discredit the former president’s one-time fixer, Michael Cohen. Costello was a defense lawyer with whom Cohen met after federal authorities raided his hotel room and apartment. Cohen told jurors that he was leery of Costello, who had described a close relationship with Trump ally Rudy Giuliani. Cohen said he didn’t trust Costello, concerned that anything he said would get to Giuliani and thus, Trump.
Here are the key takeaways from the trial on Monday. Cohen, the prosecution’s most important witness, saw his testimony end on Monday and Costello’s behavior on the stand almost spun the courtroom into chaos, and prompted a rebuke from the judge.
Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger showed emails Costello sent to Cohen in which he repeatedly dangled his close ties to Giuliani in the aftermath of the FBI raid. In one email, Costello told Cohen: “Sleep well tonight, you have friends in high places,” and relayed that there were “some very positive comments about you from the White House”.
Judge Merchan told jurors to return on Tuesday 28 May for closing arguments. Merchan said he would also announce his instructions to jurors the next day and expected that they would then start deliberating.
Donald Trump Jr defended his father’s decision not to testify. “There’d be absolutely no reason, no justification to do that whatsoever. Everyone sees it for the sham that it is,” he said at a news conference alongside other Trump allies near the courthouse.
Updated
While Donald Trump floated the possibility of legal drama earlier in the hall – suggesting he might break the gag order – the likelihood of any eyebrow-raising courtroom antics remains practically nil this afternoon.
Trump and his team, and prosecutors, returned to court this afternoon for a conference where they and the judge, Juan Merchan, discussed proposed instructions to the jury. This conference is ongoing.
Updated
Judge Juan Merchan has denied the defense’s request that he tell the jury that there was no limit on federal candidates’ contributions to their own 2016 campaigns, AP reported.
Per AP, Trump attorney Emil Bove suggested the language would help the jury “have a full picture of what constitutes contributions and expenditures” and understand that Donald Trump could have paid such sums as the Stormy Daniels payout – if it were deemed a campaign contribution – from his own funds.
Prosecutor Matthew Colangelo countered that campaign self-funding rules were “extraneous and totally irrelevant” to the case, according to AP.
The judge concluded it was unnecessary but told defense lawyers they could argue in their summation that Trump could have paid Daniels himself, instead of Michael Cohen doing so.
Updated
Trump says he feels 'very good' as he heads back inside court
Donald Trump spoke to reporters in the hallway outside the courtroom before heading back inside after a long break.
The former president said:
I feel very good. I think we’ve had a great case we’ve put on.
Per pool, Trump also spoke about the gag order, hinting that he may break it to to “defend our constitution” so he will “take a chance”.
Trump is accompanied in court this afternoon by members of his entourage including his son, Donald Trump Jr, the former Hells Angel leader and actor Chuck Zito, and the actor Joe Piscopo, per the Times.
Updated
Prosecutors and defense lawyers are talking about how both sides want to handle the Federal Election Campaign Act (Feca) in the jury instructions.
The defense wants the word “willfully” to be used when the judge, Juan Merchan, tells jurors about the election law violation.
Trump attorney Emil Bove says:
It’s only a crime if it has a criminal object, if it’s a non-criminal violation, we’re talking, I submit, we’re talking about a civil conspiracy, at most.
Updated
Judge Juan Merchan is back on the bench and prosecutors and the defense are meeting now to work on jury instructions.
Summary
Donald Trump’s lawyers rested their defense on Tuesday morning, without the former president himself testifying. The jury has been sent home and instructed to return next Tuesday, in the meantime court will resume at 2.15pm ET today when prosecutors and the defense will discuss the instructions that will be given to jurors before they start deliberating.
Here’s a recap of the latest developments:
Trump declined to testify at his own criminal trial. Trump had previously railed about being silenced and falsely claimed he was not allowed to testify, but ultimately elected of his own volition not to take the stand in his own defense.
Trump was joined by a huge entourage of supporters, including his sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, former acting attorney general Matt Whitaker, former Florida attorney general Pam Bondi, actor Joe Piscopo and Republican members of congress.
The trial resumed earlier Monday with continued cross-examination of Robert Costello, whom the defense has used to try to discredit the former president’s one-time fixer, Michael Cohen. Costello was a defense lawyer with whom Cohen met after federal authorities raided his hotel room and apartment. Cohen told jurors that he was leery of Costello, who had described a close relationship with Trump ally Rudy Giuliani. Cohen said he didn’t trust Costello, concerned that anything he said would get to Giuliani and thus, Trump.
Here are the key takeaways from the trial on Monday. Cohen, the prosecution’s most important witness, saw his testimony end on Monday and Costello’s behavior on the stand almost spun the courtroom into chaos, and prompted a rebuke from the judge.
Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger showed emails Costello sent to Cohen in which he repeatedly dangled his close ties to Giuliani in the aftermath of the FBI raid. In one email, Costello told Cohen: “Sleep well tonight, you have friends in high places,” and relayed that there were “some very positive comments about you from the White House”.
Judge Merchan told jurors to return on Tuesday 28 May for closing arguments. Merchan said he would also announce his instructions to jurors the next day and expected that they would then start deliberating.
Donald Trump Jr defended his father’s decision not to testify. “There’d be absolutely no reason, no justification to do that whatsoever. Everyone sees it for the sham that it is,” he said at a news conference alongside other Trump allies near the courthouse.
Updated
No cameras are allowed inside the courtroom while proceedings are under way, but a courtroom sketch artist has captured this morning’s scenes.
Updated
Donald Trump Jr was joined by a group of Trump allies that included Republican state leaders, lawmakers, state attorneys general at a news conference near the courthouse.
“We are here because we are friends of Donald Trump, the president of the United States, and when a friend has trouble, friends have his back,” said Dan Patrick, the Texas lieutenant governor, AP reported.
If they can go after the former president of the United States of America, who has the ability and the financial resources to fight back, what happens to the average American.
Per AP, Texas congressman Troy Nehls, wearing a tie with a pattern of photographs of Trump holding the American flag, said:
They don’t want him on the ballot … This is five weeks in a courtroom when he should be out reaching the American people and telling the American people what he would like to do for this country.
Updated
Outside the courthouse, Donald Trump Jr attacked a question about why his father didn’t testify in his own defense:
Why would you justify this insanity? You don’t subject yourself to that. You’re going in a kangaroo court, nothing more nothing less. There’s absolutely no reason or justification to do that whatsoever. Everyone sees it for the sham that it is.
Updated
Trump lawyers asked judge to dismiss trial
Donald Trump’s lawyers on Monday moved to have the judge, Juan Merchan, dismiss the case before jury deliberations, arguing that there was no evidence that Trump had committed the crimes.
The defense argued that the case rests on the testimony of a witness, the estranged former Trump fixer Michael Cohen, who has a well-documented history of lying.
“There is no way that the court should let this case go to the jury relying on Cohen’s testimony,” Trump lawyer Todd Blanche said outside the presence of the jury, adding that without Cohen’s testimony “there is no case”.
Merchan reserved judgment on deciding on their request, but the possibility that he grants it is very remote. Merchan, addressing Blanche, said:
You said that his lies are irrefutable, but do you think he’s going to fool 12 New Yorkers?
Updated
Donald Trump earlier refused to answer a reporter’s question about whether he wanted to create a unified reich.
The question referred to a video that appeared on Trump’s Truth Social account that included the words “unified reich” among hypothetical news headlines if he wins the November election. The text appears in the background of a 30-second clip that makes staple Trump campaign promises, such as closing the border and mass deportations, and it may have been lifted from Wikipedia, AP reports.
Joe Biden’s re-election operation said the video is further proof of the ex-president’s dictatorial intent if he is returned to the White House. Biden-Harris campaign spokesperson James Singer said in a statement last night:
America, stop scrolling and pay attention. Donald Trump is not playing games; he is telling America exactly what he intends to do if he regains power: rule as a dictator over a ‘unified reich’.
Trump posts a new ad foreshadowing a second Trump term that says he will create a “UNIFIED REICH,” echoing Nazi Germany pic.twitter.com/z4ZmMSWuRH
— Biden-Harris HQ (@BidenHQ) May 21, 2024
In a statement, Trump’s campaign press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, blamed the posting of a video that included the word “unified reich” on a third party, and a mix-up by a staffer:
This was not a campaign video, it was created by a random account online and reposted by a staffer who clearly did not see the word, while the President was in court.
Updated
Trump will not testify in own trial
Donald Trump will not take the stand in his own criminal trial, after his defense lawyers rested their case on Tuesday morning after calling just two witnesses.
The former president previously said he would “absolutely” testify in his hush money trial, telling reporters last month:
I’m testifying. I tell the truth, I mean, all I can do is tell the truth. And the truth is that there is no case.
Trump became more noncommittal in a later interview with Newsmax, where he said only that he would testify “if it’s necessary”. Trump’s legal spokesperson, Alina Habba, said yesterday:
We know he wants to testify. He is willing, he is able, he is nothing to hide at all. He’s absolutely ready to tell the truth.
Trump has repeatedly falsely claimed that he is not allowed to testify because of a court-imposed gag order. In fact, Juan Merchan’s order does not in any way stop Trump from testifying.
Legal experts have widely suggested Trump testifying would almost certainly be a mistake, given his track record of making self-incriminating comments.
Updated
Judge instructs jury to return next Tuesday
Judge Juan Merchan tells the jury he intends to adjourn Donald Trump’s criminal trial now, resuming next Tuesday.
At that time, you will hear summations of the attorneys. And the next day, you will hear my jury charge and then I expect you will begin your deliberations at some point on Wednesday.
Merchan instructs both sides to return at 2:15pm ET, where they will address jury instructions. This part is key – it will likely to get to how the jury needs to interpret Donald Trump’s alleged intent to commit a second crime by falsifying business records.
The jury has left the courtroom, and Merchan is off the bench.
Updated
Defense rests
Robert Costello is off the stand.
The defense rests.
Trump attorney Emil Bove asked about the email in which Robert Costello told Michael Cohen to let his concerns be known.
“Was that you pressuring Michael Cohen to do anything?” “No, not at all,” Costello said.
Was Costello just giving him options, Bove pressed? “Exactly.”
“Did you ever pressure Michael Cohen to do anything?” “I did not,” Costello replied.
“Did you ever have control over Michael Cohen?” Costello smiled and said, “Absolutely not.”
Updated
Trump attorney Emil Bove is asking Robert Costello about whether Michael Cohen agreed for him to be his attorney.
Every time Costello’s colleague asked Cohen about the retainer, “‘Michael, have you signed the retainer yet?’, he had an excuse,” he said.
“Were you concerned that you were representing Michael Cohen but he hadn’t signed a retainer agreement?” “Yes, sir,” Costello replied.
It seems that Bove is trying to suggest that Cohen’s wariness toward Costello indicates flakiness and thus, unreliability. Hence the question about whether Cohen had ever signed a retainer; Bove was trying to imply that Cohen was stringing Costello along, as a way of undermining his character.
Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger has wrapped up her cross-examination of Robert Costello and Trump attorney Emil Bove is back up at the podium again.
Bove is pointing to an email from 20 April 2018 that said “I will be on the team” and featured a quote from Michael Cohen expressing how excited he was to have Costello on board; this appears to be a draft announcement or press release.
Costello had sent this email to his son, apparently out of excitement over representing Cohen.
(Context: Cohen has said that he never agreed for Costello to represent him, nor did he. This is early on, around when Costello met with Cohen; the former Trump fixer described being leery of Costello because of his tight relationship with Rudy Giuliani.)
Prosecutor asks Costello if he felt animosity towards Cohen
In a 22 June email, Robert Costello wrote to a colleague:
[Michael] Cohen has to know this yet he continues to slow play us and the president – is he totally nuts??? I am in a golf tournament tomorrow early and again on Sunday. What should I say to this asshole? He is playing with the most powerful man on the planet.
“This note speaks for itself, doesn’t it Mr Costello?” prosecutor Susan Hoffinger asked. “Yes, it does,” Costello said.
Hoffinger asked Costello: did he lose control of Cohen? When he pleaded guilty in 2018? He replied:
I certainly didn’t have any control when he pled guilty.
Did he have animosity toward Cohen? Costello said:
I don’t have animosity –
“Do you have animosity against Michael Cohen?” Hoffinger pressed. “No,” he replied.
“Last week, on May 15, didn’t you go to Congress to testify about the case, about Michael Cohen?” she asked.
Updated
Donald Trump, speaking before court, said the defense will be “resting” soon, but he won’t be “resting”.
“We’ll be doing something in the morning and then probably coming back in the afternoon. And we’ll be resting pretty quickly,” he told the media.
He added, however:
I won’t be resting. I don’t rest.
TRUMP: "We'll be resting pretty quickly, resting meaning resting the case. I won't be resting. I don't rest. I'd like to rest sometimes, but I don't get to rest." pic.twitter.com/Ei9rvSfl0b
— JM Rieger (@RiegerReport) May 21, 2024
Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger pointed to a message where Robert Costello wrote to Michael Cohen which read:
If you really believe you are not being supported by your former boss, then you should make your position known.
“You wrote that to him, right.,” Hoffinger asked. Costello answered in the affirmative.
Was he angry? No.
Was he upset? No.
“Did you believe that he was also playing President Trump, correct?” Hoffinger asked. Costello replied:
I don’t think that’s correct.
In another missive to Michael Cohen, Robert Costello said:
I spoke with Rudy [Giuliani]. Very, very positive. You are ‘loved. If you want to’ call me I will give you the details … Rudy said this communication channel must be maintained. He called it crucial...
Costello’s email continued:
Our issue is to get Cohen on the right page without giving him the appearance that we are following instructions from Giuliani or the president. In my opinion this is the clear correct strategy. We must reverse the [Michael] Avenatti effect and restore this to a far more simple investigation of things that while they might not look good politically and nevertheless legal.
Asked about this email, Costello told the jury:
Michael Costello had been complaining incessantly, frankly, that Rudy Giuliani was making statements in the press that Michael Cohen didn’t approve of, that’s why I said to him if you really feel that way make it known...
Updated
Prosecutor grills Robert Costello on relationship with Rudy Giuliani
Susan Hoffinger, in resuming he cross-examination of Robert Costello, is grilling him on his relationship with Rudy Giuliani.
(Recall: Michael Cohen had chatted with Costello after the feds raided his home and hotel room in April 2018. Cohen said that Costello gave him pause, due to the attorney’s relationship with Giuliani. Cohen testified that he feared that anything he said to Costello would get to Giuliani and thus, in turn, trickle to his ex-boss, Donald Trump.)
It appears that prosecutors had elicited this testimony from Cohen as a way of explaining why he wasn’t immediately forthcoming about Trump’s alleged wrongdoing. The defense called Costello on Monday, as its second witness. They tried to use Costello to discredit Cohen, as he testified that Trump’s former consigliere said he didn’t have anything on Trump.
But on cross today, Hoffinger presented emails that showed Costello was close to Giuliani. In an email to a colleague, Costello wrote:
All the more reason for Cohen to hire me because of my connection to Giuliani, which I mentioned to him in our meeting
In an 21 April 2015 email to Cohen, Costello wrote:
I just spoke to Rudy Giuliani and told him I was on your team. Rudy was thrilled...
Updated
Donald Trump addressed the media before heading inside the Manhattan courthouse, where he claimed that “every single scholar says there’s been no crime” in his hush-money trial, per pool report.
The former president repeated the talking points he usually sticks to, per the pooler, railing that the judge, Juan Merchan, was conflicted and slamming the case.
According to the pool, he did not answer a question about whether he wanted to create a unified reich.
Trump, the pooler noted, could be heard saying to his group, “another day in paradise”.
Updated
Trump enters courtroom with entourage
Donald Trump’s entourage today includes Donald Trump Jr, Boris Epshteyn, Pam Bondi and Matt Whitaker – and Seb Gorka, who carried in a silver metal briefcase with a large presidential seal on its side.
Gorka often walks around with White House memorabilia. When he attended Trump’s campaign launch in 2022 at Mar-a-Lago, he arrived in Palm Beach with a binder with the presidential seal on the front.
Updated
Court is now in session.
Judge Juan Merchan has taken the bench. Robert Costello has returned to the witness stand and the jury is entering momentarily.
Among those joining Donald Trump today in court to support the former president in his criminal trial is a former leader of a New York Hells Angels chapter who spent years in prison on drug charges.
Chuck Zito “helped found in the early 1980s the New York Nomads chapter of the Hells Angels, the infamous club that started in California. The justice department described the organization as a criminal enterprise and linked the New York chapter to the Gambino crime family. Mr Zito later left the biker group to try to become a movie star in Hollywood,” per the Times.
Zito now sells T-shirts on his website, Chuck Zito’s Italian Bay Boy Apparel. In addition to shirts with this slogan, his tees have voiced support for the ex-president, such as “Trump’s the best, fuck the rest” and, “impeach my balls.”
Updated
Donald Trump has entered the courtroom and made a gesture to someone.
Trump trial key takeaways from Monday
Donald Trump’s criminal hush-money trial entered its 19th day on Monday in Manhattan with what has become a routine procession, with a phalanx of supporters that included his son, Eric, Kash Patel and the law professor Alan Dershowitz, a former leader of the New York Hells Angels chapter, and a disgraced former NYPD commissioner.
Here are some key takeaways from the day’s proceedings:
1. Michael Cohen’s testimony concluded: Cohen, who took the stand on Monday, 13 May and was the prosecution’s most important witness, saw his cross-examination, and re-direct, end this afternoon. Indeed, prosecutors said that Trump, Cohen and tabloid honcho David Pecker plotted in summer 2015 to keep negative press about the then-candidate under wraps – so as not to derail his presidential campaign.
During his direct testimony, Cohen told jurors that Trump instructed him to fix Stormy Daniels’ account of an extramarital liaison in 2006 and personally signed checks that reimbursed him for the $130,000 hush-money payment. Trump’s lead attorney, Todd Blanche, struggled to hit Cohen with “gotcha” moments, and the closest he arguably came was in offering an alternative explanation about why the ex-president’s longtime confidant would receive $420,000 in payments for a $130,000 cost.
2. Cohen regained his footing on re-direct: After cross wrapped, prosecutor Susan Hoffinger had an opportunity to question Cohen again. She tried to undermine Blanche’s suggestion that Cohen’s cooperation against Trump was out of self-interest. She asked what had happened to him since he started speaking out and, ultimately, cooperating with law enforcement. “My entire life has been turned upside down as a direct result, I lost my law license, my businesses, my financial security,” Cohen said. “Would you have paid Stormy Daniels if Mr Trump had not signed off?” Hoffinger pressed. He said: “No ma’am”, and, when asked why not, he explained: “Because, I wanted to ensure that I’d get my funds back.”
3. Robert Costello claimed Cohen cleared Trump in conversations: Costello was a defense lawyer with whom Cohen met after federal authorities raided his hotel room and apartment. Cohen told jurors that he was leery of Costello, who had described a close relationship with Trump ally Rudy Giuliani. Cohen said he didn’t trust Costello, concerned that anything he said would get to Giuliani and thus, Trump.
Costello said he met Cohen on 17 April 2018, at the hotel where he was staying. “I explained to Michael Cohen that this entire legal problem he was facing would be resolved by the end of the week if he had truthful information about Donald Trump and cooperated with the southern district of New York,” Costello told jurors. Cohen allegedly claimed: “I swear to god, Bob, I don’t have anything on Donald Trump.
4. Costello prompted near-chaos in court: Despite Costello’s comments on Cohen, he wasn’t exactly a great witness for the defense because of his courtroom composure. He said “jeez” at one point and instructed that something be stricken – which is something only a judge can do. Judge Juan Merchan directed the jury to leave at one point during his testimony and then told Costello: “So when there’s a witness on the stand and you don’t like my ruling, you don’t say ‘jeez,’ and you don’t say ‘strike it’. Because I’m the only one who can strike ... ” Merchan said. It devolved further. “You don’t roll your eyes, do you understand that? Do you understand that? Are you staring me down right now?” Merchan said.
Donald Trump’s motorcade has arrived at the Manhattan courthouse.
Trump on way to court
Donald Trump has left Trump Tower to attend the latest day in court. Proceedings are due to start at 9.30am ET, with prosecutor Susan Hoffinger continuing to question Robert Costello.
Both the prosecution and the defense have signaled they do not expect to need much longer before wrapping up their cases.
Earlier on Monday, the prosecution attempted to undercut the Trump team’s contention that Michael Cohen lied whenever it suited his needs, such as when he lied to a federal judge in 2018 that he was not pressured into pleading guilty to tax evasion – which he later disavowed.
The prosecution suggested that lying to the judge in 2018 was not comparable to lying on the stand in Trump’s trial, as Trump’s lawyers have argued, because unlike in 2018 the current case does not involve Cohen or his wife facing potential jail time.
“Is this different?” prosecutor Susan Hoffinger asked Cohen, referencing the 2018 incident.
“The other one, it was, my life was on the line … my liberty,” Cohen said.
I was the defendant in that case, and here I’m just a non-party subpoenaed witness.
Updated
Trump will once again be joined in the courtroom by political allies, according to CNN. Among those expected at the Manhattan criminal court today are Trump’s son Don Jr; Sebastian Gorka, a former aide to Trump and an ex-editor at the rightwing website Breitbart; and Trump’s former acting attorney general Matt Whitaker, who was a prominent critic of the Mueller investigation into Russian election interference in 2016.
CNN has a list of all the people expected to join Trump in court today:
Donald Trump Jr
Former acting attorney general Matt Whitaker
Former Florida attorney general Pam Bondi
Republican senator Eric Schmitt
Republican representative Daniel Webster
Republican representative Dan Meuser
Republican representative Ronny Jackson
Republican representative Troy Nehls
Republican representative Dale Strong
Republican representative Maria Salazar
Former leader of a New York Hells Angels Chapter Chuck Zito
Sebastian Gorka
Joe Piscopo
Bill White
Updated
Judge threatened to strike Costello's entire testimony, transcripts show
The Washington Post has more details on the courtroom chaos caused by Costello on Monday. After the judge, Juan Merchan, removed the media from the courtroom, he told Costello his “conduct is contemptuous”, court transcripts show.
He also told Costello he would remove him as a witness if he did not change his behavior. “If you try to stare me down one more time, I will remove you from the stand. I will strike this entire testimony; do you understand me?”
Trump’s attorney Emil Bove answered for Costello, saying: “Yes Judge. I understand.”
Costello then tried to make a comment, to which Merchan replied: “No. No. This is not a conversation.”
Updated
Trump unlikely to testify in his own defense
Donald Trump is almost certain not to testify in his own defense, based on his lawyers’ comments in court.
Legal experts have widely suggested Trump testifying would almost certainly be a mistake, given his track record of making self-incriminating comments.
After Robert Costello is finished, the defense is likely to rest their case, although calendar issues may mean the judge adjourns trial until 28 May, when the jury could start deliberations.
Yesterday’s testimony from Robert Costello was in direct conflict with Michael Cohen’s recollection of the extent of Donald Trump’s involvement and knowledge in the hush-money scheme, including that he had told Trump he was going ahead with paying hush money to Stormy Daniels on a call in October 2016.
Costello, who almost came to represent Cohen after Cohen was charged by federal prosecutors with tax evasion in 2018, testified that he advised Cohen to cooperate with federal prosecutors in that case and offer any information he had on Trump.
Cohen lamented: “I swear to God, Bob, I don’t have anything on Donald Trump,” and that Trump “knew nothing” about the hush-money payments, Costello recalled.
He said:
Michael Cohen said numerous times that President Trump knew nothing about those payments, that he did this on his own, and he repeated that numerous times.
Updated
Cohen testified that hush-money payment violated election law
Michael Cohen, Donald Trump’s former fixer, testified on Monday that he knew the hush-money payment to the adult film star Stormy Daniels violated federal election law – even though he claimed otherwise in 2018.
The implication of Cohen’s testimony was that Trump, by extension, must also have believed to some extent that the hush-money payment violated the Federal Election Campaign Act.
Cohen’s evidence marked an important moment as Trump’s criminal trial hurtles to a conclusion, since it was the closest the prosecution has come to tie Trump to the alleged falsification of business records with an intent to commit a second crime, including the federal campaign contributions law.
“Is that a truthful sentence,” asked the prosecutor Susan Hoffinger, referring to a letter Cohen had sent to the Federal Elections Commission stating that the $130,000 payment was done in his personal capacity and therefore not a campaign contribution or expenditure.
“No, ma’am,” Cohen replied.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of felony falsification of business records. Prosecutors must prove Trump authorized what he knew to be hush-money repayments to be falsely labeled as “legal expenses” in the Trump Organization’s records, with an intent to commit a second, election crime.
Updated
Defense witness Robert Costello to resume testimony after judge reprimands him
Good morning. A defense witness called by Donald Trump’s legal team will return to the stand this morning a day after he was reprimanded by the presiding judge, Juan Merchan, for his behavior.
Merchan briefly closed the courtroom on Monday afternoon and forced reporters out after he admonished Robert Costello, a lawyer close to Trump’s associates who almost came to represent Michael Cohen after he was charged by federal prosecutors with tax evasion in 2018. Costello muttered under his breath “ridiculous” and “jeez” and sighed loudly when the judge sustained the prosecution’s objections. Addressing Costello, Merchan said:
If you don’t like my ruling, you don’t say ‘jeez’ … You don’t give me side eye, and you don’t roll your eyes … Are you staring me down right now?
Costello took the stand on Monday afternoon after prosecutors in the Manhattan district attorney’s office rested their case following Michael Cohen’s testimony. Cohen, whose $130,000 hush-money payment to the adult film star Stormy Daniels is at the heart of the criminal case against Trump, testified that he knew the payment violated federal election law.
We’re at the courthouse again today. Stay with us.
Trump’s criminal hush-money trial: what to know
A guide to Trump’s hush-money trial – so far
The key takeaways from Daniels’ testimony last week.
The jurors: who is on the Trump trial jury?
From Michael Cohen to Stormy Daniels: the key players
Updated
