Michael Cohen is expected to begin testifying in the hush-money trial on Monday, according to NBC News reports.
Cohen was once a lawyer for Trump and one of the former president’s most loyal lieutenants and enforcers. He facilitated the payment to Daniels, funnelling the $130,000 to her through a shell company called Essential Consultants LLC. Trump later arranged to pay him back in monthly payment installments of $35,000.
Donald Trump arrived to the courtroom for his hush money criminal trial about 9.30am ET on Friday, with apparent frustration, after sitting through two days of testimony from adult film actor Stormy Daniels, who provided a salacious account of an alleged sexual liaison with him some 20 years ago.
He carried a thin stack of papers in his hand and, after getting to the defense table, dropped them on to the table, so that they landed with a clack that reverberated into the gallery.
Judge Merchan also declined on Thursday to modify a gag order that prohibits Donald Trump from attacking witnesses, including Stormy Daniels, and jurors.
Trump attorney Todd Blanche said it was unfair that Trump was not going to be given a chance to respond to attacks against him. Blanche said:
As we’ve said repeatedly, he needs an opportunity to respond to the American people.
But Merchan denied that request, saying that even if he lifted the gag order with respect to Daniels, who has now finished testifying, he was concerned about the message it would send to other witnesses.
“Other witnesses, including not only Michael Cohen, will see your client doing whatever it is he intends to do,” he said.
The reason the gag order is in place to begin with is precisely because of the nature of these attacks. The nature, the vitriol … your client’s track record speaks for itself here.
Judge Juan Merchan castigated Donald Trump’s lawyers on Thursday and denied their second request for a mistrial this week.
Merchan indicated that the former president’s lawyers were to blame for allowing Stormy Daniels to describe lurid details about her alleged sexual encounter with Trump in 2006, including testimony that Daniels nearly blacked out and that Trump did not wear a condom.
Trump’s attorneys have now twice used the testimony to request a mistrial, saying it biases the jury and is irrelevant to whether Trump committed the felony of falsifying business records. “It’s a dog-whistle for rape,” Trump attorney Todd Blanche said on Thursday.
But Merchan said Blanche and Trump’s legal team had invited the salacious details to be made public in the case. In his opening statement, Blanche had said the sexual affair never happened, effectively asking the jury to believe either Trump or Daniels, Merchan said. The details Daniels could offer, Merchan said, spoke to the credibility. Merchan said:
Your denial puts the jury in a position of having to choose who they believe: Donald Trump, who denies there was an encounter, or Stormy Daniels, who says that there was … These details add a sense of credibility if the jury chooses to believe them.
Merchan also criticized Trump attorney Susan Necheles for not objecting when Daniels was asked whether Trump used a condom.
Why on earth she wouldn’t object to the mention of a condom, I don’t understand.
Donald Trump’s motorcade has arrived at the Manhattan courthouse.
Court proceedings are scheduled to begin at about 9.30am ET.
Michael Cohen is expected to begin testifying in the hush-money trial on Monday, according to NBC News reports.
Cohen was once a lawyer for Trump and one of the former president’s most loyal lieutenants and enforcers. He facilitated the payment to Daniels, funnelling the $130,000 to her through a shell company called Essential Consultants LLC. Trump later arranged to pay him back in monthly payment installments of $35,000.
Stormy Daniels took a swipe at Trump on social media after finishing her testimony yesterday.
Hours after leaving the stand, the adult film star wrote on X:
Real men respond to testimony by being sworn in and taking the stand in court. Oh…wait. Nevermind.
Real men respond to testimony by being sworn in and taking the stand in court. Oh...wait. Nevermind.
— Stormy Daniels (@StormyDaniels) May 9, 2024
One of the things that emerged from yesterday’s court session was a list of Trump’s most famous contacts after it was shown to the jury.
Politico reports that some surprising names on that list included Serena Williams, who joined an event at the Trump National Golf Club in 2015, two months before Trump declared he was running for president. Former star NFL quarterback Tom Brady was also on the list.
The ex-president’s contact list was revealed when his former personal assistant Madeleine Westerhout told the court about reaching out to another Trump assistant, Rhona Graff, for an up-to-date version.
The contacts were shown to the jury as Westerhout explained how she used it, according to Politico.
Despite some dismal days spent in the courtroom, Donald Trump earned two significant legal victories this week with separate decisions that make it all but certain two of the pending criminal trials against him will take place after the 2024 election.
As had been expected for months, Judge Aileen Cannon on Tuesday scrapped a 20 May trial date that had been set in south Florida over the former president’s handling of classified documents. The delay was almost entirely the doing of Cannon, a Trump appointee, who allowed far-fetched legal arguments into the case and let preliminary legal matters pile up on her docket to the point where a May trial was not a possibility.
Read more of this analysis here:
Lawyers for Donald Trump on Thursday sought to discredit and undermine testimony from Stormy Daniels, who gave combative testimony about her alleged sexual encounter with the former president and the $130,000 hush-money payment at the heart of the criminal case.
Here are three major takeaways from the day:
Daniels’s story remains mostly consistent and intact
Trump’s former personal assistant confirms he scrutinized finances
Judge again denies Trump mistrial motion
To read more on these points, click here:
Here are some images of the Manhattan courthouse from the newswires this week:
With Donald Trump’s historic criminal trial underway, Eric Adams remains reassured that Rikers Island jail stands “ready” to receive the former president, if he is found guilty.
Speaking to reporters earlier this week, the New York City mayor, a moderate Democrat, said:
“You know, in this business, particularly around law enforcement, we have to adjust whatever comes our way, but you know, we don’t want to deal with a hypothetical…
But they’re professionals. They’ll be ready.”
For Adams’ full remarks, click here:
Here is a reminder of the key players by the Guardian’s Sam Levine:
Donald Trump, defendant: The Republican nominee for president is the defendant in the case. Prosecutors allege that he orchestrated a $130,000 payment to the adult film star Stormy Daniels when she threatened to go public with allegations of an affair on the eve of the 2016 election, and then conspired with others to cover up the payment.
David Pecker, key witness: Pecker was a key Trump ally who served as the CEO of American Media Inc (AMI), the publisher of the National Enquirer. Pecker helped Trump by purchasing the rights to potentially damaging stories and then never publishing them, a practice known as “catch and kill”.
Stormy Daniels, key witness: Daniels, an adult film star, says she met Trump in 2006 at a celebrity golf tournament. Daniels was 27 at the time and Trump was 60 and Daniels has always said the sex was consensual. Just before the 2016 election, Daniels said she was approached by Michael Cohen, Trump’s lawyer at the time, and offered $130,000 not to disclose the alleged affair.
Michael Cohen, key witness: Cohen was once a lawyer for Trump and one of the former president’s most loyal lieutenants and enforcers. He facilitated the payment to Daniels, funnelling the $130,000 to her through a shell company called Essential Consultants LLC. Trump later arranged to pay him back in monthly payment installments of $35,000.
For other key figures, click here:
Good morning,
Donald Trump is set to return to the Manhattan courthouse today as the fourth week of his hush money criminal trial comes to an end.
This week, jurors saw adult film star Stormy Daniels take the stand as she divulged details on her sexual affair with Trump. In response, Trump’s lawyers attempted to discredit her over her motivations of agreeing to a hush money payment. On Thursday, Trump’s lawyer Susan Necheles pointedly asked Daniels, “You wanted money, right?” In response, Daniels said, “I wanted the truth to come out.”
Trump’s former personal assistant, Madeleine Westerhout, was also called to the witness stand. Westerhout, who was Trump’s personal secretary from 2017 to 2019, testified that the Republican National Committee was rattled by the Access Hollywood tape and that there were “conversations” about replacing Trump as a presidential candidate.
Other developments in court this week include Juan Merchan’s denial on Thursday of Trump’s request to modify a gag order to allow the former president to respond to Daniels. “My concern is not just with protecting Ms Daniels or a witness who has already testified. My concern is with protecting the integrity of these proceedings as a whole,” Merchan said.
Stay tuned as we bring you today’s latest updates.