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Trump’s lawyer Todd Blanche gets an interesting concession from Michael Cohen about the hush-money payment to Stormy Daniels, having him confirm that Cohen told the district attorney’s office once that he thought Daniels was extorting Trump for her story.
One of the defense claims has been that Trump was actually a victim in the hush-money scheme because Daniels and her lawyer dangled the story over his head and tried to extort him.
Michael Cohen has concluded his testimony for the week, and will return to the stand when court resumes on Monday morning.
Here’s a recap of what happened today:
Cohen returned to the stand for the third day. Donald Trump was joined in court by his son Eric Trump and Republican congressional allies including Lauren Boebert, Matt Gaetz and Bob Good, chair of the hard-right House Freedom Caucus.
Gaetz posted a photo of himself standing behind Trump in court, with the words: “Standing back, and standing by, Mr. President.” The phrase echoed one that Trump used for the far-right extremist group the Proud Boys in a 2020 presidential debate.
The defense, led by the Trump lawyer Todd Blanche, resumed attacking Cohen’s credibility in an effort to undermine the testimony of the prosecution’s star witness
Cohen was forced to concede that he had previously lied to protect Trump because it affected the stakes for him personally, and that he lied to the federal judge when he was prosecuted for tax evasion and false statements.
These admissions could prove problematic for the prosecutors, as they portray Cohen as an unreliable narrator who lied with ease and abandon to achieve whatever aim he was pursuing in that moment.
Blanche suggested Cohen’s latest objective was to see Trump go to jail, seeding the possibility that he might have also lied about the extent of Trump’s involvement in the hush-money scheme with Stormy Daniels.
Blanche played clips from Cohen’s podcast Mea Culpa, including when Cohen said “thinking about Trump in Otisville prison makes me giddy with joy”. He also got Cohen to concede that he believed he played a large role in the indictment being brought against Trump – and bragged about it.
The defense dug into Cohen’s previous lies under oath and how he seemingly lied about details big and small. When Cohen testified to Congress in 2017 about a Trump real-estate deal in Moscow, Blanche elicited, Cohen lied about how many times he spoke to Trump about the deal.
Blanche also directly accused Cohen of lying in his trial testimony. Cohen testified earlier in the week that when he called Trump’s then bodyguard, Keith Schiller, on 24 October 2016, it was to apprise Trump that he was moving forward with paying hush money to Daniels. Blanche suggested Cohen phoned Schiller primarily about a series of prank calls from a 14-year-old, arguing that he could not have had enough time in a one-minute, 30-second call to tell Trump about the Daniels deal.
Cohen acknowledged telling Mark Pomerantz, who previously led the Manhattan district attorney’s investigation of Trump, that he felt Daniels and her then lawyer, Keith Davidson, were extorting Trump in seeking a $130,000 payment for her silence on an alleged sexual encounter.
There will be no court on Friday so that Trump can attend the high school graduation of his youngest son, Barron.
It is unclear whether Trump will testify next week, when the defense will have the opportunity to present its case. Before the trial, Trump said he would testify, but Blanche has since said Trump has yet to decide whether to do so.
Judge Juan Merchan instructs both sides to be prepared for summations on Tuesday.
Trump lawyer Todd Blanche says he expects to be done with cross-examination of Michael Cohen by Monday morning break. The prosecution says re-direct will take about an hour.
It is unclear whether Donald Trump will testify.
The jury has left the courtroom.
Michael Cohen has left the witness stand, and will be back for more cross-examination when court resumes on Monday at 9.30am ET.
Trump’s lawyer Todd Blanche gets an interesting concession from Michael Cohen about the hush-money payment to Stormy Daniels, having him confirm that Cohen told the district attorney’s office once that he thought Daniels was extorting Trump for her story.
One of the defense claims has been that Trump was actually a victim in the hush-money scheme because Daniels and her lawyer dangled the story over his head and tried to extort him.
Trump’s lawyer Todd Blanche is starting to try to dismantle the core charge leveled by the prosecution that Trump falsified business records, mislabelling the hush-money reimbursement as legal expenses.
Blanche has Cohen affirm that technically speaking, Stormy Daniels entered into a legal contract for Cohen to buy the rights to her story.
“This was a completely legal binding contract?” Blanche asks. “Correct,” Cohen responds.
In doing so, Blanche is trying to suggest it was valid for the Trump Organization to label the payments as legal expenses, because legal work was performed.
Trump attorney Todd Blanche asks Michael Cohen about ABC News’ interest in the Stormy Daniels story.
Cohen confirms that he learned from Keith Davidson, who represented Daniels at the time, that ABC’s John Santucci was interested in buying the Daniels story.
Cohen says he was “shocked” because Santucci “used to come to the office quite a bit.” Cohen said:
I was a little shocked that John Santucci actually did it, meaning he had spent quite of bit of time following the Trump campaign and then he denied that he was involved.
Michael Cohen is back on the witness stand to be cross-examined by the defense.
The court is taking a short afternoon break.
Trump’s lawyer Todd Blanche pulls Michael Cohen up on his testimony from earlier in the week that he remembered how big of a deal the Access Hollywood tape was for the Trump campaign, because he remembered the phone call that came in when he was in London.
But Blanche, in an effort to cast doubt on that testimony, notes that Cohen has probably had 50 or 60,000 phone calls since that day.
Blanche asks how Cohen could have had a “specific recollection” of that call, as he said he did, given it was so long ago.
Cohen responds that it stood out “because it was significant” but with the caveat that he relied on other documents to refresh his memory.
An unconvinced Blanche asks again whether Cohen has a specific recollection of that call – and Cohen demurs.
Trump’s attorney Todd Blanche pressed Michael Cohen about his relationship with journalists over the years, including the New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman. The jury is shown messages between Haberman and Cohen.
Blanche gets Cohen to admit that he would record reporters without their knowledge. Blanche asks:
Did you tell people you were recording them?
“No,” Cohen replied.
Trump’s attorney Todd Blanche asks Michael Cohen if he has ever recorded anyone else surreptitiously other than reporters.
Cohen says he recorded the former CNN president Jeff Zucker at one event and Donald Trump at another event.
Michael Cohen is back on the stand. Trump attorney Todd Blanche has resumed cross examination.
Donald Trump is back in the courtroom after a lunch break.
No cameras are allowed inside the Manhattan courtroom during the trial, but a sketch artist has captured this morning’s proceedings.
Donald Trump’s lawyer resumed attacking the credibility of Michael Cohen on Thursday, forcing him to concede that he had previously lied to protect Trump because it affected the stakes for him personally, and that he lied to the federal judge when he was prosecuted for tax evasion and false statements.
Trump’s lawyer Todd Blanche played clips from Cohen’s podcast Mea Culpa, including where Cohen said “thinking about Trump in Otisville prison makes me giddy with joy”. He also got Cohen to concede that he believed he played a large role in the indictment being brought against Trump – and bragged about it.
The defense later got into Cohen’s previous lies under oath and how he seemingly lied about details big and small. When Cohen testified to Congress in 2017 about a Trump real estate deal in Moscow, Blanche elicited, Cohen lied about how many times he spoke to Trump about the deal.
And although Cohen told William Pauley, a US district court judge, in 2018 that he had not been induced to plead guilty to federal tax evasion and false statements charges, Blanche elicited, Cohen later said he felt he was cornered into pleading guilty so that his wife wouldn’t also be charged.
“The reason you lied to a federal judge was because stakes affected you personally?” Blanche asked. “Yes,” Cohen replied, affirming that he told lies not just to protect Trump, as Cohen has claimed, but for his personal benefit, when it suited him.
In an apparent effort to undercut Cohen’s testimony on direct examination that Trump was responsible and involved in the effort to cover up the hush-money to Daniels, Blanche elicited from Cohen that he had a track record of trying to shift blame for his own actions on other people.
“You’ve blamed … Your bank? Your accountant? You blamed federal prosecutors? The judge? President Trump?” Blanche asked. “Yes sir,” replied Cohen to each of the questions.