NEW YORK (AP) — As Donald Trump's fixer-turned-adversary Michael Cohen is scheduled to take the stand Monday, the former president's judge… hush money case He issued a stern warning to prosecutors to stop Cohen from posting ridicules and jabs at Trump.
Judge Juan M. Marchan's comments come as the first criminal trial against a former U.S. president draws to a close on Friday, a dramatic and momentous week.
Prosecutors have ordered porn actor Stormy Daniels to file a 13-year hiatus to prevent her from going public ahead of the 2016 election about her alleged sexual encounter with President Trump from 10 years ago. The investigation is underway ahead of key testimony from Mr. Cohen, who arranged the $10,000 payment. President Trump has denied having sex with Daniels.
What you need to know about Trump's hush money trial:
The defense will argue that they can't believe that a lawyer who has been stripped of his prison sentence is trying to get a former president.
Mr. Cohen is scheduled to take the stand Monday, two people familiar with the matter told The Associated Press. The people could not discuss the matter publicly and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.
Mr. Trump's lawyers protested this week after Mr. Cohen was seen wearing a shirt depicting a person resembling the former president in prison in a social media video. They argue it is unfair that Mr. Trump is under a gag order that prevents him from speaking publicly about witnesses while Mr. Cohen continues to post about him on social media.
Defense attorney Todd Blanche said: “It's a problem every day that President Trump is not allowed to respond to this witness, but this witness is allowed to continue speaking.” .
Marchan said prosecutors should tell prosecutors that “the judge has asked Cohen to refrain from making any further comments” about the incident and Donald Trump. Prosecutors have already asked the judge not to talk about the case with Cohen and other witnesses, but said they have no direct means of controlling their actions.
As the third week of testimony ended Friday, the case, which ultimately hinges on record-keeping, returned to highly technical testimony, a sharp contrast to previous testimony. Daniels' dramatic, if not entirely subtle, The account of the alleged sexual encounter with Trump that riveted jurors earlier this week.
Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass said prosecutors could rest the case by the end of next week.
Jurors saw social media posts showing that President Trump initially praised Cohen after his then-lawyer came under federal investigation.After Mr. Cohen, Mr. Trump started bashing Mr. Cohen. plead guilty He was involved in campaign finance violations and other crimes, and claimed that President Trump directed him to arrange payments to Daniels. Mr. Trump has not been charged with any crime related to that federal investigation.
Trump, who was visibly angry during much of Daniels' testimony, chatted frequently with his lawyers and kept his eyes peeled as jurors heard from witnesses, including AT&T and Verizon employees who authenticated phone records. I looked at the stack of papers on the table in front of me.
Former President Donald Trump gestures as he walks into the courtroom after a break in his trial at Manhattan Criminal Court on Thursday, May 9, 2024 in New York. (Angela Weiss/Pool Photo via AP)
As he left the courthouse, Mr. Trump addressed allegations at the heart of the case that he had falsified company records to hide the details of hush-money reimbursements to Mr. Cohen.
“A very good bookkeeper marked the legal costs as legal costs,” Trump said. “He was a lawyer, not a fixer,” he added of Cohen.
Friday's testimonials appeared to test jurors' patience at times. One juror stifled a yawn, and another stretched out his arms. Some people shifted their gaze around the room or stared at the ceiling.
Stormy Daniels testifies on the stand as a promotional video for her show featuring an image of President Trump appears on a monitor in Manhattan Criminal Court on Thursday, May 9, 2024 in New York. (Elizabeth Williams, via AP)
In one of the most lively moments, Trump lawyer Emile Bove asked paralegals about their “tedious” work combing through long phone calls, data and other records and creating charts from them.
“Actually, it was kind of fun,” the paralegal said matter-of-factly, eliciting laughter from the courtroom audience.
“With all due respect,” Bove replied.
Witnesses in the case gave testimony to Daniels and others about records and finances between bookkeepers and bankers, and told unflattering stories about Trump and the president. The conspiracies of the tabloid world It was meant to be a secret. Despite all the drama, ultimately this case is about payments and business transactions, and whether those payments were made to illegally influence the 2016 election.
Returning to the witness stand Friday morning was Madeleine Westerhout, a former aide to President Trump. Prosecutors used Mr. Westerhout's testimony to detail how Mr. Trump received personal letters, including checks for signature, while in the White House. This is important, prosecutors say, because that's how Mr. Cohen accepted and signed the checks repaying the payments to Mr. Daniels.
Mr. Westerhout testified that Mr. Trump was “very upset” when the Wall Street Journal published a story about his hush-money deal with Mr. Daniels in 2018.
“My understanding is that he knew it would be harmful to his family,” Westerhout said, although she admitted she didn't remember him specifically saying that. The answer, drawn by Trump's lawyer Susan Necheles, lies in the defense's argument that Daniels was paid to remain silent to protect his family, not the Trump campaign.
Daniels' story about his alleged sexual encounters with Trump became a key building block for prosecutors. Prosecutors are trying to prove that Republicans and their allies staged a cover-up in the final stages of the 2016 presidential election to cover up a disgraceful story. Unlawfully influencing a race.
In more than 7 1/2 hours of testimony, Daniels gave graphic details of what happened after the two met during a celebrity golf outing in Lake Tahoe in 2006. The golf event was sponsored by the adult film studio where she worked. Even though Ms. Daniels agreed to have sex with President Trump, she described how she felt surprised, scared, and uncomfortable.
In a heated cross-examination, Trump's lawyers tried to paint Daniels as a liar and usurper trying to extract money and fame from her claims and bring down the former president.
After Ms. Daniels left the witness stand on Thursday, Mr. Trump's lawyers argued for a mistrial because of the obscene level of detail she provided, but Judge Juan M. Marchand rejected that request.
This criminal case could be only one of four criminal cases against the presumptive Republican presidential nominee He should go to trial before voters decide whether to return him to the White House in November. Trump maintains his innocence and presents himself as the victim of a politically tainted judicial system seeking to deny him another term.
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Richer reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Eric Tucker in Washington, Ruth Brown in New York and Adriana Gomez Ricon in Miami contributed.
