The Latest | Prosecutors likely to call just 2 more witnesses in Trump's hush money case

NEW YORK (AP) — Prosecutors in Donald Trump's hush money trial said Friday that they expect to call just two more witnesses to the stand, potentially laying the ground for resting their case next week.

One of those witnesses is expected to be Michael Cohen on Monday, two people familiar with the matter told The Associated Press. The people could not discuss the matter publicly and and spoke to AP on condition of anonymity.

The updates on witnesses came after testimony adjourned for the day, capping a feverish week that saw porn actor Stormy Daniels take the stand, two failed attempts by the defense to have a mistrial declared, gag order sanctions and more.

Friday's witnesses included Madeleine Westerhout, a former Trump White House aide, two paralegals from the Manhattan district attorney's office, and two telecommunications employees — one from AT&T and one from Verizon — who authenticated phone records as part of their testimony.

The intensity of the week largely revolved around Daniels' sometimes graphic testimony, which riveted jurors and drew upset from defense attorneys who decried it as prejudicial and overly gratuitous. The prosecution defended its questioning and Daniels' details of the alleged 2006 sexual encounter with Trump and ultimately, the judge denied the requests for a mistrial — chiding the defense for not objecting more during testimony.

Trump has denied the two ever had sex.

Prosecutors are ramping up for star witness Michael Cohen, who arranged the $130,000 payment to Daniels and later went to prison for orchestrating the payments and other charges.

Prosecutors say Trump and two of his associates orchestrated a scheme to influence the 2016 election by purchasing and then burying stories that might damage his campaign.

Trump is accused of falsifying internal business records to cover up the hush money payments by recording them as legal expenses. He has pleaded not guilty.

The case is the first-ever criminal trial of a former U.S. president and the first of four prosecutions of Trump to reach a jury.

Currently:

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— Here's what happened on Thursday: Stormy Daniels’ testimony, a denied mistrial and an Oxford comma

— Hush money, catch and kill and more: Terms to know in Trump trial

— Key players: Who’s who at Donald Trump’s hush money criminal trial

— The hush money case is just one of Trump’s legal cases. See the others here

Here's the latest:

Speaking to reporters in the courthouse hallway on Friday, Donald Trump addressed the allegation at the heart of the case: that he falsified his company’s records to conceal the nature of hush money reimbursements to Michael Cohen.

“A very good bookkeeper marked a legal expense as a legal expense,” he said. “He was a lawyer, not a fixer, he was a lawyer,” he added, referring to Cohen.

After the jury in Donald Trump's criminal trial left for the day Friday, Judge Juan M. Merchan took up an issue related to Allen Weisselberg's absence from the trial, where he’s been mentioned as a key figure in orchestrating reimbursement payments to ex-Trump lawyer Michael Cohen.

Weisselberg, 76, is currently jailed at New York City’s Rikers Island complex, serving a five-month sentence for lying under oath in his testimony in the state attorney general’s civil fraud investigation of Trump. He pleaded guilty in March and was sentenced last month. His plea agreement does not require his cooperation or testimony in the criminal case.

Prosecutors weren’t planning to call Weisselberg as a witness, but Merchan encouraged them to see if they can get him to court before seeking to introduce evidence to explain his absence.

“Right now it’s seems to me we’re trying to jump the gun. We’re trying to explain why he’s not here without making any effort to get him here,” Merchan said.

Trump lawyer Emil Bove noted that his absense “is a very complicated issue” and may require a jury instruction about uncalled witnesses.

The reason Mr. Weisselberg is not available as a witness is that the district attorney's office “initiated a perjury prosecution in the lead up to this case,” Bove said.

Prosecutors argued that subpoenaing Weisselberg to testify would probably be a waste because he remains loyal to Trump and would likely invoke his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.

“If counsel prefers, we’d be willing to stipulate that Weisselberg is in jail for perjury,” Assistant District Attorney Christopher Conroy responded.

“I think that would be one way to resolve it,” Merchan said before expressing his desire for prosecutors to first see if they could summon Weisselberg to court.

Michael Cohen is expected to take the stand in Donald Trump's hush money case on Monday, two people familiar with the matter told The Associated Press. The people could not discuss the matter publicly and and spoke to AP on condition of anonymity.

Associated Press writers Michael R. Sisak and Jake Offenhartz contributed to this report from New York.

Just before court let out on Friday, Judge Juan M. Merchan told prosecutors they should inform Michael Cohen “that the judge is asking him to refrain from making any more statements” about the hush money case or about Donald Trump.

The directive came after Trump’s attorneys requested Merchan implement a separate gag order for Cohen, who has continued to post about Trump on social media in recent weeks.

“It’s becoming a problem every single day that President Trump is not allowed to respond to this witness but this witness is allowed to continue to talk,” defense attorney Todd Blanche said.

Prosecutors said they had already requested Cohen and other witnesses not talk about the case, but had no direct means of controlling their behavior.

Prosecutors in Donald Trump's hush money case said Friday that they expect to call just two more witnesses.

After jurors were dismissed for the week just before 1 p.m., prosecutor Joshua Steinglass told Judge Juan M. Merchan that “it's entirely possible” that the prosecution will rest its case by the end of next week.

The trial will meet for three days next week — Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. Wednesday is the trial’s usual day off and Friday court won’t be in session so Trump can attend his son Barron’s high school graduation.

Jaden Jarmel-Schneider's testimony in Donald Trump's hush money case involves a key recording that was played in court earlier in the trial, which appears to show Trump and Michael Cohen discussing the payments made to Karen McDougal to bury her story of an alleged affair. Trump’s attorneys have suggested Cohen doctored the recording, citing the fact that it cuts off abruptly.

Records show Cohen received a phone call about 22 seconds after the recording was cut off, according to Jarmel-Schneider’s testimony. Prosecutors seemed to be eliciting the testimony to back up their claim that the recording wasn’t edited, but was instead cut short after Cohen received an incoming call.

In a moment that enlivened a rather staid day of testimony, Trump attorney Emil Bove asked Jarmel-Schneider about the “tedious” work of going painstakingly through lengthy phone, data and other records and preparing charts from them.

“Actually, I kind of enjoyed it,” the paralegal said matter-of-factly, to chuckles from the courtroom audience.

“Respect,” Bove replied.

Meanwhile, Trump continued to scrutinize some papers on the table in front of him, as he had for much of the courtroom day.

As a second witness from the Manhattan district attorney’s office began his testimony in Donald Trump's hush money trial, the head of that office — Alvin Bragg — watched from the front row on Friday.

Bragg has attended the trial only occasionally so far. He was not in the room during the dramatic testimony by Stormy Daniels earlier this week. Since announcing the indictment against Trump last year, Bragg has tried to keep a relatively low profile while facing verbal attacks from Trump, who has accused Bragg of bringing the case for political reasons.

Jaden Jarmel-Schneider, another paralegal from the prosecutors’ office, has taken the stand in Donald Trump's hush money case.

He has worked with phone records in the case, including data from Michael Cohen’s phone.

Defense lawyer Todd Blanche began his cross-examination of Georgia Longstreet by asking her to confirm that her review of social media posts did not extend to Michael Cohen.

“You’re still not reviewing Mr. Cohen’s TikTok?” Blanche asked. “You’re not aware of anything he TikToked, for example, two nights ago?”

Cohen has continued to post actively throughout the trial. In a live TikTok video earlier this week, he wore a shirt featuring a figure resembling Donald Trump with his hands cuffed, behind bars — a piece of merchandise that Cohen sells as part of his podcast.

Longstreet confirmed her review did not include posts sent by Cohen. Her testimony concluded soon after.

During testimony in Donald Trump's criminal trial on Friday, Georgia Longstreet read into the record text messages chronicling months of discussions in 2016 between Stormy Daniels’ manager Gina Rodriguez and then-National Enquirer editor Dylan Howard about Daniels’ claim that she had once had sex with Trump.

The texts include a back-and-forth on Oct. 8, 2016, the day after Trump’s infamous “Access Hollywood” tape leaked.

Rodriguez tells Howard she’s aware of an offer of $250,000 for Daniels’ story and that ABC’s “Good Morning America” and the Daily Mail are interested in interviewing her. The next day, text messages show, Rodriguez and Howard haggled over a price for the National Enquirer to acquire the rights to Daniels’ story, finally settling on $120,000.

Rather than the tabloid making the deal, Trump’s then-lawyer Michael Cohen ended up paying Daniels $130,000 — a higher price to add compensation for a lawyer who negotiated on her behalf. The text messages add another dimension to the negotiations, which were previously discussed in testimony by former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker and others.

Through new testimony from Georgia Longstreet, a paralegal with the Manhattan district attorney's office, prosecutors on Friday introduced jurors to tweets showing that Donald Trump initially praised Michael Cohen after the then-lawyer came under federal investigation.

The former president then began bashing him on the social platform, now known as X, after Cohen pleaded guilty to campaign-finance violations and other crimes, and said Trump had directed him to arrange the hush money for porn actor Stormy Daniels.

Trump was never charged with any crime related to that federal investigation.

Georgia Longstreet, a paralegal at the Manhattan district attorney’s office who previously testified about procuring social media posts and other publicly available evidence, returned to the witness stand in Donald Trump's criminal trial on Friday.

She followed two telecommunications employees who took the stand to authenticate phone records.

As court in Donald Trump's hush money trial resumed Friday after a morning break, Judge Juan M. Merchan sided with defense lawyers in excluding a 1999 CNN interview the former president gave to the late Larry King.

In the interview, Trump discussed his familiarity with campaign finance laws. Merchan said the tape was “too attenuated” to the events at hand and would require jurors to make inferences about how Trump’s views then related to the events involved in the case that happened decades later.

While jurors were excused for a morning break, Donald Trump and the lawyers on both sides stayed in the courtroom and briefly argued about a video clip from an old interview that the former president’s lawyers want excluded from the hush money case.

Prosecutors are seeking to play a clip of an interview Trump gave to late CNN host Larry King in 1999 in which he discussed his familiarity with campaign finance laws. Part of their case involves allegations that the hush money payments may have violated such laws.

Trump’s lawyers argued that the clip is “not relevant with regard to President Trump’s state of mind in 2016,” the time of the $130,000 payment to porn actor Stormy Daniels, in part because campaign finance laws had changed by then.

Merchan said he would rule after the break.

Fatigue appeared to be setting in among some jurors in Donald Trump's hush money case on Friday. As another records witness testified, one juror stifled a yawn. Another stretched out his arms. Others shifted their gaze around the room or stared at the ceiling.

The records witnesses testimony is important to the prosecution's case, which ultimately hinges on the issue of record-keeping. But it is also deeply technical, requiring the witness to explain how data is stored and define a string of lengthy acronyms.

AT&T records witness Daniel Dixon finished his testimony in Donald Trump's hush money trial mid-morning Friday. Continuing the phone-records theme among records, Verizon worker Jennie Tomalin was called next and was expected to also testify to authenticate various phone records.

As the AT&T witness testified Friday morning, Donald Trump was leaning over and reading various documents at the defense table, taking notes and piling them up in front of him.

At one point he showed some of the documents to his lawyer Todd Blanche, who was sitting next to his left. They appeared to be a printout of a news article.

Before entering the courtroom earlier in the day, Trump had read aloud from printouts of opinion pieces criticizing the hush money trial, but noted he had to “edit” in real time due to the gag order restricting what he can say.

“I’ll be going over them with you later,” he told reporters. It wasn’t clear if the papers at the defense table were the same ones.

Daniel Dixon, an AT&T employee was called to the stand in Donald Trump's hush money trial Friday morning following the conclusion of former White House aide Madeleine Westerhout's testimony.

Dixon will be authenticating some records.

Donald Trump was very upset by the Wall Street Journal's 2018 story about his hush money deal with Stormy Daniels, according to former White House aide Madeleine Westerhout.

“My understanding was that he knew it would be hurtful to his family,” she testified on Friday, though she later acknowledged not recalling him saying so specifically.

The answer, elicited by Trump lawyer Susan Necheles, went to the defense’s argument that Daniels was paid to stay silent in order to protect Trump’s family, not his campaign.

Guided by Donald Trump’s defense attorney, Madeleine Westerhout on Friday painted the former president as a frequent multitasker who spent large chunks of his days signing documents, sometimes without even looking at them.

“Commissions, proclamations, executive orders, memos, letters,” Westerhout recalled. She said that she sometimes saw Trump put his signature to checks without reviewing them.

Still, Trump avoided using automated means of signing paperwork.

“He felt that if someone was getting his signature, they deserved his real signature, right?” Necheles asked, before a prosecution objection cut off Westerhout’s answer.

A dry but important part of Madeleine Westerhout’s testimony concerned the process by which Donald Trump received personal mail — including checks to sign — while in the White House.

It’s relevant because that’s how he got and signed the checks that reimbursed Michael Cohen for his $130,000 hush money payment to Stormy Daniels.

Westerhout's testimony and others have established that his company’s staff sent the materials to an aide — at first his longtime bodyguard Keith Schiller — at their homes. Then the items would be brought to the White House, where Westerhout would bring them to Trump and send the checks them back.

Under questioning from Trump lawyer Susan Necheles, Westerhout testified Friday that the packages were sent to aides directly because it took items a long time to percolate through the White House mail system.

Under additional redirect questioning by prosecutor Becky Mangold, Westerhout denied that Trump’s roundabout mail arrangement was an “end run around the White House security protocols,” but rather a way to “get things to him fast.”

But, Westerhout acknowledged that such letters and packages wouldn’t have gone through the normal White House security screenings.

As defense lawyer Susan Necheles resumed her cross-examination of Madeleine Westerhout on Friday, the former White House secretary appeared to alter a claim she made Thursday that she remembered Trump calling Allen Weisselberg, then his company's chief financial officer, with question about certain checks he had to sign for his personal expenses.

Questioned by Necheles, she acknowledged she had no specific recollection of Trump speaking with Weisselberg at all during his first year in office and only a vague recollection that they’d ever spoken about a check.

“But you’re not even sure if it’s true?” Necheles asked. Westerhout said it was hard to recall because Trump “spoke to so many people.”

Friday's court proceedings in Donald Trump's hush money trial began with another bench conference — increasing a recent trend of private discussions between the attorneys for both sides and the judge at the start of each trial day.

As the rest of his lawyers chatted with prosecutors and the judge at the bench, Donald Trump sat with Todd Blanche at the defense table. Earlier in the trial, Trump sat alone at the defense table when lawyers and the judge converged for bench conferences.

Blanche was in Trump’s ear, whispering to him as he covers his mouth with his hand.

Donald Trump has arrived at court in lower Manhattan for the 15th day of his hush money trial. Before heading into the courtroom Friday morning, the former president read from a printed opinion piece critical of the case and once again railed against the judge.

Madeleine Westerhout, a former Trump White House aide, is back on the witness stand.

The judge presiding over Donald Trump's hush money trial, Juan M. Merchan, on Friday quashed a Trump team subpoena seeking records from Mark Pomerantz, a former Manhattan prosecutor who authored a book last year detailing tensions with District Attorney Alvin Bragg over whether to seek Trump’s indictment.

Prosecutors in Bragg’s office asked Merchan to reject the subpoena of Pomerantz and the judge agreed, writing in an order that the defense requests are either overly broad and part of a “fishing expedition” or seek information that is irrelevant to the case.

Former President Donald Trump is limited in what he can publicly say as he fights charges that he made payments to a porn actor to illegally influence the 2016 election. But he’s getting help from some GOP allies who are glad to show up and talk.

U.S. Sen. Rick Scott of Florida was the latest surrogate to accompany Trump, joining him Thursday for the 14th day of his hush money trial in New York. Last week, it was Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton who joined the presumptive GOP presidential nominee.

The Republicans’ courtroom presence can help Trump connect with constituents while he’s stuck in court and feeling the pressure of a gag order placed on him by the judge. Both Scott and Paxton have been through legal troubles of their own, and have railed against what they call politically motivated prosecutions — a message that echoes Trump’s own.

It's also a chance for Trump’s friends to publicly demonstrate their loyalty.

On Thursday, Donald Trump’s former personal secretary Madeleine Westerhout offered insight into the process of crafting Trump’s tweets while he was president.

“My recollection was that there were certain words that he liked to capitalize. Words like country, and he liked to use exclamation points … It’s my understanding that he liked to use the Oxford comma.”

Trump used Twitter as a primary form of communication throughout his White House years: pushing policies, announcing major developments and attacking foes. He was suspended from Twitter, now known as X, after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack.

Donald Trump’s defense attorney on Thursday accused Stormy Daniels of slowly altering the details of an alleged 2006 sexual encounter with Trump, trying to persuade jurors that a key prosecution witness in the former president’s hush money trial cannot be believed.

Susan Necheles on Thursday accused Daniels of slowly altering the details of an alleged 2006 sexual encounter with Trump, trying to persuade jurors that a key prosecution witness in the former president’s hush money trial cannot be believed.

As the jury looked on, the two women traded barbs over what Necheles said were inconsistencies in Daniels’ description of the encounter with Trump in a hotel room. He denies the whole story.

But despite all the talk over what may have happened in that hotel room, despite the discomfiting testimony by the adult film actor that she consented to sex in part because of a “power imbalance,” the case against Trump doesn’t rise or fall on whether her account is true or even believable. It’s a trial about money changing hands — business transactions — and whether those payments were made to illegally influence the 2016 election.

According to a defense attorney in Donald Trump's hush money case, Karen McDougal is no longer expected to be called to the witness stand.

Trump lawyer Todd Blanche said late Thursday that the prosecution no longer intends to call McDougal, a former Playboy model who alleged that she had a yearlong, extramarital affair with Trump.

Trump has denied the affair took place.

The gag order that bars Donald Trump from speaking publicly about jurors, witnesses and some others connected to his hush money case continues to be a thorn for the former president.

On Wednesday, Trump's lawyers asked New York's mid-level appeals court to expedite a decision on his gag order appeal.

While the court did not take immediate action, it did set deadlines for court filings in the next two weeks. If the court refuses to lift the gag order, his lawyers want permission to take their appeal to the state’s high court, called the Court of Appeals.

A day later, defense attorneys tried to get Judge Juan M. Merchan to alter the gag order to allow Trump to publicly respond to Stormy Daniels' testimony.

“He needs an opportunity to respond to the American people and the reasons for the gag order as it relates to Ms. Daniels is over. She’s no longer a witness,” Todd Blanche said.

Prosecutor Christopher Conroy argued that the gag order shouldn’t be altered to allow comments about Daniels because those remarks could have a chilling effect on others.

Merchan rejected the request, saying his primary concern was not with Daniels or a witness who has already testified but “with protecting the integrity of these proceedings as a whole.”

Donald Trump is expected to return to court on Friday when witness testimony in his hush money trial resumes, but it's unclear who will next take the stand.

Porn actor Stormy Daniels concluded her testimony on Thursday, having spent more than seven hours on the stand over two days. Daniels' testimony was followed by that of a Trump Organization bookkeeper who was formerly an assistant to the company's ex-finance chief Allen Weisselberg, a HarperCollins publishing executive and Trump's former personal secretary.

Prosecutors are building up to testimony from star witness Michael Cohen, whose reimbursement for hush money payments made to Daniels are at the center of the charges against the former president.

Former President Donald Trump speaks to the press before leaving for the day at his trial at Manhattan Criminal court in New York, Friday, May 10, 2024. (Timothy A. Clary/Pool Photo via AP)

Former President Donald Trump, with attorney Todd Blanche, left, enter the courtroom at Manhattan criminal court in New York, Friday, Friday, May 10, 2024. (Curtis Means/DailyMail.com via AP, Pool)

Former President Donald Trump, followed by attorney Todd Blanche, left, gestures as he returns from a break in his trial at Manhattan criminal court in New York, Friday, Friday, May 10, 2024. (Curtis Means/DailyMail.com via AP, Pool)

Former President Donald Trump arrives at Manhattan criminal court in New York, on Friday, Friday, May 10, 2024. (Jeenah Moon/Pool Photo via AP)

Former President Donald Trump arrives at Manhattan criminal court in New York, on Friday, Friday, May 10, 2024. (Jeenah Moon/Pool Photo via AP)

Former President Donald Trump and his attorney Susan Necheles return from a break at the Manhattan criminal court in New York, Thursday, May 9, 2024. (Jeenah Moon/Pool Photo via AP)

Former President Donald Trump speaks to the media at the end of the day of his hush money trial, in New York, Thursday, May 9, 2024. (Angela Weiss/Pool Photo via AP)

Former President Donald Trump departs Manhattan criminal court, Thursday, May 9, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)

NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump's hush money trial entered its final stretch with the prosecution resting its case late Monday afternoon following the conclusion of star witness Michael Cohen 's testimony.

Cohen concluded his testimony after nearly four full days on the witness stand. He looked in Trump’s direction as he walked out of the courtroom before a court officer directed him down the aisle.

In his testimony, Cohen placed the former president directly at the center of the alleged scheme to stifle negative stories to fend off damage to his White House bid. Among other things, Cohen told jurors that Trump promised to reimburse him for the money he fronted and was constantly updated about efforts to silence women who alleged sexual encounters with him. Trump denies the women’s claims.

Defense attorneys had resumed cross-examination of Cohen with a series of questions about his business dealings and other activities in the lead-up to the payment to porn actor Stormy Daniels. They further dug into Cohen's sources of income in the years since Trump originally took office.

The defense called two witnesses on Monday — attorney Robert Costello and paralegal Daniel Sitko.

It remains unclear whether Trump will testify.

Merchan said earlier in the day that closing arguments could take place the Tuesday after Memorial Day.

The trial is in its 19th day.

Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.

The case is the first-ever criminal trial of a former U.S. president and the first of four prosecutions of Trump to reach a jury.

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Here's the latest:

Following the adjournment of court on Monday, the defense in Donald Trump's hush money trial asked Judge Juan M. Merchan for an order dismissing the case immediately.

Trump lawyer Todd Blanche argued: “There’s absolutely no evidence that the filings were false. The business records were not false. There’s no disputing that Mr. Cohen provided legal services for President Trump in 2017.”

Blanche further argued that prosecutors have failed to prove their case and there’s no evidence of falsified business records or an intent to defraud.

Blanche underscored that Trump was in the White House while Michael Cohen was being repaid, far removed from the Trump Organization offices where his invoices and checks were being processed. Trump signed the checks in the White House, but he was doing so because Cohen was performing legitimate legal services for him as his personal attorney, Blanche argued.

Donald Trump's hush money trial has adjourned for the day, following the conclusion of the defense's questioning of witness Robert Costello.

Costello will return to the witness stand on Tuesday.

After the fireworks over Robert Costello’s testimony, Trump lawyer Emil Bove tried to get at one of the main reasons he said he called the attorney to the stand: to rebut any suggestion from prosecutors that Costello was part of an effort to arm-twist Michael Cohen to stay loyal to Donald Trump.

“Mr. Costello, did you ever put any pressure on Michael to do anything?” Bove asked.

“No,” Costello testified. He said he considered Cohen a client and had only his interests, not Trump’s, in mind during their interactions.

Trump appeared alert and engaged, his attention focused on the witness box, during Costello’s testimony. When his attorneys finished their questions, he wrote a note on a piece of paper in front of him.

Judge Juan M. Merchan on Monday afternoon briefly closed the courtroom where Donald Trump's criminal trial is being held, forcing reporters into the hallway after he admonished witness Robert Costello for his behavior.

Costello aggravated Merchan repeatedly in his testimony by making comments under his breath and continuing to speak after objections were sustained — a signal to witnesses to stop talking.

At one point, frustrated as he was again cut off by a sustained objection, Costello remarked, “Jeez.”

“I’m sorry? I’m sorry?” a peeved Merchan asked.

“Strike it, I’m —.” Costello replied, cutting himself off.

At another point, he called the whole exercise, “ridiculous.”

After excusing the jury, Merchan told the witness: “Mr. Costello, I want to discuss proper decorum in my courtroom. When there’s a witness on the stand, 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? Clear the courtroom, right now. Clear the courtroom,” the judge said.

For several minutes, there were no reporters in the courtroom or video access to the proceedings in the overflow room.

Jurors and reporters returned a short time later.

Robert Costello testified on Monday that in a meeting shortly after federal authorities searched Michael Cohen’s home, office and hotel room in April 2018, a “manic” Cohen asked about an “escape route” from his legal problems.

“He kept on pacing back and forth, left and right,” Costello said. “He said ‘My life is shattered, my family’s life is shattered. I don’t know what’s going to happen.’”

Costello said he told Cohen the matter could be resolved quickly “if he had truthful information about Donald Trump and he cooperated.”

“I swear to God, Bob, I don’t have anything on Donald Trump,” Cohen replied, according to Costello.

Costello added that Cohen had lamented to him, “I don’t understand why they’re trying to put me in jail” over nondisclosure agreements, and disclosed that he’d arranged one with Stormy Daniels.

But, Costello said, Cohen told him Trump “knew nothing” about the hush money paid to the porn actor.

“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,” Costello testified.

Robert Costello, a former federal prosecutor in New York, is relevant to Donald Trump's hush money case due to his role as a Michael Cohen antagonist and critic in the years since their professional relationship splintered.

Costello had offered to represent Cohen soon after the lawyer’s hotel room, office and home were raided by the FBI in 2018 and as he faced a decision about whether to remain defiant in the face of a criminal investigation or to cooperate with investigators in hopes of securing more lenient treatment.

During Cohen’s testimony last week, prosecutors presented correspondence showing that Costello boasted about his closeness at the time with Trump ally Rudy Giuliani — a relationship he suggested could be beneficial to Cohen — and reassured him that he was “loved” inside the White House. In presenting those messages to the jury, prosecutors hoped to prove that Costello’s outreach was designed to keep Cohen in the Trump fold and to discourage him from flipping on Trump.

But Cohen ultimately did exactly that, pleading guilty to federal crimes and implicating Trump. Costello in the years since has repeatedly maligned Cohen’s credibility and was even a witness before last year’s grand jury that indicted Trump, offering testimony designed to undermine his account.

Attorney Robert Costello was called to the witness stand in Donald Trump's hush money trial Monday afternoon.

Before he took the stand, Judge Juan M. Merchan ruled that he would allow the defense to question him about two allegedly inconsistent statements in Michael Cohen’s testimony and to “offer some rebuttal” to his testimony.

But, Merchan said, he won't allow the questioning to become a “trial within a trial” as to whether there was a pressure campaign and how it affected Cohen.

The judge said he would give Trump lawyer Emil Bove “some latitude to explore the pressure campaign so you can explore some inconsistencies.”

With jurors out of the room Monday afternoon, lawyers for both sides in Donald Trump's hush money trial argued about what — if anything — the defense should be allowed to ask witness Robert Costello about.

Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger contended that Costello shouldn’t be allowed to testify, but if he is, he shouldn’t be allowed to offer his opinions on Michael Cohen’s credibility. Trump attorney Emil Bove countered that he is being called to rebut the prosecutors’ suggestion that Costello was part of a supposed Trump-engineered pressure campaign to keep Cohen in the fold.

Just before the break, Bove said Costello would offer “direct evidence of perjury at this trial” by Cohen, suggesting that Cohen lied in testifying that he didn’t have even a retainer to hire Costello. “Part of what Costello is going to do is to testify that some of what Cohen said is false,” Bove said.

Costello was called to testify after the first defense witness, paralegal Daniel Sitko, who only briefly took the stand.

The prosecution in Donald Trump's hush money trial rested its case shortly after 3 p.m. Monday following the conclusion of Michael Cohen's testimony.

Cohen concluded his testimony after nearly four full days on the witness stand. He looked in Trump’s direction as he walked out of the courtroom before a court officer directed him down the aisle.

After Cohen left the room, Assistant District Attorney Joshua Steinglass told Judge Juan M. Merchan: “Your honor, the people rest.”

Back on the witness stand Monday afternoon, Michael Cohen testified that he has “no doubt” that Donald Trump gave him a final sign-off to make the hush money payment to Stormy Daniels. In total, he said he spoke with Trump more than 20 times about the matter in October 2016. Some conversations were brief, while others were longer, he said, adding that they happened both by phone and in person.

Prosecutors appear to be eliciting testimony from Cohen aimed at diminishing the importance of a single phone call, which defense attorneys contend was not about the Daniels payments, but about a teenage prank caller who had been harassing Cohen.

After initially objecting, Donald Trump’s lawyers have agreed to let prosecutors show the jury in his hush money trial a still image taken from a C-SPAN video of Trump and his bodyguard Keith Schiller together at a campaign event at 7:57 p.m. on Oct. 24, 2016.

Trump lawyer Todd Blanche said he agreed to what’s known as a stipulation, allowing prosecutors to introduce the image without the need for extra steps — such as summoning a C-SPAN representative back to the witness stand to authenticate the image.

The defense made the compromise after prosecutors said they would seek to have the C-SPAN representative testify Tuesday morning, likely after the prosecution rests its case and the defense starts calling witnesses.

Blanche conferred with prosecutor Joshua Steinglass and reached the deal during a short break in the trial after conferring with Trump and other members of his defense team about how to proceed.

The judge in the case previously ruled against showing the image on grounds that the photo would amount to hearsay without being authenticated by a representative of the TV network.

Trump lawyer Todd Blanche on Monday objected to having a C-SPAN representative return to court after prosecutors floated it in their request to show a screenshot of an October 2016 video from the network.

Blanche argued that doing so will unnecessarily prolong Donald Trump's hush money trial. He added that prosecutors are on the verge of resting their case and that the defense may rest its case Monday, too.

The defense plans to call a campaign finance expert, a lawyer who offered to represent Cohen after the FBI raided his property in 2018, and a paralegal.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass said he hopes to have Robert Browning, the executive director of the C-SPAN archives, back on the witness stand on Tuesday.

Chuck Zito, the former president of the Hells Angels' New York chapter, was among those in court Monday to support Donald Trump during his hush money trial.

Zito, who helped found the biker club’s local branch in the 1980s before setting his sights on Hollywood, was part of Trump’s entourage Monday, and was sitting in the back row of the courtroom before lunch.

Also known for his role as “Chucky The Enforcer” on the HBO prison drama “Oz,” Zito served real prison time on a drug charge in the late ’80s and early ’90s.

He’s not the only Trump ally in the courtroom who was previously convicted of a criminal charge: Bernard Kerik served three years behind bars after pleading guilty to federal tax fraud and other charges before his release in 2013. Trump pardoned him in 2020.

Before the jury returned from the lunch break, Judge Juan M. Merchan ruled that prosecutors can’t show the jury screenshots of a C-SPAN video of Donald Trump and his bodyguard Keith Schiller together at a campaign event the evening of Oct. 24, 2016 — about five minutes before Michael Cohen called Schiller’s cell phone.

The judge said the photo amounts to hearsay without being authenticated by a representative of the TV network. Assistant District Attorney Joshua Steinglass said prosecutors are arranging to have the executive director of the C-SPAN archives, Robert Browning, return to the witness stand. Browning testified earlier in the trial to authenticate videos of Trump campaign speeches in 2016.

Steinglass had said they wanted to show the image to blunt any suggestion by the defense that Trump and Schiller might not have been together at the time in question.

During a bench conference before the resumption of testimony in Donald Trump's hush money trial, defense lawyers said they would call attorney Robert Costello to the witness stand during their defense case.

In addition to Costello, defense lawyer Todd Blanche said potentially they would also call Bradley A. Smith and a paralegal.

Costello, whose well-publicized split from Michael Cohen was chronicled in testimony last week, was invited last year to appear before the grand jury that indicted Trump after asserting that he had information that undermined Cohen’s credibility.

In a news conference after his grand jury appearance, he told reporters that he came forward to provide exculpatory information about Trump and to make clear that he did not believe Cohen — who pleaded guilty to federal crimes and served time in prison — could be trusted.

The move to call Costello is risky for the defense because it could open the door to additional testimony about what Cohen alleged was a strong-armed effort by the lawyer to keep him in line during the federal hush money investigation and to deter Cohen from cooperating with prosecutors after his home, office and hotel room were raided by the FBI in 2018.

After the jury was excused for lunch on Monday, prosecutors said they’re seeking to show them a screenshot from a C-SPAN video of Donald Trump and his bodyguard Keith Schiller together at a campaign event on Oct. 24, 2016, just minutes before Cohen called Schiller’s cell phone.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass told Judge Juan M. Merchan they wanted to show the image to blunt any suggestion by the defense that Trump and Schiller might not have been together at the time in question. Trump lawyer Todd Blanche said he never suggested, nor would he suggest, they were apart.

Cohen previously testified that he needed to speak with Trump “to discuss the Stormy Daniels matter and the resolution of it” and he knew that Schiller would be with him. Cohen wired $130,000 to Daniels’ lawyer two days after the call in question.

Citing text messages and telephone records, Blanche pressed Cohen last week on the subject matter of the call, eliciting testimony that the witness was also dealing with harassing phone calls from a person who’d identified himself as a 14-year-old boy.

Donald Trump’s entourage of political supporters spoke to news reporters Monday in the park across from the Manhattan courthouse where his criminal trial is currently taking place.

The group sought to attack the case, the judge, the judge’s daughter and President Joe Biden.

South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson said Michael Cohen — who is currently on the witness stand — lied to Congress, the media and the court.

“You’d have trouble finding a single person he has actually told the truth to,” Wilson said.

Kash Patel, who served in Trump’s administration, said that Monday’s proceedings marked the first time in six weeks of trial that “we finally have a crime,” because Cohen admitted to stealing money from the Trump Organization.

“We also have a victim. That victim is Donald J. Trump,” Patel said.

U.S. Rep. Andrew Clyde of Georgia called for the U.S. government to withhold any federal money from being used in New York’s court system and Illinois Rep. Mary Miller said “any normal judge would have dismissed this case by now.”

As she questioned Michael Cohen again on redirect, prosecutor Susan Hoffinger took a dig at the defense’s exacting cross-examination of him during Donald Trump's hush money trial.

“I know you might feel like you’re on trial here after cross-examination, but are you actually on trial here?,” she asked.

“No, ma’am,” Cohen replied after a defense objection was overruled.

Asked to describe the difference between testifying in court against Trump and the 2018 federal case in which he pleaded guilty to various crimes, Cohen said: “My life was on the line. My liberty. I was the defendant in that case. Here, I’m just a non-party subpoenaed witness.”

Michael Cohen’s admitted theft from the Trump Organization came after his annual holiday bonus was slashed to $50,000 from the $150,000 he usually received, he testified on Monday.

Cohen said that Donald Trump owed technology firm Red Finch $50,000 for its work artificially boosting his standing in a CNBC online poll about famous businessmen.

Cohen said he’d paid the company’s owner $20,000 in cash “to placate him for the time being” after Trump had gone months without paying the bill.

Cohen said he later sought reimbursement for the full amount at the same time he was seeking payment for the money he paid Stormy Daniels. He said he kept the difference instead of paying Red Finch as a way of making up for his reduced bonus.

“I was angered because of the reduction in the bonus and so I just felt like it was self-help,” Cohen said.

Michael Cohen testified on Monday that he shelled out money to a tech firm to help boost Donald Trump’s performance in an online CNBC poll about the most famous businessmen of the last half-century.

At first, Trump was polling near the bottom “and it upset him,” Cohen said during redirect. So Cohen reached out to Red Finch, who said they could create an algorithm that would get Trump’s name “to rise and rise significantly” in the poll by acquiring IP addresses to cast phony votes.

He said Trump initially wanted to finish first, but the two decided that would be suspicious. Instead, they decided to settle for ninth. But Trump refused to pay the firm after CNBC decided to nix a second round of the poll featuring the top 10 names. Trump, Cohen testified, didn’t feel he’d gotten his money’s worth.

When he was later reimbursed by Allen Weisselberg to pay back Red Finch, Cohen kept the proceeds for himself — an act of deception that, Cohen admitted earlier in the day, amounted to stealing from the Trump Organization.

But describing his actions to the prosecutor, Cohen defended the move. “I felt it was almost like self-help,” he said.

As prosecutor Susan Hoffinger began questioning Michael Cohen during redirect on Monday, she took aim at a point that Donald Trump’s defense made during their questioning: that Cohen helped Trump and his family with some legal matters in 2017, when Cohen received $420,000 from the then-president.

The sum included reimbursement for the $130,000 that Cohen had paid Stormy Daniels, according to testimony and evidence at the hush money trial.

Prosecutors say the $420,000 in payments was deceptively logged as legal expenses to disguise the Daniels deal. Trump’s defense says Cohen was indeed paid for legal work, so there was no cover-up.

Cohen testified that he never billed for the work he did for Trump and his family in 2017. When Hoffinger asked whether the $420,000 was related at all to those 2017 legal endeavors, Cohen answered, “No, ma’am.”

The defense's cross-examination of Michael Cohen in Donald Trump's hush money trial ended with Cohen reiterating that he discussed the Stormy Daniels deal with the former president.

“Notwithstanding everything you’ve said over the years, you have specific recollection of having conversations with then-candidate Donald J. Trump about the Stormy Daniels matter?” defense lawyer Todd Blanche asked.

“Yes, sir,” Cohen answered.

“No doubt in your mind?”

No doubt, Cohen averred, and Blanche said he had no more questions.

Pushed before the morning break in Donald Trump's hush money case to describe his lucrative Trump-related side businesses, Michael Cohen told defense attorney Todd Blanche “there is a television show” in the works.

Tentatively titled “The Fixer,” the show is based on Cohen’s own life and career. A producer on his podcast is currently shopping the show to studios, but it hasn’t been picked up yet, Cohen testified.

Later asked about his recent claim that he might run for Congress because he has “the best name recognition out there,” Cohen insisted he hasn’t built his profile on Trump’s back.

“My name recognition is because of the journey that I’ve been on. Is it affiliated to Mr. Trump? Yes. Not because of Mr. Trump,” he testified.

“Well, the journey that you’ve been on,” Blanche noted, “has included near-daily attacks on President Trump.”

“My journey is to tell my story, yes, sir,” Cohen said, eventually acknowledging his frequent criticisms of Trump.

Cohen also testified he’d be better off financially if Trump isn’t convicted because it would give him more fodder for the podcasts that provide a sizeable chunk of his livelihood.

Cohen was responding to questions asking if he’d benefit financially from a conviction in the hush money case.

As he spoke, Trump looked directly at the witness box, his arm draped over his chair.

Before a morning break in Donald Trump's criminal trial, defense lawyer Todd Blanche probed Michael Cohen’s profitable new career as a media-forward Trump critic.

The ex-lawyer said he’s made about $4.4 million from his books and podcasts since 2020, the year he was released from prison to home confinement. He was freed from home confinement in 2021.

Cohen also noted that he makes some income from a real estate rental property.

Before pleading guilty in 2018 to campaign finance violations and other charges, Cohen made about $4 million in 18 months, he testified. That money came largely from corporate consulting deals, plus the $420,000 he got from Trump to reimburse the Stormy Daniels payout and a technology expense, cover taxes and provide a bonus.

Jurors in Donald Trump's hush money trial remained largely engaged with Michael Cohen’s testimony on Monday, though some appeared to be dragging as his testimony stretched into a fourth day.

Several jurors stifled yawns while peering at the witness and looking at monitors in front of them as emails and other evidence were displayed. A few continued to take notes. Others sat back and took in the testimony, occasionally peering at the gallery of reporters and public observers.

Reporters wait after being made to briefly leave the courtroom during the ongoing trial of former President Donald Trump at Manhattan Criminal Court, Monday, May 20, 2024 in New York. Mr. Trump is charged with falsifying 34 business records in an attempt to cover up a payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels. (Pool photo by Dave Sanders for The New York Times)

Reporters return to the courtroom after being made to briefly leave during the ongoing trial of former President Donald Trump at Manhattan Criminal Court, Monday, May 20, 2024 in New York. Trump is charged with falsifying 34 business records in an attempt to cover up a payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels. (Pool photo by Dave Sanders for The New York Times)

Michael Cohen, right, testifies on the witness stand with Judge Juan Merchan presiding in Manhattan criminal court, Monday, May 20, 2024, in New York. (Elizabeth Williams via AP)

American lawyer Alan Dershowitz returns to the courtroom for the criminal trial of former President Donald Trump after a short break at the municipal criminal court in Monday May 20, 2024 in New York. (Sarah Yenesel/Pool Photo via AP)

American actor Chuck Zito returns to the courtroom for the criminal trial of former President Donald Trump after a short break at the municipal criminal court in Monday May 20, 2024 in New York. (Sarah Yenesel/Pool Photo via AP)

Former President Donald Trump walks with attorney Todd Blanche after a break during his trial at Manhattan Criminal Court on Monday, May 20, 2024 in New York. (Michael M. Santiago/Pool Photo via AP)

Former President Donald Trump speaks to members of the media before entering the courtroom with his attorney Todd Blanche at Manhattan Criminal Court on Monday, May 20, 2024 in New York. (Michael M. Santiago/Pool Photo via AP)

Former President Donald Trump sits in Manhattan Criminal Court on Monday, May 20, 2024 in New York. (Michael M. Santiago/Pool Photo via AP)

Former President Donald Trump appears at Manhattan Criminal Court on Monday, May 20, 2024 in New York. (Michael M. Santiago/Pool Photo via AP)

Michael Cohen leaves his apartment building on his way to Manhattan criminal court in New York, Monday, May 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Michael Cohen leaves his apartment building on his way to Manhattan criminal court in New York, Monday, May 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Former President Donald Trump closes his eyes, during his trial at Manhattan criminal court Thursday, May 16, 2024, in New York. (Mike Segar/Pool Photo via AP)

Former President Donald Trump, center, walks by Rep. Matt Gaetz, left, R-Fla., outside the courtroom after the day's proceedings in his trial Thursday, May 16, 2024, in New York. Trump's adviser Boris Epshteyn, and attorney Emil Bove, right, follow behind him. (Mike Segar/Pool Photo via AP)

FILE - Michael Cohen leaves his apartment building on his way to Manhattan criminal court, May 13, 2024, in New York. Donald Trump's hush money trial is heading into the final stretch. The landmark trial will kick back off Monday, May 20, in Manhattan with more defense cross-examination of former Trump attorney Cohen. Cohen's pivotal testimony directly tied Trump to the alleged hush money scheme. Defense lawyers are trying to paint Cohen as a serial fabulist who is on a revenge campaign against the presumptive Republican presidential nominee. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson, File)

Former President Donald Trump walks over to addresses reporters following the day's proceedings in his trial at Manhattan criminal court in New York, Thursday, May 16, 2024. (Steven Hirsch/New York Post via AP, Pool)