NEW YORK (AP) – Defense witnesses in Donald Trump’s hush money case testify before judge threatened to remove him from the trial Questions about his actions returned to the stand Tuesday as the trial drew to a close.
Trump’s lawyers hope Robert Costello’s testimony will help undermine the credibility of the prosecution’s key witness. Michael Cohen, Trump’s fixer-turned-enemy.
What you need to know about Trump’s hush money trial:
Before the jurors arrived in the courtroom, Mr. Costello turned to Judge Juan M. Marchan and spoke quietly. The judge nodded in recognition of him, but it was far more heart-warming than the drama that unfolded during Monday’s trial, when Costello made comments under his breath during testimony, rolling his eyes and calling the entire exercise “ridiculous.” It was a tense scene. The antics infuriated Mr. Marchand, and the judge briefly removed reporters from the courtroom to admonish him.
According to court records, the judge called Costello, a former federal prosecutor, “disparaging” and added, “If you ever try to stare at me again, I’m going to kick you off the platform.”
The defense was expected to adjourn the case later Tuesday, clearing the way for the trial to move on to a decision on how to instruct the jury to deliberate. Prosecutors on Monday dropped charges that Trump falsified his business records as part of the fraud. A plan to bury the story He feared it would hurt his 2016 campaign. The former US president’s first criminal trial is reaching its final stages, with closing arguments scheduled for the Tuesday after Memorial Day.
The charges are based on internal records at the Trump Organization, where payments to Cohen were recorded as legal fees.Prosecutors claim these were actually reimbursements for $130,000 in hush money paid to porn actors stormy daniels The move was to prevent her from going public with claims that she had a sexual relationship with President Trump before the 2016 election. President Trump insists there was nothing sexual between the two.
Republican President Trump has denied doing anything illegal and denounced the incident as an attempt to thwart his plans to take back the White House in 2024.
“They have no case,” Trump said outside the courtroom on Tuesday. “There is no crime.”
After jurors retired Monday, the defense pressed the judge to drop the charges before jurors began deliberating, saying the prosecution had failed to prove their case. Defense attorneys have suggested that Trump was trying to protect his family, not his campaign, by squelching false and ridiculous claims.
Defense attorney Todd Blanche said the company’s efforts include publishing positive articles about Trump, negative articles about his opponents, and identifying potentially harmful articles before they are published. He argued that asking tabloids for cooperation is not illegal. Blanche said there was “no criminal intent” by those involved.
“How can it be a crime to continue hiding a false story from voters?” Blanche asked.
Former President Donald Trump sits in Manhattan Criminal Court during his ongoing hush money trial in New York, Monday, May 20, 2024. (Pool photo via Mark Peterson/AP)
Prosecutor Matthew Colangelo countered that “the trial evidence overwhelmingly supports each element” of the alleged criminal conduct and said the case should proceed to a jury.
The judge did not immediately rule on the defense’s request. Such unlikely demands are common in criminal cases, but are rarely granted.
The defense called Costello for his role as Cohen’s adversary after a spectacular breakdown in their professional relationship. Costello offered to represent Cohen shortly after the lawyer’s hotel room, offices and home were searched and Cohen was forced to decide whether to remain defiant in the face of a criminal investigation or cooperate with authorities in hopes of securing more lenient treatment.
Since then, Costello has repeatedly disparaged Cohen’s credibility and was also a witness He testified before the grand jury that indicted Trump last year, aiming to undermine Cohen’s version of events. In an interview on Fox News Channel last week, Mr. Costello accused Mr. Cohen of lying to the jury and using the incident to “monetize” himself.
Costello disputed Cohen’s testimony, which described Trump as: Closely involved in all aspects of the hush money schemeCostello told jurors on Monday that Cohen told him he “knew nothing” about Trump paying hush money to Daniels.
“Michael Cohen said over and over again that President Trump knew nothing about those payments and that he did them on his own,” Costello testified.
But Cohen testified earlier Monday that there was “no question” that President Trump gave final approval for the payment to Daniels. He said he spoke with President Trump more than 20 times about the issue in October 2016.
President Trump’s lawyer, Emil Bove, told the judge that the defense does not plan to call any other witnesses after Costello, but will call campaign finance expert Bradley A. Smith for limited testimony. He said there was a possibility of calling. Although he did not explicitly say that Mr. Trump would not testify, this is the clearest sign yet that Mr. Trump will waive his right to testify in his own defense.
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Long report from Washington. Associated Press writers Jill Colvin and Michelle Price in New York; Meg Kinard of Columbia, South Carolina; Eric Tucker and Alana Durkin Richer in Washington contributed to this report.
