NEW YORK (AP) — Following sordid testimony from porn actor Stormy Daniels, prosecutors in Donald Trump’s hush-money trial laid the groundwork Friday for jurors to hear from star witness Michael Cohen. and focused on checks and phone records. , former lawyer to President Trump.
As the third week of testimony drew to a close, the case, which ultimately hinges on record-keeping, returned to highly technical testimony. It was in sharp contrast to Daniels’ dramatic, if not downright murky, testimony about her alleged sexual encounters with Trump, which riveted jurors. Early this week. President Trump denies they ever had sex.
Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass said prosecutors could rest the case by the end of next week.
What you need to know about Trump’s hush money trial:
Prosecutors are investigating the case ahead of key testimony from Cohen, Trump’s former fixer-turned-enemy who arranged the $130,000 payment to Daniels, he said. stated in the instructions.
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.
Defense attorneys will argue that they cannot believe that the lawyer who was sentenced to prison and became one of Trump’s fiercest critics is trying to get the former president.
Jurors on Friday saw social media posts showing 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 said he was involved in campaign finance violations and other crimes and was directed by Trump 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 glanced at the stack of papers on the table in front of me.
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.
In one of the most lively moments, Trump’s 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.
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)
Witnesses in the case have oscillated between bookkeepers and bankers giving testimony about records and finances to Daniels and others, and telling 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.
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.
Trump stormed out of court on Thursday, telling reporters, “I’m innocent.” His lawyers argued for a mistrial because of the level of sordid detail Daniels gave on the stand, but Judge Juan M. Marchand rejected the claim.
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)
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 allege, because Mr. Cohen thus received 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.
In more than 7 1/2 hours of testimony, Ms. Daniels gave graphic details about what happened after the two met on a celebrity golf tour in Lake Tahoe, and whose sponsors included the adult film studio where she worked. I told him. Ms. Daniels described how she felt surprised, fearful, and uncomfortable even though she had consented to sex with Mr. Trump.
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. Necheles confronted Daniels about why she had agreed to pay him to remain silent, but the two women got into an argument over inconsistencies in Daniels’ story over the years.
“You made this all up, right?” Necheres asked Daniels.
“No,” Daniels shot back.
After Daniels left the witness stand Thursday, Trump’s lawyers asked the judge to make amends. gag order As a result, he could not speak about the witness in the case and could not publicly respond to what she told the jury. The judge also rejected the request.
Trump also made a bid Friday to obtain records from former Manhattan prosecutor Mark Pomerantz, who last year wrote a book detailing his strained relationship with District Attorney Alvin Bragg over whether to seek indictments against Trump. Defeated.
Prosecutors in Mr. Bragg’s office asked Mr. Marchand to deny Mr. Pomerantz’s subpoena, and the judge agreed, asking whether the defense’s request was part of an overly broad “fishing expedition.” , wrote an order saying it was either seeking information unrelated to the case.
Trump has been charged with 34 counts of falsifying internal business records at the Trump Organization. The charges stem from paperwork such as invoices and checks that were considered legal expenses on the company’s records. Prosecutors allege that most of those payments were repaid to Cohen as hush money for Daniels.
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.
meanwhile, As the threat of prison looms President Trump’s lawyers are fighting a judge’s order and seeking a speedy ruling in an appeals court after repeated violations of the gag order. If the court refuses to lift the gag order, Trump’s lawyers are seeking permission to appeal to the state’s highest court.
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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.
