Former President Trump was in court on Day 15 of his criminal trial in New York.
Former President Donald Trump is on trial in New York City, where he is facing felony charges related to a 2016 hush money payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels. It marks the first time in history that a former U.S. president has been tried on criminal charges.
Trump last April pleaded not guilty to a 34-count indictment charging him with falsifying business records in connection with a hush money payment his then-attorney Michael Cohen made to Daniels in order to boost his electoral prospects in the 2016 presidential election.
Donald Trump has returned to the courtroom following the lunch break.
Trump surveyed the gallery as he got to the defense counsel table.
Judge Merchan is back on the bench and Trump Organization bookkeeper Rebecca Manochio has taken her seat on the witness stand to resume her testimony.
Trump's defense team, after Judge Juan Merchan dismissed the jury for a lunch break, informed the judge they have a renewed motion for a mistrial plus two additional motions.
In in addition to seeking a mistrial, the defense will asking to preclude Karen McDougal's potential testimony, and seek to modify part of the limited gag order placed on Trump.
Merchan said he will break testimony early at 4 p.m. ET and handle the three motions then.
Before excusing the jury for the lunch break, Merchan announced that the trial is currently on or ahead of schedule.
As questioning of the Trump Organization's bookkeeper continued, Trump, sitting at the defense table, continued to appear to give instructions to his attorneys.
Trump wrote down a note on a yellow legal bad and passed it to attorney Susan Necheles, who read it and then looked up at Trump and nodded in agreement. She then went back to her own notepad and took down a note.
Bookkeeper Rebecca Manochio is testifying as a custodian of records for the Trump Organization, as prosecutors have entered into evidence a series of emails and Fedex records.
The jury sees FedEx invoices for checks Manochio says she sent to Washington for Trump to sign while he was president. They have seen two instances where Manochio mailed checks to the home of Trump's bodyguard, Keith Schiller, instead of directly to the White House.
Schiller also mailed the checks back, according to Manochio.
Asked who directed her to mail the checks to Schiller, Manochio said that either then-CFO Allen Weisselberg or Trump assistant Rhona Graff told her to do so.
By September 2017, Manochio said she began mailing the checks to Trump's then-body man John McEntee, who would later became the director of the White House personnel office and one of Donald Trump's most trusted aides.
"I will need the boss's personal checks mailed to me," McEntee said in an email to Rhona Graff.
"Who is John McEntee?" the prosecutor asked Manochio.
"Couldn't tell you," Manochio said.
For their next witness, prosectors have called Rebecca Manochio, a Trump Organization employee.
Manochio, on the stand, said she has worked for the Trump Organization for 11 years, including working as former CFO Allen Weissleberg's assistant for eight years. She now works as a junior bookkeeper at the company.
She said that she is testifying pursuant to a subpoena. "I was compelled to testify," she said.
Manochio testified she was the one who personally mailed the checks for Michael Cohen to Donald Trump in Washington, D.C., while he was president, for him to sign.
"How frequently did you have to FedEx checks to Mr. Trump?" she was asked.
"About once a week," she responded.
"Deb would give me the checks in a manilla folder, and I would put them in a FedEx envelope with a return," she testified.
Manochio said she would send Trump a bundle of checks weekly via Federal Express.
Asked about how many checks she sent at one time, she said, "Maybe between 10 and 20. I am not sure though."
Manochio said she would normally receive the signed checks back within a few days.
"Did you always check to make sure they were signed once you got them back?," she was asked.
"Yes," she affirmed.
"Who's signature was on them?" she was asked.
"Mr. Trump's," she said.
