Trump trial updates: Appeals court denies defense's bid for judge's recusal

The defense made a motion for the dismissal of the case, with defense attorney Todd Blanche telling Judge Merchan, "There's absolutely no evidence the filings were false, the business records were false."

When the invoices for Cohen's payment were sent to the Trump Organization there's no evidence they were entered improperly, Blanche said. "At the start, there is absolutely no false business filings. They're accurate business filings," he said.

Trump looked directly at Blanche as the attorney addressed Merchan.

"There's no evidence that there's any intent to defraud by Mr. Trump in connection to these filings," Blanche argued.

"There are no other crimes," defense attorney Todd Blanche argued about the legal standard in the case -- that Trump falsified business records in furtherance of another crime. "There is no evidence that any one was thinking about a campaign finance charge in 2016 when this payment was made to Ms. Daniels."

"The prosecutors have talked in their opening statement and in papers about some sort of conspiracy to influence the election but as the court knows there has to be something illegal about this effort," Blanche said. "There's no evidence from any of the witnesses who testified of any criminal intent."

"There is no way that the court should let this case go to jury relying on Mr. Cohen's testimony," Blanche said "Without Mr. Cohen, there is no case."

Judge Merchan asked if Blanche was calling for him to rule that Cohen's testimony is "not credible as a matter of law."

"Absolutely, that's exactly what we're calling on the court to do," Blanche replied. "He testified, and he lied under oath -- in this courtroom."

Asked by Judge Merchan if they have any additional witnesses, defense attorneys responded, "Not at this point."

Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger said she has no more than 45 minutes of cross-examination left when court resumes tomorrow.

The defense will have then some redirect.

Under cross-examination from prosecutor Susan Hoffinger, Michael Cohen's former attorney Robert Costello testified that he first met with Cohen at the urging of Jeffrey Citron, who scheduled the April 2018 meeting at the Regency Hotel.

Costello -- who has represented Leona Helmsley and George Steinbrenner in the past -- acknowledged that representing Cohen would have generated positive publicity for his law firm. But Costello said he did not have positive feelings about landing Cohen as a client.

"I didn't want him as a client with the firm," Costello said, pushing back on prosecutors' assertions that landing Cohen would have been a big win.

Jurors briefly saw an email where Costello's son congratulated him for landing Cohen as a client.

"Wow. That's big news. Congrats Dad. I hope this leads to a lot of good things coming your way," Costello's son wrote.

Asked about the FBI's raid on Cohen's office and hotel room, Costello said, "I wouldn't use the term raid -- they executed a search warrant."

"He was suicidal that day and acting very manic," Costello said about Cohen's behavior after the FBI searched on his hotel and office.

""You thought he was being a drama queen, didn't you?" Hoffinger asked.

"He was putting on quite a show and he explained to us that two nights before he was on the roof of the Regency Hotel and he was going to jump off and kill himself because he couldn't handle the pressure," Costello said.

Testimony subsequently concluded for the day, with Costello scheduled to return to the stand tomorrow.

After Judge Merchan brought the jury back to the courtroom, defense attorney Emil Bove resumed his direct examination. The judge did not reference his admonition of Robert Costello.

Costello testified that Cohen instructed him to contact Rudy Giuliani on June 7, 2018. Jurors saw phone records showing that Cohen and Costello spoke for 46 minutes that day.

Jurors saw another email between Cohen and Costello in June 2018.

"Please remember if you want or need to communicate something, please let me know and I will see that it gets done," Costello wrote.

"Did you ever put any pressure on Michael Cohen to do anything?" Bove asked.

"No," Costello answered.

"Did you ever pressure him to interact with Rudy Giuliani in a certain way?" Bove asked.

"Not at all," Costello said.

Costello added that Cohen never paid his legal bills to Costello's firm.

Costello's direct examination then concluded.