Trump trial: Cohen faces Trump team grilling over past lies, recollections

In a ruling related to the ongoing criminal trial, a panel of New York appellate judges has denied Donald Trump's challenge to the limited gag order in the case.

In April, Trump filed an Article 78 petition to challenge the constitutionality of the limited gag order, which prevents public statements about witnesses, jurors, lawyers in the case other than Alvin Bragg.

Trump argued that the limited gag order overstepped on his First Amendment rights.

In their ruling today, the appellate judges acknowledged that while Trump does not surrender his First Amendment rights once he enters the courtroom, those rights "may be subordinated" by the issues that arise during the trial.

"We find that Justice Merchan properly weighed petitioner's First Amendment Rights against the court's historical commitment to ensuring the fair administration of justice in criminal cases and the right of persons related or tangentially related to the criminal proceedings from being free from threats, intimidation, harassment, and harm," the decision said.

Jurors saw a statement that Michael Cohen released to the press in 2018 about the Stormy Daniels payment and the related FEC complaint.

"Just because something isn't true doesn't mean it can't cause you harm or damage. I will always protect Mr. Trump," Cohen read to the jury from his 2018 statement.

The jury also saw a Signal message from then-Trump attorney Jay Sekulow to Michael Cohen that read, "client says thanks for what you do."

"The client here is President Trump, and for what you do, it dealt with the statement that I was putting out to the press," Cohen testified.

"To deny his involvement?" prosecutor Susan Hoffinger asked Cohen.

"Yes," Cohen responded.

Michael Cohen acknowledged that his lawyers sent the Federal Election Commission a "misleading statement" on Feb. 8, 2018.

"Neither the Trump Organization nor the Trump campaign was a party to the transaction with Ms. Clifford, and neither reimbursed Mr. Cohen for the payment directly or indirectly," the letter to the FEC read.

Cohen described the statement as "misleading" because the reimbursement came from Trump directly.

"It was the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust or Donald Trump himself," Cohen told jurors, though he said he "omitted" that from the letter to the FEC.

Cohen said Trump approved the statement.

"That's a true statement, but it's deceptive, it's misleading," Cohen said. He did so "in order to protect Mr. Trump, stay on message, demonstrate my continued loyalty," he said.

As Cohen discussed his conduct related to the FEC, Judge Merchan offered a limited instruction to the jury, telling them that the testimony can be used to provide context for the surrounding events and help determine Cohen's credibility -- but not Trump's guilt.

Michael Cohen told jurors that he lied to Congress in 2017 when he understated Trump's involvement in a Trump Tower project in Moscow.

Cohen told Congress that he spoke to Trump about the project three times, but they actually spoke ten times according to Cohen. He added that he misrepresented the timeline of those conversations.

"Why did you make those false statements to Congress?" prosecutor Susan Hoffinger asked.

"Because I was staying on Mr. Trump's message that there was no Russia, Russia, Russia and in coordination with the joint defense team. That was what was preferred," Cohen said.

Cohen said he also initially lied about the hush payment to Stormy Daniels.

"Did you tell the truth about Mr. Trump's role in the payoff?" Hoffinger asked.

"No ma'am," Cohen said.

Cohen told jurors that he pressured Daniels' attorney Keith Davidson to have Daniels sign a false statement denying her affair with Trump.

"Did you know this statement by Stormy Daniels was false?" Hoffinger asked.

"Yes," Cohen said.

Trump, at the defense table, scoffed when Cohen testified that he told Trump he got Stormy Daniels to deny their affair in 2018 so that he could "get credit" with Trump.