Trump trial: Judge rebukes Michael Cohen ahead of expected testimony Monday

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.


What to know about the hush money case

READ MORE: Here's what you need to know about the historic case.


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Westerhout testifies that Trump didn't use computer, email

Trump White House aide Madeleine Westerhout testified that Trump did not use email or a computer.

"What is Mr. Trump's preferred method of communications?" prosecutor Becky Mangold asked.

"He liked speaking to people in person or over the phone," Westerhout said.

"Did Mr. Trump use a computer?" Mangold asked.

"Not to my knowledge," Westerhout said, adding Trump did not use email.

"He liked hard-copy documents," Westerhout said.

Westerhout testified that Trump paid attention to details and signed things himself, preferably with a Sharpie.

"He preferred to sign things himself," Westerhout said.

"Did he typically read things before signing them?" Mangold asked.

"Yes," Westerhout said.


No one sat closer to Trump in White House, Westerhout says

Jurors saw a map of the West Wing of the White House to demonstrate where Madeleine Westerhout's desk was in relation to the Oval Office.

"That is the area known as the outer oval office -- that is where the presidential secretaries or assistants sat," Westerhout told the jurors, highlighting the location of her desk.

Westerhout said she sat near John McEntee, Hope Hicks, and Keith Schiller, but no one sat closer to Trump's desk in the Oval Office than she did in the early days of the Trump administration.

"Who was the focus of your job?" prosecutor Becky Mangold asked.

"The president," Westerhout responded.


Westerhout testifies about 'Access Hollywood' fallout

Before she worked in the White House, witness Madeleine Westerhout worked at the Republican National Committee.

On the stand, she testified about the aftermath of the release of the infamous "Access Hollywood" tape.

"It was a tape of Mr. Trump and Billy Bush," she said. "At the time I recall it rattling RNC leadership."

Prosecutor Becky Mangold asked, "Did the RNC consider replacing Mr. Trump as a candidate?"

Westerhout told the jury, "It's my recollection there were conversations how it would be possible to replace him as the candidate if it came to that."

Westerhout testified that after Trump won the election, she helped with the presidential transition.

She said she earned the nickname "Greeter Girl" in the media after she helped coordinate meetings at Trump Tower, appearing in videos and photos accompanying potential Trump appointees in the Trump Tower lobby.


Prosecutors call White House aide Madeleine Westerhout

Prosecutors have called their next big witness: Madeleine Westerhout, who was Trump's director of Oval Office operations in the White House.

Westerhout was subpoenaed to testify.

Asked if she is nervous to testify, she responded, "I am now." This is her first time in a courtroom, she said.

Trump leaned forward in her chair, watching her intently.


Checks for Trump to sign were sent to bodyguard's home

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.