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.
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Prosecutors call back paralegal from DA's office
Prosecutors have called back to the stand Georgia Longstreet, a paralegal for the Manhattan district attorney's office.
Longstreet testified last week to introduce some of Trump's social media posts into evidence.
Trump, sitting at the defense table, has been working diligently -- scribbling notes and thumbing through a stack of papers, marking some of them, and then placing them in another pile.
Judge won't admit Larry King interview as evidence
When court resumed after the mid-morning break, Judge Juan Merchan handed the defense a victory -- ruling to block the state's effort to include an excerpt of an interview Trump did with Larry King in 1999 as evidence.
"You are asking the jurors to draw an in inference that because Mr. Trump knew the laws in 1999, he knew them in 2016," Merchan said in denying the request. "That's a lot of speculation."
Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg entered the courtroom with prosecutors following the break. Trump turned around to look at the gallery before he sat down, appearing to spot Bragg.
Merchan signaled that the proceedings will likely end early today, after the prosecution calls its final two witnesses of the day.
Verizon employee testifies about Weisselberg's phone records
Prosecutors next called custodial witness Jenny Tomalin, who works for Verizon, to testify about call records for former Trump CFO Allen Weisselberg's Verizon mobile phone.
Prosecutors may refer to calls between Weisselberg and Michael Cohen when Cohen testifies next week.
Jurors saw toll records from Weisselberg which appeared to stretch to hundreds of pages, showing each of the calls placed and received by Weisselberg. The records detail the length of each call in minutes, as well as the date, time, origination, destination, and the other phone number.
After Tomalin's direct examination concluded she stepped off the stand and court broke for the mid-morning recess.
AT&T analyst testifies about Cohen's phone records
Prosecutors called Daniel Dixon, who works as a lead compliance analyst at AT&T, to testify as a custodian of records about cell phone data.
Prosecutors used his testimony to enter into evidence phone records for Michael Cohen's company phone that jurors will likely see later when Cohen testifies.
As Dixon testified, Trump leaned forward in his chair with a yellow highlighter in hand, flipping through and marking up a stack of papers.
Defense attorney Emil Bove then did a detailed cross-examination of Dixon, as part of an effort to cast any possible doubt on records related to Cohen.
Dixon then stepped off the stand, with he and Trump exchanging tight smiles as he passed the defense table.
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.