Trump trial: 1st week of testimony ends with testimony from Michael Cohen's former banker
Banker Gary Farro testified in Donald Trump's hush money 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 to hide the reimbursement of a hush money payment his then-attorney Michael Cohen made to Daniels in order to boost his electoral prospects in the 2016 presidential election.
Top headlines:
- Banker says he set up LLC, which Cohen used to pay Daniels
- 'Thank you for handling' McDougal, Pecker says Trump told him
- 'This story is true,' Pecker recounts being told of Stormy Daniels
- Pecker describes $150,000 negotiations for McDougal's story
- Secret Service has plans if Trump is confined for contempt: Sources
What to know about the hush money case
READ MORE: Here's what you need to know about the historic case.
Trump 'did not commit any crimes,' defense tells jury
"President Trump is innocent. President Trump did not commit any crimes," defense attorney Todd Blanche said to begin the defense's opening statements.
"The Manhattan district attorney's office should never have brought this case," Blanche said.
"You will hear me and others refer to him as President Trump. That is a title he has earned because he was our 45th President," Blanche added.
Prosecutor says jury can believe Cohen despite mistakes
Prosecutor Matthew Colangelo told the jury, during his opening statement, "During this trial you're going to hear a lot about Michael Cohen.”
Trump's former personal attorney, Cohen is a key witness -- perhaps the only one that will testify to Donald Trump’s intent when he agreed to pay Stormy Daniels hush money.
The defense “will go to great lengths” to convince the jury Cohen is not credible, Colangelo said.
He acknowledged that Cohen had earlier lied regarding the matter. “He lied about it to protect his boss,” Colangelo said. “You will also learn that Michael Cohen has a criminal record.”
Colangelo told jurors they can believe Cohen despite his past mistakes.
“Cohen's testimony will be backed up by testimony from other witnesses you will hear from, including David Pecker, Keith Davidson. It will be backed up by an extensive paper trail. And it will be backed up by Donald Trump’s own words,” the prosecutor said.
Colangelo concluded by saying, “This case is about a criminal conspiracy and a cover-up, an illegal conspiracy to undermine the integrity of a presidential election and then the steps that Donald Trump took to conceal that election fraud. At the end of the case we are confident you will have no reasonable doubt that Donald Trump is guilty of falsifying business records.”
'They agreed to cook the books,' prosecutor says
Prosecutor Matthew Colangelo asked jurors to ponder why Donald Trump did not negotiate the $420,000 repayment scheme allegedly proposed by Michael Cohen and then-Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg.
"Donald Trump was a very frugal businessman. He believed in pinching pennies. He believed in counting every dollar. He believed in negotiating every bill," Colangelo said. "It's all over all the books he's written. He ran the Trump Organization with total control."
But when it came time to set Cohen's repayment, Trump did not question the proposal from Cohen and Weisselberg, Colangelo said.
"This might be the only time that ever happened," said the prosecutor.
According to Colangelo, Trump consented to the arrangement because he knew the scheme was to cover up the hush money payment to Daniels and other expenses.
"It was instead what they thought was a clever way to pay Cohen back without being too obvious about it," Colangelo said.
Colangelo said that the jurors will see handwritten notes from Weisselberg laying out the entire scheme.
"They agreed to cook the books," said Colangelo.
'It was election fraud, pure and simple,' prosecutor says
"It was election fraud, pure and simple," prosecutor Matthew Colangelo told the jury during opening statements as he outlined the hush payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels and how it was logged by the Trump Organization
Dylan Howard, then editor of the National Enquirer, had called Trump attorney Michael Cohen to inform him about Daniels and the story that she had of a sexual liaison with Trump, which the former president has long denied.
"Cohen then discussed the situation with Trump who is adamant that he did not want the story to come out," Colangelo said. "it could have been devastating to his campaign."
At the time, Trump and the campaign were "deeply concerned" about the "Access Hollywood" video, the prosecutor said. Cohen wired the $130,000 to Daniels' lawyer to keep her quiet.
"Cohen made that payment at Donald Trump's direction and for his benefit and he did it with the special goal of influencing the election
This was not spin or communications strategy. This was a planned, coordinated long-running conspiracy to influence the 2016 election to help DT get elected through illegal expenditures to silence people who had something bad about his behavior. It was election fraud, pure and simple," Colangelo said.
Defense suggests AMI's cooperation was financially motivated
When the National Enquirer's parent company AMI signed a non-prosecution agreement with federal prosecutors in New York in September 2018, AMI was negotiating to sell the Enquirer and two other tabloids to Hudson News Group for $100 million, former publisher David Pecker testified under cross-examination.
Defense attorney Emil Bove suggested the pending sale put Pecker under pressure to resolve a federal campaign finance investigation over its payment to quash stories damaging to Donald Trump's presidential ambitions.
"You knew to finalize that deal, to consummate it, you had to clear out the investigations?" Bove asked.
"Yes," Pecker responded. "From a timing standpoint it would have added stress to the transaction."
On Thursday Pecker testified he had been "very worried" about the investigation. He had received a letter from the Federal Election Commission and said he called up Michael Cohen. "I said 'I'm very worried,'" he testified.
Pecker said Cohen responded, "Why are you worried? Jeff Sessions is the Attorney General and Donald Trump has him in his pocket."
The defense appears to be suggesting AMI cooperated with federal campaign finance investigations not because the company had done anything wrong related to the 2016 Trump campaign, but out of financial considerations in order to preserve the $100 million deal with Hudson News, which was finalized in April 2019.