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.
Judge to rule tomorrow on Trump's cross-examination
Judge Juan Merchan plans to issue a ruling tomorrow about the bounds of Donald Trump's cross-examination if the former president decides to testify during the trial.
After hearing a brief oral argument this afternoon, Merchan told the parties he is reserving his decision, which he plans to issue sometime tomorrow.
Prosecutor Matthew Colangelo argued that Trump's alleged prior bad acts as demonstrated by a variety of civil and criminal determinations should be fair game during cross-examination.
DA seeks to question Trump about earlier gag order
The Sandoval hearing on Trump's potential testimony got underway with prosecutors pushing to cross-examine former president Donald Trump about his alleged violation of the limited gag order in his civil fraud trial.
Prosecutor Matthew Colangelo asked Judge Merchan to permit them to ask the former president about his testimony during his civil fraud trial when the former president claimed he was not referring to Judge Arthur Engoron's law clerk during remarks in the hallway of the courthouse last year.
Engoron determined that Trump's brief testimony rang "hollow and untrue."
Colangelo asked Merchan to allow cross-examination about Trump's testimony and the gag order violation last year in order to probe his credibility.
"He lied," Colangelo said of Trump. "It is very hard to think of something more probative of a testifying defendant's credibility."
Court resumes for afternoon session
Judge Juan Merchan began the court's afternoon session but did not mention the self-immolation incident this afternoon in the park across from the courthouse, and Trump did not respond to questions about the incident when asked by a reporter in the hallway outside the courtroom.
The judge plans to hold a Sandoval hearing this afternoon to determine the bounds of Trump's cross-examination if he decides to testify.
In a filing earlier this week, prosecutors said they planned to question the former president about his past civil cases, including $464 million business fraud judgment, the defamation and battery cases brought by E. Jean Carroll and a lawsuit Trump filed against Hillary Clinton claiming she conspired to rig the 2016 election.
Prosecutors also want to question Trump about the Trump Organization's 2022 criminal trial for tax evasion and the civil case against the Trump Foundation for misusing charitable donations to further Trump's political interests.
Trump is seated at counsel table between his lawyers Emil Bove and Todd Blanche. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is not present in the courtroom.
Trump files emergency appeal to move trial
Former President Trump has filed a new emergency appeal to change the venue of his criminal trial.
Oral arguments are scheduled for this afternoon to determine whether the trial should be temporarily paused.
The motion is expected to cite some of the responses prospective jurors gave during the jury selection process.
Trump's prior attempts to move the trial out of Manhattan have failed.
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.