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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Stormy Daniels to return to the witness stand
Stormy Daniels, the adult film actress whose allegations of a 2006 sexual encounter with Donald Trump prompted the hush money payment that lies at the center of the Manhattan DA's criminal case against Trump, is scheduled to return to the witness stand this morning.
On Daniels' first day on the stand on Tuesday, she testified that first met Trump at a celebrity golf tournament in Lake Tahoe, California, and that he invited her to his hotel suite. Daniels told the jury that when she came out of the bathroom, she found Trump on the bed dressed in only his underwear and a T-shirt.
"The next thing I know, I was on the bed," said Daniels, who then described how they had sex. Trump has denied that the two ever had a sexual encounter.
Daniels told jurors that she became afraid to go public with her story of the encounter after she was threatened by an unknown man in a Las Vegas parking lot in June 2011. She said that the 2016 offer from then-Trump attorney Michael Cohen to buy her silence for $130,000 on the eve of the 2016 election allowed her to keep the allegations private while profiting from the deal.
"They were interested in paying for the story, which was the best thing that could happen because then my husband wouldn't find out, but there was still documentation of a money exchange and a paperwork exchange, so that I would be safe and the story wouldn't come out," Daniels said.
Defense tries to show Pecker-Hicks call never took place
Defense attorney Emil Bove used DA office paralegal Jaden Jarmel-Schneider's testimony to highlight a point about former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker and longtime top Trump aide Hope Hicks.
Earlier in the trial, Pecker testified about a phone call he had with with Hicks and Sarah Huckabee Sanders where they discussed extending Karen McDougal's "catch-and-kill" agreement with the publication.
However, Hicks testified that she never had such a phone call with Pecker.
Bove, during his cross-examination of Jarmel-Schneider, suggested that no phone records exist to document the call taking place.
"I don't think that's true," Jarmel-Schneider responded, muddying Bove's point. The two briefly discussed which exhibit might contain a record of the call.
Bove subsequently completed his cross-examination.
With the day's testimony over, Judge Merchan then dismissed the jury for the weekend.