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.
'None of this was a crime,' defense attorney says
Donald Trump is "not just our former president, he's not just Donald Trump that you've seen on TV," said defense attorney Todd Blanche in his opening statement.
"He's also a man. He's a husband," Blanche said. "He's a father."
Blanche pushed back on the DA's overall allegation that the payments to Trump's attorney Michael Cohen were weren't only payback for Stormy Daniels by using the prosecutor's own words against him.
Blanche noted that Cohen paid $130,000 to Daniels, but that Trump paid back Cohen a total of $420,000. If Trump really was a frugal businessman, as prosecutors said, why would he overpay that money, Blanche asked.
"Ask yourself, would a frugal businessman, a man who pinched his pennies, repay a $130,000 debt to the tune of $420,000?" Blanche asked.
Blanche repeatedly reiterated that Cohen truly was an attorney for Trump and was doing legal work for him, pointing out that Michael Cohen's own email signature noted he was Trump's attorney.
"None of this was a crime," Blanche said, saying the 34 counts against Trump "are really just 34 pieces of paper."
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.
Judge denies motion to recuse himself
After attorneys for each side introduced themselves, Judge Juan Merchan said that before jury selection can begin "there are a couple of loose ends we need to go over before we start."
The first item, Merchan said, was a pair of motions filed by Trump's legal team seeking his recusal from the case, citing his past comments in interviews and his daughter's work with a Democrat-affiliated firm.
The motions, Merchan said, cite "pages and pages of screen grabs, articles, social media posts and the like" that amount only to "a series of inferences, innuendos, and unsupported speculation."
To call them "attenuated is an understatement," Merchan said.
Merchan denied the motion and said the court would not address the matter further.