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.
Top headlines:
What to know about the hush money case
READ MORE: Here's what you need to know about the historic case.
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.
Jurors see chart of 34 records Trump allegedly falsified
Jurors saw a summary exhibit prepared by DA office paralegal Jaden Jarmel-Schneider that breaks down the 34 records that prosecutors allege Trump falsified in the course of repaying Michael Cohen for Stormy Daniels' hush money payment.
The exhibit shows each of the vouchers, checks, and invoices -- broken down by each criminal count -- that prosecutors say Trump falsified to disguise his reimbursement to Cohen.
The chart appears to be the jury's clearest roadmap so far to each of the documents at the center of the case.
Defense attorney Emil Bove -- once a paralegal himself -- began his cross-examination by asking Jarmel-Schneider how much time he spent on the project, suggesting it was "tedious."
"Honestly, I kind of enjoyed it," Jarmel-Schneider said, prompting jurors and several members of the gallery to break out into laughter.
"I hear you -- respect," Bove said in a rare moment of levity.
Custodial witness testifies about phone call exhibits
Prosecutors next called Jaden Jarmel-Schneider, another paralegal with the Manhattan district attorney's office.
Jarmel-Schneider testified that he prepared exhibits to summarize the phone calls between relevant witnesses in the case.
Using the phone records, Jarmel-Schneider said he removed extraneous calls, standardized the time zones, and created charts to act as a "roadmap" so jurors could easily see the witnesses' relevant communications.
These charts are likely to be used during Michael Cohen's testimony, which is scheduled to start Monday, and the jury will have access to the records during their deliberations.
Witness reviews text messages with Daniels' allegations
After reviewing a series of Trump's tweets about Michael Cohen, custodial witness Georgia Longstreet read into evidence several 2016 text messages between Stormy Daniels' agent Gina Rodriguez and Dylan Howard of the National Enquirer.
"Stormy Daniels ... I have her," Rodriguez wrote in one text.
"Is she ready to talk," Howard asked. "I thought she denounced it previously."
"She said she would do it under two conditions," Rodriguez wrote. "She doesn't want to go on record about it but will tell the story through a source," Rodriguez said.
"She's had sex with him. She wants 100K," Rodriguez wrote.
Jurors also saw the text exchange where Howard and Rodriguez set the price of the story at $120,000, before Daniels’ lawyer Keith Davidson added his $10,000 fee to bring the amount to $130.000.
In addition, the jury saw text messages from when the deal initially fell through in early October 2016. Keith Davidson testified earlier that he retracted the offer after Cohen offered multiple “excuses” for not paying the $130,000.
Longstreet stepped off the stand following a brief cross-examination.
Judge rebukes Cohen ahead of Monday's expected testimony
Judge Merchan communicated a bit of a warning to Michael Cohen ahead of his planned testimony next week, telling prosecutors to ask him to stop talking about the case after Trump's team brought up his continued out-of-court statements.
"I would direct the people to communicate to Mr. Cohen that the judge is asking him to refrain from making any more statements about this case," Merchan said.
"That comes from the bench and you are communicating that on behalf of the bench," said the judge.
Merchan's rebuke came after defense attorney Todd Blanche brought up recent statements by Cohen, including his appearing on TikTok this week wearing a shirt with a photo of Trump behind bars.
"It's becoming a problem every single day that President Trump is not allowed to respond to this witness," Blanche urged. "He has stated on social media that he is going to stop talking, and he doesn't," Blanche said of Cohen.
Prosecutors said they had already "repeatedly" asked Cohen and others not to post about the case, but claimed they had no control over the witnesses.
Trump, at the defense table, grinned broadly during the exchange regarding Cohen and his behavior on social media. But he shook his head and looked at Blanche, seemingly in disbelief, when Merchan -- instead of ordering Cohen to stop -- merely asked prosecutors to speak to him.
Court was subsequently adjourned for the week.