Trump trial updates: Appeals court denies defense's bid for judge's recusal
The defense rested its case Tuesday without testimony from Donald Trump.
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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Costello to resume testimony, defense expected to rest its case
A day after Judge Judge Juan Merchan threatened to remove him from the witness stand, former federal prosecutor Robert Costello will resume his testimony this morning as the second witness in Donald Trump's defense case.
Costello is expected to be the final defense witness before Trump's lawyers rest their case today.
Yesterday, Costello told jurors about his meetings and phone calls with Michael Cohen in 2018 after FBI agents raided his office and hotel room. Costello advised Cohen and helped pass messages to the Trump, according to Cohen, but never formally represented him as his lawyer.
"Michael Cohen said, numerous times, that President Trump knew nothing about those payments, that he did this on his own, and he repeated that numerous times," Costello testified about the hush money payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels that sits at the center of the case.
Cohen told the jury that he lied to Costello about Trump's involvement in the scheme to use hush-money payments to hide information from voters.
Costello's reactions to Judge Merchan after taking the stand yesterday afternoon -- responding "jeez" to a sustained objection, rolling his eyes at the judge, and appearing to staring him down -- prompted Merchan to clear the courtroom before threatening to remove Costello from the witness stand.
While defense lawyers suggested yesterday that they would not call Trump to the witness stand, they will likely have to confirm a final decision about the defendant's testimony -- or lack thereof -- before they rest their case.
Judge Merchan has scheduled a charge conference at 2:15 p.m. ET to hear arguments over how to instruct the jury about the law in the case.
Trump says he's surprised judge cleared courtroom
Donald Trump, exiting the courtroom, commented on the chaotic scene this afternoon when Judge Juan Merchan cleared the courtroom so he could admonish defense witness Robert Costello.
"A totally conflicted judge who just did something that nobody's ever seen -- and the press is not happy -- I don't imagine they just got thrown out of the courthouse. Nobody's ever seen anything quite like it," Trump said.
Trump also said he was unhappy that the judge decided to limit the testimony of the defense's expert witness on election law.
"We're not allowed to put it in an expert witness," Trump said. "Nobody's ever heard of it before. You know, election law is very complicated, actually."
-ABC News' Kelsey Walsh and Mike Pappano
Judge says he'll reserve his decision on motion to dismiss
Responding to the defense's motion to dismiss the case, prosecutor Matthew Colangelo Colangelo argued that Trump, at a minimum, can be found responsible for the actions of his accomplices if he set the action into motion.
"At minimum a rational jury can conclude beyond a reasonable doubt that they all contained false information," Colangelo said of the business records that recorded Michael Cohen's hush money repayment as legal expenses.
Trump, at the defense table, jotted down notes as Colangelo spoke.
"The trial evidence overwhelmingly supports each element of the offense," Colangelo argued.
Defense attorney Todd Blanche pushed the theory that Trump has argued since the first days of the trial: How else would Trump describe a payment to his lawyer other than a legal expense?
"It's hard to imagine what book -- how was this supposed to be booked by Ms. Tarasoff," Blanche asked about Trump Organization accounts payable supervisor Deborah Tarasoff.
Judge Merchan said he will reserve his decision on the motion.
Court was then concluded for the day.
Defense moves for dismissal of case
The defense made a motion for the dismissal of the case, with defense attorney Todd Blanche telling Judge Merchan, "There's absolutely no evidence the filings were false, the business records were false."
When the invoices for Cohen's payment were sent to the Trump Organization there's no evidence they were entered improperly, Blanche said. "At the start, there is absolutely no false business filings. They're accurate business filings," he said.
Trump looked directly at Blanche as the attorney addressed Merchan.
"There's no evidence that there's any intent to defraud by Mr. Trump in connection to these filings," Blanche argued.
"There are no other crimes," defense attorney Todd Blanche argued about the legal standard in the case -- that Trump falsified business records in furtherance of another crime. "There is no evidence that any one was thinking about a campaign finance charge in 2016 when this payment was made to Ms. Daniels."
"The prosecutors have talked in their opening statement and in papers about some sort of conspiracy to influence the election but as the court knows there has to be something illegal about this effort," Blanche said. "There's no evidence from any of the witnesses who testified of any criminal intent."
"There is no way that the court should let this case go to jury relying on Mr. Cohen's testimony," Blanche said "Without Mr. Cohen, there is no case."
Judge Merchan asked if Blanche was calling for him to rule that Cohen's testimony is "not credible as a matter of law."
"Absolutely, that's exactly what we're calling on the court to do," Blanche replied. "He testified, and he lied under oath -- in this courtroom."
Judge won't let defense expand expert witness' testimony
Judge Merchan denied a request from defense lawyers to broaden the scope of testimony from their expert witness Bradley Smith, who is an expert on campaign finance regulations.
On Thursday, defense lawyers asked Merchan to allow Smith to testify about various terms related to federal campaign finance laws. Merchan denied the request, citing long standing precedent prohibiting witness testimony about the law.
"An expert is not permitted to present or interpret the law," Merchan said.
Merchan also expressed concerns about Smith's testimony prompting a "battle of the experts" between Smith and an expert called by prosecutors, which Merchan said would confuse the jury.
Merchan said that Smith could still testify, as long as he follows the limits imposed in his pretrial ruling on the case's motions in limine.
"The court will monitor this testimony closely to ensure full compliance," Merchan said in a pretrial ruling. "Any deviation from this ruling could result in sanction up to and including striking the expert's entire testimony."
Trump, sitting at the defense table, shook his head after the judge announced his ruling.