Trump trial: Stormy Daniels tells (almost) all about alleged sexual encounter with Trump
Donald Trump watched Stormy Daniels testify on Day 13 of his hush money trial.
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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'Always question invoices,' Trump book excerpt says
Penguin Random House VP Sally Franklin continued reading quotes from another Trump book, intended by prosecutors to show in Trump's own words how he allegedly handles his finances.
"I always try to read my bills to make sure I'm not being over charged," an excerpt said.
"Periodically I ask my financial department for what I call my financial small shot," one book read. "If i didn't check up on it regularly, I would be in big financial trouble."
"And I would have no one to blame but myself," the book said.
Jurors appeared engaged as the former president's book covers flashed across the monitors in front of them.
Several jurors were following along as Franklin read the excerpts.
"Always look at the numbers yourself," Franklin read from another book.
Another one said, "For me, there is nothing worse than a computer signing checks. When people see your signature at the bottom of the check, they know you're watching them and they screw you less."
And another one from Trump's book "Think Like a Billionaire": "Always question invoices."
Trump, sitting at the defense table, appeared engaged -- watching Franklin as she read his own words back to the court and intermittently exchanging whispers and notes with attorney Todd Blanche, seated to his left.
Blanche concluded a short cross-examination by emphasizing that Franklin only read from selected pages from a small portion of Trump's books.
Publisher reads quotes from Trump's book
Jurors were shown a photo of the cover of Trump's 2004 book, "How to Get Rich: Big Deals from the Star of The Apprentice."
"How many times does the word 'Trump' appear on the cover of this book?" a prosecutor asked Penguin Random House VP Sally Franklin, on the witness stand.
"Three times," Franklin said.
ABC News previously reported about prosecutors' plan to use the quotes from Trump's books against him at trial.
"When somebody hurts you, just go after them as viciously and as violently as you can," Franklin read from the book. "For many years I've said that if someone screws you, screw them back."
Prosecutors call book publisher as 1st witness
Prosecutors have called Sally Franklin as their first witness.
Franklin works as senior vice president for Penguin Random House.
She is testifying as a custodial witness.
Defense argues against parts of Daniels' planned testimony
Trump attorney Susan Necheles began the proceedings by renewing their request that Judge Juan Merchan preclude parts of Stormy Daniels' planned testimony.
Necheles said that Daniels is expected to be the second witness today.
Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger argued that the context of the alleged 2006 sexual encounter between Daniels and Trump are important, though Daniels will not testify about that in detail.
"The details of the encounter, your honor, are important," said Susan Hoffinger. "In terms of a sexual act, it will be very basic ... how she came to have sex and how she felt about it."
"There is just no need for those kinds of details here," Necheles argued. "This case is a case about books and records, and we shouldn't get into how she felt about it, what happened in the room."
Judge Juan Merchan said he would stick with his earlier ruling allowing the testimony, but acknowledged that Daniels had "credibility issues."
"We don't need to know the details of the intercourse," Merchan said. "I agree with you that she had credibility issues."
Trump has denied that he had a sexual encounter with Daniels.
McConney tells story of Trump saying, 'You're fired'
Trump once told McConney, "You're fired" -- but it was just a "teaching moment," the former Trump Organization controller testified.
McConney shared an anecdote from early in his tenure at the Trump Organization, in the late 1980s -- which might have foreshadowed the iconic catchphrase Trump later brandished on his reality TV show, The Apprentice.
"I would hand-deliver the [cash position] report to him once a week," McConney explained.
On one of those occasions, McConney said he entered Trump's office while Trump was on the phone. After he dropped off the report, McConney said he turned to leave. Trump asked whoever he was on the phone with to "hold on."
"Jeff, you're fired," he said Trump told him, before turning back to his conversation on the phone.
McConney said he waited until Trump rang off. When he did, he said, "Jeff, you're not fired. But my cash balances went down since last week."
"It was a teaching moment," McConney said. "Just because someone is asking for money, negotiate with 'em, talk to 'em -- don't just do it mindlessly."
Trump, sitting at the defense table, appeared to flash a smile as McConney relayed the anecdote.