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.
Jury selection to continue on Day 2 of proceedings
Jury selection will continue today on Day 2 of former President Trump's hush money trial.
Attorneys on Monday began the process of narrowing down the first group of 96 juror prospects, but none were seated by the end of the day.
Attorneys today will continue their questioning of the remaining juror prospects from that group, with a new group of prospective jurors scheduled to arrive in court this morning.
Trump, exiting court, criticizes scheduling conflicts
Exiting court after a lengthy day of proceedings, former President Trump complained about the scheduling conflicts created by his criminal trial, including conflicts with his presidential campaign, his plans to attend Supreme Court oral arguments, and potentially his son Barron's high school graduation.
"Now I can't go to my son's graduation," Trump said. "I can't go to the United States Supreme Court. I'm not in Georgia or Florida or North Carolina campaigning like I should be," Trump told reporters outside court.
Trump repeated his past complaints about the fairness of the trial, saying he has a "real problem" with Judge Merchan.
"It's a scam, it's a political witch hunt," Trump said. "We're not going to be given a fair trial."
Judge won't excuse Trump to attend Supreme Court arguments
At the end of the court day, Judge Juan Merchan denied a request from defense attorney Todd Blanche to excuse Trump from the proceedings in New York next Thursday, when the U.S. Supreme Court hears Trump's bid for presidential immunity in his 2020 federal election interference case.
"It's an incredibly unusual case," Blanche said.
"Arguing before the Supreme Court is a big deal; I can understand why your client wants to be there," Merchan said -- adding that standing trial in New York is also a big deal.
"Your client is a criminal defendant in New York County Supreme Court. He's required to be here," the judge said.
Several more jurors dismissed during questioning
After the parties questioned a total of 11 witnesses, two of them were struck for cause, including a man who cited a conflict with the trial due to his child's wedding.
One potential juror disclosed that he worked for the Bronx district attorney's office, and other jurors listed professions including sales, oncology nursing and social media marketing.
Another potential juror, who lives on the Upper West Side and works at a bookstore, made a brief remark about the fairness of the justice system while answering the questionnaire.
"I believe that nobody is above the law, whether it be a former president or a sitting president or a janitor," he said.
The remaining jurors are due to return to court tomorrow to complete the questions. Merchan said another panel of prospective jurors will arrive at court tomorrow morning.
Pecker reiterates that he didn't want Stormy Daniels' story
Former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker testified on cross-examination that the publication's limited involvement in Stormy Daniels' hush money payment was unrelated to the August 2015 Trump Tower meeting where Pecker vowed to serve as the "eyes and ears" of Trump's presidential campaign.
Pecker's testimony on cross-examination about the Daniels story appeared consistent with his testimony yesterday about his strong desire not to be involved in the Stormy Daniels payment.
Pecker said yesterday that he did not want to be involved in the story due to concerns about reputational harm to the National Enquirer and a lack of reimbursement for the other payments he had made to suppress previous Trump stories.
"I said, we already paid $30,000 to the doorman, we paid $150,000 to Karen McDougal, and I am not a bank. I am not paying out any further disbursements among us," Pecker testified yesterday. Pecker said he instructed National Enquirer Chief Content Officer Dylan Howard to flag the Stormy Daniels story to Michael Cohen, who made the payment to Daniels himself.
Asked about Daniels' payment on cross-examination, Pecker said that the National Enquirer's limited involvement was unrelated to their vow to Trump.
"You did not consider the Stormy Daniels story to be part of any agreement you had in August 2015?" defense attorney Emil Bove asked.
"That is correct," Pecker said.
"You wanted nothing to do with it?" Bove said.
"That's correct," Pecker said.
Pecker added that he did not "authorize" Howard to continue communicating with Stormy Daniels' lawyer Keith Davidson about the payment.
When Howard raised concerns to Pecker that Davidson had not yet been paid by Michael Cohen, Pecker said he was angry that Howard continued to communicate with Davidson about the story. In addition to the nature of the story -- which Pecker said could endanger the National Enquirer's relationship with its distributors -- Pecker said Cohen's delay in paying Daniels' lawyer could result in reputational harm to the National Enquirer.
"Frankly, you were not happy to be hearing that?" Bove asked about Cohen's delayed payment.
"Yes," Pecker said.
"The main concern was Howard's reputation?" Bove asked.
"Yes," Pecker said.