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.


What to know about the hush money case

READ MORE: Here's what you need to know about the historic case.


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Trump arrives at courthouse

Former President Trump has arrived at the courthouse in lower Manhattan.

He stepped out of his motorcade, waved, and walked into the side entrance.

A small group of supporters and protesters both cheered and booed his arrival.


Trump en route to courthouse

Former President Trump is en route to the courthouse in lower Manhattan for this morning's proceedings.

The former president left for the the courthouse from Trump Tower in Midtown Manhattan.


Court may start with hearing on Trump testifying

Court this morning may start with a hearing over what prosecutors can ask Trump during cross-examination should he take the stand later in the trial.

The judge would hear arguments from both the people and the defense. The proceedings would then move into jury selection later in the morning.

Prosecutors have indicated they would want to cross-examine Trump on approximately "thirteen different court determinations," including the recent civil finding that he sexually abused columnist E. Jean Carroll, the criminal conviction of the Trump Organization last year, the finding that he committed a decade of business fraud, and the dissolution of his charity, according to sources familiar with the matter.

The hearing -- known as a Sandoval hearing -- is standard practice before jury selection and typically occurs when a defendant signals a willingness to testify.

In a filing last month, Trump's lawyers requested a Sandoval hearing to limit the scope of Trump's potential cross examination, if he opted to testify.

ABC News' Katherine Faulders contributed to this report.


Jury selection set to begin

Former President Trump will leave his Trump Tower apartment in Midtown Manhattan this morning and travel down to lower Manhattan for the first day of jury selection in his criminal hush money trial.

The proceedings come after Trump unsuccessfully tried three times last week to delay the start of the trial through the filing of appeals.

As a defendant in a criminal case, the former president will be required to be in court for the entire trial, which is expected to take six to eight weeks.


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.