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.
Judge sets opening statements for Monday
"We're going to have opening statements on Monday morning," Judge Juan Merchan declared.
He made the pronouncement after admonishing the defense to stop filing letters "targeting individual decisions one by one by one."
"There comes a point where you accept my rulings," he told Trump and his defense team.
"I've entertained your motions. I've entertained your arguments," Merchan said. "There's nothing else to clarify. There is nothing else to argue. We are going to have opening statements on Monday. We are starting on Monday."
Judge to rule tomorrow on Trump's cross-examination
Judge Juan Merchan plans to issue a ruling tomorrow about the bounds of Donald Trump's cross-examination if the former president decides to testify during the trial.
After hearing a brief oral argument this afternoon, Merchan told the parties he is reserving his decision, which he plans to issue sometime tomorrow.
Prosecutor Matthew Colangelo argued that Trump's alleged prior bad acts as demonstrated by a variety of civil and criminal determinations should be fair game during cross-examination.
DA seeks to question Trump about earlier gag order
The Sandoval hearing on Trump's potential testimony got underway with prosecutors pushing to cross-examine former president Donald Trump about his alleged violation of the limited gag order in his civil fraud trial.
Prosecutor Matthew Colangelo asked Judge Merchan to permit them to ask the former president about his testimony during his civil fraud trial when the former president claimed he was not referring to Judge Arthur Engoron's law clerk during remarks in the hallway of the courthouse last year.
Engoron determined that Trump's brief testimony rang "hollow and untrue."
Colangelo asked Merchan to allow cross-examination about Trump's testimony and the gag order violation last year in order to probe his credibility.
"He lied," Colangelo said of Trump. "It is very hard to think of something more probative of a testifying defendant's credibility."
Court resumes for afternoon session
Judge Juan Merchan began the court's afternoon session but did not mention the self-immolation incident this afternoon in the park across from the courthouse, and Trump did not respond to questions about the incident when asked by a reporter in the hallway outside the courtroom.
The judge plans to hold a Sandoval hearing this afternoon to determine the bounds of Trump's cross-examination if he decides to testify.
In a filing earlier this week, prosecutors said they planned to question the former president about his past civil cases, including $464 million business fraud judgment, the defamation and battery cases brought by E. Jean Carroll and a lawsuit Trump filed against Hillary Clinton claiming she conspired to rig the 2016 election.
Prosecutors also want to question Trump about the Trump Organization's 2022 criminal trial for tax evasion and the civil case against the Trump Foundation for misusing charitable donations to further Trump's political interests.
Trump is seated at counsel table between his lawyers Emil Bove and Todd Blanche. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is not present in the courtroom.
'This story is true,' Pecker recounts being told of Stormy Daniels
"Do you know someone by the same of Stephanie Clifford?"
The question, by assistant district attorney Josh Steinglass, was the jury's introduction during the evidentiary phase of the trial to the woman whose long-denied claim of a sexual tryst with Donald Trump set in motion the alleged falsification of business records.
"Stormy Daniels is, or was, a porn star," former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker replied, using Clifford's stage name.
Pecker was having dinner with his wife on a Saturday night in early October 2016 when he said he received an urgent call from National Enquirer editor Dylan Howard.
"He said that she, she being Stormy Daniels, is trying to sell a story that she had a sexual relationship with Donald Trump, and Dylan can acquire the story for $120,000 from Keith Davidson if we made a decision right now," Pecker recalled.
In a series of text messages the jury saw, Howard told Pecker, "I know denials were made in the past but this story is true."
Pecker replied to Howard, "We can't pay 120k." The company had already paid $30,000 for the Dino Sajudin story and $150,000 for the Karen McDougal story, and Pecker recalled thinking, "I am not a bank."
In the text exchange, Howard responded, "Perhaps I call Michael and advise him and he can take it from there, and handle."
Pecker texted back, "Yes a good idea."
Pecker recalled having "a number of conversations" with Michael Cohen about Stormy Daniels. Cohen wanted Pecker to catch and kill the story.
"I said, 'I am not purchasing this story, I am not going to get involved with a porn star,'" Pecker testified he told Cohen. "He was upset and said the boss would be furious with me."