The prosecution objected to the defense calling Robert Costello, Michael Cohen's former attorney to the stand.

Out of earshot of the jury, prosecutor Susan Hoffinger asked Judge Merchan to omit Costello or limit his testimony to two questions.

"I think there's very limited testimony that's permissible here if at all," Hoffinger said.

The defense said it wants to use Costello to rebut Cohen's testimony about a "pressure campaign" carried out against him not to flip on Trump after Cohen made Stormy Daniels payment.

Costello, a longtime Trump ally, testified before the grand jury in March 2023 as an exculpatory witness at the request of Trump's attorneys.

On cross-examination, prosecutor Becky Mangold quizzed defense witness Daniel Sitko about the technical process for putting together the summary chart from cell phone records.

The defense attempted to show through the call summary that Cohen and his then-attorney Robert Costello spoke 75 times. On cross-examination, the defense paralegal conceded it wasn't quite that many.

After Sitko stepped off the witness stand, the defense called Robert Costello himself.

The defense called Daniel Sitko, a paralegal for defense attorney Todd Blanche.

Sitko introduced a summary chart of phone calls between Michael Cohen, his one-time attorney Robert Costello, and the law firm of Davidoff Hutcher & Citron.

Defense attorney Todd Blanche, on redirect examination, asked Michael Cohen about the photograph of Trump and bodyguard Keith Schiller together on Oct. 24, 2016, at 7:57 p.m.

"Your testimony is still, just so I understand, is in that 90 seconds you spoke to Mr. Schiller about the problem you were having with the 14-year-old, got him to agree to take care of it," and also had time to talk to speak about Daniels to Trump.

Cohen stood by his testimony.

Cohen also testified again that his $420,000 payment in 2017 was a reimbursement, not a payment for legal services.

"It was a reimbursement -- it wasn't a payment for your services?" Blanche asked.

"Correct," Cohen said.

Blanche attempted to cast doubt on that claim by highlighting Trump's frugality.

"Did he overpay for things regularly?" Blanche asked.

"No, sir," Cohen said.

Cohen then concluded his testimony and the state rested its case.

"Your honor, the People rest," Steinglass said.

Donald Trump said Wednesday that he didn't take the stand in his hush money trial because he didn't agree with the judge's rulings -- and because he was seemingly worried about information that could have come out during cross-examination.

"He made rulings that makes it very difficult to testify," Trump said in an interview on WABC Radio, referring to Judge Juan Merchan. "Anything I did, anything I did in the past, they can bring everything up, and you know what, I've had a great past -- but anything."

"The other reason is because they have no case," Trump said. "In other words, why would -- why testify when they have no case?"

Trump had originally indicated he would testify, saying on April 12 that "I would testify, absolutely." But he subsequently appeared to back away from the idea, falsely telling reporters on May 2 that the limited gag order in the case -- which prohibits extrajudicial statements about witnesses and jurors -- prevented him from testifying.

The next day in court, Judge Merchan directly addressed Trump to clarify that he has an "absolute right" to testify and that the limited gag order does not apply to his statements in court.

"I want to stress, Mr. Trump, that you have an absolute right to testify at trial, if that is what you decide to do after consultation with your attorneys," Merchan said.

-Lalee Ibssa, Soo Rin Kim and Kelsey Walsh