Trump trial: Judge rebukes Michael Cohen ahead of expected testimony Monday

Former President Trump was in court on Day 15 of his criminal 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 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.


What to know about the hush money case

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Checks for Trump to sign were sent to bodyguard's home

As questioning of the Trump Organization's bookkeeper continued, Trump, sitting at the defense table, continued to appear to give instructions to his attorneys.

Trump wrote down a note on a yellow legal bad and passed it to attorney Susan Necheles, who read it and then looked up at Trump and nodded in agreement. She then went back to her own notepad and took down a note.

Bookkeeper Rebecca Manochio is testifying as a custodian of records for the Trump Organization, as prosecutors have entered into evidence a series of emails and Fedex records.

The jury sees FedEx invoices for checks Manochio says she sent to Washington for Trump to sign while he was president. They have seen two instances where Manochio mailed checks to the home of Trump's bodyguard, Keith Schiller, instead of directly to the White House.

Schiller also mailed the checks back, according to Manochio.

Asked who directed her to mail the checks to Schiller, Manochio said that either then-CFO Allen Weisselberg or Trump assistant Rhona Graff told her to do so.

By September 2017, Manochio said she began mailing the checks to Trump's then-body man John McEntee, who would later became the director of the White House personnel office and one of Donald Trump's most trusted aides.

"I will need the boss's personal checks mailed to me," McEntee said in an email to Rhona Graff.

"Who is John McEntee?" the prosecutor asked Manochio.

"Couldn't tell you," Manochio said.


Bookkeeper testifies she mailed checks for Trump to sign

For their next witness, prosectors have called Rebecca Manochio, a Trump Organization employee.

Manochio, on the stand, said she has worked for the Trump Organization for 11 years, including working as former CFO Allen Weissleberg's assistant for eight years. She now works as a junior bookkeeper at the company.

She said that she is testifying pursuant to a subpoena. "I was compelled to testify," she said.

Manochio testified she was the one who personally mailed the checks for Michael Cohen to Donald Trump in Washington, D.C., while he was president, for him to sign.

"How frequently did you have to FedEx checks to Mr. Trump?" she was asked.

"About once a week," she responded.

"Deb would give me the checks in a manilla folder, and I would put them in a FedEx envelope with a return," she testified.

Manochio said she would send Trump a bundle of checks weekly via Federal Express.

Asked about how many checks she sent at one time, she said, "Maybe between 10 and 20. I am not sure though."

Manochio said she would normally receive the signed checks back within a few days.

"Did you always check to make sure they were signed once you got them back?," she was asked.

"Yes," she affirmed.

"Who's signature was on them?" she was asked.

"Mr. Trump's," she said.


Stormy Daniels concludes testimony

During her redirect examination, Stormy Daniels suggested Trump targeted her in a Truth Social post.

"IF YOU GO AFTER ME, I'M COMING AFTER YOU," Trump wrote in August 2023.

Daniels said that Trump made the post shortly after he sued her for legal fees in Florida.

"I wasn't sure, but I thought it was me," Daniels said about the subject of the post.

Prosecutors previously told Judge Merchan that they planned to introduce social media posts to demonstrate a pressure campaign by Trump against known witnesses in the case.

On recross examination, defense attorney Susan Necheles suggested that the post likely referenced Trump's attitude toward a Republican political action committee, not Daniels' conduct.

With her testimony complete, Daniels stepped off the witness stand and departed the courthouse.


Daniels says she's been telling 'the truth' about Trump

"Have you been telling lies about Mr. Trump or the truth about Mr. Trump?" prosecutor Susan Hoffinger asked Stormy Daniels.

Daniels answered, "The truth," and she said it has cost her.

"I've had to hire security, take extra precautions for my daughter, move my daughter to a safe place to live, move a couple times," she said.

Hoffinger concluded her redirect examination with this question: "On balance, has your publicly telling the truth about your experiences with Mr. Trump been net positive, or net negative?"

"Negative," Daniels answered.


Witness reviews text messages with Daniels' allegations

After reviewing a series of Trump's tweets about Michael Cohen, custodial witness Georgia Longstreet read into evidence several 2016 text messages between Stormy Daniels' agent Gina Rodriguez and Dylan Howard of the National Enquirer.

"Stormy Daniels ... I have her," Rodriguez wrote in one text.

"Is she ready to talk," Howard asked. "I thought she denounced it previously."

"She said she would do it under two conditions," Rodriguez wrote. "She doesn't want to go on record about it but will tell the story through a source," Rodriguez said.

"She's had sex with him. She wants 100K," Rodriguez wrote.

Jurors also saw the text exchange where Howard and Rodriguez set the price of the story at $120,000, before Daniels’ lawyer Keith Davidson added his $10,000 fee to bring the amount to $130.000.

In addition, the jury saw text messages from when the deal initially fell through in early October 2016. Keith Davidson testified earlier that he retracted the offer after Cohen offered multiple “excuses” for not paying the $130,000.

Longstreet stepped off the stand following a brief cross-examination.