Trump rails against hush money gag order while witnesses pile on Michael Cohen

Trump again addressed reporters upon departing the courtroom for the day, attacking Judge Merchan repeatedly.

“It should have never been brought,” Trump said of the case. “That’s showing loud and clear. But you have a judge who’s totally conflicted. Totally, absolutely conflicted that he’s rushing this case through.”

Asked what he meant by “conflicted,” Trump told reporters, “You could figure that one out easily.”

— Brett Samuels

Court has wrapped up for the day.

No trial will be held Wednesday. Davidson will retake the stand Thursday for continued direct examination.

— Zach Schonfeld

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass has repeatedly attempted to ask questions to Davidson about who he believed would ultimately fund the $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels, seemingly trying to get him to testify that Trump would be doing so.

But the line of questioning has drawn continued objections from Trump’s lawyers, leading to three sidebars at the judge’s bench.

— Zach Schonfeld

Trump took to social media to blast Merchan after the judge imposed a $9,000 fine for Trump’s violation of a gag order.

“This Judge has taken away my Constitutional Right to FREE SPEECH. I am the only Presidential Candidate in History to be GAGGED,” Trump posted on Truth Social. “This whole ‘Trial’ is RIGGED, and by taking away my FREEDOM OF SPEECH, THIS HIGHLY CONFLICTED JUDGE IS RIGGING THE PRESIDENTIAL OF 2024 ELECTION. ELECTION INTERFERENCE!!!”

In a separate post, Trump bemoaned that the trial was “going like a speeding bullet, because the Judge is working hard to make all of his friends happy.”

“Merchan is Rigged, Crooked, and, above all, and without question, CONFLICTED. It’s a disgrace to our Country — They’ve taken away my Right to Free Speech,” he wrote.

The gag order does not prevent Trump from attacking the judge.

— Brett Samuels

Michael Cohen’s former legal adviser, Lanny Davis, told The Hill that the negative characterizations witnesses have attributed to Cohen are things of the past.

Davis said that in 2018, when Cohen first came out against Trump, he decided to “tell the truth” for his family and country, and “take the punishment.”

“All of the characterizations and personal accusations and everything else about Michael Cohen is in past tense,” he said. “Ever since he raised his hand in front of the American people and around the world, in public, under oath, he’s owned all of his misdeeds on behalf of Donald Trump.”

Witnesses in Trump’s first criminal trial have derided Cohen as challenging to work with, an “asshole” and a “jerk.” The Hill also requested comment from Cohen’s current lawyer, Danya Perry.

Cohen is expected to testify as a key witness in the state’s case later in the trial.

— Ella Lee

Davidson testified that the now-notorious “Access Hollywood” tape had “tremendous influence” on efforts to sell adult film actress Stormy Daniels’ story.

“Before [the] ‘Access Hollywood’ tape, there was very little if any interest,” in Daniels’s story, Davidson said. “It wasn’t until ‘Access Hollywood’ that interest sort of reached a crescendo.”

On the tape, Trump is heard bragging about grabbing women inappropriately without their consent.

In texts to Howard at the time, Davidson declared Trump was “f‑‑‑ed.”

The Enquirer editor in chief agreed but said that Daniels’s “talking and taking [redacted]” is the “final nail in the coffin.”

— Ella Lee

Several witnesses have indicated that Michael Cohen was a challenging person to interact with.

Davidson said Daniels’s talent manager, Gina Rodriguez, called him to say “some jerk” called her and threatened to sue. That jerk?

“Michael Cohen,” Davidson said, with a slight laugh.

Davidson called Cohen after the fact and was met with a “hostile barrage of insults and insinuations that went on for quite a while.” The lawyer said earlier in his testimony that he “didn’t particularly like dealing with” Cohen.

Cohen’s old banker, Gary Farro, previously testified that Cohen was handed off to him due to his skills working with clients “who may be a little challenging.”

— Ella Lee

Prosecutors have appeared to finish questioning Davidson about the Karen McDougal hush money deal and are now moving on to question him about the Stormy Daniels hush money deal he struck later in 2016.

— Zach Schonfeld

Davidson wrote in text messages that he had been “trying like hell to avoid” calling Trump’s then-fixer Michael Cohen in negotiating a hush money deal for McDougal.

Asked why he attempted to put off bringing Cohen into the loop, the lawyer said that a previous interaction in 2011 – around when the blog post regarding Trump and Stormy Daniels introduced them – “was not pleasant or constructive.”

“And I didn’t particularly like dealing with him,” Davidson said.

Once the deal was closed, Davidson told Howard that “this never would’ve happened without you.”

“He’s hopeless,” Howard said of Cohen in a text. “Oh well. ANother one done!”

— Ella Lee

Davidson, the lawyer who represented two women who claimed they had affairs with Trump, is resuming his testimony in the former president’s criminal trial.

Before the break, Davidson’s text messages with a top editor at the National Enquirer discussing details of McDougal’s hush money deal were on display.

— Ella Lee

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) is in the courtroom, sitting in the first row of the gallery on the defense side, just a few seats away from Eric Trump as the court starts to fill back up after a lunch break.

— Zach Schonfeld

The judge excused the jurors for their lunch break.

Keith Davidson’s testimony is expected to resume this afternoon starting at 2:15 p.m. EDT.

— Zach Schonfeld

McDougal decided to sell her story of an alleged affair with Trump to American Media Inc. instead of ABC News to ensure it was not published, Keith Davidson testified.

“Why was AMI deal more attractive than ABC?” prosecutor Joshua Steinglass asked the attorney.

“Because she at that time, at that time, based on nonprivileged information — she had announced her desire to not tell the story about her intimacy with Donald Trump,” Davidson said.

— Ella Lee

Text messages displayed to the jury showed negotiations between Keith Davidson, who was representing McDougal, and the National Enquirer’s editor in chief over the former Playboy model’s story of an alleged affair with Trump.

Davidson originally asked for $1 million off the bat, plus $75,000 per year for the following two years as a fitness correspondent for American Media Inc., which owned the Enquirer.

“I’ll take it to them but thinking it’s more hundreds than millions,” replied Dylan Howard, the Enquirer editor in chief.

Davidson told the jury that, in negotiations, “I start high.” In response to Howard’s text, he suggested $800,000 off the bat and $100,000 per year for two years to total $1 million.

“Leave w/me,” Howard replied.

Days later, the Enquirer top editor told Davidson “we are going to lay it on thick for her.”

“Good,” Davidson replied. “Throw in an ambassadorship for me. I’m thinking Isle of Mann.”

He testified the comment was made in jest.

— Ella Lee

In June 2016, Keith Davidson texted then-National Enquirer Editor-in-Chief Dylan Howard to inform him of a “blockbuster Trump story.”

“Talk 1st thing. I will get you more than ANYONE for it. You know why….” Howard replied, according to text messages shown to the jury by prosecutors.

Howard continued to inquire whether Trump had cheated on his wife, Melania. Davidson said he “really can’t say yet.”

About a week later, the men met to discuss McDougal’s allegations of an affair with Trump, Davidson said on the witness stand.

— Ella Lee

Prosecutors are asking Keith Davidson to establish his client-attorney relationships with Karen McDougal and Stormy Daniels, two of the women who claimed they had affairs with Trump, which the former president has denied.

The attorney said he met McDougal some 25 years ago because she was dating a friend of his, but she later became a client. Prosecutors presented a contract showing that Davidson agreed to represent McDougal regarding her “claims against Donald Trump and/or assisting client in negotiating a confidentiality agreement and/or life rights related to interactions with Donald Trump and/or negotiating assignment of exclusive press opportunities regarding same.”

He was representing Daniels by 2011, when a blog post involving the adult film actress and Trump was published, spurring an introduction to Trump’s then-fixer, Michael Cohen, Davidson said.

— Ella Lee

The district attorney’s next witness is Keith Davidson, an attorney who negotiated the hush money payments for Playboy model Karen McDougal and adult film actress Stormy Daniels.

In his testimony last week, National Enquirer publisher David Pecker said Davidson was one of tabloid Editor-in-Chief Dylan Howard’s key sources, which helped them determine that the women’s stories needed to be “taken off the market.”

— Ella Lee

Prosecutors leveraged Phillip Thompson to play portions of the former president’s October 2022 deposition in advice columnist E. Jean Carroll’s lawsuit.

Jurors heard a series of short clips in which Trump confirmed his Truth Social account, that he is married to Melania Trump, and that he is aware of the infamous “Access Hollywood” tape.

Thompson’s testimony is now over. The defense did not cross-examine him.

— Zach Schonfeld

Robert Browning was excused from the stand after confirming four total C-SPAN clips, only taking the stand for a matter of minutes. The defense did not cross-examine him.

Prosecutors’ next witness is Phillip Thompson, a regional director at Esquire Deposition Solutions, a company that provides transcriptions of court proceedings and other services.

The company produced the transcript and video of Trump’s deposition in a civil defamation lawsuit brought by advice columnist E. Jean Carroll. That trial took place earlier this year, and Trump was ordered to pay $83.3 million in damages.

— Zach Schonfeld

During Robert Browning’s testimony, jurors were shown footage captured by C-SPAN showing Trump talking in October 2016 about not knowing who the two women making allegations about an affair were.

They were shown Trump delivering remarks in Gettysburg, Pa.

Jurors were also shown footage of a news conference held in January 2017, in which Trump’s then-spokesperson Sean Spicer spoke of the allegations.

See a transcript of that news conference here, per The New York Times.

Robert Browning, the state’s next witness, is the executive director of the broadcaster C-SPAN’s archives.

Browning teaches American politics at Purdue University, where he specializes in U.S. Congress and media.

His testimony is expected to pertain to footage of the former president.

Browning was subpoenaed by the Manhattan DA’s office. He told the court that C-SPAN was “compelled to testify” in the case.

Jurors are now watching footage of Trump, presumably captured by C-SPAN.

— Ella Lee

If Trump takes the stand, prosecutor Matthew Colangelo indicated both in court and in the gag order filing that the district attorney’s office wants to cross-examine the former president about the judge’s ruling Tuesday regarding the violation.

A hearing on an additional four gag order violations will take place Thursday.

— Zach Schonfeld

Farro has concluded his testimony after nearly 90 minutes on the stand Tuesday. He had also testified Friday afternoon.

Todd Blanche, Trump’s attorney, sought to distance his client from Farro’s testimony, getting the banker to confirm he never spoke to the former president and was acting solely based on the information provided by Cohen.

The jury was then dismissed for a morning break.

— Zach Schonfeld

Now on cross-examination from Trump attorney Todd Blanche, Farro has repeatedly indicated Cohen misled the bank about why he wanted to open an account for Essential Consultants LLC, the entity Cohen formed to pay Daniels the $130,000 hush payment.

Blanche has highlighted the false information as he looks to further damage the credibility of Cohen, who is expected to be a star witness for prosecutors later in the trial.

Farro testified “the account would not have been opened” if he knew Essential Consultants was a shell corporation, and further checks would have been required if the bank realized Cohen used the account to make a political contribution or a payment associated with the adult film industry. Cohen had indicated his company was a real estate consulting business.

“Shell corporations that have no business behind them would give me pause,” Farro said.

— Zach Schonfeld

Susie Wiles, one of Trump’s top campaign aides, is in the courtroom watching the trial.

She is sitting alongside Eric Trump in the first row of the gallery, about 10 feet behind the former president. The duo have been looking at the various exhibits being shown on monitors, and Wiles has on multiple occasions looked over to watch jurors’ reactions to the testimony.

— Zach Schonfeld

Gary Farro, the ex-banker of Michael Cohen, who made the hush money payment to porn actress Stormy Daniels at the center of the case, has retaken the stand.

He is confirming various banking documents that his former employer, First Republic Bank, and Cohen prepared as Trump’s ex-fixer wired $130,000 to Daniels’s attorney days before the 2016 election.

Farro said his bank doesn’t work with the adult film industry, but Cohen told the bank the payment was a retainer in connection with a real estate consulting business.

“We would certainly ask additional questions” if the bank knew the true purpose of the wire, Farro testified.

Prosecutors’ direct examination of the banker has concluded.

— Zach Schonfeld

Tuesday’s trial began with two notable decisions in the case — one that allowed Trump to attend his youngest son Barron’s May graduation.

The other being that Trump violated a gag order nine times, resulting in a $9,000 fine.

Read about the gag order ruling here.

Trump spoke to reporters for about seven minutes before entering the courtroom Tuesday, discussing the ongoing trial, his classified documents case in Florida and ongoing protests on college campuses over the war in Gaza.

“So we’re here. This is a hoax. This is a judge who’s conflicted. Badly, badly, badly conflicted. I’ve never seen a judge so conflicted, and giving us virtually no rulings,” Trump said.

“But I think the public has figured it out, because the poll numbers are the highest they’ve ever been,” he added. “And I appreciate you’ve treated me actually, I thought quite fairly, at least to the people here, which is a lot of people. And I appreciate that.”

— Brett Samuels

The judge said he would allow Trump to attend the upcoming graduation of his son, Barron Trump, on May 17.

The former president had repeatedly complained after the judge previously delayed decision on the matter.

— Zach Schonfeld

Judge Juan Merchan has taken the bench, and the trial has resumed.

Tuesday’s proceedings are expected to begin with Gary Farro, Michael Cohen’s ex-banker, retaking the stand to walk jurors through how Cohen set up various accounts as part of the hush money arrangements.

— Zach Schonfeld