People of the State of New York v. Trump | |
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Court | New York Supreme Court |
Full case name | The People of the State of New York v. Donald J. Trump |
Submitted | March 30, 2023 |
Started | April 15, 2024 |
Charge | First-degree falsifying business records (34 counts) |
Citation(s) | IND-71543-23 [1] |
Court membership | |
Judge sitting | Juan Merchan |
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Business and personal 45th President of the United States Tenure Impeachments Prosecutions Interactions involving Russia |
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The People of the State of New York v. Donald J. Trump is an ongoing criminal trial against Donald Trump, the 45th president of the United States. Trump faces 34 felony charges of falsifying business records with the intent to commit or conceal other crimes relating to payments made to pornographic film actress Stormy Daniels to ensure her silence about an earlier alleged affair between them. The Manhattan District Attorney accused Trump of falsifying these business records with the intent to violate federal campaign finance limits, unlawfully influence the 2016 U.S. presidential election, and commit tax fraud. [2] [3] [4] [5] The charges carry a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison if Trump is convicted on five or more counts. [6] [7] [8] [9] [a]
The indictment, the first of a former U.S. president, [11] [12] [13] was approved by a Manhattan grand jury on March 30, 2023. Trump traveled from his residence in Florida to New York City on April 3, 2023, where he surrendered to the Manhattan District Attorney's office and was arraigned the next afternoon. [14] [15] The trial began on April 15, 2024, and is expected to take about seven weeks. [16] Trial arguments began on April 22. [17] On April 30, Trump became the first U.S. president ever to be held in criminal contempt of court, due to comments he made earlier in the month about individuals involved with the trial.
Months before he was indicted, Trump announced his intention to campaign in the 2024 presidential election; [18] [19] neither the indictment nor any resulting conviction would disqualify his candidacy. [20] [21]
In July 2006, Stormy Daniels, an American pornographic film actress, met Trump at a celebrity golf tournament in Nevada. At the time, Trump was the host of the reality TV series The Apprentice and was married to Melania Trump. [22] According to Daniels, Trump invited her to his penthouse at Harrah's Lake Tahoe [23] where the two had sex and talked about making her a guest on The Apprentice. [24] [25]
In 2011, Daniels considered selling the story to the celebrity magazine Life & Style for US$15,000 as Trump began exploring a potential presidential bid. His lawyer, Michael Cohen, threatened to sue Life & Style when it asked the Trump Organization for comment. Daniels' agent, Gina Rodriguez, leaked the story to gossip blog The Dirty in October. The post was taken down following complaints by Trump's lawyers, and Daniels disputed the story's veracity. [26] Cohen acknowledged during court testimony in May 2024 that he advised for the story's removal. [27]
As Trump's 2016 presidential campaign began, Rodriguez approached multiple publications—including the National Enquirer—and attempted to sell the story. Following the publication of a lewd tape between Trump and the television host Billy Bush, the National Enquirer sought to suppress the story. Rather than paying Daniels, the National Enquirer editor-in-chief Dylan Howard negotiated a $130,000 non-disclosure agreement between Daniels and Michael Cohen. As the election neared, Cohen attempted to find the money and repeatedly delayed her payment. Keith Davidson, Daniels' lawyer, canceled the deal in October 2016. [23] [26]
Ultimately, Cohen drew the money from his home equity line of credit and sent it through a shell company incorporated in Delaware. [23] [26] Trump initially denied knowing about the check made out to Daniels. In April 2018, aboard Air Force One, he told a reporter he did not know where Cohen got the money. [28] Rudy Giuliani, an attorney for Trump, refuted these claims in a Fox News interview, saying that Trump was aware of the payments. [29]
Trump wrote several checks, totaling $420,000, to Cohen. The checks reimbursed him for the non-disclosure agreement and covered the costs for Cohen to manipulate online polls to boost Trump's status. The $180,000 paid to Cohen was doubled to offset taxes, and $60,000 was added. These payments were made throughout 2017, during Trump's first year of his presidency. [30] The payments made to Cohen were declared as a legal expense. [31] Nine monthly checks from Trump to Cohen, dating April to December 2017, exist as evidence. [32]
In January 2018, The Wall Street Journal reported on Cohen's payment to Daniels. [33] Cohen pleaded guilty to eight criminal counts relating to the payment—as well as another payment made to Karen McDougal—in August. In his admission of guilt, Cohen implicated Trump, stating that he acted "at the direction of a candidate for federal office". [34] In December 2018, Cohen was sentenced to three years in prison. [35]
Following Cohen's August 2018 admission of guilt, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. opened an investigation against the Trump Organization and two of its executives. [36] The office paused its inquiry when the office of the federal U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York began a separate investigation into the payments, [37] but the federal inquiry concluded without charges in July 2019. [38]
The Manhattan district attorney's office then issued a subpoena for the Trump Organization in August, seeking documents relating to the payments. [39] Additionally, the office subpoenaed accounting firm Mazars USA, demanding eight years of Trump's corporate tax returns. [40] Trump's lawyers sued Vance to block the subpoena, citing Trump's immunity from criminal inquiries as the president of the United States. [41] In Trump v. Vance, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 7–2 in favor of Vance, allowing the subpoena to continue. [42]
Following the 2021 New York County District Attorney election, Alvin Bragg succeeded Vance as the Manhattan District Attorney. [43] In January 2023, the Manhattan district attorney's office impaneled a grand jury, and began presenting evidence of Trump's role in the Stormy Daniels payment. [44] Cohen extensively met with the DA's office and the grand jury, [45] [46] [47] and by March 3, Cohen had met with the DA's office 18 times. [48] [49] [50] and had given his cellphones to the DA's prosecutors, who wanted evidence of communications including voice recordings of Daniels' former lawyer Keith Davidson. [51] Several other witnesses met with the DA's office or the grand jury in March 2023, including Kellyanne Conway; [52] Hope Hicks, two organization employees, two former National Enquirer executives who helped broker the hush-money deal, and a lawyer for Daniels; [53] [54] Daniels herself; [55] Trump-aligned lawyer Robert Costello, who provided testimony including emails in which he attempted to discredit Cohen's reliability; [56] [57] and former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker. [58] [59] [b] As early as that February, prosecutors confirmed that they might leverage additional charges including insurance fraud against Allen Weisselberg to pressure him to testify against Trump, [62] and in May, The New York Times reported that they were considering perjury charges against him. [63]
In March 2023, prosecutors signaled an indictment was likely. [64] By March 9, prosecutors had offered Trump a chance to testify before the grand jury the following week, indicating that they were likely preparing to indict him. [65] [66] Around that time, Trump and his spokesperson began referring to both Daniels' allegation and the DA's proceedings as " extortion". [67] On March 10, Trump's lawyer Joe Tacopina asked New York City's Department of Investigation to review the criminal probe, asserting its "weaponization". [68] On March 13, Tacopina announced that Trump would not testify. [69] Early the next morning, The Guardian reported that Trump's lawyers had argued to the DA that Trump should not be indicted on the basis that the payment did not draw from campaign funds and would have been made regardless of his candidacy. [70]
In late March, there was reporting around Daniels having reportedly unsuccessfully communicated in 2018 with Tacopina about possibly representing her in the scandal, for which the DA could move to disqualify the lawyer due to attorney–client privilege and because she reputedly disclosed confidential information to his firm. [71] [72] [73] [74] Additionally, it reemerged that in 2018 Tacopina had called the hush-money payment "an illegal agreement", "a fraud", and "a potential campaign finance issue". [71]
On March 18, Trump claimed on his social-media platform, Truth Social, that he was to be arrested on March 21 [c] [d] and that the proceedings were disinformation backed by President Joe Biden, calling for protests in anticipation of a possible indictment. [77] [78] [79] [80] [81] Law enforcement and security agencies prepared for a potential indictment of Trump that week, especially in the areas of the Manhattan Criminal Court and Trump Tower, including by monitoring online threats. [80] [82] [83] [e] New York City Police began to increase security in preparation for the expected indictment on March 21, and a second time for the second expected indictment on March 30. [85] Metal barriers were set up around Trump Tower and the district Criminal Court Building. [86] On March 24, Trump, citing his presidential prospects, insinuated that "potential death & destruction" could result from Bragg's allegedly false charge. [87] [f]
The Manhattan grand jury voted to indict Trump on March 30, 2023. [89] The indictment was filed with the New York Supreme Court (the ordinary trial court for felonies in the state of New York and not the final court of appeal for the state) the same day. [90] The charges were under seal until published when Trump was arraigned in the Manhattan Criminal Court. [91] [92]
The indictment charged Trump with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in the first degree, in violation of New York Penal Law §175.10. [93] Each count is related to a specific business document, each having a date ranging from February 14 through December 5, 2017: [7]
The allegedly falsified documents are related to Trump's payment to Stormy Daniels as hush money. The payments were listed in the business records as a legal expense payable to Michael Cohen, whereas the indictment alleges that they were actually to reimburse Cohen for the earlier, allegedly illicit, payment to Daniels. [94] [95]
Falsifying business records in the first degree is a felony under New York state law that requires that the "intent to defraud includes an intent to commit another crime or to aid or conceal the commission thereof". This is in contrast to falsifying business records in the second degree, which is a misdemeanor that does not have that requirement. [7] [94] [95] In later filings, Bragg listed three such crimes that Trump allegedly intended to commit: violation of federal campaign finance limits, violation of state election laws by unlawfully influencing the 2016 election, and violation of state tax laws regarding the reimbursement. [96] Trump can move to allow the jury the option to convict on the misdemeanor charges as a lesser included offense, but is not required to do so. [97]
Each count for which Trump is convicted could result in a prison sentence of up to four years, to be served consecutively, or the judge could impose no prison sentence. [98] A conviction would not legally prohibit Trump from continuing his campaign in the 2024 presidential election, nor would he be forbidden from assuming presidency should he win, even if he were in prison. [99] Trump stated in an April 2023 Fox News interview with Tucker Carlson that he would not drop his candidacy in the 2024 U.S. presidential election if he is convicted. [100] [101]
Trump was arraigned on April 4, 2023. A law enforcement source told Reuters that police would close streets around the courthouse in advance of Trump's expected appearance. [102] On April 3, Trump flew from Palm Beach International Airport into LaGuardia Airport on his private plane, and took his motorcade to Trump Tower, where he stayed the night. [103] [104] Todd Blanche, a lawyer who had defended Paul Manafort during his 2016 fraud trial, had recently resigned from his law firm to aid Trump's case. [105] Police increased security in and around Manhattan ahead of the arraignment; authorities said there were no credible threats of violence or organized plans of protests. [104] Eric Adams, the mayor of New York City, warned protestors to be peaceful. [106] Acting New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan is presiding over the case. [107] Merchan denied a motion filed by media organizations to allow a television broadcast of the arraignment or to allow electronic devices to be used in the courtroom, but allowed five press pool still photographers. [108] [109] Courtroom sketch artists also documented the proceedings. [110] The courtroom's glass doors were covered as a security measure. [111]
Upon entering the courthouse, he was put in police custody and placed under arrest. [112] [113] He was booked and fingerprinted, but he was not handcuffed, nor was a mug shot taken. [114] [115] Trump entered the courtroom an hour later, [116] pleading not guilty to 34 felony charges. [117] The indictment was unsealed (publicly released) shortly thereafter, charging Trump with 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree as part of a "conspiracy to undermine the integrity of the 2016 election." [118] [119] At the arraignment, Merchan warned Trump not to use social media to incite violence. [120]
Possible trial dates were discussed; prosecutors proposed January 2024, but Trump's defense team objected, saying that the trial should be set for later in 2024. [121]
Immediately after the arraignment, Trump returned to Mar-a-Lago and addressed a crowd of supporters in the evening. [122] [103] Trump made several false claims about topics such as his handling of government documents, District Attorney Bragg, and the Trump–Raffensperger phone call. [123]
During Trump's arraignment, the court set deadlines for pre-trial proceedings, including for prosecutors to provide discovery to the defense. [121] The court set a deadline of August 8, 2023, for pre-trial motions to be filed. [121]
As he had done in other cases, Trump was expected to use "attack-and-delay" tactics, targeting the prosecutors and the judge while prolonging proceedings, with the result that the case might continue into late 2024, near the presidential election. [124] [125]
On September 29, 2023, Trump's team submitted omnibus motions to dismiss the indictment and requesting clarification of the charges. [126]
On April 27, Trump's team asked for the charges to be explained in full. [127] It was possible that the second crime(s) would eventually be specified in a bill of particulars, [128] but according to a governing appeals case from c. 1980 this is not necessary. [129] On May 16, the DA's office argued that it did not need to elaborate further on the basis that Trump already "has more than sufficient information to prepare his defense", while reiterating possible secondary charges. [130] [131] [g] Trump's team was reportedly considering invoking a 2000 U.S. Supreme Court decision which emphasizes the importance of specifying punishable criminal charges; additionally, a 1999 decision states that "any fact ... that increases the maximum penalty for [one] crime must be charged in an indictment ... and proved". [127]
On February 15, 2024, the court denied the motions to dismiss. [132] [133] [134] However, the court did partially grant Trump's request seeking clarification of the charges. Trump is not only accused of falsifying business records, but doing so with the intention to commit or conceal some other crime. Holding it would be unfair to expect Trump to prepare a defense to a newly-raised theory mid-trial, the court limited the prosecution to just three theories of "other crimes" that had already been identified during pre-trial procedure. [132] [135]
As of Trump's arraignment on April 4, 2023, it was expected that the discovery process would take several months. [136]
On April 17, 2023, the DA's office requested that Merchan obtain further information from Tacopina, including his firm's correspondence with Daniels, to determine whether their history constituted a conflict of interest. [74] On September 1, Merchan ruled that it did not. [137]
On May 4, Merchan heard arguments about the DA office's request to restrict information it turns over to Trump's lawyers from being shared with Trump himself (at least until the trial), citing his past social-media posts attacking Bragg and witnesses. The defense has argued that the government should be equally restrained from discussing information publicly and that Trump should be allowed to defend himself politically. [138] [139] On May 8, Merchan ruled in favor of the order, barring evidence from being shared on social media. [140] The judge instructed Trump and his lawyers on their conduct on May 23, informing them that violations could incur a "wide range of sanctions" including being held in contempt of court. [141]
On May 26, prosecutors stated that they had informed Trump's lawyers that evidence in the hush-money case includes various audio recordings, including one of Trump and a witness. It was unclear if this was in reference to secretly recorded audio from September 2016 which Cohen had previously released. [142] [143] [144] [145]
On August 3, federal judge Lewis A. Kaplan, who oversaw E. Jean Carroll's civil lawsuits against Trump alleging sexual assault and defamation, [h] ruled that Carroll's lawyers could provide video of Trump being deposed to Manhattan prosecutors. [148]
On January 15, 2024, Tacopina withdrew from Trump's counsel [149] and Daniels said she expected to testify. [150] Later in the month, the DA was reportedly beginning to meet with witnesses ahead of the trial. [151]
On March 18, the judge ruled that both Daniels and Cohen could testify, placing some restrictions on Daniels (as well as Karen McDougal). The defense had requested that the two be blocked from testifying the previous month. Additionally, the judge ruled that Trump's infamous Access Hollywood tape could not be played during the trial but that it could be discussed. [152]
On April 22, Merchan ruled on what prosecutors may ask Trump if he testifies, [153] following a pretrial Sandoval hearing held April 19. [154] [155] [156]
On May 31, 2023, Trump's lawyers unsuccessfully filed a motion asking Judge Merchan to disqualify himself because, according to the defense, the judge and his family have supported the Democratic Party, including three $10–15 donations of his to Democratic causes and his daughter's role as a partner and COO of a Democratic consulting firm that serviced Biden's 2020 presidential campaign. [157] [158] On June 20, the DA's office argued against the recusal request, citing Trump's alleged "prolific history of baselessly accusing state and federal judges around the country of bias", saying he seemed to be trying to land a more favorable judge. Prosecutors further argued that there was a lack of hard evidence that a particular trial result would aid Merchan directly or greatly via his daughter's Democratic work, [159] which a state ethics panel had similarly concluded in early May. [160] The court denied the motion on August 11, 2023. [161]
On April 1, 2024, the defense asked Merchan for permission to file a motion repeating their prior request that he recuse himself for what the defense said was a conflict of interest due to his daughter's Democratic involvement. [162] On April 2; prosecutors pointed out that the court and an ethics panel had already found that the political activities of a relative are not grounds for questioning a judge's impartiality. [163]
The same day, Trump posted a Fox & Friends clip in which co-host Brian Kilmeade criticizes the judge's daughter, although Trump highlighted another commentator's statement. [164] As of April 3, Trump had not deleted offending posts made prior to Merchan's expanded order; [165] that night, he linked to a report by far-right activist Laura Loomer criticizing Merchan's daughter and wife. [166] On April 5, Trump's campaign publicized their motion for Merchan to recuse himself (dated April 3), [163] which asserts numerous counts of bias, and falsely cites the state Office of Court Administration (OCA) as saying Merchan's daughter deleted her X account in April 2023, around when the judge "solicited an ethics opinion regarding recusal in a letter ... that the Court declined to disclose". [167] [160] In fact, the OCA had stated that the X account was reactivated in April 2023, following a long period of disuse. [168] On April 6, Trump posted online that if arrested for violating the gag order, he would consider it a "great honor" to "become a Modern Day Nelson Mandela", the former South African president jailed for anti- apartheid activism. [169] On April 8, Trump's team asked an appeals court to delay the trial and pause the gag order while they appeal the latter; this was denied the following day. [170] [171] On April 10, an appeals judge denied another defense delay request (perhaps its eleventh) which was based on Merchan having not yet ruled on the recusal motion. [172] [170] On April 15, Merchan denied the recusal motion. [173] On April 30, an appellate court denied requests for both a recusal and a stay of proceedings. [174]
On May 4, 2023, Trump's lawyers asked for the case to be moved to a federal court (though it would remain a state-law prosecution conducted by the Manhattan DA), arguing that it involved alleged conduct somehow "performed while in office"—despite the potential federal election-law violations not being specified (nor being required to) in the charges and occurring prior to Trump's inauguration. [139] [131] [i] As proceedings continued in the New York Supreme Court, [175] Bragg asked for the removal request to be dismissed, arguing that Trump had failed to establish that he was an officer of the United States during his presidency, [176] [177] to which the defense expounded its initial argument. [178] [139] Even if the case had been moved to federal court, New York state law would have continued to apply. [179]
In a hearing on June 27, District Judge Alvin Hellerstein opined that Trump's conduct likely did not constitute presidential activity. [180] On July 19, arguing that the matter was apparently a personal "cover-up of an embarrassing event", Hellerstein ruled that the case should remain in state court. [181] Trump appealed the decision on July 28, [182] but withdrew this on November 14. [183]
In early February 2024, Trump's federal election obstruction trial, originally set for early March, was postponed pending appeals, increasing the likelihood of the Manhattan criminal trial taking place as planned on March 25, 2024. [184] [185] This would mark the first-ever criminal trial of a former president. [184] On February 15, Merchan confirmed the trial date and denied Trump's request to dismiss the case, with Trump in attendance. [186]
On March 11, 2024, Trump lawyers requested a delay of trial until after the federal election obstruction case on the basis that it would bolster his argument of presidential immunity, as some evidence and allegedly some acts overlapped with his time in office. [187] Trump's team cited, from April 2018, Trump's denying knowledge of the hush-money payment to reporters and tweeting in defense of Cohen's credibility. [188] Later on March 11, Merchan pointed out that Trump's team had missed the filing deadline and said either party would need his permission to file additional pretrial motions. [187] On March 3, the judge dismissed the request as untimely. [189]
Also on March 11, Trump asked to delay trial until after the Supreme Court decides whether he is generally immune from prosecution in the federal charges on election obstruction. Granting the motion would have delayed trial until mid-summer or later, as the Supreme Court had already scheduled those arguments for April 25 [190] and may not rule until the end of the court's term in early July. [191] Merchan denied the motion on April 3, [192] saying that he doubted its "sincerity and actual purpose", given that Trump made this request only two weeks before trial. [193]
On March 18, Trump's team requested an additional delay on the basis that pretrial publicity and apparent anti-Trump bias in Manhattan would prohibit a fair jury from being selected in April, although only 35% in the cited poll said they were convinced Trump was guilty in the DA's case specifically. Trump's lawyers cited berating statements by Cohen, e.g. saying he served jail time because his "lying" former boss "couldn't keep his mushroom dick in his pants". On March 25, the assistant DA countered that "publicity is not likely to abate [and] the pretrial publicity has been ... exacerbated by the defendant". [194] On April 8, Trump's team asked the appeals court for a delay to allow an attempt to move the trial to a different county, which was denied the same day. [170]
On May 23, 2023, Justice Merchan set the trial for March 25, 2024. [195] Trump's team complained that he expected to have multiple trials around that time. Merchan said he would discuss rescheduling closer to the time. [196] At a February 15, 2024, hearing, which Trump attended, [197] Merchan reaffirmed the March 25 trial date. [198]
In March 2024, the U.S. Attorney's Office provided prosecutors with approximately 170,000 pages of documents, largely related to the 2017 federal probe of Cohen's payment to Daniels (and mostly reflecting evidence already turned over to Trump's lawyers in June 2023). [199] [200] [201] Trump's lawyers sought a delay in the trial on the basis of the newly produced records; the DA Office's said in court that only 300 of the documents were relevant to Trump's defense. [202] On March 15, 2024, the judge delayed the start of trial until mid-April. [203] On March 25, 2024, the judge set a trial date of April 15, and denied a motion by Trump's team to further delay the trial. [202]
On April 8, Trump requested to postpone the trial so the court could consider a change of venue, which was denied the same day, [204] and so he could appeal the gag order, which was denied the next day. [205] On April 10, the appeals court denied Trump's request to postpone trial on the basis of Merchan being unqualified. [206] On April 12, Merchan denied the defendant's request to delay trial on the basis of "prejudicial" media coverage. [207] On April 15, Merchan said Trump "is required to be here" on April 25 and "not required to be at the Supreme Court" that day when it hears arguments on his immunity claim in the federal election case. [208] Merchan said he was not yet prepared to say whether trial would be held on May 17 to allow Trump to attend his son Barron's high-school graduation, but indicated that he probably would grant him the day off if the proceedings progressed at an expected pace. [209] Trump subsequently complained that he would "not be allowed" to attend the graduation, but on April 30 the judge said he would be able to do so. [210]
In a May 2023 hearing and court filing, prosecutors expressed concern that Trump would misuse evidence obtained through pretrial discovery procedure to attack people involved in the case, including witnesses. [179] Justice Merchan declined to issue a gag order or prohibit Trump from publicly commenting about the case against him, [179] but issued a protective order setting rules for the use of social media involving elements of the case, and set a hearing (with Trump to appear remotely) to explain the rules. [211] [212]
On February 26, 2024, the Manhattan DA asked for a gag order on Trump, noting that Trump has been fined $15,000 for two violations of a gag order in the civil fraud trial by disparaging the judge's law clerk on social media, and reporting that police had logged 89 threats to Bragg, his family, or staff in 2023 (as opposed to a single threat in 2022). [213] On March 7, Merchan ruled that the jury would be anonymous except to some involved in the trial, including Trump, his lawyers, and prosecutors. [214] On March 26, Merchan imposed a gag order on Trump, restricting what he could say publicly about people involved in the case. [215] Additionally, the judge warned the defense, under the threat of contempt, against dilatory tactics such as the late filing of pretrial motions or last-minute demands, pointing out that Trump had "stated publicly that the defense goal is to delay these proceedings ... past the 2024 presidential election". [216] [217] On March 26, Trump made online posts chastising the judge, the gag order, and Merchan's daughter, the latter over an anti-Trump social-media post created by someone impersonating her on social media. [218] [219] [220] The same day, Merchan imposed a gag order forbidding Trump to publicly comment on court staff, prosecutors, prospective jurors, or their families, or to cause others to make such statements, in a way that interferes with the case. Bragg (as a public figure) and Merchan (as the judge) were specifically exempted from protection. [221] [222] The court also ordered Trump not to comment on prospective trial witnesses concerning their potential participation in the criminal case. [223]
On March 27 and 28, Trump again referenced Merchan's daughter on social media. [222] [224] On March 29, prosecutors requested that the limits of the gag order be explicated regarding family of court staff in hopes of terminating what they considered intentionally defiant behavior by Trump. [219] [225] On April 1, Merchan expanded the gag order to protect his and Bragg's family members, saying attacks on them "serve no legitimate purpose". [226] [227] He wrote that Trump's continued attacks posted a "very real" threat to the integrity of proceedings and could cause those involved in the case to fear for themselves and their families, which would "undoubtedly interfere with the fair administration of justice and constitutes a direct attack on the Rule of Law itself." [228] On April 11, Trump disparaged expected witnesses Cohen and Daniels on social media, referring to them as dishonest "sleaze bags." [223]
Contempt hearings were later held concerning numerous alleged violations of the gag order.
On May 14, a New York appeals court denied Trump's request to overturn the gag order. [229]
Date | Witness | Function | |
---|---|---|---|
April 22 | David Pecker | Publisher of National Enquirer | |
April 23 | |||
April 25 | |||
April 26 | |||
Rhona Graff | Donald Trump executive assistant | ||
Gary Farro | First Republic banker | ||
April 30 | |||
Robert Browning | C-SPAN Executive Director for Archives | ||
Phillip Thompson | Regional Director of Esquire Deposition Solutions |
||
Keith Davidson | Former attorney for Stormy Daniels | ||
May 2 | |||
Douglas Daus | Computer forensics specialist in the Manhattan DA's office |
||
May 3 | Hope Hicks | Former
White House Communications Director |
|
May 6 | Jeffrey McConney | Former Trump Organization comptroller | |
Deborah Tarasoff | Trump Organization accounting employee | ||
May 7 | Sally Franklin | Penguin Books executive | |
Stormy Daniels | Hush money recipient | ||
May 9 | |||
Madeleine Westerhout | Former Director of Oval Office Operations | ||
May 10 | |||
Jennie Tomalin | Verizon senior analyst | ||
Daniel Dixon | AT&T compliance analyst | ||
Jaden Jarmel-Schneider | Paralegal in the Manhattan DA's office | ||
Georgia Longstreet | Paralegal in the Manhattan DA's office | ||
May 13 | Michael Cohen | Hush money intermediary |
The trial began on April 15, 2024, and is expected to last eight weeks, into June, [230] with recessed Wednesdays. [231] Trump is required to attend every day of trial barring a court-approved absence. [232] If he chooses to testify, prosecutors can ask him about his civil lawsuits regarding business fraud, sexual abuse, and defamation as well as the 2018 dissolution of his charitable foundation. [233] Attorneys Todd Blanche and Susan Necheles are representing him. [234]
The trial is not televised. [235] Initially, Merchan allowed photographers to stand at the front of the room for a few minutes each morning before the trial began to take photos of Trump seated. Merchan withdrew this permission on May 9 after at least one photo was taken from the side of the table. [236]
On April 8, 2024, the judge gave attorneys a copy of the jury selection questionnaire, [237] with jury selection beginning on April 15 [238] [239] from a pool of over 500 candidates. [240]
Over the first two days, 96 potential jurors appeared, of which more than half were immediately dismissed after indicating that they could not be impartial. Nine jurors provisionally qualified on the first day, and an additional ten on the second; [241] [242] [243] from these 19, seven jurors were selected and sworn in. However, two were excused on April 18, one of whom complained that her friends and family had recognized her from details published in the news. [243] [244] [245] Trump was reprimanded by the judge on April 16 for gesturing and audibly speaking in the direction of a potential juror. [246] [247]
Another group of 96 potential jurors was brought in later in the week. [245] Twelve jurors, along with one alternate, were selected by April 18. [248] The selection of six alternate jurors concluded on April 19. [249] [250] The jury reportedly comprises seven men and five women, who mostly have white-collar careers. [251] The jurors are allowed to tell their family and employers that they are on the jury but cannot discuss the case with them. [252] Trump apparently fell asleep for brief intervals on four out of the first five days of the trial, ahead of opening statements. [253] [254] [255] [256] [257]
On April 22, opening statements began. [258] Prosecutors accused Trump, Cohen, and Pecker of campaign finance violations, alleging they coordinated payments to two women and concealed them as part of a conspiracy to influence the 2016 election. [259] During their opening statements, prosecutors said the jury would be presented with a document with a handwritten note in the margin by Allen Weisselberg outlining the hush-money payment scheme. [260] [261]
The defense argued that the testimony of Cohen, a convicted felon, could not be trusted; that the payments were ordinary business transactions, akin to editorial decisions made by newspapers; [262] and that in democracies it is normal for candidates to attempt to influence an election. [259]
Prosecutors called former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker to testify on April 22, 23, 25 and 26 as the trial's first witness, taking most of the first week of testimony. [263] He had been given immunity in 2018 in a federal investigation into Michael Cohen in exchange for information regarding hush money deals. [264] During Pecker's testimony, it was implied that former National Enquirer editor Dylan Howard, who Pecker stated was now living in Australia and suffering from a "spinal condition", would not testify. [263] [265] It was previously reported that while Pecker and his company American Media Inc. (AMI), the National Enquirer's parent company, facilitated payment to McDougal, [266] Pecker refused to personally do the same with Daniels, [267] [268] though he allegedly alerted Trump associates about Daniels' decision to go public with her affair allegation. [269] On April 23, Pecker testified that Cohen used to feed him negative stories about Trump's enemies, which Pecker's staff would then "embellish" and show drafts to Cohen to get his feedback before publishing them. [270] Pecker also detailed how he offered to deploy the "catch and kill" scheme, stating that he offered in 2015 to suppress negative stories about Trump and flag efforts by women attempting to sell stories about him. [271] The prosecution cited a state election law regarding conspiracy to defend their questioning of Pecker about his contacts with Steve Bannon, the chief executive officer of Trump's 2016 campaign. [272]
On April 25, Pecker testified that AMI suppressed negative press about other celebrities, which was emphasized by Trump's team in their cross-examination. [273] Additionally, he stated that he did not believe Cohen was working for Trump's campaign. [274] Pecker discussed his relationship with Trump prior to the 2016 campaign, during which he suppressed other negative stories about him. Pecker detailed how his company, Trump and Cohen facilitated payment to McDougal in mid-2016, in tandem with promising her a ghostwritten monthly column in an attempt to disguise the contract's true nature. [273] [235] [275] In September 2016, Cohen asked to purchase the boxes of McDougal's source material (valued by Pecker at $25,000) on Trump's behalf. Pecker then told Cohen that he did not want to be reimbursed for the payment to McDougal. According to Pecker, an AMI staff member leaked details of the scheme on November 4, 2016, ahead of the election, after which Pecker released a false statement that AMI had never paid anyone to kill damaging stories about Trump. AMI then amended its contract with McDougal allowing her to speak to the press. [275] Pecker also described a January 2017 meeting in Trump Tower in which Trump thanked Pecker for his work regarding McDougal and another story. [275] [276] [j] Pecker said his decision not to facilitate payment to Daniels (because she was a porn star) led to it being done by Cohen. [273] Pecker testified he acted at Trump's behest and intended to help him win the presidency, despite his own doubts regarding campaign-finance laws. [275] [277] Additionally, Pecker said that after receiving a letter from the Federal Election Commission about possible campaign violations in mid-2021, he signed a non-prosecution deal with federal prosecutors for his cooperation. [275]
Four witnesses testified over the latter part of April 26 through the earlier part of April 30.
On April 26, Trump's executive assistant Rhona Graff testified that when she worked outside Trump's office in Trump Tower, she maintained contact information for McDougal and Daniels, [278] and that she had a "vague recollection" of glimpsing Daniels at a Trump Tower reception area. [279] During her cross-examination by the defense, Graff said Trump was sometimes prone to multitasking while signing checks, depending "what was going on ... and how important the checks were". [32] [280]
Additional testimony was also provided by former First Republic banker Gary Farro on April 26 and 30. He testified that on October 26, 2016 he helped Cohen open an account for a real-estate limited liability corporation. According to prosecutors, the same day, Cohen deposited $131,000 from his personal home-equity credit line, and the next day transferred $130,000 to Daniels' lawyer, Keith Davidson. [279] [281] [282] He detailed how he assisted in setting up the bank account which enabled Cohen to make the hush money payment. Farro stated that Cohen was eager to connect with him, and would set up the account in October 2016. Farro also noted that the account was set up for Essential Consultants L.L.C., the company the payment was made from, and that it was also funded through Cohen's home-equity line of credit at First Republic. [282] [283] According to Farro, Cohen did not want addresses on the checks. [282] Prosecution also presented evidence showing emails to and from Cohen, which confirmed the $131,000 deposit to a checking account 20 minutes after it was opened. [283] In texts between Davidson and Cohen, Davidson provided wiring instructions for the $130,000 hush-money payment. According to Farro, First Republic closed Cohen's accounts after the payment to Daniels became public. [284]
April 30 also saw testimony from C-SPAN Executive Director for Archives Robert Browning, who verified the authenticity of C-SPAN videos of Trump, as well as Phillip Thompson, a regional director of Esquire Deposition Solutions, which provided court reporter services for Trump's October 2022 deposition in one of the E. Jean Carroll defamation cases. [285] [286]
Keith Davidson, a former attorney for Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal, appeared on April 30 and May 2. He testified that the Access Hollywood tape helped influence Daniels to go forward with her story. [287] According to Davidson's testimony, he drafted the $130,000 hush-money agreement, in which he used the pseudonyms "Peggy Peterson" for Daniels and "David Dennison" for Trump. [288] The agreement called for payment by October 14, 2016. When the payment did not arrive, Davidson communicated with Cohen, [289] who told him that Trump was traveling. [290] On October 17, Davidson wrote to Cohen that the agreement was void and furthermore that he would no longer be representing Daniels. [291] (Cohen would wire his personal funds to Davidson on October 27.) [292]
Davidson was also revealed to have sent a message to Dylan Howard on election night in 2016 in which he remarked, "What have we done?" [288] [293] Davidson testified that he believed Trump was behind the hush-money talks. [294] However, he also acknowledged how Cohen wired the transfer and that he also had conversations with Howard as well as Daniels' manager Gina Rodriguez regarding the deal. Howard and Rodriguez, who had no direct roles, would encourage Davidson to connect with Cohen. Daniels, Davidson and Rodriguez were also revealed to have received part of the $130,000 settlement payment. Davidson's role in the $150,000 deal with AMI for McDougal's story was noted as well. [284]
On May 2, the jury heard the audio recording of Cohen and Trump discussing reimbursing Pecker for McDougal's payment. [143] Additionally, audio was played of Cohen and Trump discussing the payment to Daniels, in which Cohen mentions talking to Weisselberg about setting up the payment and Trump says, "Let me know what’s happening, OK?" [295] Further audio was played of a phone call in which Cohen tells Davidson that "I can't even tell you how many times [Trump] said to me, you know, I hate the fact that we did it," apparently regarding the payment to Daniels. [143] Davidson acknowledged texting Howard on Election Night 2016: "What have we done?", to which Howard responded "Oh my god." [144] Davidson explained that this was a recognition that "our activities may have assisted the presidential campaign" and that it was "sort of gallows humor". [296] He also confirmed that, after texting with Cohen on February 13, 2018, he sent a statement to CNN anchor Chris Cuomo to corroborate Cohen's claim of having paid $130,000 to Daniels from his personal funds. [297] Davidson testified during his cross-examination that he had never personally met Trump. [143]
On May 2, prosecutors called Douglas Daus, a computer forensics specialist in the district attorney's office. Daus testified to examinations of Cohen's cell phones. Several of the prosecutions proposed exhibits were found by Daus. [298]
On May 3, former White House communications director Hope Hicks testified. She said a Wall Street Journal reporter asked her for comment on the alleged Trump–McDougal affair, which is how she learned that AMI had paid to catch and kill the story. [299] She stated that she drafted a statement to respond to The Wall Street Journal, with Cohen offering feedback, but Trump overrode them by telling Hicks to say that McDougal's allegations were "totally untrue", [300] [301] which is how she was quoted by the Journal just days before the election. [302] [266] Hicks also learned at this time that the Journal planned to publish details of Daniels' allegations, with Trump instructing Hicks to deny any affair. [303] Hicks stated that Trump sought to hide news of both scandals from Melania, [304] [303] and after the story of the payment to Daniels broke in early 2018, Trump told her that Cohen had voluntarily decided to pay Daniels to protect him; Hicks opined that this seemed out of character for Cohen. [303] Trump sought Hicks's opinion about how the Daniels story was being perceived, especially in relation to the negative impact it may have had if Cohen had not paid Daniels before the election. [301] [305] Hicks further testified that she had heard Trump praise Pecker on multiple occasions for his negative reporting on his Republican rivals in the 2016 election. [303]
According to Hicks, the Access Hollywood tape roiled the Trump campaign. [303] Though Trump tried to minimize its significance, [306] the campaign felt the tape was a "crisis". [307] Hicks stated that the tape's release stressed Trump because he wanted members of his family, including Melania, to be proud of him and not hurt or embarrassed. [308] In her cross-examination by the defense, Hicks stated that Trump "is a very good multitasker [who] is always doing many things at once". [280]
Three witnesses appeared during May 6 and the earlier part of May 7.
On May 6, former Trump Organization comptroller Jeffrey McConney testified about how Cohen was reimbursed. [309] He testified that Weisselberg instructed him in early 2017 to send the reimbursement payments to Cohen. [309] McConney acknowledged that he told organization payroll specialist (and its accounts payable supervisor) Deborah Tarasoff to falsely record the reimbursement payments as "legal expenses"; [309] he said he told her these payments were part of a retainer agreement between Cohen and Trump. [309] McConney further stated that starting in March 2017, the reimbursement checks for Cohen came from Trump's personal bank account. [309] In 2017, Cohen quit working for Trump after setting up shop at Squire Patton Boggs’s offices in Midtown, but nevertheless still identified himself as Trump's personal lawyer. [309] Numerous invoice messages from Cohen and related emails between McConney, Tarasoff and Weisselberg were shown in the courtroom. [309] Several general ledger documents associated with Trump and his trust were reviewed which showed that Trump made the reimbursement payments to Cohen. [309]
Following McConney's testimony, Deborah Tarasoff, a 24-year employee of the Trump Organization who works in accounting, took the stand to testify. She said the organization was paying for her attorney. [310] [309] She described her job duties: "I get approved bills, I enter them into the system, and I cut checks." [311] Tarasoff stated that she had no decision-making authority and merely followed instructions, but also acknowledged that she would approve invoices if she got them, including the ones which were sent to Cohen. [312] Tarasoff testified that while either Trump or one of his two older sons could approve invoices of over $10,000 since 2015, only Trump could access his personal checking account. [312] Twelve reimbursement checks for $35,000 were signed by Trump, and Tarasoff testified that they were mailed to Cohen. [312] Trump, who used a Sharpie pen when writing checks, could write "void" if he disapproved of checks Tarasoff created for the company [312] (e.g. a $70,000 check to Cohen signed by Eric Trump and Wiesselberg in February 2017, which was voided by Trump). [312] During cross-examination, Tarasoff acknowledged that she not was present for conversations between Trump and Weisselberg about the payments. [312]
On May 7, 2024, Penguin Books executive Sally Franklin testified. Franklin, whose company published a few Trump books, read excerpts from Trump: How to Get Rich and Trump: Think Like a Billionaire, including Trump quotes, "If you don’t know every aspect of what you're doing, down to the paper clips, you're setting yourself up for some unwanted surprises," and, "For many years, I've said that if someone screws you, screw them back." [313]
Stormy Daniels testified for five hours on May 7, [314] and for the earlier part of May 9. [315] She said she met Trump at a celebrity golf tournament near Lake Tahoe, Nevada, in 2006 and detailed a sexual encounter with Trump in his hotel suite after he invited her to dinner. [314] [316] Daniels stated that Trump did not use a condom and that during the encounter, "I was staring up at the ceiling, wondering how I got there," despite not having used drugs or alcohol. [314] She said she felt like she blacked out during the encounter and was traumatized by the experience. [317] [316] It was the only time they reputedly had sex. [318] Daniels said Trump offered to make her a contestant on The Apprentice; she stated that he continued alluding to the idea for a time in subsequent phone conversations, in which he referred to her as "honey bunch" and asked when they could meet again. [313] [316] Daniels noted that she met with Trump on multiple occasions, with dozens of witnesses, [316] including a visit to Trump Tower and a final encounter with Trump in Los Angeles in 2007. [316]
In accepting the hush money, Daniels stated that she was not motivated by money (although this appeared to be contradicted by a text message between her and her manager Gina Rodriguez which suggested she was willing to accept the payment). [316] She stated that she had no part in the hush-money negotiations. [316] Daniels also laid out key information about the payment. [316] She maintained her previous allegation that someone threatened her in a Las Vegas parking lot, stating that she did not report it because it would have been upsetting to Trump. [316] Daniels stated that any violation of the hush-money agreement would have cost her a million dollars. [316]
During Daniels' testimony, Merchan sustained many defense objections. [316] He repeatedly admonished Daniels for giving answers that went beyond the scope of the question asked, and at one point interrupting Daniels' testimony, stopping her from describing the sexual position she and Trump used. [314] [316] Merchan criticized the "degree of detail" on matters such as the floor size of the hotel suite. [313] In a sidebar conference, Merchan agreed with defense arguments that Daniels described things which were "better left unsaid" regarding the sexual encounter, but denied the defense's request for a mistrial, noting that the defense would have the opportunity to cross-examine Daniels. [314] [316] Merchan set confines for Daniels' later testimony and directed the prosecution to encourage her to give shorter answers. [316] Afterward, Daniels gave shorter answers and hewed closer to the question asked. [314]
When testimony resumed, Daniels stated that her lawyer Keith Davidson received the $130,000 hush-money payment, and that she got $96,000 of it. She also acknowledged that she signed a statement dated January 10, 2018, in which she denied the affair, but testified that she did not want to sign it and that it was untrue. [316]
In its cross-examination, the defense questioned Daniels about her account of being traumatized by her encounter with Trump, suggesting that her pornographic career would have made the event unsurprising. Daniels explained that the first time she realized the meeting was intended to be sexual was upon coming out of the bathroom inside Trump's hotel, finding him stripped to his boxers; she elaborated that she was "not expecting [this from] a man twice [her] age". [317] Daniels acknowledged that she had contacted renowned high-profile sexual harassment attorney Gloria Allred about potentially suing Trump for the encounter. Much of the cross-examination focused on questioning the accuracy of her allegation that she was threatened in a Las Vegas parking lot, which was revealed to have been disputed by Davidson via texts with Cohen. Despite accepting the hush money, Daniels maintained that her primary goal was to "get the story out". [316]
On May 9, Daniels concluded her testimony after hours of cross-examination. [315] Trump attorney Susan Necheles pressed Daniels on how she profited from her story and brought up minor inconsistencies in how she has told it. [315] Merchan again denied a defense motion for a mistrial. [319]
On May 9, Trump's director of Oval Office Operations in 2019 and former Secretary to the President between 2017 and 2019, Madeleine Westerhout, began testifying. [315] [319] She stated that Republican National Committee officials she was working with in 2016 discussed how to replace Trump as the Republican presidential nominee due to concern about the damaging Access Hollywood tape. [320] She also noted how she set up a meeting between Cohen and Trump in February 2017, and how the meeting led to Trump Organization employees sending reimbursement checks to the White House—which Trump would then sign and send to Cohen—through a circuitous mail system. [321] She was in tears when discussing how Trump fired her, reportedly in response to her telling reporters that she had a better relationship with him than his daughters. [322]
Westerbout resumed testifying on May 10. [321] During cross-examination, Westerbout appeared to side with defense arguments that Trump used alternatives to the White House mail system because he wanted to get mail to people more quickly. [321]
For the latter part of May 10, four other witnesses testified. [323] Among these witnesses were Jennie Tomalin (a Verizon senior analyst), Daniel Dixon (an AT&T compliance analyst), and Jaden Jarmel-Schneider (a paralegal from the Manhattan DA's office). [321] In successive testimonies, Dixon and Tomalin would authenticate cell phone records which were used as trial evidence. [321] Georgia Longstreet, another paralegal from the Manhattan DA's office, again testified after previously doing so days prior. [321] Longstreet also showed some of Trump's old tweets, as well as texts between Gina Rodriguez and Dylan Howard. [321] Jarmel-Schneider then showed a chart which summarized 34 business records which prosecutors say were falsified. [321]
On May 13, Michael Cohen, Trump's former " fixer" and attorney who is also considered to be the case's star witness, began testifying. [324] Cohen stated that Trump told him: "Just pay it. There's no reason to keep this thing out there. Just do it." [325] Cohen said that he viewed supermarket tabloids like the National Enquirer to be influential in reaching voters [324] and that Trump was concerned about the effect Daniels' story could have had on female voters. [324] Cohen had previously testified in 2018 (while pleading guilty for campaign-finance violations for his payments to Daniels during the 2016 campaign) that Trump directed him to pay Daniels. [326]
Cohen testified that Weisselberg told him to not make the payment through the Trump Organization but instead to come up with more creative ways to do it. [324] Cohen said that he and Weisselberg discussed processing the $130,000 through one of Trump's golf courses as if it were a membership or event fee but that they decided against it. When Weisselberg said he was financially unable to pay it from his personal funds, Cohen agreed to pay it. [325] After Trump's 2016 election victory, Weisselberg and Cohen discussed the reimbursement plan in Trump's 26th floor office, and Weisselberg coordinated the repayments to Cohen. [324]
Cohen acknowledged that he, Trump and David Pecker conspired to suppress negative stories and promote positive stories about Trump during the 2016 election. [324] By email (shown as evidence), Cohen informed the National Enquirer that Trump did not want them to report his affair with a "Penthouse Pet". [324] Cohen laid out his role in the National Enquirer's first catch-and-kill story about the Trump Tower doorman who alleged Trump fathered a child out of wedlock. [324] He detailed his role in the hush-money payment to McDougal, stating that he monitored progress by text, phone and the Signal app. [324] He repeated that he communicated by "phone, email and text" with McDougal, Daniels and Keith Davidson. [324] [27] By text message, Cohen told Dylan Howard that he was making the payments on Trump's behalf. [324] He further noted that after Pecker refused to pay for the Daniels story, he took over as funder of "catch-and-kill operations". [324]
According to Cohen, he and everybody at the organization had contact with Weisselberg. [324] He further accused Weisselberg of providing him with the financial advice concerning the payment to McDougal, stating that it would also foreshadow the way he arranged for the Daniels payment. [324] Cohen noted that he first learned of the Daniels allegation in 2011 after it was leaked to The Dirty, and that Trump took him up on his offer to get the story taken down. [27] He also brought up how the Access Hollywood tape was viewed as a campaign liability and that Trump afterwards directed him to pay off Daniels to avoid "catastrophic" damage. [324] [27] Cohen acknowledged that he suggested the idea of including a clause in the nondisclosure agreement ensuring Daniels would be penalized $1,000,000 every time she told her story. [324]
Cohen acknowledged Hope Hicks's testimony about the conversation over the McDougal payment press coverage. [324] Cohen testified that he aspired to be a personal lawyer to the president but that Trump, instead of granting him this role, significantly cut his 2016 bonus. Cohen said his relationship with Trump was falling apart at this time. He said his work for Trump boosted his personal career, including by securing more prominent clients. [324]
On May 14, Cohen resumed his testimony. [327] He said he sent the Trump Organization false invoices requesting money for "services rendered." He said that, in February 2017, he confronted Trump in the Oval Office telling him he hadn't received any repayment yet. [328] He said he lied about Daniels to protect Trump (while also "staying on Trump’s message" by lying about the Trump Tower Moscow project). [329] Cohen testified that, in January 2018, he pressured Davidson to have Daniels sign a false statement denying the affair and payment, which Daniels signed on January 30, and also offered her an appearance on Fox News with Sean Hannity. [330] [331] Cohen testified how Daniels also wanted an appearance on Fox News' Hannity, though she would not go through with it. [332] [331] Cohen also testified that he agreed to stop lying for Trump following a meeting he had with his family shortly before his 2018 guilty plea. [332] Before the day concluded, Cohen, who is the prosecution's final witness, began defense cross-examination. [332]
Trump stated on April 12, 2024, that he "absolutely" intended to testify in his own defense, though he is not required to. After court adjourned on May 2, Trump falsely claimed to reporters that the gag order would prevent him from testifying, [333] but immediately upon reconvening the next morning, Merchan corrected Trump on the record telling him, "...you have an absolute right to testify at trial. The order prohibiting extra-judicial statements does not prevent you from testifying in any way." [334] Later that day Trump told reporters the gag order does not prevent him from taking the stand after all. [335] On May 7, Trump said he "would like" to testify. [336]
Allen Weisselberg is not expected to testify. [337] On May 2, 2024, The Daily Beast broke a story that Weisselberg had assisted the 2016 campaign. [338] [k] [l] Karen McDougal is not expected to testify either. [315] [319]
Trump said he would testify and to tell the truth, then stated that "the truth is that there's no case." [339] On April 16, countering claims that payments to Cohen were illegitimately filed as legal expenses, Trump told reporters that "I was paying a lawyer, and I marked it down as a legal expense. ... That's exactly what it was." [340] [m] On May 3, Trump posted to Truth Social about the recording of him and Cohen discussing reimbursing Pecker for the payment to McDougal, [308] [144]
The tape played yesterday and discussed today, while good for my case, was cut off at the end, in the early stages of something very positive that I was in the midst of saying. Why was it cut off??? [n]
On April 15, prosecutors asked the judge to hold Trump in contempt and fine him $3,000 for three alleged violations of the gag order against him; [248] prosecutors also requested to use the attacks on Cohen as evidence. [241] [223] [342] By the morning of April 18, prosecutors alleged that Trump incurred seven further violations of the order and requested that he be fined another $7,000. [248]
On April 23, Merchan heard arguments about whether Trump had violated the earlier gag order when he made social-media posts about two expected witnesses. [343] Though Merchan did not immediately rule, he criticized Trump's attorney Todd Blanche for failing to justify Trump's claim that he was merely responding to "political attacks" and for failing to provide any legal precedent supporting Trump's claim that reposting an article could not be a violation of a gag order; Merchan told Blanche, "You're losing credibility." [343] [344] Merchan rejected Trump's position that reposting a news article to social media was a merely "passive" rather than active act. [345] [o] The defense also declared that "Trump absolutely knows what the gag order allows him to do and does not allow him to do." [345]
On April 30, Trump became the first U.S. president ever to be held in criminal contempt of court, under NY Judiciary Law Section 750(3). [346] (Trump had previously been held in civil contempt, for withholding documents, in the New York business fraud case.) [347] Trump was found in contempt on nine of the ten counts, regarding statements made from April 10–17. [348] Over the next few days, he paid a $9,000 fine. [349] [350] [351] Merchan said he would consider jailing Trump for further violations "if necessary and appropriate". [352]
On May 2, a second hearing was held to consider four further violation claims. The prosecution said it was "not yet seeking jail". [353] [354] On May 6, Trump was found in contempt for one of those four claims (when he on April 22 commented on the jury) and was fined $1,000. The judge again warned Trump that of possible incarceration for further violations. [355]
The mayor of New York City, Eric Adams, said that corrections officials would be "ready" if the judge ordered incarceration. [356]
After he was taken into custody on Tuesday, Trump was fingerprinted as part of the booking process, but his mug shot was not taken
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People of the State of New York v. Trump | |
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Court | New York Supreme Court |
Full case name | The People of the State of New York v. Donald J. Trump |
Submitted | March 30, 2023 |
Started | April 15, 2024 |
Charge | First-degree falsifying business records (34 counts) |
Citation(s) | IND-71543-23 [1] |
Court membership | |
Judge sitting | Juan Merchan |
| ||
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Business and personal 45th President of the United States Tenure Impeachments Prosecutions Interactions involving Russia |
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The People of the State of New York v. Donald J. Trump is an ongoing criminal trial against Donald Trump, the 45th president of the United States. Trump faces 34 felony charges of falsifying business records with the intent to commit or conceal other crimes relating to payments made to pornographic film actress Stormy Daniels to ensure her silence about an earlier alleged affair between them. The Manhattan District Attorney accused Trump of falsifying these business records with the intent to violate federal campaign finance limits, unlawfully influence the 2016 U.S. presidential election, and commit tax fraud. [2] [3] [4] [5] The charges carry a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison if Trump is convicted on five or more counts. [6] [7] [8] [9] [a]
The indictment, the first of a former U.S. president, [11] [12] [13] was approved by a Manhattan grand jury on March 30, 2023. Trump traveled from his residence in Florida to New York City on April 3, 2023, where he surrendered to the Manhattan District Attorney's office and was arraigned the next afternoon. [14] [15] The trial began on April 15, 2024, and is expected to take about seven weeks. [16] Trial arguments began on April 22. [17] On April 30, Trump became the first U.S. president ever to be held in criminal contempt of court, due to comments he made earlier in the month about individuals involved with the trial.
Months before he was indicted, Trump announced his intention to campaign in the 2024 presidential election; [18] [19] neither the indictment nor any resulting conviction would disqualify his candidacy. [20] [21]
In July 2006, Stormy Daniels, an American pornographic film actress, met Trump at a celebrity golf tournament in Nevada. At the time, Trump was the host of the reality TV series The Apprentice and was married to Melania Trump. [22] According to Daniels, Trump invited her to his penthouse at Harrah's Lake Tahoe [23] where the two had sex and talked about making her a guest on The Apprentice. [24] [25]
In 2011, Daniels considered selling the story to the celebrity magazine Life & Style for US$15,000 as Trump began exploring a potential presidential bid. His lawyer, Michael Cohen, threatened to sue Life & Style when it asked the Trump Organization for comment. Daniels' agent, Gina Rodriguez, leaked the story to gossip blog The Dirty in October. The post was taken down following complaints by Trump's lawyers, and Daniels disputed the story's veracity. [26] Cohen acknowledged during court testimony in May 2024 that he advised for the story's removal. [27]
As Trump's 2016 presidential campaign began, Rodriguez approached multiple publications—including the National Enquirer—and attempted to sell the story. Following the publication of a lewd tape between Trump and the television host Billy Bush, the National Enquirer sought to suppress the story. Rather than paying Daniels, the National Enquirer editor-in-chief Dylan Howard negotiated a $130,000 non-disclosure agreement between Daniels and Michael Cohen. As the election neared, Cohen attempted to find the money and repeatedly delayed her payment. Keith Davidson, Daniels' lawyer, canceled the deal in October 2016. [23] [26]
Ultimately, Cohen drew the money from his home equity line of credit and sent it through a shell company incorporated in Delaware. [23] [26] Trump initially denied knowing about the check made out to Daniels. In April 2018, aboard Air Force One, he told a reporter he did not know where Cohen got the money. [28] Rudy Giuliani, an attorney for Trump, refuted these claims in a Fox News interview, saying that Trump was aware of the payments. [29]
Trump wrote several checks, totaling $420,000, to Cohen. The checks reimbursed him for the non-disclosure agreement and covered the costs for Cohen to manipulate online polls to boost Trump's status. The $180,000 paid to Cohen was doubled to offset taxes, and $60,000 was added. These payments were made throughout 2017, during Trump's first year of his presidency. [30] The payments made to Cohen were declared as a legal expense. [31] Nine monthly checks from Trump to Cohen, dating April to December 2017, exist as evidence. [32]
In January 2018, The Wall Street Journal reported on Cohen's payment to Daniels. [33] Cohen pleaded guilty to eight criminal counts relating to the payment—as well as another payment made to Karen McDougal—in August. In his admission of guilt, Cohen implicated Trump, stating that he acted "at the direction of a candidate for federal office". [34] In December 2018, Cohen was sentenced to three years in prison. [35]
Following Cohen's August 2018 admission of guilt, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. opened an investigation against the Trump Organization and two of its executives. [36] The office paused its inquiry when the office of the federal U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York began a separate investigation into the payments, [37] but the federal inquiry concluded without charges in July 2019. [38]
The Manhattan district attorney's office then issued a subpoena for the Trump Organization in August, seeking documents relating to the payments. [39] Additionally, the office subpoenaed accounting firm Mazars USA, demanding eight years of Trump's corporate tax returns. [40] Trump's lawyers sued Vance to block the subpoena, citing Trump's immunity from criminal inquiries as the president of the United States. [41] In Trump v. Vance, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 7–2 in favor of Vance, allowing the subpoena to continue. [42]
Following the 2021 New York County District Attorney election, Alvin Bragg succeeded Vance as the Manhattan District Attorney. [43] In January 2023, the Manhattan district attorney's office impaneled a grand jury, and began presenting evidence of Trump's role in the Stormy Daniels payment. [44] Cohen extensively met with the DA's office and the grand jury, [45] [46] [47] and by March 3, Cohen had met with the DA's office 18 times. [48] [49] [50] and had given his cellphones to the DA's prosecutors, who wanted evidence of communications including voice recordings of Daniels' former lawyer Keith Davidson. [51] Several other witnesses met with the DA's office or the grand jury in March 2023, including Kellyanne Conway; [52] Hope Hicks, two organization employees, two former National Enquirer executives who helped broker the hush-money deal, and a lawyer for Daniels; [53] [54] Daniels herself; [55] Trump-aligned lawyer Robert Costello, who provided testimony including emails in which he attempted to discredit Cohen's reliability; [56] [57] and former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker. [58] [59] [b] As early as that February, prosecutors confirmed that they might leverage additional charges including insurance fraud against Allen Weisselberg to pressure him to testify against Trump, [62] and in May, The New York Times reported that they were considering perjury charges against him. [63]
In March 2023, prosecutors signaled an indictment was likely. [64] By March 9, prosecutors had offered Trump a chance to testify before the grand jury the following week, indicating that they were likely preparing to indict him. [65] [66] Around that time, Trump and his spokesperson began referring to both Daniels' allegation and the DA's proceedings as " extortion". [67] On March 10, Trump's lawyer Joe Tacopina asked New York City's Department of Investigation to review the criminal probe, asserting its "weaponization". [68] On March 13, Tacopina announced that Trump would not testify. [69] Early the next morning, The Guardian reported that Trump's lawyers had argued to the DA that Trump should not be indicted on the basis that the payment did not draw from campaign funds and would have been made regardless of his candidacy. [70]
In late March, there was reporting around Daniels having reportedly unsuccessfully communicated in 2018 with Tacopina about possibly representing her in the scandal, for which the DA could move to disqualify the lawyer due to attorney–client privilege and because she reputedly disclosed confidential information to his firm. [71] [72] [73] [74] Additionally, it reemerged that in 2018 Tacopina had called the hush-money payment "an illegal agreement", "a fraud", and "a potential campaign finance issue". [71]
On March 18, Trump claimed on his social-media platform, Truth Social, that he was to be arrested on March 21 [c] [d] and that the proceedings were disinformation backed by President Joe Biden, calling for protests in anticipation of a possible indictment. [77] [78] [79] [80] [81] Law enforcement and security agencies prepared for a potential indictment of Trump that week, especially in the areas of the Manhattan Criminal Court and Trump Tower, including by monitoring online threats. [80] [82] [83] [e] New York City Police began to increase security in preparation for the expected indictment on March 21, and a second time for the second expected indictment on March 30. [85] Metal barriers were set up around Trump Tower and the district Criminal Court Building. [86] On March 24, Trump, citing his presidential prospects, insinuated that "potential death & destruction" could result from Bragg's allegedly false charge. [87] [f]
The Manhattan grand jury voted to indict Trump on March 30, 2023. [89] The indictment was filed with the New York Supreme Court (the ordinary trial court for felonies in the state of New York and not the final court of appeal for the state) the same day. [90] The charges were under seal until published when Trump was arraigned in the Manhattan Criminal Court. [91] [92]
The indictment charged Trump with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in the first degree, in violation of New York Penal Law §175.10. [93] Each count is related to a specific business document, each having a date ranging from February 14 through December 5, 2017: [7]
The allegedly falsified documents are related to Trump's payment to Stormy Daniels as hush money. The payments were listed in the business records as a legal expense payable to Michael Cohen, whereas the indictment alleges that they were actually to reimburse Cohen for the earlier, allegedly illicit, payment to Daniels. [94] [95]
Falsifying business records in the first degree is a felony under New York state law that requires that the "intent to defraud includes an intent to commit another crime or to aid or conceal the commission thereof". This is in contrast to falsifying business records in the second degree, which is a misdemeanor that does not have that requirement. [7] [94] [95] In later filings, Bragg listed three such crimes that Trump allegedly intended to commit: violation of federal campaign finance limits, violation of state election laws by unlawfully influencing the 2016 election, and violation of state tax laws regarding the reimbursement. [96] Trump can move to allow the jury the option to convict on the misdemeanor charges as a lesser included offense, but is not required to do so. [97]
Each count for which Trump is convicted could result in a prison sentence of up to four years, to be served consecutively, or the judge could impose no prison sentence. [98] A conviction would not legally prohibit Trump from continuing his campaign in the 2024 presidential election, nor would he be forbidden from assuming presidency should he win, even if he were in prison. [99] Trump stated in an April 2023 Fox News interview with Tucker Carlson that he would not drop his candidacy in the 2024 U.S. presidential election if he is convicted. [100] [101]
Trump was arraigned on April 4, 2023. A law enforcement source told Reuters that police would close streets around the courthouse in advance of Trump's expected appearance. [102] On April 3, Trump flew from Palm Beach International Airport into LaGuardia Airport on his private plane, and took his motorcade to Trump Tower, where he stayed the night. [103] [104] Todd Blanche, a lawyer who had defended Paul Manafort during his 2016 fraud trial, had recently resigned from his law firm to aid Trump's case. [105] Police increased security in and around Manhattan ahead of the arraignment; authorities said there were no credible threats of violence or organized plans of protests. [104] Eric Adams, the mayor of New York City, warned protestors to be peaceful. [106] Acting New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan is presiding over the case. [107] Merchan denied a motion filed by media organizations to allow a television broadcast of the arraignment or to allow electronic devices to be used in the courtroom, but allowed five press pool still photographers. [108] [109] Courtroom sketch artists also documented the proceedings. [110] The courtroom's glass doors were covered as a security measure. [111]
Upon entering the courthouse, he was put in police custody and placed under arrest. [112] [113] He was booked and fingerprinted, but he was not handcuffed, nor was a mug shot taken. [114] [115] Trump entered the courtroom an hour later, [116] pleading not guilty to 34 felony charges. [117] The indictment was unsealed (publicly released) shortly thereafter, charging Trump with 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree as part of a "conspiracy to undermine the integrity of the 2016 election." [118] [119] At the arraignment, Merchan warned Trump not to use social media to incite violence. [120]
Possible trial dates were discussed; prosecutors proposed January 2024, but Trump's defense team objected, saying that the trial should be set for later in 2024. [121]
Immediately after the arraignment, Trump returned to Mar-a-Lago and addressed a crowd of supporters in the evening. [122] [103] Trump made several false claims about topics such as his handling of government documents, District Attorney Bragg, and the Trump–Raffensperger phone call. [123]
During Trump's arraignment, the court set deadlines for pre-trial proceedings, including for prosecutors to provide discovery to the defense. [121] The court set a deadline of August 8, 2023, for pre-trial motions to be filed. [121]
As he had done in other cases, Trump was expected to use "attack-and-delay" tactics, targeting the prosecutors and the judge while prolonging proceedings, with the result that the case might continue into late 2024, near the presidential election. [124] [125]
On September 29, 2023, Trump's team submitted omnibus motions to dismiss the indictment and requesting clarification of the charges. [126]
On April 27, Trump's team asked for the charges to be explained in full. [127] It was possible that the second crime(s) would eventually be specified in a bill of particulars, [128] but according to a governing appeals case from c. 1980 this is not necessary. [129] On May 16, the DA's office argued that it did not need to elaborate further on the basis that Trump already "has more than sufficient information to prepare his defense", while reiterating possible secondary charges. [130] [131] [g] Trump's team was reportedly considering invoking a 2000 U.S. Supreme Court decision which emphasizes the importance of specifying punishable criminal charges; additionally, a 1999 decision states that "any fact ... that increases the maximum penalty for [one] crime must be charged in an indictment ... and proved". [127]
On February 15, 2024, the court denied the motions to dismiss. [132] [133] [134] However, the court did partially grant Trump's request seeking clarification of the charges. Trump is not only accused of falsifying business records, but doing so with the intention to commit or conceal some other crime. Holding it would be unfair to expect Trump to prepare a defense to a newly-raised theory mid-trial, the court limited the prosecution to just three theories of "other crimes" that had already been identified during pre-trial procedure. [132] [135]
As of Trump's arraignment on April 4, 2023, it was expected that the discovery process would take several months. [136]
On April 17, 2023, the DA's office requested that Merchan obtain further information from Tacopina, including his firm's correspondence with Daniels, to determine whether their history constituted a conflict of interest. [74] On September 1, Merchan ruled that it did not. [137]
On May 4, Merchan heard arguments about the DA office's request to restrict information it turns over to Trump's lawyers from being shared with Trump himself (at least until the trial), citing his past social-media posts attacking Bragg and witnesses. The defense has argued that the government should be equally restrained from discussing information publicly and that Trump should be allowed to defend himself politically. [138] [139] On May 8, Merchan ruled in favor of the order, barring evidence from being shared on social media. [140] The judge instructed Trump and his lawyers on their conduct on May 23, informing them that violations could incur a "wide range of sanctions" including being held in contempt of court. [141]
On May 26, prosecutors stated that they had informed Trump's lawyers that evidence in the hush-money case includes various audio recordings, including one of Trump and a witness. It was unclear if this was in reference to secretly recorded audio from September 2016 which Cohen had previously released. [142] [143] [144] [145]
On August 3, federal judge Lewis A. Kaplan, who oversaw E. Jean Carroll's civil lawsuits against Trump alleging sexual assault and defamation, [h] ruled that Carroll's lawyers could provide video of Trump being deposed to Manhattan prosecutors. [148]
On January 15, 2024, Tacopina withdrew from Trump's counsel [149] and Daniels said she expected to testify. [150] Later in the month, the DA was reportedly beginning to meet with witnesses ahead of the trial. [151]
On March 18, the judge ruled that both Daniels and Cohen could testify, placing some restrictions on Daniels (as well as Karen McDougal). The defense had requested that the two be blocked from testifying the previous month. Additionally, the judge ruled that Trump's infamous Access Hollywood tape could not be played during the trial but that it could be discussed. [152]
On April 22, Merchan ruled on what prosecutors may ask Trump if he testifies, [153] following a pretrial Sandoval hearing held April 19. [154] [155] [156]
On May 31, 2023, Trump's lawyers unsuccessfully filed a motion asking Judge Merchan to disqualify himself because, according to the defense, the judge and his family have supported the Democratic Party, including three $10–15 donations of his to Democratic causes and his daughter's role as a partner and COO of a Democratic consulting firm that serviced Biden's 2020 presidential campaign. [157] [158] On June 20, the DA's office argued against the recusal request, citing Trump's alleged "prolific history of baselessly accusing state and federal judges around the country of bias", saying he seemed to be trying to land a more favorable judge. Prosecutors further argued that there was a lack of hard evidence that a particular trial result would aid Merchan directly or greatly via his daughter's Democratic work, [159] which a state ethics panel had similarly concluded in early May. [160] The court denied the motion on August 11, 2023. [161]
On April 1, 2024, the defense asked Merchan for permission to file a motion repeating their prior request that he recuse himself for what the defense said was a conflict of interest due to his daughter's Democratic involvement. [162] On April 2; prosecutors pointed out that the court and an ethics panel had already found that the political activities of a relative are not grounds for questioning a judge's impartiality. [163]
The same day, Trump posted a Fox & Friends clip in which co-host Brian Kilmeade criticizes the judge's daughter, although Trump highlighted another commentator's statement. [164] As of April 3, Trump had not deleted offending posts made prior to Merchan's expanded order; [165] that night, he linked to a report by far-right activist Laura Loomer criticizing Merchan's daughter and wife. [166] On April 5, Trump's campaign publicized their motion for Merchan to recuse himself (dated April 3), [163] which asserts numerous counts of bias, and falsely cites the state Office of Court Administration (OCA) as saying Merchan's daughter deleted her X account in April 2023, around when the judge "solicited an ethics opinion regarding recusal in a letter ... that the Court declined to disclose". [167] [160] In fact, the OCA had stated that the X account was reactivated in April 2023, following a long period of disuse. [168] On April 6, Trump posted online that if arrested for violating the gag order, he would consider it a "great honor" to "become a Modern Day Nelson Mandela", the former South African president jailed for anti- apartheid activism. [169] On April 8, Trump's team asked an appeals court to delay the trial and pause the gag order while they appeal the latter; this was denied the following day. [170] [171] On April 10, an appeals judge denied another defense delay request (perhaps its eleventh) which was based on Merchan having not yet ruled on the recusal motion. [172] [170] On April 15, Merchan denied the recusal motion. [173] On April 30, an appellate court denied requests for both a recusal and a stay of proceedings. [174]
On May 4, 2023, Trump's lawyers asked for the case to be moved to a federal court (though it would remain a state-law prosecution conducted by the Manhattan DA), arguing that it involved alleged conduct somehow "performed while in office"—despite the potential federal election-law violations not being specified (nor being required to) in the charges and occurring prior to Trump's inauguration. [139] [131] [i] As proceedings continued in the New York Supreme Court, [175] Bragg asked for the removal request to be dismissed, arguing that Trump had failed to establish that he was an officer of the United States during his presidency, [176] [177] to which the defense expounded its initial argument. [178] [139] Even if the case had been moved to federal court, New York state law would have continued to apply. [179]
In a hearing on June 27, District Judge Alvin Hellerstein opined that Trump's conduct likely did not constitute presidential activity. [180] On July 19, arguing that the matter was apparently a personal "cover-up of an embarrassing event", Hellerstein ruled that the case should remain in state court. [181] Trump appealed the decision on July 28, [182] but withdrew this on November 14. [183]
In early February 2024, Trump's federal election obstruction trial, originally set for early March, was postponed pending appeals, increasing the likelihood of the Manhattan criminal trial taking place as planned on March 25, 2024. [184] [185] This would mark the first-ever criminal trial of a former president. [184] On February 15, Merchan confirmed the trial date and denied Trump's request to dismiss the case, with Trump in attendance. [186]
On March 11, 2024, Trump lawyers requested a delay of trial until after the federal election obstruction case on the basis that it would bolster his argument of presidential immunity, as some evidence and allegedly some acts overlapped with his time in office. [187] Trump's team cited, from April 2018, Trump's denying knowledge of the hush-money payment to reporters and tweeting in defense of Cohen's credibility. [188] Later on March 11, Merchan pointed out that Trump's team had missed the filing deadline and said either party would need his permission to file additional pretrial motions. [187] On March 3, the judge dismissed the request as untimely. [189]
Also on March 11, Trump asked to delay trial until after the Supreme Court decides whether he is generally immune from prosecution in the federal charges on election obstruction. Granting the motion would have delayed trial until mid-summer or later, as the Supreme Court had already scheduled those arguments for April 25 [190] and may not rule until the end of the court's term in early July. [191] Merchan denied the motion on April 3, [192] saying that he doubted its "sincerity and actual purpose", given that Trump made this request only two weeks before trial. [193]
On March 18, Trump's team requested an additional delay on the basis that pretrial publicity and apparent anti-Trump bias in Manhattan would prohibit a fair jury from being selected in April, although only 35% in the cited poll said they were convinced Trump was guilty in the DA's case specifically. Trump's lawyers cited berating statements by Cohen, e.g. saying he served jail time because his "lying" former boss "couldn't keep his mushroom dick in his pants". On March 25, the assistant DA countered that "publicity is not likely to abate [and] the pretrial publicity has been ... exacerbated by the defendant". [194] On April 8, Trump's team asked the appeals court for a delay to allow an attempt to move the trial to a different county, which was denied the same day. [170]
On May 23, 2023, Justice Merchan set the trial for March 25, 2024. [195] Trump's team complained that he expected to have multiple trials around that time. Merchan said he would discuss rescheduling closer to the time. [196] At a February 15, 2024, hearing, which Trump attended, [197] Merchan reaffirmed the March 25 trial date. [198]
In March 2024, the U.S. Attorney's Office provided prosecutors with approximately 170,000 pages of documents, largely related to the 2017 federal probe of Cohen's payment to Daniels (and mostly reflecting evidence already turned over to Trump's lawyers in June 2023). [199] [200] [201] Trump's lawyers sought a delay in the trial on the basis of the newly produced records; the DA Office's said in court that only 300 of the documents were relevant to Trump's defense. [202] On March 15, 2024, the judge delayed the start of trial until mid-April. [203] On March 25, 2024, the judge set a trial date of April 15, and denied a motion by Trump's team to further delay the trial. [202]
On April 8, Trump requested to postpone the trial so the court could consider a change of venue, which was denied the same day, [204] and so he could appeal the gag order, which was denied the next day. [205] On April 10, the appeals court denied Trump's request to postpone trial on the basis of Merchan being unqualified. [206] On April 12, Merchan denied the defendant's request to delay trial on the basis of "prejudicial" media coverage. [207] On April 15, Merchan said Trump "is required to be here" on April 25 and "not required to be at the Supreme Court" that day when it hears arguments on his immunity claim in the federal election case. [208] Merchan said he was not yet prepared to say whether trial would be held on May 17 to allow Trump to attend his son Barron's high-school graduation, but indicated that he probably would grant him the day off if the proceedings progressed at an expected pace. [209] Trump subsequently complained that he would "not be allowed" to attend the graduation, but on April 30 the judge said he would be able to do so. [210]
In a May 2023 hearing and court filing, prosecutors expressed concern that Trump would misuse evidence obtained through pretrial discovery procedure to attack people involved in the case, including witnesses. [179] Justice Merchan declined to issue a gag order or prohibit Trump from publicly commenting about the case against him, [179] but issued a protective order setting rules for the use of social media involving elements of the case, and set a hearing (with Trump to appear remotely) to explain the rules. [211] [212]
On February 26, 2024, the Manhattan DA asked for a gag order on Trump, noting that Trump has been fined $15,000 for two violations of a gag order in the civil fraud trial by disparaging the judge's law clerk on social media, and reporting that police had logged 89 threats to Bragg, his family, or staff in 2023 (as opposed to a single threat in 2022). [213] On March 7, Merchan ruled that the jury would be anonymous except to some involved in the trial, including Trump, his lawyers, and prosecutors. [214] On March 26, Merchan imposed a gag order on Trump, restricting what he could say publicly about people involved in the case. [215] Additionally, the judge warned the defense, under the threat of contempt, against dilatory tactics such as the late filing of pretrial motions or last-minute demands, pointing out that Trump had "stated publicly that the defense goal is to delay these proceedings ... past the 2024 presidential election". [216] [217] On March 26, Trump made online posts chastising the judge, the gag order, and Merchan's daughter, the latter over an anti-Trump social-media post created by someone impersonating her on social media. [218] [219] [220] The same day, Merchan imposed a gag order forbidding Trump to publicly comment on court staff, prosecutors, prospective jurors, or their families, or to cause others to make such statements, in a way that interferes with the case. Bragg (as a public figure) and Merchan (as the judge) were specifically exempted from protection. [221] [222] The court also ordered Trump not to comment on prospective trial witnesses concerning their potential participation in the criminal case. [223]
On March 27 and 28, Trump again referenced Merchan's daughter on social media. [222] [224] On March 29, prosecutors requested that the limits of the gag order be explicated regarding family of court staff in hopes of terminating what they considered intentionally defiant behavior by Trump. [219] [225] On April 1, Merchan expanded the gag order to protect his and Bragg's family members, saying attacks on them "serve no legitimate purpose". [226] [227] He wrote that Trump's continued attacks posted a "very real" threat to the integrity of proceedings and could cause those involved in the case to fear for themselves and their families, which would "undoubtedly interfere with the fair administration of justice and constitutes a direct attack on the Rule of Law itself." [228] On April 11, Trump disparaged expected witnesses Cohen and Daniels on social media, referring to them as dishonest "sleaze bags." [223]
Contempt hearings were later held concerning numerous alleged violations of the gag order.
On May 14, a New York appeals court denied Trump's request to overturn the gag order. [229]
Date | Witness | Function | |
---|---|---|---|
April 22 | David Pecker | Publisher of National Enquirer | |
April 23 | |||
April 25 | |||
April 26 | |||
Rhona Graff | Donald Trump executive assistant | ||
Gary Farro | First Republic banker | ||
April 30 | |||
Robert Browning | C-SPAN Executive Director for Archives | ||
Phillip Thompson | Regional Director of Esquire Deposition Solutions |
||
Keith Davidson | Former attorney for Stormy Daniels | ||
May 2 | |||
Douglas Daus | Computer forensics specialist in the Manhattan DA's office |
||
May 3 | Hope Hicks | Former
White House Communications Director |
|
May 6 | Jeffrey McConney | Former Trump Organization comptroller | |
Deborah Tarasoff | Trump Organization accounting employee | ||
May 7 | Sally Franklin | Penguin Books executive | |
Stormy Daniels | Hush money recipient | ||
May 9 | |||
Madeleine Westerhout | Former Director of Oval Office Operations | ||
May 10 | |||
Jennie Tomalin | Verizon senior analyst | ||
Daniel Dixon | AT&T compliance analyst | ||
Jaden Jarmel-Schneider | Paralegal in the Manhattan DA's office | ||
Georgia Longstreet | Paralegal in the Manhattan DA's office | ||
May 13 | Michael Cohen | Hush money intermediary |
The trial began on April 15, 2024, and is expected to last eight weeks, into June, [230] with recessed Wednesdays. [231] Trump is required to attend every day of trial barring a court-approved absence. [232] If he chooses to testify, prosecutors can ask him about his civil lawsuits regarding business fraud, sexual abuse, and defamation as well as the 2018 dissolution of his charitable foundation. [233] Attorneys Todd Blanche and Susan Necheles are representing him. [234]
The trial is not televised. [235] Initially, Merchan allowed photographers to stand at the front of the room for a few minutes each morning before the trial began to take photos of Trump seated. Merchan withdrew this permission on May 9 after at least one photo was taken from the side of the table. [236]
On April 8, 2024, the judge gave attorneys a copy of the jury selection questionnaire, [237] with jury selection beginning on April 15 [238] [239] from a pool of over 500 candidates. [240]
Over the first two days, 96 potential jurors appeared, of which more than half were immediately dismissed after indicating that they could not be impartial. Nine jurors provisionally qualified on the first day, and an additional ten on the second; [241] [242] [243] from these 19, seven jurors were selected and sworn in. However, two were excused on April 18, one of whom complained that her friends and family had recognized her from details published in the news. [243] [244] [245] Trump was reprimanded by the judge on April 16 for gesturing and audibly speaking in the direction of a potential juror. [246] [247]
Another group of 96 potential jurors was brought in later in the week. [245] Twelve jurors, along with one alternate, were selected by April 18. [248] The selection of six alternate jurors concluded on April 19. [249] [250] The jury reportedly comprises seven men and five women, who mostly have white-collar careers. [251] The jurors are allowed to tell their family and employers that they are on the jury but cannot discuss the case with them. [252] Trump apparently fell asleep for brief intervals on four out of the first five days of the trial, ahead of opening statements. [253] [254] [255] [256] [257]
On April 22, opening statements began. [258] Prosecutors accused Trump, Cohen, and Pecker of campaign finance violations, alleging they coordinated payments to two women and concealed them as part of a conspiracy to influence the 2016 election. [259] During their opening statements, prosecutors said the jury would be presented with a document with a handwritten note in the margin by Allen Weisselberg outlining the hush-money payment scheme. [260] [261]
The defense argued that the testimony of Cohen, a convicted felon, could not be trusted; that the payments were ordinary business transactions, akin to editorial decisions made by newspapers; [262] and that in democracies it is normal for candidates to attempt to influence an election. [259]
Prosecutors called former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker to testify on April 22, 23, 25 and 26 as the trial's first witness, taking most of the first week of testimony. [263] He had been given immunity in 2018 in a federal investigation into Michael Cohen in exchange for information regarding hush money deals. [264] During Pecker's testimony, it was implied that former National Enquirer editor Dylan Howard, who Pecker stated was now living in Australia and suffering from a "spinal condition", would not testify. [263] [265] It was previously reported that while Pecker and his company American Media Inc. (AMI), the National Enquirer's parent company, facilitated payment to McDougal, [266] Pecker refused to personally do the same with Daniels, [267] [268] though he allegedly alerted Trump associates about Daniels' decision to go public with her affair allegation. [269] On April 23, Pecker testified that Cohen used to feed him negative stories about Trump's enemies, which Pecker's staff would then "embellish" and show drafts to Cohen to get his feedback before publishing them. [270] Pecker also detailed how he offered to deploy the "catch and kill" scheme, stating that he offered in 2015 to suppress negative stories about Trump and flag efforts by women attempting to sell stories about him. [271] The prosecution cited a state election law regarding conspiracy to defend their questioning of Pecker about his contacts with Steve Bannon, the chief executive officer of Trump's 2016 campaign. [272]
On April 25, Pecker testified that AMI suppressed negative press about other celebrities, which was emphasized by Trump's team in their cross-examination. [273] Additionally, he stated that he did not believe Cohen was working for Trump's campaign. [274] Pecker discussed his relationship with Trump prior to the 2016 campaign, during which he suppressed other negative stories about him. Pecker detailed how his company, Trump and Cohen facilitated payment to McDougal in mid-2016, in tandem with promising her a ghostwritten monthly column in an attempt to disguise the contract's true nature. [273] [235] [275] In September 2016, Cohen asked to purchase the boxes of McDougal's source material (valued by Pecker at $25,000) on Trump's behalf. Pecker then told Cohen that he did not want to be reimbursed for the payment to McDougal. According to Pecker, an AMI staff member leaked details of the scheme on November 4, 2016, ahead of the election, after which Pecker released a false statement that AMI had never paid anyone to kill damaging stories about Trump. AMI then amended its contract with McDougal allowing her to speak to the press. [275] Pecker also described a January 2017 meeting in Trump Tower in which Trump thanked Pecker for his work regarding McDougal and another story. [275] [276] [j] Pecker said his decision not to facilitate payment to Daniels (because she was a porn star) led to it being done by Cohen. [273] Pecker testified he acted at Trump's behest and intended to help him win the presidency, despite his own doubts regarding campaign-finance laws. [275] [277] Additionally, Pecker said that after receiving a letter from the Federal Election Commission about possible campaign violations in mid-2021, he signed a non-prosecution deal with federal prosecutors for his cooperation. [275]
Four witnesses testified over the latter part of April 26 through the earlier part of April 30.
On April 26, Trump's executive assistant Rhona Graff testified that when she worked outside Trump's office in Trump Tower, she maintained contact information for McDougal and Daniels, [278] and that she had a "vague recollection" of glimpsing Daniels at a Trump Tower reception area. [279] During her cross-examination by the defense, Graff said Trump was sometimes prone to multitasking while signing checks, depending "what was going on ... and how important the checks were". [32] [280]
Additional testimony was also provided by former First Republic banker Gary Farro on April 26 and 30. He testified that on October 26, 2016 he helped Cohen open an account for a real-estate limited liability corporation. According to prosecutors, the same day, Cohen deposited $131,000 from his personal home-equity credit line, and the next day transferred $130,000 to Daniels' lawyer, Keith Davidson. [279] [281] [282] He detailed how he assisted in setting up the bank account which enabled Cohen to make the hush money payment. Farro stated that Cohen was eager to connect with him, and would set up the account in October 2016. Farro also noted that the account was set up for Essential Consultants L.L.C., the company the payment was made from, and that it was also funded through Cohen's home-equity line of credit at First Republic. [282] [283] According to Farro, Cohen did not want addresses on the checks. [282] Prosecution also presented evidence showing emails to and from Cohen, which confirmed the $131,000 deposit to a checking account 20 minutes after it was opened. [283] In texts between Davidson and Cohen, Davidson provided wiring instructions for the $130,000 hush-money payment. According to Farro, First Republic closed Cohen's accounts after the payment to Daniels became public. [284]
April 30 also saw testimony from C-SPAN Executive Director for Archives Robert Browning, who verified the authenticity of C-SPAN videos of Trump, as well as Phillip Thompson, a regional director of Esquire Deposition Solutions, which provided court reporter services for Trump's October 2022 deposition in one of the E. Jean Carroll defamation cases. [285] [286]
Keith Davidson, a former attorney for Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal, appeared on April 30 and May 2. He testified that the Access Hollywood tape helped influence Daniels to go forward with her story. [287] According to Davidson's testimony, he drafted the $130,000 hush-money agreement, in which he used the pseudonyms "Peggy Peterson" for Daniels and "David Dennison" for Trump. [288] The agreement called for payment by October 14, 2016. When the payment did not arrive, Davidson communicated with Cohen, [289] who told him that Trump was traveling. [290] On October 17, Davidson wrote to Cohen that the agreement was void and furthermore that he would no longer be representing Daniels. [291] (Cohen would wire his personal funds to Davidson on October 27.) [292]
Davidson was also revealed to have sent a message to Dylan Howard on election night in 2016 in which he remarked, "What have we done?" [288] [293] Davidson testified that he believed Trump was behind the hush-money talks. [294] However, he also acknowledged how Cohen wired the transfer and that he also had conversations with Howard as well as Daniels' manager Gina Rodriguez regarding the deal. Howard and Rodriguez, who had no direct roles, would encourage Davidson to connect with Cohen. Daniels, Davidson and Rodriguez were also revealed to have received part of the $130,000 settlement payment. Davidson's role in the $150,000 deal with AMI for McDougal's story was noted as well. [284]
On May 2, the jury heard the audio recording of Cohen and Trump discussing reimbursing Pecker for McDougal's payment. [143] Additionally, audio was played of Cohen and Trump discussing the payment to Daniels, in which Cohen mentions talking to Weisselberg about setting up the payment and Trump says, "Let me know what’s happening, OK?" [295] Further audio was played of a phone call in which Cohen tells Davidson that "I can't even tell you how many times [Trump] said to me, you know, I hate the fact that we did it," apparently regarding the payment to Daniels. [143] Davidson acknowledged texting Howard on Election Night 2016: "What have we done?", to which Howard responded "Oh my god." [144] Davidson explained that this was a recognition that "our activities may have assisted the presidential campaign" and that it was "sort of gallows humor". [296] He also confirmed that, after texting with Cohen on February 13, 2018, he sent a statement to CNN anchor Chris Cuomo to corroborate Cohen's claim of having paid $130,000 to Daniels from his personal funds. [297] Davidson testified during his cross-examination that he had never personally met Trump. [143]
On May 2, prosecutors called Douglas Daus, a computer forensics specialist in the district attorney's office. Daus testified to examinations of Cohen's cell phones. Several of the prosecutions proposed exhibits were found by Daus. [298]
On May 3, former White House communications director Hope Hicks testified. She said a Wall Street Journal reporter asked her for comment on the alleged Trump–McDougal affair, which is how she learned that AMI had paid to catch and kill the story. [299] She stated that she drafted a statement to respond to The Wall Street Journal, with Cohen offering feedback, but Trump overrode them by telling Hicks to say that McDougal's allegations were "totally untrue", [300] [301] which is how she was quoted by the Journal just days before the election. [302] [266] Hicks also learned at this time that the Journal planned to publish details of Daniels' allegations, with Trump instructing Hicks to deny any affair. [303] Hicks stated that Trump sought to hide news of both scandals from Melania, [304] [303] and after the story of the payment to Daniels broke in early 2018, Trump told her that Cohen had voluntarily decided to pay Daniels to protect him; Hicks opined that this seemed out of character for Cohen. [303] Trump sought Hicks's opinion about how the Daniels story was being perceived, especially in relation to the negative impact it may have had if Cohen had not paid Daniels before the election. [301] [305] Hicks further testified that she had heard Trump praise Pecker on multiple occasions for his negative reporting on his Republican rivals in the 2016 election. [303]
According to Hicks, the Access Hollywood tape roiled the Trump campaign. [303] Though Trump tried to minimize its significance, [306] the campaign felt the tape was a "crisis". [307] Hicks stated that the tape's release stressed Trump because he wanted members of his family, including Melania, to be proud of him and not hurt or embarrassed. [308] In her cross-examination by the defense, Hicks stated that Trump "is a very good multitasker [who] is always doing many things at once". [280]
Three witnesses appeared during May 6 and the earlier part of May 7.
On May 6, former Trump Organization comptroller Jeffrey McConney testified about how Cohen was reimbursed. [309] He testified that Weisselberg instructed him in early 2017 to send the reimbursement payments to Cohen. [309] McConney acknowledged that he told organization payroll specialist (and its accounts payable supervisor) Deborah Tarasoff to falsely record the reimbursement payments as "legal expenses"; [309] he said he told her these payments were part of a retainer agreement between Cohen and Trump. [309] McConney further stated that starting in March 2017, the reimbursement checks for Cohen came from Trump's personal bank account. [309] In 2017, Cohen quit working for Trump after setting up shop at Squire Patton Boggs’s offices in Midtown, but nevertheless still identified himself as Trump's personal lawyer. [309] Numerous invoice messages from Cohen and related emails between McConney, Tarasoff and Weisselberg were shown in the courtroom. [309] Several general ledger documents associated with Trump and his trust were reviewed which showed that Trump made the reimbursement payments to Cohen. [309]
Following McConney's testimony, Deborah Tarasoff, a 24-year employee of the Trump Organization who works in accounting, took the stand to testify. She said the organization was paying for her attorney. [310] [309] She described her job duties: "I get approved bills, I enter them into the system, and I cut checks." [311] Tarasoff stated that she had no decision-making authority and merely followed instructions, but also acknowledged that she would approve invoices if she got them, including the ones which were sent to Cohen. [312] Tarasoff testified that while either Trump or one of his two older sons could approve invoices of over $10,000 since 2015, only Trump could access his personal checking account. [312] Twelve reimbursement checks for $35,000 were signed by Trump, and Tarasoff testified that they were mailed to Cohen. [312] Trump, who used a Sharpie pen when writing checks, could write "void" if he disapproved of checks Tarasoff created for the company [312] (e.g. a $70,000 check to Cohen signed by Eric Trump and Wiesselberg in February 2017, which was voided by Trump). [312] During cross-examination, Tarasoff acknowledged that she not was present for conversations between Trump and Weisselberg about the payments. [312]
On May 7, 2024, Penguin Books executive Sally Franklin testified. Franklin, whose company published a few Trump books, read excerpts from Trump: How to Get Rich and Trump: Think Like a Billionaire, including Trump quotes, "If you don’t know every aspect of what you're doing, down to the paper clips, you're setting yourself up for some unwanted surprises," and, "For many years, I've said that if someone screws you, screw them back." [313]
Stormy Daniels testified for five hours on May 7, [314] and for the earlier part of May 9. [315] She said she met Trump at a celebrity golf tournament near Lake Tahoe, Nevada, in 2006 and detailed a sexual encounter with Trump in his hotel suite after he invited her to dinner. [314] [316] Daniels stated that Trump did not use a condom and that during the encounter, "I was staring up at the ceiling, wondering how I got there," despite not having used drugs or alcohol. [314] She said she felt like she blacked out during the encounter and was traumatized by the experience. [317] [316] It was the only time they reputedly had sex. [318] Daniels said Trump offered to make her a contestant on The Apprentice; she stated that he continued alluding to the idea for a time in subsequent phone conversations, in which he referred to her as "honey bunch" and asked when they could meet again. [313] [316] Daniels noted that she met with Trump on multiple occasions, with dozens of witnesses, [316] including a visit to Trump Tower and a final encounter with Trump in Los Angeles in 2007. [316]
In accepting the hush money, Daniels stated that she was not motivated by money (although this appeared to be contradicted by a text message between her and her manager Gina Rodriguez which suggested she was willing to accept the payment). [316] She stated that she had no part in the hush-money negotiations. [316] Daniels also laid out key information about the payment. [316] She maintained her previous allegation that someone threatened her in a Las Vegas parking lot, stating that she did not report it because it would have been upsetting to Trump. [316] Daniels stated that any violation of the hush-money agreement would have cost her a million dollars. [316]
During Daniels' testimony, Merchan sustained many defense objections. [316] He repeatedly admonished Daniels for giving answers that went beyond the scope of the question asked, and at one point interrupting Daniels' testimony, stopping her from describing the sexual position she and Trump used. [314] [316] Merchan criticized the "degree of detail" on matters such as the floor size of the hotel suite. [313] In a sidebar conference, Merchan agreed with defense arguments that Daniels described things which were "better left unsaid" regarding the sexual encounter, but denied the defense's request for a mistrial, noting that the defense would have the opportunity to cross-examine Daniels. [314] [316] Merchan set confines for Daniels' later testimony and directed the prosecution to encourage her to give shorter answers. [316] Afterward, Daniels gave shorter answers and hewed closer to the question asked. [314]
When testimony resumed, Daniels stated that her lawyer Keith Davidson received the $130,000 hush-money payment, and that she got $96,000 of it. She also acknowledged that she signed a statement dated January 10, 2018, in which she denied the affair, but testified that she did not want to sign it and that it was untrue. [316]
In its cross-examination, the defense questioned Daniels about her account of being traumatized by her encounter with Trump, suggesting that her pornographic career would have made the event unsurprising. Daniels explained that the first time she realized the meeting was intended to be sexual was upon coming out of the bathroom inside Trump's hotel, finding him stripped to his boxers; she elaborated that she was "not expecting [this from] a man twice [her] age". [317] Daniels acknowledged that she had contacted renowned high-profile sexual harassment attorney Gloria Allred about potentially suing Trump for the encounter. Much of the cross-examination focused on questioning the accuracy of her allegation that she was threatened in a Las Vegas parking lot, which was revealed to have been disputed by Davidson via texts with Cohen. Despite accepting the hush money, Daniels maintained that her primary goal was to "get the story out". [316]
On May 9, Daniels concluded her testimony after hours of cross-examination. [315] Trump attorney Susan Necheles pressed Daniels on how she profited from her story and brought up minor inconsistencies in how she has told it. [315] Merchan again denied a defense motion for a mistrial. [319]
On May 9, Trump's director of Oval Office Operations in 2019 and former Secretary to the President between 2017 and 2019, Madeleine Westerhout, began testifying. [315] [319] She stated that Republican National Committee officials she was working with in 2016 discussed how to replace Trump as the Republican presidential nominee due to concern about the damaging Access Hollywood tape. [320] She also noted how she set up a meeting between Cohen and Trump in February 2017, and how the meeting led to Trump Organization employees sending reimbursement checks to the White House—which Trump would then sign and send to Cohen—through a circuitous mail system. [321] She was in tears when discussing how Trump fired her, reportedly in response to her telling reporters that she had a better relationship with him than his daughters. [322]
Westerbout resumed testifying on May 10. [321] During cross-examination, Westerbout appeared to side with defense arguments that Trump used alternatives to the White House mail system because he wanted to get mail to people more quickly. [321]
For the latter part of May 10, four other witnesses testified. [323] Among these witnesses were Jennie Tomalin (a Verizon senior analyst), Daniel Dixon (an AT&T compliance analyst), and Jaden Jarmel-Schneider (a paralegal from the Manhattan DA's office). [321] In successive testimonies, Dixon and Tomalin would authenticate cell phone records which were used as trial evidence. [321] Georgia Longstreet, another paralegal from the Manhattan DA's office, again testified after previously doing so days prior. [321] Longstreet also showed some of Trump's old tweets, as well as texts between Gina Rodriguez and Dylan Howard. [321] Jarmel-Schneider then showed a chart which summarized 34 business records which prosecutors say were falsified. [321]
On May 13, Michael Cohen, Trump's former " fixer" and attorney who is also considered to be the case's star witness, began testifying. [324] Cohen stated that Trump told him: "Just pay it. There's no reason to keep this thing out there. Just do it." [325] Cohen said that he viewed supermarket tabloids like the National Enquirer to be influential in reaching voters [324] and that Trump was concerned about the effect Daniels' story could have had on female voters. [324] Cohen had previously testified in 2018 (while pleading guilty for campaign-finance violations for his payments to Daniels during the 2016 campaign) that Trump directed him to pay Daniels. [326]
Cohen testified that Weisselberg told him to not make the payment through the Trump Organization but instead to come up with more creative ways to do it. [324] Cohen said that he and Weisselberg discussed processing the $130,000 through one of Trump's golf courses as if it were a membership or event fee but that they decided against it. When Weisselberg said he was financially unable to pay it from his personal funds, Cohen agreed to pay it. [325] After Trump's 2016 election victory, Weisselberg and Cohen discussed the reimbursement plan in Trump's 26th floor office, and Weisselberg coordinated the repayments to Cohen. [324]
Cohen acknowledged that he, Trump and David Pecker conspired to suppress negative stories and promote positive stories about Trump during the 2016 election. [324] By email (shown as evidence), Cohen informed the National Enquirer that Trump did not want them to report his affair with a "Penthouse Pet". [324] Cohen laid out his role in the National Enquirer's first catch-and-kill story about the Trump Tower doorman who alleged Trump fathered a child out of wedlock. [324] He detailed his role in the hush-money payment to McDougal, stating that he monitored progress by text, phone and the Signal app. [324] He repeated that he communicated by "phone, email and text" with McDougal, Daniels and Keith Davidson. [324] [27] By text message, Cohen told Dylan Howard that he was making the payments on Trump's behalf. [324] He further noted that after Pecker refused to pay for the Daniels story, he took over as funder of "catch-and-kill operations". [324]
According to Cohen, he and everybody at the organization had contact with Weisselberg. [324] He further accused Weisselberg of providing him with the financial advice concerning the payment to McDougal, stating that it would also foreshadow the way he arranged for the Daniels payment. [324] Cohen noted that he first learned of the Daniels allegation in 2011 after it was leaked to The Dirty, and that Trump took him up on his offer to get the story taken down. [27] He also brought up how the Access Hollywood tape was viewed as a campaign liability and that Trump afterwards directed him to pay off Daniels to avoid "catastrophic" damage. [324] [27] Cohen acknowledged that he suggested the idea of including a clause in the nondisclosure agreement ensuring Daniels would be penalized $1,000,000 every time she told her story. [324]
Cohen acknowledged Hope Hicks's testimony about the conversation over the McDougal payment press coverage. [324] Cohen testified that he aspired to be a personal lawyer to the president but that Trump, instead of granting him this role, significantly cut his 2016 bonus. Cohen said his relationship with Trump was falling apart at this time. He said his work for Trump boosted his personal career, including by securing more prominent clients. [324]
On May 14, Cohen resumed his testimony. [327] He said he sent the Trump Organization false invoices requesting money for "services rendered." He said that, in February 2017, he confronted Trump in the Oval Office telling him he hadn't received any repayment yet. [328] He said he lied about Daniels to protect Trump (while also "staying on Trump’s message" by lying about the Trump Tower Moscow project). [329] Cohen testified that, in January 2018, he pressured Davidson to have Daniels sign a false statement denying the affair and payment, which Daniels signed on January 30, and also offered her an appearance on Fox News with Sean Hannity. [330] [331] Cohen testified how Daniels also wanted an appearance on Fox News' Hannity, though she would not go through with it. [332] [331] Cohen also testified that he agreed to stop lying for Trump following a meeting he had with his family shortly before his 2018 guilty plea. [332] Before the day concluded, Cohen, who is the prosecution's final witness, began defense cross-examination. [332]
Trump stated on April 12, 2024, that he "absolutely" intended to testify in his own defense, though he is not required to. After court adjourned on May 2, Trump falsely claimed to reporters that the gag order would prevent him from testifying, [333] but immediately upon reconvening the next morning, Merchan corrected Trump on the record telling him, "...you have an absolute right to testify at trial. The order prohibiting extra-judicial statements does not prevent you from testifying in any way." [334] Later that day Trump told reporters the gag order does not prevent him from taking the stand after all. [335] On May 7, Trump said he "would like" to testify. [336]
Allen Weisselberg is not expected to testify. [337] On May 2, 2024, The Daily Beast broke a story that Weisselberg had assisted the 2016 campaign. [338] [k] [l] Karen McDougal is not expected to testify either. [315] [319]
Trump said he would testify and to tell the truth, then stated that "the truth is that there's no case." [339] On April 16, countering claims that payments to Cohen were illegitimately filed as legal expenses, Trump told reporters that "I was paying a lawyer, and I marked it down as a legal expense. ... That's exactly what it was." [340] [m] On May 3, Trump posted to Truth Social about the recording of him and Cohen discussing reimbursing Pecker for the payment to McDougal, [308] [144]
The tape played yesterday and discussed today, while good for my case, was cut off at the end, in the early stages of something very positive that I was in the midst of saying. Why was it cut off??? [n]
On April 15, prosecutors asked the judge to hold Trump in contempt and fine him $3,000 for three alleged violations of the gag order against him; [248] prosecutors also requested to use the attacks on Cohen as evidence. [241] [223] [342] By the morning of April 18, prosecutors alleged that Trump incurred seven further violations of the order and requested that he be fined another $7,000. [248]
On April 23, Merchan heard arguments about whether Trump had violated the earlier gag order when he made social-media posts about two expected witnesses. [343] Though Merchan did not immediately rule, he criticized Trump's attorney Todd Blanche for failing to justify Trump's claim that he was merely responding to "political attacks" and for failing to provide any legal precedent supporting Trump's claim that reposting an article could not be a violation of a gag order; Merchan told Blanche, "You're losing credibility." [343] [344] Merchan rejected Trump's position that reposting a news article to social media was a merely "passive" rather than active act. [345] [o] The defense also declared that "Trump absolutely knows what the gag order allows him to do and does not allow him to do." [345]
On April 30, Trump became the first U.S. president ever to be held in criminal contempt of court, under NY Judiciary Law Section 750(3). [346] (Trump had previously been held in civil contempt, for withholding documents, in the New York business fraud case.) [347] Trump was found in contempt on nine of the ten counts, regarding statements made from April 10–17. [348] Over the next few days, he paid a $9,000 fine. [349] [350] [351] Merchan said he would consider jailing Trump for further violations "if necessary and appropriate". [352]
On May 2, a second hearing was held to consider four further violation claims. The prosecution said it was "not yet seeking jail". [353] [354] On May 6, Trump was found in contempt for one of those four claims (when he on April 22 commented on the jury) and was fined $1,000. The judge again warned Trump that of possible incarceration for further violations. [355]
The mayor of New York City, Eric Adams, said that corrections officials would be "ready" if the judge ordered incarceration. [356]
After he was taken into custody on Tuesday, Trump was fingerprinted as part of the booking process, but his mug shot was not taken
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