Former President Trump’s hush money trial briefly devolved into a rowdy scene on Monday after the judge admonished a witness brought to the stand by Trump’s defense team.
The witness, lawyer Robert Costello, elicited a tense exchange with Judge Juan Merchan over his decorum in the courtroom, where at one point the judge demanded to know if he was being stared down.
Monday began with a bombshell revelation from star witness Michael Cohen in which he did not dispute stealing from the Trump Organization while serving as Trump’s attorney while being repaid as part of the hush money scheme at the heart of the case.
Costello’s testimony is expected to resume Tuesday.
Follow below for a recap from New York.
Trump complained that the hush money trial was preventing him from meeting with prospective running mates for November’s election.
“We have 15 people that I’m supposed to be meeting about being, who is going to be our vice president,” Trump said. “But I am stuck in the refrigerator all day.”
— Brett Samuels
Trump referred to Costello by name in comments to reporters after court adjourned for the day.
“You saw what happened to a highly respected lawyer today, Bob Costello. Wow,” Trump said.
It was a rare instance of Trump mentioning a witness by name. He is under a gag order that bars him from attacking witnesses, jurors, prosecutors, court staff and the judge’s family.
— Brett Samuels
Trump ripped Judge Merchan in the aftermath of Monday’s chaos involving defense witness Robert Costello.
“You saw what we saw. That was an incredible — I’ve never seen anything like it in my life,” Trump told reporters outside the courtroom. “A tyrant. And everyone is talking about it.”
— Brett Samuels
After a heated back-and-forth between Trump’s attorneys and prosecutors with the Manhattan district attorney’s office, the judge adjourned the trial for the day.
The defense asked for a dismissal of the 34 counts of falsifying business records Trump faces and urged the judge to deem prosecutors’s star witness, Michael Cohen, uncredible.
Prosecutors forcefully pushed back on the matter, claiming there is “no argument” for a dismissal.
Merchan reserved a decision on the matter before dismissing the parties.
The proceedings concluded Monday afternoon at about 5 p.m. Trump spent a few minutes talking to his legal team in the court room before leaving with his group of allies.
Court will resume tomorrow at 9:30 a.m.
— Ella Lee and Lauren Sforza
Trump attorney Todd Blanche asked the judge Monday to dismiss the 34 charges of falsifying business records against the former president.
Blanche argued that prosecutors did not meet the bar of proving that 11 invoices Cohen filed to Trump, 12 ledger entries and 11 checks Trump signed for Cohen were false.
He also pushed back on the prosecution’s broader theory of the case, insisting that the state’s description of several so-called “catch-and-kill” schemes, where negative stories about Trump were kept from becoming public, was not illegal.
“How is keeping a false story from the voters criminal?” Blanche said.
Blanche took specific aim at Cohen, asserting that he “lied in this courtroom” and asking the judge to deem him an uncredible witness as a matter of law.
“You want me to take it out of the jury’s hands?” Merchan asked. “It shouldn’t even be considered by the jury?”
“That’s exactly what we want the court to do,” Blanche said.
It is typical for defense attorneys to seek the dismissal of the case against their client when the prosecution rests and has presented all its evidence.
Prosecutors pushed back on the defense’s request, contending there is “extensive evidence of false records.”
“There’s just no argument,” prosecutor Matthew Colangelo said.
The judge reserved a decision on the matter.
— Ella Lee
The judge has dismissed the jury for the day, and Costello will retake the stand tomorrow.
Prosecutors said they have “45 minutes at the most” left of questioning, though Trump’s attorneys said they will have some questions afterward.
But they indicated the defense will rest early in the morning.
— Zach Schonfeld
Hoffinger sought to lay out reasons Cohen went with counsel other than Costello to represent him when cross-examining the lawyer.
She suggested to Costello that Cohen’s criminal prosecution was “traumatic,” which Costello originally denied before conceding that most criminal defendants find prosecution to be emotionally distressing.
“You thought he was being a drama queen,” Hoffinger said of Costello, which he denied.
“I didn’t know Michael Cohen. He was putting on quite a show,” Costello said, noting that Cohen had been suicidal at the time.
“You don’t like drama queens, do you?” Hoffinger further pressed.
“I didn’t know him,” Costello replied.
— Ella Lee
Emil Bove, Trump’s attorney, asked Costello if he put any pressure on Cohen to do anything.
Costello responded no. Moments later, Bove concluded his questioning, limited by the restrictions set by the judge.
Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger is now questioning Costello on cross-examination.
— Zach Schonfeld
The jury hearing Trump’s criminal case was dismissed for a second time so the judge could admonish Costello over his courtroom behavior.
Addressing the lawyer, Merchan said he wanted to discuss “proper decorum” in his courtroom.
“When there is an eyewitness on the stand, if you don’t like a ruling, you don’t say ‘Geez,’” Merchan said, later adding, “You don’t give me a side eye. You don’t roll your eyes. You understand that?”
Press had also been cleared from the courtroom before being let back in a short time later.
— Ella Lee
Defense attorneys’ questioning of Costello is already chipping away at the testimony Cohen gave earlier in the trial.
Costello described an April 2018 meeting with Cohen where the then-Trump fixer was “absolutely manic” and “pacing” as he detailed being federally investigated.
“He explained, ‘My life was shattered, my family life is shattered,’” Costello said of Cohen.
Trump attorney Emil Bove asked Costello what, if anything, Cohen said about Trump at that meeting. The lawyer said Cohen swore, “I don’t have anything on Donald Trump.”
“Michael Cohen said numerous times that President Trump knew nothing about the payments,” Costello said, adding that Trump’s then-fixer said he “did this on his own.”
Costello’s first minutes of testimony drew several objections from prosecutors, and Merchan appeared frustrated.
— Ella Lee
Costello, the former legal adviser to Cohen, will be allowed to testify, despite objections from prosecutors in the Manhattan district attorney’s office.
Merchan said he did not wish for Costello’s testimony to become a “trial within a trial,” but ultimately decided to let the lawyer take the stand. Prosecutors can cross-examine him on prior existing statements, and the judge will give them “some latitude” to question him over the so-called “pressure campaign” Cohen accused him of carrying out regarding loyalty to Trump.
Costello is now back on the witness stand, wearing a blue tie.
— Ella Lee
Prosecutors are seeking to block Costello’s testimony, or at least severely limit the topics he can discuss.
Shortly after Trump’s lawyers called Costello to the stand, the jury was led out of the room so the judge can sort out what to do.
“If his testimony is admitted, it needs to be limited and restricted,” prosecutor Susan Hoffinger told the judge. “They are not entitled to elicit Costello’s opinions about [Michael] Cohen’s credibility.”
Emil Bove, Trump’s attorney, said prosecutors had opened the door to Costello’s testimony.
“This testimony is being offered to rebut the government’s argument about a supposed pressure campaign. It’s the government’s theory,” Bove said.
— Zach Schonfeld
Robert Costello, a lawyer who once advised Cohen and acted as a go-between Trump’s White House and his exiled fixer, has been called as the defense’s second witness.
During the state’s case-in-chief, jurors saw emails from Costello to Cohen encouraging him to stay loyal to the former president as his legal woes mounted. Cohen described Costello’s behavior as a “pressure campaign” to keep him in line.
Danny Sitko, the legal analyst, testified for only about 10 minutes, mainly to confirm call records between Michael Cohen and Robert Costello.
— Ella Lee and Zach Schonfeld
Trump has called to the stand as his first witness Danny Sitko, a legal analyst who works on the defense team with the former president’s main lawyers.
Sitko has attended the duration of the trial, often passing notes to the other lawyers. He works at Blanche Law, the eponymous law firm of Trump’s lead attorney, Todd Blanche.
— Zach Schonfeld
Michael Cohen has been excused from the stand after four days of testimony.
— Zach Schonfeld