The second day of Michael Cohen’s testimony was suddenly overshadowed Wednesday when a judge asked former President Trump to take the witness stand to discuss the violation of a gag order in which the former president was asked not to speak about anyone overseeing the case for fear of threats.
Trump was fined $10,000 shortly thereafter, with the judge citing statements Trump made to the media before the trial began that day. The former president ultimately left the courtroom in a huff after Cohen appeared to contradict his testimony on whether he was ever ordered to inflate Trump’s assets.
See below for a recap of the day by The Hill’s Ella Lee in New York.
Court adjourns
The trial has adjourned for the day.
Cohen tells reporters ‘accountability’ is still coming
Michael Cohen defended his testimony and his “fight” against Trump to reporters after court adjourned Wednesday afternoon.
“We didn’t take it. We didn’t just walk away. We’re continuing to fight every single act that Mr. Trump tries to throw at us,” Cohen said.
He argued that he was cornered into taking a guilty plea in 2018 when prosecutors purportedly threatened to involve his wife in their indictment and gave him three days to decide on the agreement.
He also praised Judge Arthur Engoron’s decision not to dismiss the case.
“He will ultimately be held accountable…that’s what this is all about; it’s accountability.”
— Ella Lee
Schumer spox responds to Truth Social post at center of gag order
A spokesperson for Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) issued a statement Wednesday that addressed the Truth Social post at the center of the gag order imposed by a judge on former President Trump.
“This pathetic post is ridiculous, absurd, and false – Senator Schumer does not know Ms. Greenfield,” the statement read. “As is well known, Senator Schumer attends countless events in every corner of the state where tens of thousands of constituents take photos with him, just like this one, which was taken at a stop at an annual brunch in Manhattan.”
In a Truth Social post that went up while Trump was sitting in the courtroom during the first week of the trial, Trump targeted Engoron’s principal law clerk — who was sitting just a few feet away — calling her “Schumer’s girlfriend” and reposting a picture of her alongside the New York Democrat.
Engoron issued the gag order barring Trump and any party in the case from posting or speaking publicly about members of his staff as a result.
Cohen explains contradicting testimony on Trump inflation
Cohen suggested that Trump’s legal team was “cherry-picking” his testimony to pigeonhole him into contradicting himself.
On the government’s redirect, Cohen said Trump “speaks like a mob boss” and “tell(s) you without specifically telling you” what to do.
He read additional comments from the 2019 testimony that Trump’s attorneys referred to on cross-examination which reiterated the comment about Trump wanting them to make him “higher on the Forbes list.”
The government ended its questioning of Cohen, leaving him shaking his head on the stand.
— Ella Lee
Cohen contradicts previous testimony on inflating assets
With Cohen back on the witness stand, he testified in a tense cross-examination that Trump did not direct him to inflate his net worth — a direct contradiction of his previous testimony.
“Mr. Trump never directed you to inflate the numbers in his personal statement. Yes or no?” Trump attorney Clifford Robert asked Cohen, referring to a similar statement Cohen made to Congress in 2019.
“Yes,” Cohen said.
Trump threw his hands in the air and looked around the room, as did another of his attorneys, Alina Habba.
Robert asked for an immediate directed verdict, after saying the government’s “key witness” testified he was not directed by Trump to inflate the numbers. Engoron denied the order immediately.
Trump scoffed, stood abruptly and left the courtroom in a huff. His Secret Service detail followed, leaving the courtroom in a stunned silence.
— Ella Lee
Trump fined $10K for violating gag order
Former President Trump has been fined $10,000 for violating a gag order that prevented him from speaking about those overseeing his civil fraud trial in New York.
In an unexpected twist, Trump was sworn in as a witness to respond to allegations he violated the gag order against him in his fraud case by commenting about the secretary.
— Ella Lee
BREAKING: Trump takes the stand in surprise twist
Former President Trump has taken the stand in the New York courtroom where his civil fraud trial is being heard.
— Ella Lee
Court breaks
The court has taken its daily lunch break.
The trial is set to resume at 2:15 p.m. EDT.
Cohen’s positive comments about Trump used against him
A throughline in Trump attorney Alina Habba’s cross-examination of Michael Cohen has been attempting to use his own past comments about Trump against him.
Habba showed numerous Cohen quotes from various media interviews where he praises the former president as a person, businessman and president.
“I think the world of him. I respect him as a businessman and I respect him as a boss,” according to one Cohen quote from a 2011 ABC News article.
In a 2015 Reuters article, shown by Habba, Cohen said Trump’s “record of success was proof positive of Mr. Trump’s character and capabilities.”
Prosecutors objected to several of the articles being entered into evidence, questioning their relevance. Habba said the articles were offered as impeachment evidence.
— Ella Lee
Judge suggests Trump again violated gag order
Judge Arthur Engoron cited reporting by The Associated Press that indicated Trump had said to news media that the judge is a “very partisan judge with a person who is very partisan sitting alongside him, perhaps even more partisan than he is.”
“It’s easy for the public or anyone to know who that is,” Engoron said, suggesting that Trump was commenting on his principal law clerk, who sits next to the judge on the bench.
“I’m very protective of my staff, and I believe I should be; I don’t want anybody killed,” he said.
The gag order was originally imposed after Trump’s Truth Social account derided the clerk as Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s (D-N.Y.) “girlfriend” and included personally identifying information about her. Engoron ordered Trump to take down the post, and it was removed from Truth Social.
Read more from the courtroom here.
— Ella Lee
Cohen questioned over dislike of Trump
Trump’s legal team questioned Michael Cohen over his dislike of the former president during its cross-examination.
Trump attorney Alina Habba asked Cohen whether he harbors “significant animosity” toward Trump. After a pause, Trump’s former fixer and personal attorney starkly replied: “Yes, I do.”
“In fact, you often go on social media, stating all your animosity?” Habba asked.
“Not all my animosity,” Cohen replied, causing laughter in the gallery.
Cohen also conceded that he has built a career out of publicly attacking Trump.
Argument breaks out between defense, prosecution
An argument over respect broke out between prosecutors and defense attorneys in Trump’s fraud case during Cohen’s cross-examination.
Prosecutor Colleen Faherty has repeatedly objected to the questioning’s relevance, to which Trump attorney Chris Kise replied “wait a little bit and you’ll find out.” Judge Arthur Engoron urged Kise to be “respectful” to prosecutors.
“I am being respectful; they’re not respectful to me, your honor,” Kise replied, adding that Trump’s legal team had offered an “extraordinary amount of latitude” to prosecutors regarding how they asked their questions.
“Respect is not something you get; it’s something you earn, and I believe as a lawyer I’ve certainly earned it,” he said.
Trump’s NY criminal case attorneys in courtroom
Two attorneys on Trump’s legal team for his New York criminal case are present in the courtroom where his civil fraud case is underway.
Attorneys Todd Blanche and Susan Necheles are seated on the left side of the courtroom next to Eric Trump, behind where Trump and his defense team are seated.
Their case over a hush money deal, where Trump is charged with falsifying business records, is scheduled to begin March 25. A previous investigation of Cohen eventually unearthed the hush money payment.
— Ella Lee
Trump arrives in court
Former President Trump arrived at the courthouse at 10 a.m. and spoke to reporters assembled outside the courtroom.
Trump gave brief remarks about the ongoing trial, which he derided as a “witch hunt,” as well as the House GOP’s efforts to pick a new Speaker.
Trump also addressed reports that his former chief of staff, Mark Meadows, had agreed to an immunity deal to testify in Trump’s federal case over his efforts to overturn the 2020 election results.
— Brett Samuels
Cohen credibility under attack in second day of cross-exam
Michael Cohen’s credibility is already back under the microscope in the first minutes of his second day of testimony.
Trump attorney Alina Habba picked up her cross-examination Wednesday recapping Cohen’s Tuesday testimony that he previously lied to a New York judge when he pleaded guilty to past crimes.
“Under oath, in this courtroom, in open court, he has now admitted to perjury,” Habba said.
Prosecutors objected to the use of the word “perjury” to describe Cohen’s comments, suggesting it’s a legal conclusion and that Habba was engaging in “showmanship.”
“There is nothing wrong with calling a liar a liar,” Trump attorney Chris Kise interjected.
— Ella Lee
Trump attorney implies judge, clerk are being distracting
Trump attorney Alina Habba implied that Engoron and his principal clerk were being distracting during her cross examination Tuesday and asked them to act differently today.
“It is incredibly distracting when there are eye rolls and constant whispering at the bench when I am crossing a witness,” she said, calling the issue “delicate.”
She asked the judge to order that behavior to stop, to which he replied, “OK, granted.”
— Ella Lee
Court resumes before Trump arrives
Judge Arthur Engoron took the bench Wednesday morning before Trump had entered the courtroom.
He was about to begin in the small group photographers allowed to capture images of the proceeding each morning, before Trump attorney Chris Kise advised that the former president was expected to arrive “momentarily.”
After Trump’s attorneys and prosecutors began discussing housekeeping matters with the judge, Trump entered the courtroom flanked by Secret Service officers. The prosecutor who was speaking did not stop when he entered the room.
— Ella Lee
New COVID precautions in courtroom
New COVID-19 precautions appear to have been taken in the courtroom where Trump’s fraud trial is underway after the former president’s legal team raised concern that the attorney general’s office was not being safe.
The microphones on the defense and prosecution tables are covered with plastic bags, and several bottles of hand sanitizer now sit on each table and the ledge enclosing the well.
Trump attorney Chris Kise chastised the attorney general’s office Tuesday for purportedly failing to notify defense attorneys that several prosecutors came down with COVID — especially considering a “leading candidate for president of the U.S.” was in the courtroom.
Notably, while the pandemic was at its height during Trump’s presidency, the former president largely blew off such protocols such as masks in the White House and held crowded rallies the summer of 2020 despite warnings not to.
A spokesperson from the attorney general’s office said it properly notified the court and defendants’ counsel of the outbreak, and the court still decided to move forward with the trial.
“If there were any concerns, defendants’ counsel could wear masks today or at any point, but they have opted not to,” the spokesperson said, adding that the office “followed and complied with CDC guidelines.”
The Hill requested comment from Trump’s attorneys, the attorney general’s office and the court.
— Ella Lee
NY AG Letitia James arrives in court
New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) has arrived in court for Trump’s fraud trial, where Michael Cohen is expected to give his second day of testimony under cross-examination by Trump’s legal team.
James dropped her coat in her usual seat on the right side of the gallery’s front row before making her way to the well of the court, where she is chatting with several prosecutors.
— Ella Lee
Trump heading back to court
The former president, who was set to depart Trump Tower on Wednesday morning to head back to the courthouse, took aim at the case once again in a Truth Social post.
“I will soon be leaving for Crooked Joe Biden’s ‘Political Opponent Court’ in Lower Manhattan,” Trump wrote. “I have a very partisan and angry Judge, a Corrupt Attorney General, and am not allowed a Jury Trial under the Statute they have chosen to use (for the very first time ever!).”
Trump called the trial an “unfair political Witch Hunt” that is “causing companies to leave New York at a record pace. They don’t want this to happen to them!”
Trump is expected to address reporters in the courthouse upon his arrival.
— Brett Samuels
Cohen’s credibility already under fire
Michael Cohen’s long-awaited testimony in the New York attorney general’s sprawling civil fraud case against former President Trump began Tuesday afternoon, when he described ballooning Trump’s assets at the request of his former employer.
But the ex-Trump fixer’s proclivity to untruths came under harsh scrutiny by the former president’s legal team, who sought to undermine his credibility in objections and cross-examination.