Hours after former President Trump’s defense rested its case-in-chief, the prosecution and defense returned to the courtroom to hash out specifics for jury instruction and other outstanding legalities.
The proceedings in the Manhattan courtroom began around 9:30 a.m. with the testimony of a witness whose decorum on the stand a day prior led the judge to briefly clear his courtroom. Robert Costello, a former adviser to ex-fixer Michael Cohen, was called as the defense’s second and last witness in the case, in which Trump is charged with falsifying business records.
Court went into recess shortly after the defense rested its case, and returned in midafternoon to hash out details for another couple of hours.
Judge Juan Merchan said he would finalize jury instructions this week. Closing arguments will begin next week, after the Memorial Day weekend.
Trump attacks prosecutor, judge
Trump lashed out at the judge and prosecutor Matthew Colangelo as he departed court for the day.
Trump, without referring to Colangelo by name, implied he was in coordination with the White House because of his previous role in the Justice Department.
“He came in for one reason. Now where did he come from? He came from Washington, D.C.,” Trump said.
Referring to Merchan, Trump said the judge “hates Donald Trump. Just take a look. Take a look at him. Take a look at where he comes from.”
—Brett Samuels
Proceedings wrap for the day
Merchan concluded proceedings for the day at about 4:45 p.m. after a lengthy discussion about jury instructions. Jurors will return to the courthouse in about a week to hear closing arguments and to likely start their deliberations.
—Lauren Sforza
Judge says he’ll try to finalize instructions by Thursday
The proceedings seem to be ending after over a dozen piecemeal debates over the language.
Merchan said he’ll “make every effort” to provide the parties with his finalized instructions by the end of the day on Thursday.
He also indicated he’ll have a follow-up for the lawyers, but they won’t need to come to court to make arguments about it.
— Zach Schonfeld
Judge suggests defense argument ‘disingenuous’
In a tired back-and-forth near the end of the day Tuesday, Merchan called arguments by Trump’s lawyers that he relied on advice of counsel throughout the hush money negotiations “disingenuous.”
Though Merchan previously ruled against the concept as a defense, Bove argued Tuesday that ex-National Enquirer publisher David Pecker “opened the door” for Trump to make the argument after he testified about seeking legal advice for himself throughout the hush money discussions.
“My answer hasn’t changed,” Merchan told Trump attorney Emil Bove. “I find it disingenuous.”
“I’m telling you, my ruling is the jury will not hear that instruction from the bench, nor are you allowed to make that argument,” he added.
Bove pushed back, suggesting he’s “not being disingenuous” but the judge remained firm.
— Ella Lee
Jury instructions come together piece by piece
Line by line, Judge Juan Merchan is ruling on of the parties’ various proposals while reserving decisions on others, creating a meticulous, drawn out process. Here are the judge’s last few decisions:
- Merchan denied Trump’s proposal to include an instruction suggesting he was relying on his legal counsel at points during the hush money negotiations
- Merchan declined Trump’s request to include an instruction that hush money payments are not inherently illegal, agreeing with prosecutors that would go beyond the judge’s proper role.
- Merchan seemed inclined to deny Trump’s request for a limiting instruction related to the “Access Hollywood” tape and his campaign’s reaction to it, but he agreed to review the relevant transcripts before a final decision.
— Zach Schonfeld
Judge agrees to include additional reminder about implicit bias
Judge Juan Merchan agreed to the defense’s request to include an additional reminder that jurors shouldn’t hold any “implicit bias” against Trump in their deliberations.
“I will include it, although it’s not something I would usually do,” said Merchan, noting that his standard instructions already incorporates such a reminder.
Prosecutors argued that standard instruction was sufficient.
“I don’t think that instructing a jury that they should not hold bias against the defendant is necessary,” said prosecutor Joshua Steinglass.
But Steinglass did get the judge to agree to tweak the defense’s proposed language to something more “neutral.” The exact wording remains unclear, as the parties’ written submissions have not been made public.
— Zach Schonfeld
Dershowitz rails against ‘tyrant’ judge, ‘biased’ reporters after day in court
After attending Trump’s trial Monday, lawyer Alan Dershowitz castigated the “tyrant” judge overseeing the case and reporters covering it for being biased against the former president.
Dershowitz, who represented Trump in his first impeachment, suggested in a blog post Tuesday that Judge Juan Merchan “automatically” ruled against Trump at “every turn.” He also criticized the judge’s handling of a witness’s attitude on the stand, which resulted in an admonishment made in the press’s absence after the judge cleared the courtroom.
“In my 60 years as a lawyer and law professor, I have never seen a spectacle such as the one I observed sitting in the front row of the courthouse yesterday,” he wrote, later claiming Merchan was “losing his cool and showing his thin skin.”
Dershowitz had little better to say about reporters covering the trial, lamenting that the public must rely on “the reporting of partisan journalists” since the trial is not televised.
“There is absolutely no good reason why a trial of this importance, or any trial, should not be televised live and in real time,” he wrote. “Allowing the public to see their courts in action is the best guarantee of fairness.”
— Ella Lee
Trump whispering with Blanche
As the parties continue debating the jury charge, the former president is appearing to pay attention. He has also whispered with his attorney, Todd Blanche, and flipped through a stack of papers.
Trump’s entourage of allies seated behind him keep glancing down at their phones.
— Lauren Sforza
Parties spar over use of ‘crime,’ Cohen’s name
Another point prosecutors and Trump’s attorneys disagree upon is whether to use ex-fixer Michael Cohen’s name and to say he “participated in a crime.”
Defense attorneys are in favor of using the phrase and Cohen’s name, but Merchan signaled wariness over getting into too much detail.
“We are playing with fire,” the judge said.
At Bove’s request, Merchan agreed to turn “crime” into the plural “crimes,” to reflect that Cohen participated in the full scheme alleged by prosecutors and declined to otherwise alter the standard language.
— Ella Lee
Jury charge debate gets dry
The debate over the jury charge has become quite dry and filled with legalese, with Judge Juan Merchan going over the parties’ proposals line by line.
At one point, the judge wasn’t even sure how to pronounce a word in one of the proposals: the word was “eleemosynary,” which means charitable.
The “most challenging issue facing all of us is how to pronounce this word,” Merchan joked.
— Zach Schonfeld
Parties spar over ‘willful’
To convict Trump on the felony version of falsifying business records charges, prosecutors must show the records were falsified with an intent to further some other crime — in Trump’s case, they have in part rested their theory on a violation of the Federal Election Campaign Act.
Trump attorney Emil Bove called the addition “critically important.”
“Election law conspiracy occurs when intended results are executed through unlawful means,” prosecutor Matthew Colangelo said, insisting there was “no need” to add willful.
The judge is reserving his decision on the matter and has moved on to other issues.
— Zach Schonfeld
Trump: ‘I feel very good’ as case winds down
Trump told reporters outside the courtroom, “I feel very good,” when asked how he’s feeling heading into closing arguments in the coming days.
“I think we’ve had a great case we’ve put on,” Trump said.
— Brett Samuels
Trump reenters courtroom with legal team, entourage
The former president has entered the courtroom just a couple of minutes before 2:15 p.m. for the precharge conference.
His legal team walked in alongside him, as well as most of the allies and lawmakers from earlier Tuesday.
The courtroom is only a little more than halfway full as the judge begins the conference.
— Lauren Sforza
Texas Republican targets Democrats over trial
Rep. Troy Nehls (R-Texas) blamed Democrats for keeping Trump off the campaign trail, appearing at one point to compare the former president to the pope.
“They don’t want Donald Trump holding rallies because [of] what happens at his rallies. This is five weeks in the courtroom when he should be out reaching the American people,” he said during the press conference outside the courthouse.
“Tens of thousands of people show up at Donald Trump rally; the Democrats hate it. There’s not another person on the planet that can do that other than the pope,” he later added.
His comments echo the former president, who has also frequently taken aim at the case for keeping him inside the courtroom and not on the campaign trail.
— Lauren Sforza
Here are the witnesses who testified at Trump’s trial
Twenty-two witnesses took the stand across 16 days of testimony. Here’s the list, in order of appearance:
PROSECUTION
- David Pecker, ex-publisher of the National Enquirer who agreed to look for negative stories about Trump
- Rhona Graff, Trump’s longtime assistant
- Gary Farro, Michael Cohen’s ex-banker who helped him as he created an account to pay hush money
- Robert Browning, C-SPAN archives executive director who verified the authenticity of various videos of Trump’s speeches
- Phillip Thompson, regional director at Esquire Deposition Solutions who verified the authenticity of a Trump deposition transcript in a recent civil case
- Keith Davidson, attorney who previously represented two women paid hush money in 2016
- Doug Daus, Manhattan DA senior forensic analyst who analyzed Michael Cohen’s cellphones
- Georgia Longstreet, Manhattan DA paralegal who reviewed Trump’s social media posts; she testified twice during the trial
- Hope Hicks, Trump’s 2016 campaign press secretary
- Jeffrey McConney, ex-Trump Organization controller who helped process the allegedly falsified records
- Deb Tarasoff, Trump Organization bookkeeper who helped process the allegedly falsified records
- Sally Franklin, custodian of records at Random House who introduced excerpts of Trump’s books into evidence
- Stormy Daniels, porn actor who received the $130,000 hush payment at the center of the case
- Rebecca Manochio, Trump Organization employee who helped ship checks to Trump for him to sign that make up part of his charges
- Tracey Menzies, custodian of records at HarperCollins who introduced excerpts from another of Trump’s books
- Madeleine Westerhout, Trump’s White House secretary who confirmed details about Trump signing the checks that partially make up his charges
- Doug Dixon, custodian of records at AT&T who introduced Michael Cohen’s phone records into evidence
- Jennie Tomalin, custodian of records at Verizon who introduced phone records from people involved in the case
- Jaden Jarmel-Schneider, Manhattan DA paralegal who analyzed Michael Cohen’s phones
- Michael Cohen, Trump’s ex-fixer who made the hush money payment to Stormy Daniels
DEFENSE
- Danny Sitko, paralegal who works for Trump’s lead defense attorney and introduced various phone records
- Robert Costello, lawyer who advised Michael Cohen as federal prosecutors criminally investigated Cohen
— Zach Schonfeld
Don Trump Jr., Trump allies hold press conference outside courthouse
The former president’s eldest son held a press conference outside the Manhattan courthouse Tuesday morning, just after the defense rested its case.
Donald Trump Jr. joined lawmakers and numerous Trump allies at the hush money trial. He railed against the witnesses and the case, saying he believes the trial featured “the least credible witnesses in the history of … witnesses.”
“What’s going on here is an absolute farce,” he said.
He was also joined by former acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker and Reps. Troy Nehls (R-Texas) and Maria Elvira Salazar (R-Fla.), among a number of others.
Some Trump supporters chanted “We love Trump” in a nearby park, while anti-Trump protesters were heard shouting, “Lock him up!”
— Lauren Sforza
Parties to debate jury charge this afternoon
Jurors are gone until next week, but the day’s proceedings aren’t quite done yet.
At 2:15 p.m. EDT, Judge Juan Merchan will hold the precharge conference, where the parties will debate the language of the legal instructions Merchan will give to the jurors just before they start deliberations, known as the jury charge.
The parties have each provided the judge with a proposed charge, but they have fierce disagreements, particularly over how campaign finance laws should apply to the case.
— Zach Schonfeld
Jurors won’t return until next week
Judge Juan Merchan informed jurors that closing statements will not take place until next Tuesday, as the judge has expressed a desire to not break up the final stages of the trial.
“No way what we can do what needs to be done in any cohesive manner” before the Memorial Day holiday, Merchan said.
He indicated he expects closing statements to last roughly a day, so deliberations would likely begin next Wednesday.
The parties will convene later today to debate proposed charges, referring to the legal instructions the judge gives jurors before they begin deliberations.
The jury, meanwhile, was excused.
— Zach Schonfeld
Defense rests without Trump testimony
Former President Trump will not take the stand in his own defense during his New York criminal trial, after his attorneys rested their case Tuesday, shortly after prosecutors did the same the day before.
The decision to keep Trump off the stand comes after weeks of uncertainty, with Trump sometimes telling reporters he could testify — a move legal experts have warned could be risky in the former president’s first criminal trial — and other times ignoring persistent questions on the matter.
Read more here.
Prosecutors conclude after raising Costello’s recent congressional testimony
Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger raised Costello’s recent testimony before the House Judiciary Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, where the witness criticized both Michael Cohen, Trump’s ex-fixer, and the prosecution more generally.
“You went there to publicly vilify Michael Cohen,” Hoffinger said.
“I went to testify,” Costello replied.
Hoffinger then asked if it was an effort to intimidate Cohen.
“Ridiculous. No,” the witness quipped.
Hoffinger then concluded her questioning, and Trump attorney Emil Bove is back up for redirect examination.
— Zach Schonfeld
Costello: Cohen’s ‘friends in high places’ during fed probe a reference to Trump
On cross-examination, Susan Hoffinger questioned Costello over an April 2018 email sent to ex-Trump fixer Michael Cohen, suggesting he could “sleep well” because of “friends in high places.”
At the time, Cohen was under federal investigation for campaign finance and other charges, to which he ultimately pled guilty.
Hoffinger asked to whom Costello was referring.
“Friends in high places definitely refers to President Trump, yes,” Costello replied.
Cohen later described Costello’s repeated emails as a “pressure campaign” to keep him in line as the investigation was ongoing, which Costello has denied.
— Ella Lee
Costello retakes the stand
Robert Costello, the defense’s second witness, has retaken the stand as Susan Hoffinger continues her cross-examination.
His testimony Monday sparked frustration from the judge, who admonished Costello for his behavior in one of the most heated moments of the trial. Prosecutors earlier in the day sought to strongly limit Costello’s testimony.
— Lauren Sforza
Who is Robert Costello?
Robert Costello is a former federal prosecutor turned defense lawyer who spent decades in New York’s legal sphere. In 2018, Costello briefly served as an adviser to Cohen as federal prosecutors criminally investigated him and his work on Trump’s behalf.
Costello allegedly offered to set up a back channel between Trump and Cohen via former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who had just joined Trump’s legal team.
Read more about him here.
— Miranda Nazzaro
Merchan takes the bench
Judge Juan Merchan has taken the bench to kick off today’s proceedings just before 9:30 a.m.
— Lauren Sforza
Trump joined by Don Jr., other new faces
Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., joined his father at court Tuesday for the first time in his criminal trial.
The former president was also joined by conservative talk show hosts Joe Piscopo and Sebastian Gorka, actor Chuck Zito and former acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker. A slew of lawmakers attended as well, among them Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) and Reps. Troy Nehls (R-Texas) and Maria Elvira Salazar (R-Fla.).
Eric Trump, the former president’s second son, attended multiple weeks of trial but did not attend Tuesday with his brother.
— Ella Lee
Trump, allies enter courtroom
The former president has entered the courtroom with his legal defense team, including Todd Blanche, Susan Necheles and Emil Bove.
He was also joined by a large group of lawmakers, allies and his son, Donald Trump Jr.
This is the first time Donald Trump Jr. has been spotted attending the trial.
— Lauren Sforza
Prosecutors enter courtroom
The team from the Manhattan District Attorney’s office has entered the room, including prosecutors Susan Hoffinger, Matthew Colangelo, Becky Mangold and Joshua Steinglass.
They are expected to wrap up their cross-examination of Robert Costello, a former legal advisor to ex-Trump fixer Michael Cohen, this morning.
— Lauren Sforza
Senate Republicans see Trump verdict as political wild card
Senate Republicans are nervously anticipating the verdict in former President Trump’s Manhattan hush-money trial and warn it could have a significant impact on the election.
GOP lawmakers say a failure to secure a conviction would be a major embarrassment for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg that would strengthen Trump.
— Alexander Bolton
Trump expert says he won’t testify
Trump’s potential expert witness confirmed he will no longer take the stand, citing the judge’s ruling restricting the scope of his testimony.
The defense had wanted to call Bradley Smith, a former commissioner at the Federal Election Commission (FEC), to testify about campaign finance law.
But the judge severely limited the topics he can discuss to avoid a “battle of the experts”; prosecutors would’ve called a rebuttal expert, and the judge would’ve then given jurors his own instructions on applying the law, creating three sets of competing interpretations.
“Judge Merchan has so restricted my testimony that defense has decided not to call me. Now, it’s elementary that the judge instructs the jury on the law, so I understand his reluctance,” Smith wrote on the social platform X.
“But the Federal Election Campaign Act is very complex,” Smith added.
He asserted that prosecutors elicited incorrect statements of law from their star witness, Michael Cohen, also accusing the judge of bias.
— Zach Schonfeld