NY v. Trump trial continues after judge denies defense motion for mistrial
Former President Trump will return to Manhattan court for day 15 of his New York criminal trial on Friday. Previously, Judge Juan Merchan denied two motions from Trump's attorneys after the second day cross examination of pornography actress Stormy Daniels concluded.
Coverage for this event has ended.
Former President Donald Trump told reporters he would "be very proud to go to jail for our Constitution" as he took aim at those involved in the prosecution.
Trump's comments came as he spoke after the third week of his NY v. Trump trial came to an end on Friday.
"If anything's mentioned against certain people, and you know who they are, certain people, anything's even mentioned, he wants to put me in jail," Trump told reporters as he displayed various media articles about the trial. "That could happen one day and I'd be very proud to go to jail for our Constitution."
"What he's doing is so unconstitutional," Trump said, referring to Judge Juan Merchan. "There's never been anything like it."
Trump also took aim at Merchan for telling the prosecution to tell Michael Cohen not to make statements about Trump or the case overall. Thus far, Merchan has refused to place Cohen under a gag order, which the defense previously requested.
"There is no gag order to Michael Cohen. What the judge did was amazing. Actually, it was amazing. Everybody can say ... whatever they want, but I'm not allowed to say anything about anybody. It's a disgrace," Trump said. And you see it, the media sees it and it's really very sad. If you look at the legal experts and the legal scholars, every one of them say this trial is a scam."
During his remarks to reporters after court, Trump also took aim at President Biden after he "lied" about the rate inflation when he took office in 2021.
"So now he comes out and he actually says, I guess with a straight face, but I'm not sure he knows what he's saying anyway, that it was 9% under Trump," the former president said.
Trump said the happenings that are taking place inside the Manhattan courtroom represents "a very dark day for New York City, New York State, and it's a very dark day for our nation."
Trump also suggested that the case should be thrown out
"But the good news is that people understand that our poll numbers are the highest they've ever been," he said. "It's ridiculous that I'm not going to be out campaigning for another week ... He should throw this case out. This case should go no further."
Trump referred to those targeting him in the case, as well as Judge Merchan, as "corrupt thugs."
Former President Donald Trump speaks to members of the media at Manhattan criminal court in New York, on Friday, May 10, 2024. (Jeenah Moon/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Friday marked the final day of the third week of former President Donald Trump's trial in New York City.
The trial began Friday with Madeleine Westerhout, who served as Trump's personal secretary at the White House, taking the stand to resume her testimony.
Under questioning from Trump attorney Susan Necheles, Westerhout testified Friday that she was told a P.O. box was set up for Trump to receive personal items.
Westerhout also testified Friday that Trump was a multitasker who would sign documents without reviewing them at times. When she would receive the mail, Westerhout would leave any mail on Trump’s desk. If he was in the office, she said he would sign the things that required his signature.
Westerhout, who insisted the former president is a multitasker, said Trump would sign a tremendous amount of items, including proclamations, letters, memos, etc. Westerhout also stated that she would sometimes see Trump signing checks without reviewing them - usually in cases when he was on the phone or when he was meeting with people.
Westerhout told the court Friday that Trump was "very upset" following the publishing of the article about the Stormy Daniels story.
"He was very upset by it," Westerhout said. "My understanding was he knew it would be hurtful to his family."
Westerhout clarified that was her understanding and noted that he didn't specifically say that to her. "He didn't specifically speak about his family in that conversation," she said.
Other witnesses called to the stand Friday included Daniel Dixon, a lead compliance analyst for AT&T; Jennie Tomalin, a senior analyst in executive relations at Verizon; Jaden Jarmel-Schneider, a paralegal from the Manhattan district attorney's office; and Georgia Longstreet, another DA's office paralegal who was recalled to the stand after she testified last week.
Tomalin was in court Friday to explain how phone records are kept by Verizon.
Longstreet was in court to discuss social media posts she reviewed that were shared by Trump in 2018 about Michael Cohen and Paul Manafort. Longstreet also provided testimony on text messages between Gina Rodriguez, Stormy Daniels's agent, negotiating with National Enquirer editor Dylan Howard about the sale of Daniels' alleged affair story.
Schneider took the stand shortly after Longstreet's testimony concluded. Amid his testimony, several calls between Donald Trump's former attorney Michael Cohen and others were introduced into evidence.
Summaries of phone records that were introduced into evidence included conversations between Cohen and Dylan Howard, Cohen and David Pecker, Cohen and Keith Schiller, and Cohen and Allen Weisselberg, Cohen and Gina Davidson, Cohen and Hope Hicks, Cohen and Gina Rodriquez, and Cohen and Trump.
The court reviewed several of these calls and Schneider also confirmed he identified an incoming call to Cohen's phone at the same time his recording of his conversation with Trump ended.
Prosecutors have insisted that Cohen's recording of his conversation with Trump about the Karen McDougal payment was ended due to an incoming call. The defense previously suggested there was no incoming call.
At the end of court on Friday, Judge Juan Merchan said he would "direct the people to communicate to Mr. Cohen that the judge is asking him to refrain from making any more statements" about this case or Trump.
Merchan told prosecutors to inform Cohen that the direction was coming from the bench.
Cohen, who's slated to testify in court on Monday, is expected to be the star witness for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and his team for his role in arranging a $130,000 payment in 2016 to adult actress Daniels to reportedly keep her story that she had a sexual encounter with Trump in the early 2000s.
Following Friday's happenings, Trump said he would be "very proud to go to jail for our Constitution" as he took aim at those involved in the prosecution.
The DA’s office said Friday it plans to call two witnesses next week and insisted "it’s entirely possible we will rest next week."
Fox News' Maria Paronich contributed to this report.
Judge Juan Merchan told prosecutors Friday to tell Michael Cohen, Trump's former attorney, to not make statements about Trump or the NY v. Trump case.
Merchan said he would "direct the people to communicate to Mr. Cohen that the judge is asking him to refrain from making any more statements" about this case or Trump.
Merchan told prosecutors to inform Cohen that the direction was coming from the bench.
Despite the advice Merchan issued to Cohen, he placed Trump under a gag order, preventing him from talking about certain aspects of the case and those involved with it.
The defense previously requested a gag order for Cohen.
Judge Merchan has fined Trump repeatedly for gag order violations and even threatened him with jail time if he continues making comments.
Bragg and prosecutors have alleged more than a dozen violations of the gag order and have already fined the former president $9,000 for those violations.
Merchan, on Monday, fined the former president $1,000 for an additional violation, but said it is "clear" that the fine — $1,000 per violation — is not effective.
The filing stated that Trump is "hereby put on notice that if appropriate and warranted, future violations of its lawful orders will be punishable by incarceration."
Fox News' Maria Paronich and Brooke Singman contributed to this update.
Following the testimony of Jaden Jarmel-Schneider, a paralegal for the DA’s office, the prosecution in NY v. Trump concluded witness testimony on Friday.
The jury was dismissed following brief remarks from Judge Juan Merchan.
The DA’s office said it plans to call two witnesses next week and insisted "it’s entirely possible we will rest next week."
Former President Donald Trump is expected to give remarks to reporters soon.
Fox News Maria Paronich contributed to this update.
Jaden Jarmel-Schneider, another paralegal for the DA’s office, took the stand shortly after Longstreet's testimony concluded.
Amid his testimony, several calls between Donald Trump's former attorney Michael Cohen and others were introduced into evidence.
Summaries of phone records that were introduced into evidence included conversations between Cohen and Dylan Howard, Cohen and David Pecker, Cohen and Keith Schiller, and Cohen and Allen Weisselberg, Cohen and Gina Davidson, Cohen and Hope Hicks, Cohen and Gina Rodriquez, and Cohen and Trump.
The court reviewed several of these calls and Schneider also confirmed he identified an incoming call to Cohen's phone at the same time his recording of his conversation with Trump ended.
Prosecutors have insisted that Cohen's recording of his conversation with Trump about the Karen McDougal payment was ended due to an incoming call. The defense previously suggested there was no incoming call.
Cohen, who's slated to testify in court on Monday, is expected to be the star witness for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and his team for his role in arranging a $130,000 payment in 2016 to adult actress Daniels to reportedly keep her story that she had a sexual encounter with Trump in the early 2000s.
Trump, later, made several payments of $35,000 to Cohen, who was his personal attorney at the time. Trump has denied the encounter happened.
Fox News' Maria Paronich contributed to this report.
Georgia Longstreet provided testimony Friday on how Gina Rodriquez, Stormy Daniels's agent, negotiated a deal with National Enquirer editor Dylan Howard for her alleged affair story.
The conversations between Rodriguez and Howard took place on October 2016 and discussed how much the outlet would be willing to pay Daniels for her story.
"How much for Stormy," Howard questioned on Oct. 8, 2016. Rodriguez responded, “$250K”.
“I can get 100," Howard responded a day later, on Oct. 9, 2016. Rodriguez then asked Howard if the outlet could do $150K.
Howard responded with “110," to which Rodriquez wrote, “150K".
Text messages between the two parties showed they eventually reached an agreement of $120K for Daniels' story.
Days later, on October 17, 2016, Rodriquez texted Howard, saying, "We’re not doing the Trump deal."Another message adds: "They didn’t pay when they said they would and they keep trying to buy more time…Daily Mail wants it bad.”
Fox News' Maria Paronich contributed to this update.
Georgia Longstreet, whose role requires the reviewing of social media posts, read aloud a number of posts in court that were shared to social media by Donald Trump about his former attorney Michael Cohen.
One 2018 tweet read by Longstreet was one in which Trump compared Cohen to Paul Manafort, who was sentenced to 47 months in prison in March 2019 after a federal jury in Virginia convicted him on eight counts of bank and tax fraud in 2018.
Manafort was later pardoned by Trump during his tenure in the White House.
Another Trump tweet from August 22, 2018, urged those looking for " a good lawyer" to not retain Cohen's services.
He wrote at the time, "If anyone is looking for a good lawyer, I would strongly suggest that you don’t retain the services of Michael Cohen!"
Another tweet shared by Trump about Manfort on the same day was also read in court. In that post, Trump noted that he felt "very badly for Paul Manafort and his wonderful family."
Cohen is expected to testify in court on Monday.
Fox News' Maria Paronich contributed to this update.
Judge Juan Merchan said Friday that the prosecution has two more witnesses to call in the case of NY v. Trump on Friday.
Merchan also noted that court would end early on Friday, around 1 p.m. ET.
The first of the two witnesses is Georgia Longstreet, who is being recalled after her testimony last week. Longstreet is a paralegal for the DA’s Office.
Rebecca Mangold is handling direct examination.
As part of her duties as a paralegal, Longstreet told the court that she’s responsible for reviewing records produced through subpoena.
Fox News' Maria Paronich contributed to this update.
Jennie Tomalin, a witness called to testify by the prosecution, works for Verizon telecom company.
Tomalin serves as a senior analyst in executive relations and has been in that role for seven years. She often appears in court as a custodian of records.
People’s 401 – records from 2015 to 2018 that relate to 12 different phone numbers belonging to Verizon customers – were made and kept by Verizon. The records were date captured and stored in an electronic database.
The first page pulled up from People’s 401 is records for former Trump Organization CEO Alan Weisselberg.
Tomalin was in court Friday to explain how phone records are kept by Verizon.
Tomalin testimony concludes and jury is excused for morning break.
Fox News' Maria Paronich contributed to this update.
District Attorney Alvin Bragg speaks at a press conference in New York on Sept. 8, 2022. (ALEX KENT/AFP via Getty Images)
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg entered the courtroom Friday as Jennie Tomalin, the prosecution's next witness who is a senior analyst in executive relations at Verizon, took the stand.
Bragg walked into the courtroom and took a seat on the first row, according to reporters inside the room.
Bragg's indictment of Donald Trump included charging the former president with 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree. Trump has pleaded not guilty to all counts.
Bragg charged Trump with 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree relating to alleged hush money payments made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 presidential election.
Ever since, Bragg has faced repeated criticism from Trump over the "witch hunt" to prosecute him and prevent him from campaigning for president during an election year.
Daniel Dixon, a lead compliance analyst for AT&T, is the next witness on the stand.
He is under direct examination by Chris Conroy.
Dixon, who was worked at AT&T as a lead compliance analyst for roughly seven years, assists with complying with legal demands and with LE interpreting records.
Dixon's appearance in court Friday came after AT&T received a subpoena.
Dixon was asked about call-detail records and subscriber records that are kept by AT&T.
Prosecution then moved to admit records from AT&T into evidence, with one such record being for Michael Cohen's cellphone.
Dixon went on to define certain words like "mobility," "voice usage" and "SMS." He adds that AT&T records are kept in the UTC time zone.
The direct examination concludes.
Adult film actress Stormy Daniels (Stephanie Clifford) speaks to reporters as she exits the United States District Court Southern District of New York for a hearing related to Michael Cohen, President Trump's longtime personal attorney and confidante, April 16, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
Madeleine Westerhout said she spoke with Donald Trump following the publishing of the article about the Stormy Daniels story.
"He was very upset by it," Westerhout said Friday. "My understanding was he knew it would be hurtful to his family."
Westerhout clarified that was her understanding and noted that he didn't specifically say that to her.
"He didn't specifically speak about his family in that conversation," she said.
Trump's charges are related to alleged payments made ahead of the 2016 presidential election to silence Daniels about an alleged 2006 extramarital affair with Trump.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg must convince the jury that, not only did Trump falsify business records related to alleged hush money payments, he did so in furtherance of another crime — conspiracy to promote or prevent election, which would be a felony.
On their own, falsifying business records and conspiracy to promote or prevent election are misdemeanor charges.
Fox News Digital's Brooke Singman contributed to this update.
Former President Donald Trump signs autographs with Secretary of State David Scanlan after signing papers to be on the 2024 Republican presidential primary ballot at the New Hampshire Statehouse on Monday, Oct. 23, 2023, in Concord, NH. (Photo by Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
Madeleine Westerhout, who previously served as former President Donald Trump's personal secretary in the White House, testified Friday that Trump was a multitasker who would sign documents without reviewing them at times.
Westerhout said when she would receive the mail, she would leave any mail on Trump’s desk. If he was in the office, she said he would sign the things that required his signature.
Westerhout said Trump would sign a tremendous amount of items, including proclamations, letters, memos, etc.
Signing documents would take up hours of his day, Westerhout noted, adding that he’d sign everything.
Westerhout also stated that she would sometimes see Trump signing checks without reviewing them - usually in cases when he was on the phone or when he was meeting with people.
Sometimes he was meeting with top foreign leaders in the world, other times he was meeting with Westerhout. He wasn’t signing the checks in meetings with top world leaders, but she insisted he would sign checks and things while meeting with white house staff or discussing scheduling.
Westerhout agreed that he’s a person who multitasked.
Former President Trump spoke to reporters shortly before returning to court in Manhattan on Friday as his New York criminal trial resumed.
Trump talked about his upcoming campaign event on Saturday in Wildwood, New Jersey and spent several minutes reading from opinion articles that criticized the prosecution's case. Trump said he had to be careful which excerpts he read aloud and had to "edit" as he goes because of his gag order.
"If I mention the wrong word, they'll come out here and they'll take me out to the jail someplace because that's the way it is with this judge," Trump complained.
"They think they're going to get away with this. If this country allows them to get away with this gag order and the way the case is being handled, like what they're doing yesterday was incredible. It was incredible what they did. This trial was so horrible. It's no longer justice and it's a tremendous abuse of the New York judicial system," Trumps said.
"In particular, the New York judicial system has been absolutely abused and abused terribly. And it's the whole world is watching this very hard. So I'll now go and sit in that freezing cold courtroom for 8 or 9 hours and think about being on the campaign."
Madeleine Westerhout watches as President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with North Korean defectors in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, DC on Friday, Feb. 02, 2018. (Photo by Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
Madeleine Westerhout, who previously served as former President Donald Trump's personal secretary in the White House, is back on the stand in court.
Under questioning from Trump attorney Susan Necheles, Westerhout testified Friday that she was told a P.O. box was set up for Trump to receive personal items.
Asked by Necheles whether they were aware that was a "really slow way to receive things," Westerhout responded with a laugh, "Yes."
Westerhout, who testified Thursday about how checks were sent from the Trump Organization to the White House, confirmed to Necheles there were times personal items were sent to the White House and the president never received them.
Due to a delay in receiving items at the post office box, Westerhout said Keith Schiller, Trump's former bodyguard, received some of the Trump family's personal mail.
Mark Pomerantz, Author, People vs. Donald Trump: An Inside Account, appears on Meet the Press in Washington, D.C. Sunday, Feb. 12, 2023. -- (Photo by: William B. Plowman/NBC via Getty Images)
Judge Juan Merchan has denied former President Trump’s request to subpoena Mark Pomerantz, a former prosecutor in the Manhattan District Attorney's office who left and then wrote a book.
According to a court filing, Trump had sought various documents from Pomerantz during his time as a special assistant district attorney. Trump wanted documents from Pomerantz from Feb. 2, 2021 to Feb. 23, 2022, including materials that dated up until a month before the prosecutor left the DA's office.
The judge wrote the requests “are far too broad and amount to and improper fishing expedition into general discovery." He also said Trump's legal team sought info on topics that are not relevant.
Republicans have claimed that Pomerantz was biased against Trump and politicized the investigation.
In a report released last month, the House Judiciary Committee argued the Manhattan District Attorney's Office "allowed political motivations and animus to infect its prosecutorial discretion."
The GOP-led committee released a 300-page report titled "An Anatomy of a Political Prosecution: The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office Vendetta Against President Donald J. Trump."
Pomerantz testified before the committee in a deposition as part of the investigation. Pomerantz declined to answer most questions, but told the committee that was largely due to the then-pending investigation into Trump.
Pomerantz, a donor to Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign, previously worked on the Trump investigation with ex-prosecutor Carey Dunne under District Attorney Alvin Bragg's predecessor, former Manhattan DA Cyrus Vance. Both Pomerantz and Dunne resigned after Bragg took the helm and raised doubts about pursuing a case against Trump.
After Pomerantz resigned, he wrote a tell-all book based on the investigation, which was still ongoing. The book seemingly made the case to charge Trump.
The committee quoted Pomerantz's book, which they said revealed "his animus, both personally and politically against Trump."
Pomerantz wrote in his book of his "enthusiasm to work on the investigation," but said it "had nothing to do with [his] views about Trump's politics." However, he admitted that he was "not a fan" of Trump, and "had little regard" for him.
Fox News' Maria Paronich and Fox News Digital's Brooke Singman contributed to this update.
CNN panelists debated Thursday night over Michael Cohen's credibility as a witness in the trial of his previous boss, former President Trump.
"If there’s any human being on the planet Earth [whose] picture should be next to the definition ‘reasonable doubt,’ it’s Michael Cohen," Arthur Aidala told Trump critic and lawyer George Conway.
Cohen allegedly lied to Congress in a February 2019 hearing. He also pleaded guilty in 2018 to campaign finance violations, making false statements to Congress and tax evasion, for which he was sentenced to three years in prison.
But as Trump's former legal counsel, Cohen has become a star witness in the prosecution against Trump.
Conway defended Cohen in a heated on-air exchange with Aidala on CNN.
"At the end of the day, what’s a reasonable doubt?" Conway said.
"A reasonable doubt has to be that there has to be some plausible, alternative explanation for all these things that happened," he continued, arguing that the jury would not believe Trump's explanation for sending money to adult film actress Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election.
Fox News Digital's Jeffery Clark contributed to this update.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump and attorney Susan Necheles (right) return from a break during his trial for allegedly covering up hush money payments at Manhattan Criminal Court on May 9, 2024 in New York City. (Photo by Jeenah Moon-Pool/Getty Images)
Susan Necheles is currently serving as one of former President Donald Trump’s defense attorneys in his New York criminal trial.
According to a bio on her website, Necheles is recognized as “one of New York’s top litigators.” Additionally, she has been listed in “Super Lawyers” as “one of the leading white collar criminal defense lawyers in New York every year since 2006 and has been recognized in a number of publications including Who’s Who Legal and Avenue Magazine. She is often a panelist on white collar criminal programs and has lectured or taught CLE courses on topics such as an attorney’s ethical obligations, trial practice, and sentencing.”
Necheles has defended members of the Genovese crime family and recently defended Jeremy Reichberg, a former fundraiser for former Mayor Bill de Blasio of New York, in a federal bribery case. She has been defending the Trump organization since 2021 and has been paid $465,000 from Trump’s Super PAC. She also represented New York state Senate Majority leader Pedro Espada in a corruption case involving the theft of hundred of thousands of dollars from local health institutions.
Before joining Trump’s team she worked as an Assistant District Attorney in King’s County and President of the New York Council of Defense Lawyers.
Fox News Digital's Matteo Cina contributed to this update.
Penguin Random House executive Sally Franklin gives testimony before Justice Juan Merchan during former U.S. President Donald Trump's criminal trial on charges that he falsified business records to conceal money paid to silence porn star Stormy Daniels in 2016, in Manhattan state court in New York City, U.S. May 7, 2024 in this courtroom sketch. (REUTERS/Jane Rosenberg)
Speaking after his Thursday appearance in court, former President Trump went on the attack against Judge Juan Merchan, who denied a request to modify Trump's gag order.
"So, what happened today? I don't think we have to do any expert explaining. I'm not allowed to anyway because this judge is a corrupt judge. This judge, what he did and what his ruling was, is a disgrace," Trump said after court adjourned, adding Merchan is "totally conflicted."
Trump, the presumptive 2024 Republican presidential nominee, said he's "got to get back on the campaign trail."
"I'm not supposed to be here," Trump said. "We are so innocent. There's never been anything like it.
"I'm innocent, and I'm being held in this court with a corrupt judge who's totally conflicted."
The former president said it is "a disgrace to the city of New York, to the state of New York and to the country."
Fox News Digital's Brooke Singman contributed to this update.
Two Republican congressional committee chairmen are again referring ex-Trump attorney Michael Cohen to the Justice Department for lying to Congress.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., had previously referred Cohen to the Justice Department after Cohen allegedly lied to Congress in a February 2019 hearing.
Cohen pleaded guilty in 2018 to campaign finance violations, making false statements to Congress and tax evasion. He was sentenced to three years in prison.
In a letter sent to Attorney General Merrick Garland on Wednesday, obtained by Fox News, Comer and Jordan wrote that much of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s ongoing case against former President Donald Trump is based on testimony from Cohen, whom they called a "repeated liar."
In the letter Wednesday, Jordan and Comer remind Garland that Republicans, in February 2019, referred Cohen to the Justice Department "for perjury and knowingly making false statements during his testimony" before the House Oversight Committee on Feb. 27, 2019.
Jordan and Comer said, at the time, members cited "six specific lies told by Cohen and urged the Justice Department to take appropriate action."
"Last year, we learned that Cohen separately lied again before the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence in a 2019 deposition," they wrote. Cohen appeared to admit to being dishonest in Trump's non-jury civil trial stemming from New York Attorney General Letitia James' lawsuit.
"Cohen’s testimony is now the basis for a politically motivated prosecution of a former president and current declared candidate for that office," Jordan and Comer wrote. "In light of the reliance on the testimony from this repeated liar, we reiterate our concerns and ask what the Justice Department has done to hold Cohen accountable for his false statements to Congress."
Cohen, during his February 2019 testimony, "made willfully and intentionally false statements of material fact that were contradicted by the record established by the Justice Department in United States v. Cohen," they wrote. Jordan and Comer also said Cohen made statements that were contradicted by witnesses with firsthand knowledge of the subject.
Those lies, according to Jordan and Comer, included Cohen denying committing various fraudulent acts, to which he had pleaded guilty in federal court.
Cohen also repeatedly testified that he did not seek employment in then-President Trump’s White House, "despite evidence from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York demonstrating that ‘Cohen privately told friends…that he expected to be given a prominent role and title in the new administration.’"
Jordan and Comer also said Cohen stated that he "did not direct the creation of a Twitter account known as @WomenForCohen, which is contradicted by statements from the owner of the IT firm that created the account for Cohen."
They also said Cohen lied when he said he did not have any reportable foreign government contracts, despite entering into two contracts in 2017 with entities owned in part by foreign governments.
Fox News Digital's Brooke Singman contributed to this update.
Former President Trump's ex-attorney and fixer Michael Cohen is expected to be called to testify Monday as a witness in his former boss' criminal trial.
Cohen arranged the $130,000 hush money payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election. Trump, later, made several payments of $35,000 to Cohen, who was his personal attorney at the time.
Those payments served as the basis for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's indictment of Trump on charges of falsifying business records. Bragg is trying to prove those payments, which totaled $420,000, were a reimbursement for the hush money payment.
But Trump defense attorneys say that the $35,000 payments were "not a payback," but instead, legal payments.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree.
Cohen pleaded guilty in 2018 to campaign finance violations, making false statements to Congress and tax evasion. He was sentenced to three years in prison.
The former president has previously called Cohen a "proven liar."
Fox News' Eric Shawn and Fox News Digital's Brooke Singman contributed to this update.
New York Supreme Court Judge Juan Merchan listens as former U.S. President Donald Trump watches as Stormy Daniels is questioned by defense attorney Susan Necheles during Trump's criminal trial on charges that he falsified business records to conceal money paid to silence porn star Stormy Daniels in 2016, in Manhattan state court in New York City, U.S., May 9, 2024 in this courtroom sketch. (REUTERS/Jane Rosenberg)
Judge Juan Merchan denied Trump defense attorneys’ request for a mistrial and a modification of a gag order Thursday, arguing the former president should be able to defend himself against Stormy Daniels’ salacious and "prejudicial" testimony.
Trump defense attorney Todd Blanche first requested a mistrial Tuesday after Daniels’ first day on the stand but was denied. Merchan did, however, admit Daniels was a difficult witness to control and said much of her testimony was "unnecessary" and "irrelevant" to the charges.
Trump attorneys on Thursday again requested a mistrial.
Blanche said the prosecution asked Daniels "a whole host of questions" that never should have been asked, pointing to questions about the porn actress’s childhood and her alleged interaction with Trump. Blanche argued they were "things that are irrelevant to the facts of this case."
Blanche reminded that the case is not about sex and again stressed that Daniels’ testimony was "extraordinarily prejudicial for the jury to hear."
"It is so dangerous, so prejudicial, it borders on a problem from the beginning," Blanche said, adding that Daniels' testimony and story about the alleged sexual encounter kept changing.
But Merchan denied the request and reminded Blanche that, during his opening argument, he denied Trump had a sexual encounter with Stormy Daniels.
"Your denial puts the jury in a position to decide who to believe," Merchan said, adding the defense could have objected many times during Daniels' testimony "but didn't."
With regard to one explicit detail, Merchan said he agreed that "shouldn’t have come out … but for the life of me, I don’t know why Ms. Necheles didn’t object."
Merchan told Blanche he made decisions to strike things from the record to "protect" Trump and said he disagrees with any changing narrative while adding that the details "add a sense of credibility."
Blanche also requested a modification to the gag order, arguing Daniels made false statements about Trump, and the former president should be allowed to defend himself now that her testimony is complete.
The judge denied that request.
Fox News Digital's Brooke Singman contributed to this update.
The prosecution in NY v. Trump said Thursday that they do not plan to call former Playboy model Karen McDougal to testify in the trial, according to defense attorney Todd Blanche.
"The People informed me they no longer intend to call Ms. McDougal," Blanche said, according to multiple reports.
McDougal alleged she had a monthslong affair with Donald Trump in 2006 and was later paid $150,000 by the National Enquirer's parent company to keep quiet about it.
Trump has denied the affair with the December 1997 Playmate of the Month.
The payments to McDougal and former adult film actress Stormy Daniels served as the basis for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's investigation into Trump.
Those payments had been investigated by the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Southern District of New York and by the Federal Election Commission.
Federal prosecutors in SDNY opted out of charging Trump related to the hush money payments in 2019, even as his former attorney, Michael Cohen, implicated him as part of his plea deal. The Federal Election Commission also tossed its investigation into the matter in 2021.
Fox News Digital's Kyle Morris contributed to this update.
Madeleine Westerhout, director of Oval Office Operations, walks through the Colonnade of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S. on on Monday, March 25, 2019. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Madeleine Westerhout, who previously served as former President Donald Trump's personal secretary in the White House, was brought to tears Thursday as she described her experience in the administration.
The emotion came as Westerhout outlined the former president's relationship with his wife, Melania Trump.
Westerhout said the couple's relationship was one of mutual respect and that they laughed often when they were in the oval office.
Westerhout said Melania would sometimes text Trump, reminding him that it was past dinner time and asking when her husband was coming home.
Though she recognized Trump was her boss, Westerhout insisted Melania “definitely runs the show."
Getting emotional as she reflected on her time in the White House under Trump, Westerhout said she has "grown so much” and said she really respects Trump and thinks that he’s been treated unfairly.
The emotion continued as Westerhout discussed the book she wrote — "My Dream Job at the White House, Why I Lost It and What I learned."
She said it was important to write the book to show people the man she got to know. She said she wanted to tell that story and reiterated that she believes he’s not been treated fairly.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump watches as Stormy Daniels is questioned by defense attorney Susan Necheles during his criminal trial on charges that he falsified business records to conceal money paid to silence porn star Stormy Daniels in 2016, in Manhattan state court in New York City, U.S., May 9, 2024 in this courtroom sketch. (REUTERS/Jane Rosenberg)
Donald Trump's defense attorney Susan Necheles, after cross-examination, said Stormy Daniels’ story about an alleged sexual encounter with the former president keeps changing because the affair never happened.
Necheles pointed to a statement Daniels signed in 2018 denying an encounter with Trump ever took place. Daniels said she did not write the statement but signed it.
Necheles pointed to another statement in which Daniels denied having a sexual relationship with Trump. In part, the statement said, "I’m denying this affair because it never happened."
Daniels maintained that she signed the statements, entered a non-disclosure agreement and took a $130,000 payment, which prosecutors allege was illegally marked as legal expenses, for protection. But Trump's team aimed to show that Daniels was after a payday and changed her story when it would lead to profit.
Daniels denied ever requesting money from Trump. Facing pressure from Necheles, Daniels added, "I never asked for money from anyone in particular. I asked for money for telling my story. … I was asking for money from publications to sell my story, to get the truth out."
Daniels admitted to selling the story for nearly $1 million, when she agreed to write her book, "Full Disclosure," for $800,000. But she claimed she did not receive all that money.
When asked for specific details about the alleged sexual encounter in 2006 on the sidelines of a celebrity golf tournament in Lake Tahoe, Daniels appeared to tell a different story in court than when she first spoke about the incident, or in her book.
"You told In Touch a completely different story," Necheles said, which Daniels denied, adding there were just "parts in the middle I didn’t remember."
"You made it up," Necheles said.
"No," Daniels replied.
Necheles asked Daniels if she knew or understood why Trump was indicted in Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s case. She said she did not, adding he was "indicted for a lot of things."
Fox News Digital's Brooke Singman contributed to this update.
Madeleine Westerhout, a former Trump executive assistant, departs Manhattan Criminal Court on May 09, 2024 in New York City. (Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
Madeleine Westerhout, who previously served as former President Donald Trump's personal secretary, told the court on Thursday that Trump's personal expenses were handled through checks.
Checks were sent from the Trump Organization to employees at the White House and Westerhout would take them to the president for him to sign.
Westerhout said the checks came in a FedEx envelope. Inside it was a manila folder with the checks. Invoices, she said, would be attached sometimes.
Westerhout couldn't recall how frequently the checks came, but said they were “consistent, maybe twice a month.”
She said she sometimes witnessed Trump sign the checks, and after they were signed she would put them in a pre-labeled FedEx envelope and send them back to the Trump Organization.
Westerhout couldn't recall a specific time Trump didn’t sign, and recalled a couple of times Trump had a question and called former Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg or someone else to ask for clarification.
Fox News' Maria Paronich contributed to this update.
Madeleine Westerhout watches as President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with North Korean defectors in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, DC on Friday, Feb. 02, 2018. (Photo by Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
Madeleine Westerhout, who previously served as former President Donald Trump's personal secretary and later as the director of Oval Office Operations from February to August 2019, will return to the stand Friday for cross examination.
On Thursday, Westerhout said she has never been inside a courtroom before and admitted she was nervous.
Prosecutors asked questions about the infamous "Access Hollywood" tape featuring Trump in a crude conversation with former NBC News host Billy Bush.
She said it “rattled RNC leadership” and recalled conversations on how it would be possible to replace Trump as a candidate if it came to that.
Once Trump was elected, Westerhout said she worked from Trump Tower and assisted in scheduling interviews for cabinet positions and senior staff roles for the new administration.
Westerhout was nicknamed by members of the media as "The Greeter Girl."
Westerhout noted that she worked "seamlessly" with Rhona Graff, Trump's longtime assistant, and insisted she was "integral” with scheduling interviews.
Fox News' Grace Taggart and Fox News Digital's Kyle Morris contributed to this update.
Former President Trump’s criminal trial will resume Friday after Judge Juan Merchan, for the second time, denied his defense attorney’s request for a mistrial following salacious testimony from Stormy Daniels.
Daniels, who claims to have had a sexual encounter with Trump in 2006, took the stand for cross-examination Thursday morning after hours of questioning Tuesday that even the judge called "unnecessary" and "irrelevant."
Trump defense attorney Todd Blanche made a second request for a mistrial Thursday, arguing that prosecutors asked Daniels "a whole host of questions" that he called "prejudicial." But the judge again denied the motion.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree. The charges stem from a years-long investigation by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office. The charges are related to alleged payments made ahead of the 2016 presidential election to silence Daniels about an alleged 2006 extramarital affair with Trump.
But the former president and presumptive Republican presidential nominee declared, "We are so innocent."
Fox News Digital's Brooke Singman contributed to this update.
Live Coverage begins here