NEW YORK (1010 WINS/WCBS 880)— Prosecutors in Donald Trump's hush money trial said Friday that they expect to call just two more witnesses to the stand, potentially laying the ground for resting their case next week.
One of those witnesses is expected to be Michael Cohen on Monday, two people familiar with the matter told The Associated Press. The people could not discuss the matter publicly and and spoke to AP on condition of anonymity.
Day 15 of the trial begins. Live updates here:
2 P.M. - Michael Cohen is expected to take the stand on Monday, a person familiar with the matter told the AP
The person could not discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
1 P.M. - Judge says Cohen should ‘refrain from making any more statements’
They pointed out that Cohen appeared on TikTok wearing a T-shirt depicting Trump behind bars. The defense argued that it's unfair Cohen can talk about Trump while Trump is restricted under a gag order. The judge instructed prosecutors to compel Cohen to stop talking and made it clear that it is a direct order from the judge.
12:45 P.M. - Prosecutors say there are likely only two witnesses left
With jurors gone for the day, the judge has turned to scheduling matters. Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass said they expect to call only two more witnesses. “It’s entirely possible,” Steinglass added, that the prosecution will rest by the end of the next week.
The trial will meet for three days next week — Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. Wednesday is the trial’s usual day off and Friday court will break so Trump can attend his son Barron’s high school graduation.
12:05 P.M. - On the stand: Jaden Jarmel-Schneider
Jarmel-Schneider is another paralegal from the prosecutors’ office. He has worked with phone records in the case, including data from Cohen’s phone.
Paralegal Jarmel-Schneider’s testimony involves a key recording that was played in court earlier in the trial, which appears to show Trump and Cohen discussing the payments made to Karen McDougal to bury her story of an alleged affair. Trump’s attorneys have suggested Cohen doctored the recording, citing the fact that it cuts off abruptly.
Records show Cohen received a phone call about 22 seconds after the recording was cut off, according to Jarmel-Schneider’s testimony. Prosecutors seem to be eliciting the testimony to back up their claim that the recording wasn’t edited, but was cut short after Cohen received an incoming call.
12 P.M. - What about Michael Cohen’s posts?
Blanche begins his cross-examination by asking Longstreet to confirm that her review of social media posts does not extend to Michael Cohen. “You’re still not reviewing Mr. Cohen’s TikTok?” Blanche asked. “You’re not aware of anything he TikToked, for example, two nights ago?”
Cohen has continued to post actively throughout the trial. In a live TikTok earlier this week, he wore a shirt featuring a figure resembling Trump with his hands cuffed, behind bars — a piece of merchandise that he sells as part of his podcast.
Longstreet confirmed her review did not include posts sent by Cohen. Her testimony concluded soon after.
11:35 A.M. - On the stand: Georgia Longstreet
Longstreet is a paralegal at the Manhattan district attorney’s office who previously testified about procuring social media posts and other publicly available evidence.
Through Longstreet, prosecutors have introduced jurors to tweets showing that Trump initially praised Cohen after the then-lawyer came under federal investigation, then began bashing him after Cohen pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations, along with other crimes, and said Trump had directed him to arrange the hush money for Daniels. Trump was never charged with any crime related to that federal investigation.
Longstreet also read into the record text messages chronicling months of discussions in 2016 between Daniels’ manager Gina Rodriguez and then-National Enquirer editor Dylan Howard about Daniels’ claim that she had once had sex with Trump.
The texts include a back-and-forth on Oct. 8, 2016, the day after Trump’s infamous “Access Hollywood” tape leaked. Rodriguez tells Howard she’s aware of an offer of $250,000 for Daniels’ story and that other news outlets are interested in interviewing her. The next day, text messages show, Rodriguez and Howard haggled over a price for the National Enquirer to acquire the rights to Daniels’ story, finally settling on $120,000.
Rather than the tabloid making the deal, Trump’s then-lawyer Michael Cohen ended up paying Daniels $130,000 — a higher price to add compensation for a lawyer who negotiated on her behalf. The text messages add another dimension to the negotiations that were previously discussed in testimony by former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker and others.
11:30 A.M. - The trial is going to end early today
Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg is in the courtroom. The prosecution has just stated that they have two more witnesses, which will take about an hour. The judge confirms that they will break for the day around 1 p.m., or whenever the witnesses finish.
11:15 A.M. - Judge will not allow 1999 Larry King interview to be entered into evidence
As court resumed, Merchan sided with defense lawyers in excluding a 1999 CNN interview in which Trump discussed his familiarity with campaign finance laws. Merchan said the tape was “too attenuated” to the events at hand and would require jurors to make inferences about how Trump’s views then related to the events involved in the case that happened decades later.
11 A.M. - On the stand: Jennie Tomalin
AT&T records witness Daniel Dixon is done testifying. Continuing the theme, Verizon worker Jennie Tomalin is up now to authenticate various phone records.
10:30 A.M. -Next witness Daniel Dixon takes the stand
Dixon, an AT&T employee, will be authenticating some records. As the AT&T witness testifies, Trump is leaning over and reading various documents, taking notes and piling them up in front of him as he goes. At one point, he showed some of the documents to his lawyer Todd Blanche, sitting next to his left. They appeared to be a printout of a news article.
Before entering the courtroom, Trump read aloud from printed-out opinion pieces criticizing the trial, noting that he had to “edit” in real time due to the gag order restricting what he could say. “I’ll be going over them with you later,” he told reporters. It wasn’t clear if these were the same papers.
10 A.M. - Madeleine Westerhout, former Trump White House aide, takes the stand
Defense lawyer Susan Necheles has resumed her cross-examination of Westerhout, asking about matters including Trump’s penchant for sending newspaper clippings to relatives and friends.
Among them was a New York Times front page that included a photo of the first time Trump boarded Air Force One. “He was proud” of that, Westerhout testified as the former president appeared to move closer to the screen in front of him to look at an image of the clipping.
On cross-examination, Westerhout appeared to alter a claim she made Thursday that she remembered Trump calling his company’s then-CFO Allen Weisselberg with questions about certain checks he had to sign for his personal expenses.
Questioned by Trump lawyer Susan Necheles, the former White House secretary acknowledged she had no specific recollection of Trump speaking with Weisselberg at all during his first year in office and only a vague recollection that they’d ever spoken about a check. “But you’re not even sure if it’s true?” Necheles asked. Westerhout said it was hard to recall because Trump “spoke to so many people.”
Trump’s personal mail bypassed standard White House security screenings, according to Westerhout.
Under subsequent questioning by prosecutor Becky Mangold, Westerhout denied that Trump’s roundabout mail arrangement was an “end run around the White House security protocols,” but rather a way to “get things to him fast.” But, Westerhout acknowledged that such letters and packages wouldn’t have gone through the normal White House security screenings.
Westerhout’s testimony then concluded.
9 A.M. - Trump returns to court
Before heading into the courtroom, Trump read printed-out opinion pieces from pundits criticizing the case and once again railed against the judge. He said he had to be careful which parts he read due to the gag order restricting him from speaking about witnesses and jurors.
“If I mention the wrong word, they’ll come out here and they’ll take me out to a jail someplace because that’s the way it is with this judge. He wants to show how tough he is,” Trump said.