Takeaways from Day 15 of the Donald Trump hush money trial
From CNN's Jeremy Herb, Lauren del Valle and Kara Scannell
Prosecutors say it’s entirely possible they could rest their case by the end of next week. Here are the takeaways from day 15 of the Trump hush money trial:
Cohen is on deck: Donald Trump's former attorney Michael Cohen is expected to take the stand Monday and testify to his role in negotiating the hush money payment to Stormy Daniels on Trump’s behalf, as well as how he was reimbursed through retainer payments in 2017 that are at the heart of the charges against Trump. However, his testimony comes with baggage. Cohen himself was federally charged with campaign finance violations, tax crimes and lying to Congress in previous testimony. He’s changed his story as he turned from loyal Trump defender to a chief antagonist afterpleading guilty to the federal charges in 2018. Cohen’s credibility with the jury may make or break Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s case, so it will be high stakes for the prosecution when Cohen is sworn in.
Judge to Cohen: Please stop talking: Trump attorney Todd Blanche urged Judge Juan Merchan to order Cohen to stop talking about the trial and Trump. Trump is not allowed to talk about Cohen because of the gag order in place. But, Blanche said, Cohen is nevertheless allowed to attack him. Assistant District Attorney Joshua Steinglass responded that prosecutors have repeatedly instructed Cohen and all of the other witnesses in the case not to speak publicly about it. “The fact of the matter is, we have no control over what they do,” he conceded. Merchan has already said he cannot gag witnesses in the case. But he sympathized with Blanche’s position and said that 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.
Trump is all smiles at testimony of former White House aide: Trump exchanged smiles with his former White House assistant Madeleine Westerhout, who wrapped up her testimony Friday that began one day prior. She raised her eyebrows and smiled at Trump who smiled back at her and mouthed something as she left the courtroom. Westerhout testified that she remembered Trump was upset after the Daniels story came out in 2018. She testified that Trump signed scores of documents a day while multitasking on the phone or in meetings, and she said she’d seen him signing checks without reviewing them.
Prosecutors introduce key text and call records into evidence: After Westerhout left the stand, prosecutors spent the rest of the day calling custodial witnesses to introduce cell phone records into evidence. It made for a dry day of testimony, but it also provided key evidence that prosecutors plan to use to convince the jury that Trump is guilty of falsifying business records.
Prosecution may rest next week: Steinglass said that prosecutors expect to call two more witnesses, and then rest. “And I think it’s entirely possible we will rest by the end of next week,” he added. When the prosecution rests, it will be Trump’s turn. It’s not clear how long he will put on a case in defense – a question that is likely to rest largely on whether or not Trump himself takes the stand.
Read all the takeaways here.
Here are all the witnesses who have testified so far in the Trump hush money trial
From CNN staff
Donald Trump's longtime assistant, the former banker of Trump's attorney Michael Cohen and adult film actress Stormy Daniels are among witnesses who have taken the stand so far in the hush money trial.
As of Friday, here's everybody we've heard from so far:
- David Pecker — the former CEO of American Media Inc., the National Enquirer's parent company — was the first witness called to testify. After more than 10 hours of testimony across four days, he offered illuminating details into how the infamous tabloid operated and conducted so-called “catch and kill” operations.
- Rhona Graff, Trump's longtime assistant at the Trump Organization, was called to testify briefly on April 26.
- Gary Farro, the former banker of Cohen, walked the jury through Cohen’s bank activity around the payment to Daniels.
- Keith Davidson, the former lawyer for model and actress Karen McDougal as well as for Daniels, was on the stand fornearly 6 hoursover two days.
- Douglas Daus works for the Manhattan District Attorney's High Technology Analysis Unit, and was assigned to analyze two iPhones thatbelonged to Cohenin the investigation related to Trump. They were obtained via a search warrant.Daus testified about the"unusual" amount of contactsand other things he found on Cohen's phone.
- Hope Hicks, Trump's longtime former aide, testified for a little less than three hours about her role as Trump’s 2016 campaign press secretary, the aftermath ofthe “Access Hollywood” tape releaseand Cohen's payment toDaniels.
- Jeffrey McConney, a former Trump Organization controller, testified abouthow Cohen's payments were listedin Trump's financial documents.
- Deborah Tarasoff, the accounts payable supervisor in the accounting department at the Trump Organization, explained how checks were cut to Cohenin 2017 and testified thatinvoices over $10,000had to be approved by Trump or one of his sons.
- Sally Franklin, the senior vice president and executive managing editor for Penguin Random House publishing group, testified for46 minutes. Prosecutors used her testimony to enterexcerpts from Trump’s booksinto evidence.
- Stormy Daniels, who's at the center of the hush money case, was on the stand for 6 hours and 10 minutes over two days of testimony. Daniels walked the jury through details about her alleged sexual encounter with Trump in 2006 and the $130,000 hush money payment from Trump's ex-attorney Michael Cohen shortlybefore the 2016 election. Trump attorney Susan Necheles hammered down on Daniels in cross-examination to establish some of the ways she gained publicity and money from her story going public.
- Rebecca Manochio, a junior bookkeeper at the Trump Organization, testified for about 35 minutes. The prosecution used Manochio to submit invoices, documents and emails as evidence.
- Tracey Menzies, the senior vice president of production and creative operations at Harper Collins, spoke about one of the books Donald Trump co-authored, “Think Big: Make It Happen in Business and Life,” by Trump and Bill Zanker and read excerpts from the book.
- Madeleine Westerhout, a former personal assistant to Trump at the White House, detailed how the president preferred to work, his attention to detail and the reaction to the "Access Hollywood" tape.
- Daniel Dixon, an AT&T lead compliance analyst. He was used to enter phone records into evidence.
- Jennie Tomalin, Verizon senior analyst in executive relations, was also called to the stand to enter evidence into the records.
- Georgia Longstreet, who testified on May 3 and May 10, gave evidence about social media posts and text messages.
- Jaden Jarmel-Schneider, another paralegal from the Manhattan district attorney's office, testified about analyzing phone records entered into evidence on May 10.
Sketches from Friday's court proceedings
From CNN Digital's Photo Desk
Cameras aren’t allowed in the courtroom during the trial, but sketch artists have been filling in to give the public an idea of what it looks like.
Check out some of these sketches that were made of Friday’s proceedings, which included testimony from former White House aide Madeleine Westerhout and paralegals Georgia Longstreet and Jaden Jarmel-Schneider.
Trump laments his gag order: "Everybody can say whatever they want"
From CNN's Aditi Sangal
As Donald Trump left court Friday, he lamented his gag order while others say "whatever they want."
"Everybody can say whatever they want," he said. "But I'm not allowed to say anything about anybody."
"It's a disgrace," he added.
He went on to show clips of stories criticizing the case, including from Jonathan Turley and Sean Hannity. Trump also repeatedly attacked President Joe Biden and took credit for the stock market going up, claiming it's a response to his leading in the polls.
During the trial on Friday, CNN's reporters saw Trump going through a large pile of clips.
Prosecutors leave the courtroom
Prosecutors have left the courtroom following day 15 of Trump's criminal hush money trial.
Trump leaving courtroom
Trump has turned to leave, papers in hand.
When walking out, he motioned for Jeanine Pirro to follow him. She's still sitting in her seat in the press gallery.
Merchan tells prosecutors to ask Cohen not to make statements about Trump or the case
Judge Juan Merchan says that he would "direct the people to communicate to Mr. (Michael) Cohen that the judge is asking him to refrain from making any more statements" about this case or Trump.
Merchan tells prosecutors to inform him this is coming from the bench.
Prosecutors say they've "repeatedly" asked their witnesses to not talk about the case
Trump attorney Todd Blance is asking Judge Juan Merchan to order the prosecution to instruct Michael Cohen, who is expected to begin testifying Monday, not to talk about this case.
The defense team is asking "the court order the government to instruct the witness to not talk about President Trump or this case until the case is over," Blanche says.
Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass responds saying they have "no control" over what witnesses do.
"We have repeatedly — repeatedly — asked the witnesses not to do that," he says, adding prosecutors "have repeatedly instructed all of the witnesses in this case tothe extent we have control over it."
Defense attorney asks judge to put gag order on Cohen
Trump attorney Todd Blanche is now moving on to ask that the judge put a gag order in place so Michael Cohen cannot speak publicly about the case.
Blanche points to the TikTok Cohen posted this week wearing a white T-shirt with a picture of Trump behind bars. He's also asking for the judge to order the prosecution to instruct the witness not to talk about this case.
Cohen is expected to begin his testimony on Monday.
