A defense witness will return to the stand on Tuesday. Here’s what to know. (2024)

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The prosecution rests: 5 takeaways from Trump’s criminal trial.

The case was capped by three days of grinding cross-examination of his former fixer, Michael D. Cohen, who finally stepped off the stand on Monday afternoon, leaving jurors to weigh his truthfulness.

The defense began its case on a mission to sully the credibility of Mr. Cohen, the prosecution’s star witness, but the second witness Mr. Trump’s lawyers called to the stand quickly became embroiled in a squabble with the judge, Juan M. Merchan. The judge, not surprisingly, prevailed.

Though the defense is expected to be brief, Justice Merchan said that closing arguments would not happen until next week.

The former president is charged with falsifying 34 business records related to the reimbursem*nt of a $130,000 hush-money payment to a p*rn star, Stormy Daniels, who says she had sex with Mr. Trump in Lake Tahoe, Nev., in 2006. Mr. Trump, 77, has denied the charges and has said he did not have an encounter with Ms. Daniels. If convicted, he could face prison or probation.

Here are five takeaways from Mr. Trump’s 19th day on trial.

‘The defense calls Robert Costello.’ It didn’t go well.

After Mr. Cohen was done, the defense commenced and soon called Robert Costello, a former legal adviser to Mr. Cohen, who said they spoke in 2018 and that Mr. Cohen told him that Mr. Trump “knew nothing” about payments to Ms. Daniels.

But after several objections by prosecutors, Mr. Costello said “jeez.” Soon after, Justice Merchan sent the jury away and scolded Mr. Costello for not displaying “proper decorum” and for giving him “side-eye.”

It didn’t stop there: Justice Merchan quickly cleared the courtroom to deal with Mr. Costello.

When onlookers left the room, according to a transcript, the judge told Mr. Costello that his conduct was “contemptuous” and said, “If you try to stare me down one more time I will remove you from the stand.” Addressing the defense lawyers, he added, “I will strike his testimony, do you hear me?”

Mr. Costello asked, “Can I say something, please?” And Justice Merchan replied: “No. No. This is not a conversation.”

Prosecutors sought to link a phone call with a photograph.

Last week, Todd Blanche, Mr. Trump’s lead lawyer, confronted Mr. Cohen about a phone call on Oct. 24, 2016.

Mr. Cohen said that during that call — made to Mr. Trump’s bodyguard, Keith Schiller — he talked to Mr. Trump about the payoff to Ms. Daniels. The defense had another theory: He was complaining to Mr. Schiller about pranks that a teenager was playing on him.

After cross-examination, prosecutors sought to introduce a photo showing Mr. Trump with Mr. Schiller that was taken about the same time as the call. It was admitted into evidence, even though the defense tried to prevent it.

The importance of that argument about Mr. Cohen’s testimony, which bears on his general credibility, seemed clear to Mr. Blanche, who mentioned it at least twice on Monday. The photo — and the jury’s interpretation of it — could become significant.

Defense lawyers had mixed results as they tried to muddy the waters.

Mr. Blanche seemed to be searching for a decisive moment.

He tried to raise questions about other calls that Mr. Cohen said he placed to Mr. Trump around the time of the hush-money payment. But Mr. Cohen stood firm, saying, “My recollection is that I was speaking to him about Stormy Daniels because that was what he tasked me to take care of.”

But Mr. Blanche found success when he moved from calling Mr. Cohen a liar to calling him a thief. Under his questioning, Mr. Cohen admitted having stolen $30,000 from the Trump Organization.

A prosecutor, Susan Hoffinger, gave Mr. Cohen the chance to say his theft was an angry reaction to having his bonus cut, and he agreed that it was wrong. But the image remained of a man stealing from a company he’d previously praised as a “big family.”

Cohen was surprisingly steady.

Mr. Cohen, Mr. Trump’s combustible former lawyer and fixer, never lost his temper, despite admitting all manner of bad behavior. On Monday, he also admitted having a financial interest in the case’s outcome: Mr. Trump is a topic of his podcast and other endeavors. But Mr. Cohen said that a Trump acquittal would be better for him economically.

“It gives me more to talk about,” he said.

A galloping trial slows to a stroll.

The trial was clipping along last week, and it seemed possible that the jury would be deliberating before Memorial Day. Those plans were dashed on Monday when Justice Merchan announced that closing arguments would be delayed until after the holiday weekend.

The defense is expected to rest on Tuesday, barring a last-minute surprise, and that could mean an extended break for jurors.

The parties are then expected to make their closing arguments on May 28. Whom that timing helps is hard to divine, though it gives both sides time to hone their final pitches.

It also provides jurors a clear runway to deliberate as long as necessary.

Cohen’s testimony was intense. Here are the highlights.

Here are the key moments and testimony from Mr. Cohen on the stand:

‘Just take care of it.’

On his first day on the stand, Mr. Cohen told jurors that Mr. Trump was involved in the hush-money deal to buy the silence of Stormy Daniels, the adult film actress who considered going public before the 2016 election with her account of a sexual encounter with Mr. Trump, a story that Mr. Trump denies.

Mr. Cohen testified that before the election, Mr. Trump directed him to pay off Ms. Daniels, who received $130,000 from Mr. Cohen, and also approved a reimbursem*nt plan for Mr. Cohen. Mr. Trump, he testified, conveyed a general instruction to him: “Just take care of it.”

The hush-money deal to Ms. Daniels and Mr. Trump’s reimbursem*nt to Mr. Cohen are at the heart of the 34 felony charges of falsifying business records against Mr. Trump. There is one count for each record involved in the reimbursem*nt of Mr. Cohen: 11 checks, 11 invoices and 12 entries in the former president’s ledger.

Key meetings between Cohen and Trump

Under questioning from prosecutors, Mr. Cohen gave his account of two crucial meetings with Mr. Trump about the records. The first was in January 2017, where he said Mr. Trump approved of a plan to falsify them. The second occurred the following month, in the Oval Office, where Mr. Trump again confirmed his knowledge of the plan, and told Mr. Cohen that he would soon start receiving checks.

Other witnesses, including Madeleine Westerhout, the former director of Oval Office operations under Mr. Trump, testified about the White House meeting between them.

There was no legal retainer, Cohen testified

The repayments to Mr. Cohen in 2017 were recorded as having been for legal expenses by the Trump Organization, which cited a legal retainer with Mr. Cohen. But prosecutors have said there was no such retainer, and Mr. Cohen confirmed there had not been one.

Mr. Cohen received $420,000 in repayments in 2017 — to cover the deal to Ms. Daniels, a bonus, a reimbursem*nt for his payment to a tech company on Mr. Trump’s behalf, and additional cash for tax considerations.

On Monday, a prosecutor, Susan Hoffinger, asked Mr. Cohen to confirm that the financial documents connected to the repayment were false. Mr. Cohen agreed.

A 14-year-old prankster

During cross-examination, a lawyer for Mr. Trump, Todd Blanche, offered an alternative theory for a 2016 conversation that Mr. Cohen testified he had with the former president about Ms. Daniels’s deal. Mr. Blanche said that Mr. Cohen had been dealing with a 14-year-old prankster around that time who was making harassing phone calls.

Mr. Blanche told Mr. Cohen that the purpose of that 2016 conversation was to discuss the prankster with Keith Schiller, Mr. Trump’s bodyguard.

“That was a lie,” Mr. Blanche shouted. “You can admit.”

Mr. Cohen said that he was telling the truth, and that he had reached Mr. Trump on Mr. Schiller’s phone.

On Monday, prosecutors introduced as evidence a photo showing Mr. Trump with Mr. Schiller about the same time as the call took place.

Cohen is seeking revenge, the defense team said

It was Mr. Cohen’s dream to work for Mr. Trump. But on the stand, Mr. Cohen underscored just how much his admiration and loyalty had faded.

“Do you want President Trump to get convicted in this case?” Mr. Blanche asked.

“Sure,” Mr. Cohen replied.

Mr. Blanche pressed Mr. Cohen again later during his cross-examination, suggesting that his drive for revenge was a major motivation for testifying against Mr. Trump in the trial.

Mr. Cohen admitted that his association with Mr. Trump had lifted his profile, but said that as far as his ability to generate content about Mr. Trump was concerned, he thought an acquittal would actually be “better” for him than a guilty verdict.

“It gives me more to talk about in the future,” Mr. Cohen said.

Cohen admitted he stole money from the Trump Organization

Of the $420,000 Mr. Cohen received in 2017, $50,000 of it was supposed to cover a payment to a tech company who Mr. Cohen had hired to rig an online poll for Mr. Trump. But when pressed on Monday by Mr. Blanche, Mr. Cohen acknowledged that he had kept $30,000 of the money earmarked for the company.

“You stole from the Trump Organization, is that right?” Mr. Blanche asked.

“Yes, sir,” Mr. Cohen replied.

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Trump praised Robert Costello, calling him a “highly respected lawyer,” but he has what may turn out to be a fairly narrowly-shared view of his testimony. Most people in the courtroom did not experience Costello as a galvanizing and solid witness for the defense, with the usual caveat that it’s impossible to know how the jury saw it. But they were certainly attentive.

No one can leave because Trump is still futzing with papers on the defense table.

Trump, who enjoys the press coverage his trial is receiving and having everyone's eyes on him in court, is keeping his entourage standing, as they wait for him to leave. He’s talking to Todd Blanche in the well of the court. His entourage finally starts clearing out before him, which hasn't happened before.

The prosecutors, apparently over it, make to leave court before the former president, who is still talking to his lawyer in the well. But they are held at the door by the Secret Service.

The power relations in this court can be hard to parse. The prosecution has the power to ask the judge to hold Trump in contempt and fine him, and ask the jurors to convict him. But the Secret Service, protecting the former president, has the power to stop the prosecutors from leaving if it deems that necessary.

This was one of the crazier days of this trial, less for the actual testimony than the repeated interruptions, and the judge ordering the press out of the room after he grew angry at a witness.

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Trump is whispering to Blanche and pointing to the note. He then slides it across the table to Blanche before taking it back, writing more, and sending it to Blanche again.

As Blanche makes his argument, Trump — who has ripped Blanche in private repeatedly but loved his attacks on Cohen’s credibility — is sizing up his lawyer. Blanche makes clear he’s asking Merchan to toss the entirety of Cohen’s testimony.

As Blanche argues that his own arguments irrefutably prove that Cohen lied, Merchan interrupts him. “You’re asking me to not find Mr. Cohen credible as a matter of law?” Merchan asks. Then he adds in another question, about whether Blanche wants him to rip the case away from the jury and decide it himself. Blanche agrees that this is what the defense wants.

Merchan cuts Blanche off. “You said that his lies were irrefutable but you think he’s going to fool 12 New Yorkers into believing this lie?” he asks. As Blanche begins to respond, Merchan signals he is done with the defense for now and adds, “I’d like to hear from the people.”

Trump turns his body to face his lawyer Todd Blanche, who is making the argument at the lectern.

Blanche argues that there is no evidence that Trump intended while in the White House to mislead, hide or falsify the records at issue in the case.

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The jurors, who seemed ready for sleep at some points during Todd Blanche’s cross-examination of Michael Cohen, are very alert now.

Costello, readers will recall, was called by the defense to attack Cohen’s credibility. So far he is attacking his own.

Costello told his son that he did not know when the announcement would be made. His son responded: "Wow. That’s big news. Congrats Dad. I hope this leads to a lot of good things coming your way.”

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Costello insists that it was his partner, Jeff Citron, who had the relationship with Cohen, and he met with him because his partner made the arrangement. “It was Jeff Citron’s client, not mine,” he says.

Costello does not like being challenged, and Hoffinger is getting under his skin quickly. “The email speaks for itself,” he keeps saying when asked about an email exchange between his partner and Cohen.

Costello is now scolding Hoffinger for getting his past title wrong.

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The jurors were escorted out of the courtroom at a tense moment when the consistent sustained objections had disrupted the flow of the court proceedings. It’s possible they have a sense that the break was due to an issue with the testimony.

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Merchan orders that the courtroom be cleared after scolding Costello. We will get the details of the scolding in momentarily.

The press was just cleared from the courtroom, the lawyer here representing us escorted out before he could object.

Trump’s guests were allowed to remain in the room.

Robert Costello, a defense witness, advised Cohen before a falling out.

Shortly after Mr. Costello took the stand on Monday, prosecutors objected to a series of questions. When the judge sided with the prosecution, Mr. Costello muttered “jeez,” registering his dismay and irking the judge, Juan M. Merchan. Mr. Costello tried to walk back his remark, mumbling under his breath that he wanted to “strike” it from the record.

The testimony continued, but after a few more objections, Justice Merchan again grew frustrated with the witness. He dismissed the jury, and excoriated him: “If you don’t like my ruling, you don't say, ‘jeez,’ and you don’t say, ‘strike it,’ because I’m the only one who can strike testimony in court,” he said, adding: “Are you staring me down?”

He then cleared the courtroom, dismissing reporters while allowing a group of Mr. Trump’s supporters to remain.

When onlookers left the room, according to a transcript, the judge told Mr. Costello that his conduct was “contemptuous” and said, “If you try to stare me down one more time I will remove you from the stand,” adding, to the defense lawyers, “I will strike his testimony, do you hear me?”

Mr. Costello asked, “Can I say something, please?” And Justice Merchan replied: “No. No. This is not a conversation.”

Mr. Costello has been around the New York legal world for decades and prides himself on not taking flack from anyone.

In 2018, Mr. Costello acted as Mr. Cohen’s back channel to Mr. Trump’s legal team. This role — which came by dint of Mr. Costello’s close ties to Mr. Trump’s personal lawyer at the time, Rudolph W. Giuliani — was mostly informal. Mr. Cohen never officially retained Mr. Costello or paid him a cent.

When questioning Mr. Cohen last week, the prosecution spotlighted his communications with Mr. Costello. Their emails and calls, Mr. Cohen said, left him with the impression that Mr. Costello was doing Mr. Trump’s bidding, delivering implicit instructions to, in the former fixer’s words, “stay in the fold, don’t flip, don’t speak.”

But Mr. Costello, a former federal prosecutor turned defense lawyer, disputes that characterization, and Mr. Cohen’s testimony opened the door for the defense to call him to tell the other side of the story.

After the unexpected break on Monday, Mr. Costello testified that he treated Mr. Cohen as a client and had only his interests at heart. He said he did not concern himself with Mr. Trump’s interests at that time. Prosecutors began cross-examining him before the jury was dismissed for the day just after 4:30 p.m.

Mr. Cohen, who pleaded guilty to federal charges in 2018, served more than a year behind bars. His crimes included orchestrating a hush-money payment to a p*rn star in the final days of the 2016 campaign, a deal at the center of the current state case against the former president. Mr. Cohen paid off the woman, Stormy Daniels, to silence her story of a sexual encounter with Mr. Trump.

The Cohen and Costello relationship began in the chaotic spring of 2018, after the F.B.I. searched Mr. Cohen’s home and office as part of the sprawling investigation.

They met through Jeffrey Citron, who was Mr. Costello’s law partner and Mr. Cohen’s acquaintance. Mr. Citron asked Mr. Cohen over email whether he wanted to connect with Mr. Costello and obtain “his insight into your situation, it would be my pleasure to arrange.” Mr. Cohen jumped at the offer: “I do. Can you connect me to him?”

When Mr. Trump hired Mr. Giuliani, Mr. Costello alerted Mr. Cohen to the potential upside: “I told you my relationship with Rudy which could be very very useful for you,” he wrote in an email. Mr. Cohen replied: “Great news.”

The records show that Mr. Costello pursued the relationship with Mr. Cohen.

As Mr. Costello lost patience, he wrote to Mr. Cohen complaining that he had “failed to communicate with me despite several text messages and emails.”

Mr. Costello also appeared to make a veiled reference to fear in Mr. Trump’s orbit that Mr. Cohen was poised to cooperate with prosecutors, writing: “We have continued our dialogue and need to bring you up to date concerning serious concerns on the part of our friends.”

Mr. Cohen was noncommittal. “When the right time comes, and now is not the right time, we will advance our conversations regarding this issue.”

But Mr. Cohen kept the channel open. For example, he sent Mr. Costello an article with the headline “Trump’s campaign to discredit Michael Cohen is already underway,” and added: “They are again on a bad path.”

And when Mr. Cohen’s relationship with Mr. Trump soured in summer 2018, he asked Mr. Costello to use Mr. Giuliani as a conduit for his assurances that he would remain loyal to Mr. Trump, according to Mr. Costello.

After Mr. Costello relayed the message, he told Mr. Cohen in an email that he had “conveyed all of your expressed concerns” to Mr. Giuliani “for transmission to his client” — the president. Mr. Cohen replied, thanking him.

Mr. Costello has said he was merely relaying messages from Mr. Trump’s legal team, including Mr. Giuliani, a former New York mayor. (Mr. Costello later represented Mr. Giuliani in criminal and congressional investigations.)

In one email to Mr. Cohen, Mr. Costello wrote, “Sleep well tonight, you have friends in high places.”

But in the end, no one remained friends, and much of the tension stemmed from money.

Mr. Costello and Mr. Cohen had a falling out, partly over unpaid legal bills. Last year, Mr. Costello testified before the grand jury that ultimately indicted Mr. Trump, seeking to undercut Mr. Cohen’s credibility.

Mr. Costello also sued Mr. Giuliani over delinquent bills.

And when Mr. Trump stopped paying Mr. Cohen’s legal fees, their relationship imploded as well. Mr. Cohen vowed to turn on Mr. Trump, a promise he is now fulfilling on the stand.

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