What to know about the trial today
- Michael Cohen, former President Donald Trump's ex-lawyer and fixer, is expected to testify Monday and be on the stand for several days.
- Trump's former White House executive assistant, Madeleine Westerhout, is continuing her testimony. She and a Trump Organization employee testified yesterday about Trump's involvement in business affairs.
- Adult film actress Stormy Daniels finished her testimony yesterday after cross-examination from Trump's lawyers. They tried to depict her testimony as inconsistent with past comments in interviews in an effort to cast doubt on her allegations of an affair with Trump.
- A Manhattan district attorney employee is expected to testify about Trump's social media posts today.
- Trump faces 34 counts of falsifying business records to hide the reimbursement of his former lawyer Michael Cohen for the $130,000 hush money payment Cohen made to Daniels. Trump has denied the charges and the alleged affair.
This event has ended. Get the latest news and live updates on Trump's hush money trial here.
Trump rants about unfairness of trial, says he'd be 'very proud' to go to jail
Speaking to cameras outside the courtroom, Trump complained about how unfair the trial is, saying, "I'm not allowed to say anything about anybody."
"It's really very sad," said Trump, who said that the Manhattan DA's office should have brought the charges seven years ago, but suggested that they brought them now because it's during an election.
"The whole case is fake. The judge is corrupt," he said. "What he did just now is a joke. It's a disgrace."
Trump said Merchan wants to put him in jail and said, "I'd be very proud to go to jail for our Constitution."
He said this case is about "somebody paid a lawyer," referring to himself, and it was marked down as a legal expense by the bookkeeper, which he said he knew nothing about. The payments were made to a lawyer, Trump said, "not a fixer."
"This is what the case is about," he said. "It's not about all the other stuff that you're seeing," adding that it's an "attempt to do something to me politically."
"There is no crime," said Trump. He added that the case should go no further and that its purpose is to "damage crooked Joe Biden's political opponent."
Trump also denounced Biden for his handling of Israel, warning Jewish people not to vote for him.
Judge orders Michael Cohen not to speak about Trump
Judge Merchan asked that Michael Cohen refrain from speaking out about the case and Trump prior to his expected testimony on Monday.
Trump's lawyer, Todd Blanche, said today that "It's becoming a problem every single day" that Trump is under a gag order and can't respond to comments that Cohen has been making about the case.
Prosecutors explain why they don't want to call Allen Weisselberg
Prosecutors and Trump's defense attorneys are engaging in a discussion with the judge about former Trump Organization executive Allen Weisselberg, who has been convicted of tax evasion in connection with his work at the Trump Organization.
The parties discussed whether Weisselberg’s severance agreement should come into evidence. Under the agreement, the Trump Organization is obligated to pay him three installments by end of the year, and in exchange, he may not disparage any of its officers, director or employees.
As a solution, the judge notes that it would be helpful to him, in resolving this, if some efforts were made to secure Weisselberg's appearance. Merchan notes that the severance agreement does provide an exception for appearances compelled by lawful process.
Merchan said that if Weisselberg appeared in court while the jury was not there, they could speak to him about this rather than speculating about the bounds of his severance agreement.
Prosecution plans to call two more witnesses
The prosecution said that they plan to call two more witnesses and could rest their case by the end of next week.
Trial wraps up for the day
Court has ended for the day following the testimony of a paralegal from the district attorney's office.
D.A.'s office paralegal 'enjoyed' the work of combing through business records
When Bove, Trump's attorney, referred to Jarmel-Schneider’s work as “tedious,” the paralegal responded, “Honestly, I kind of enjoyed it.”
Bove replied good-naturedly, “Respect.”
Witness testimony introduces chart that breaks down complicated records
The chart that was just admitted into evidence through Jarmel-Schneider's testimony illustrates which count corresponds to which invoices, general ledger detail vouchers and checks.
Using Jarmel-Schneider's testimony on this chart is a smart way of helping the jury understand, in simple, visual terms, what otherwise would take dozens of complicated records to show.
Trump reads newspaper clippings as witness testifies
As Jaden Jarmel-Schneider, a paralegal from the DA's office, continues his testimony, Trump continues to look through newspaper articles that have been printed for him.
We saw him do this often during the civil fraud trial earlier this year, too.
Last witness of the day takes the stand
The last witness for today's proceedings has taken the stand.
Jaden Jarmel-Schneider is a paralegal in the Manhattan District Attorney's office and was assigned to Trump's case. He testified that he helps with setting up subpoenas and analyzing records for the case.
The prosecution is asking him about records that he reviewed for Trump's case, including records from Michael Cohen's phone calls, emails and calendar invites.
Paralegal from DA's office authenticates texts about Stormy Daniels
After a lengthy time with prosecutors where a paralegal in the District Attorney's Office, Georgia Longstreet, read the contents of multiple text messages between National Enquirer editor Dylan Howard and Stormy Daniels' publicist Gina Rodriguez, Longstreet is now done testifying.
She was also asked by Blanche, Trump's attorney, about social media accounts she did not review, like Michael Cohen's TikTok account.