NEW YORK — Donald Trump will return to a Manhattan courtroom on Friday as his secret trial enters its 11th day, capping a frantic second week of witness testimony.
Attorney Keith Davidson concluded his testimony Thursday after spending nearly 6 1/2 hours on the stand over two days. He laid out for jurors details of his dealings with Michael Cohen and the National Enquirer on behalf of Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal, not shying away from an election night, realizing his efforts could have contributed to Trump’s 2016 victory.
Forensic analyst Douglas Daus also took the stand, testifying about what he found on Cohen’s cell phone. Among other things, Daus said Cohen had almost 40,000 contacts saved on the device.
Thursday’s proceedings included a contempt hearing into whether the former president had again violated his gag order.
Merchan heard from both sides about four more possible violations, including comments Trump made about the jury. Prosecutors said they were seeking only fines and not prison time for the possible violations. No immediate decision was made and it was unclear when Merchan would govern.
Prosecutors said Trump and others ran a scheme to illegally influence the 2016 election by buying and burying salacious stories that could harm his campaign.
Trump is accused of falsifying internal business records to cover up secret payments — including $130,000 given to Daniels, a porn star, by Cohen — by recording them instead as legal expenses.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.
The case is the first criminal trial of a former US president and the first of four cases against Trump to reach a jury.
At the moment:
– Donald Trump moves much of his White House campaign to New York
– Key players: who’s who in Donald Trump’s hush money criminal trial
— The case of silence is just one of Trump’s legal cases. I see the others here
– Trial begins for financial executive in insider trading case related to Trump media company’s IPO
Here are the latest:
Despite not having yet testified in Donald Trump’s secret money case, Michael Cohen was very present in court – in audio recordings of conversations he had and in witness statements.
On Thursday, jurors heard a recorded call between Cohen and Keith Davidson, Stormy Daniels’ former lawyer, in which Cohen could be heard telling Davidson about a conversation he had with someone believed to be Trump.
“I can’t tell you how many times he told me, ‘You know, I hate the fact that we did this.’ And my comment to him was, ‘But everyone you talked to said it was the right move,'” Cohen said in the recording.
The panel also heard a recording of Cohen briefing Trump in September 2016 about the plan to buy former Playboy model Karen McDougal’s story. That particular recording included Cohen detailing that he had spoken with the Trump Organization’s then-chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, about “how to set everything up with financing.”
Cohen, who is the prosecution’s star witness, was Trump’s personal lawyer and mediator at the time.
Court proceedings in the case of Donald Trump’s silence will end on Friday morning to accommodate an important appointment that one of the jurors will have later in the afternoon.
Judge Juan M. Merchan announced the scheduling change shortly before court adjourned on Thursday. Court will end at 3:45 pm on Friday, about 45 minutes earlier than usual.
Donald Trump is expected to return to court Friday morning for the 11th day of his silent trial, at the end of the second week of witness testimony.
Thursday’s proceedings saw the former president face yet another contempt hearing, this time over four more possible violations of his gag order.
Although Judge Juan M. Merchan did not immediately rule on prosecutors’ request for sanctions, he told defense lawyers he was concerned about three of the possible violations — including comments Trump made about the political makeup of the jury. Merchan said he was not concerned about a comment Trump made last week calling former Enquirer editor David Pecker a “nice guy.”
Prosecutors said they were only seeking fines and not prison time for the possible violations.
Trump is prohibited, under a gag order, from speaking publicly about witnesses, jurors and some other people connected to the case. He was fined $9,000 on Tuesday for nine online posts.
___
The introduction has been updated to correct the spelling of forensic analyst Douglas Daus’ surname from Daul.
