NEW YORK — Donald Trump’s secret trial is entering its final stretch, with the prosecution’s star witness, Michael Cohen, returning to the stand on Monday. Cohen took the stand last week to lay out his version of the events at the heart of the case.
Cohen placed Trump squarely at the center of the alleged scheme to stifle negative stories and avoid damaging his White House bid. Among other things, Cohen told jurors that Trump promised to reimburse him for the money he paid and was constantly updated on efforts to silence women who claimed to have had sexual encounters with him. Trump denies the women’s claims.
Defense lawyers began their cross-examination of Cohen with questioning designed to paint the former Trump loyalist as a media-obsessed opportunist who turned against the former president after he was denied a White House job.
Prosecutors have said they will rest their case once Cohen’s testimony is complete, although they may call rebuttal witnesses if Trump’s lawyers call their own witnesses to testify. The defense is not required to call witnesses and it is unclear whether lawyers will do so. It is also unclear whether Trump will testify.
The trial is in its 19th day.
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:
– What we’ve learned so far in Trump’s hush money trial and what to watch for when it ends
– Trump earns NRA endorsement as he promises to protect gun rights
– Trump Hush Money Case: A Timeline of Key Events
– Key players: who’s who in Trump’s criminal trial
—Silence Money, Capture and Kill, and More: A Guide to Unique Terms Used in the Trump Trial
Here are the latest:
Last week, Donald Trump’s lawyers accused the prosecution’s star witness in his secret trial of lying to jurors by portraying Trump nemesis Michael Cohen as a serial fabulist who is bent on seeing the presumptive Republican presidential nominee behind. of the bars.
As Trump looked on, defense attorney Todd Blanche pressed Cohen for hours with questions that focused both on his crimes and the specific allegations in the case and tried to sow doubt in jurors’ minds about Cohen’s crucial testimony implicating the former president.
The defense’s success in undermining Cohen’s testimony could determine Trump’s fate in the case. Throughout the trial’s fourth week of testimony, Cohen described to jurors meetings and conversations she said she had with Trump about the alleged scheme to suppress sex stories that threatened to torpedo Trump’s 2016 campaign.
As witness testimony in Donald Trump’s secret trial resumes on Monday, it remains unclear whether the defense will call its own witnesses.
Legal arguments were underway last Thursday over the parameters of possible testimony from a campaign finance law expert who Trump’s lawyers want to call to testify.
The witness in question is Bradley A. Smith, a former member of the Republican Federal Election Commission appointed by Bill Clinton. Defense lawyers want to call him to refute the prosecution’s claim that the hush money payments at issue in the trial amounted to campaign finance violations.
Prosecutors said they have their own campaign finance expert ready in case the defense ends up calling their expert to testify.
Judge Juan M. Merchan said he would take some time over the weekend to “further digest the two sets of submissions,” but suggested that Smith’s testimony would be limited to a very general context.
Defense lawyers have not yet said whether Trump will testify in his own defense.
Donald Trump’s secret trial resumes on Monday after a recess on Friday to allow the former president to attend his youngest son Barron’s high school graduation.
The long weekend is not the only trial scheduling gap.
The trial will also not be held for four days over the Memorial Day holiday weekend.
Judge Juan Merchan had previously told jurors that due to scheduling, it may be necessary to hold court on Wednesday – normally a day off for the trial – so Merchan can attend to other matters. Merchan backed away from that guidance after some jurors indicated they could not attend that day.
This story originally appeared on ABCNews.go.com read the full story
