- Fireworks in testimony included Michael Cohen, a former personal lawyer to Trump, acknowledging stealing $30,000 from the Trump Organization because of a dispute about his bonus.
Donald Trump’s defense rested Tuesday without the presumptive Republican nominee taking the witness stand in his New York hush money trial, setting the stage for final arguments and jury deliberations next week − and the first-ever criminal verdict rendered for a former president.
The end of testimony came after a day of explosive exchanges and revelations in the unprecedented case.
Judge Juan Merchan reprimanded one of just two defense witnesses, former federal prosecutor Robert Costello, as “contemptuous” for deriding his rulings from the witness stand.
And a key prosecution witness, former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen acknowledged stealing $30,000 from the Trump Organization. Cohen’s separate $130,000 payment to porn actress Stormy Daniels is at the heart of the charges that Trump falsified business records to cover up reimbursing Cohen for the hush money. Last week, Trump’s attorney Todd Blanche accused Cohen of lying on the stand when he said he discussed the payment with Trump.
These were not the only time Trump or his surrogates attacked Cohen during the trial, which featured highly contentious comments from the former president and his allies. Trump was repeatedly warned, even threatened with jail, and fined $10,000 by Merchan for violating a gag order limiting his comments on witnesses. Last week, after Trump stopped commenting on Cohen, his political allies, including House Speaker Mike Johnson and Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, took on that role in his visits to the courthouse.
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The trial also featured earlier fireworks when Daniels testified about her alleged sexual encounter with Trump, which included such details as gold tweezers in his bathroom. And it laid out in painstaking detail how Cohen orchestrated hush money payments to Daniels and Karen McDougal, a former Playboy model and another alleged ex-paramour of Trump’s.
Merchan set closing arguments for May 28, with jury deliberations to follow.
Here are takeaways from the trial this week and what lies ahead:
Judge Merchan scolds witness Costello as ‘contemptuous’
Merchan threatened to throw out Costello’s testimony because of how he reacted to the judge sustaining numerous prosecution objections to what he said.
Merchan first excused jurors to warn Costello about not exclaiming “Jeez!,” or rolling his eyes, or giving Merchan “side eye.”
“Are you staring me down right now?” Merchan asked Costello, who was sitting in the witness box next to the judge.
“No. I’m just wondering how –” Costello began to reply before Merchan cleared the courtroom.
After the courtroom was cleared of reporters and spectators, Merchan confronted Costello.
“I’m putting you on notice that your conduct is contemptuous,” Merchan told Costello. “If you try to stare me down one more time, I will remove you from the stand.”
“I will strike his entire testimony; do you understand me?” Merchan asked Trump’s lawyers.
Why did Costello testify?
Costello was an important witness for Trump because he testified that in 2018 Cohen repeatedly denied having any evidence against his former boss after the FBI searched his home. Costello was a legal adviser to Cohen at the time, but Cohen suspected him of serving Trump’s interests.
“I swear to God, Bob, I don’t have anything on Donald Trump,” Cohen told Costello at the time, according to Costello’s Monday testimony.
Cohen previously testified that Trump knew he was reimbursing Cohen for the payment to Daniels and that it was to avoid negative publicity before the 2016 election, two key points to prosecutors.
Cohen admitted stealing $30,000 from Trump Organization
Cohen was paid $420,000 in total, which he previously testified was reimbursement for the $130,000 to Daniels, $50,000 he claimed he was owed for campaign-related “tech services” from a company called RedFinch. Both figures were doubled, to account for taxes. And then Cohen was paid a $60,000 bonus.
But Trump lawyer Todd Blanche said Cohen only paid RedFinch $20,000.
“You stole from the Trump Organization?” Blanche asked. “Yes, sir,” Cohen said.
Blanche then suggested Cohen stole $60,000, not just $30,000, because the reimbursement payment was doubled.
“Yes, sir,” Cohen said.
“Did you ever have to plead guilty to larceny?” Blanche asked. “No sir,” Cohen said.
Trump denies charges to reporters, not jurors
Trump faces 34 counts of falsifying business records as part of another crime. Prosecutors charged him with hiding payments to reimburse Cohen for the payment to Daniels. That hush money, they contend, was effectively an outsized, and therefore, illegal contribution to Trump’s 2016 campaign. Cohen previously pleaded guilty to the campaign finance violation.
In daily hallway statements to reporters, Trump railed against Merchan and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, arguing there was no case to be made. Trump said a bookkeeper correctly listed payments to Cohen as “legal expenses” and that there was nothing illegal about obtaining a nondisclosure agreement with Daniels.
But Trump chose not to testify and provide the jury with his explanation about the payments. Trump had previously told the press he would testify but subsequently backpedaled.
Trump urged judge to dismiss charges before jury deliberations
Trump told reporters Tuesday that Merchan should throw out the case against him for lack of evidence before the jury considers it.
“I think it would be great for Judge Merchan to rule from the bench and determine that this is a witch hunt,” Trump said.
Trump has repeatedly accused Merchan of bias against him, although the state judicial ethics board for Merchan had no conflict of interest in the case.
What’s ahead for the Trump trial?
Prosecutors and defense lawyers are proposing instructions for the jury about how to review the evidence in the trial. The judge will review the proposals and reach compromises to present to jurors.
Closing arguments are scheduled May 28. This is the opportunity for prosecutors and defense attorneys to put their evidence in the most favorable light and offer suggestions about how to review the evidence.
Jury deliberations will begin after the arguments are completed. To convict or acquit Trump, the jury must reach a unanimous verdict.
If he is convicted, Trump could be sentenced to a jail term, but he would likely remain free while appealing through the election.
