Highlights from day 19 of Donald Trump’s hush money trial: Prosecution rests

Trump called the judge a “tyrant” as he spoke to reporters for about 15 minutes after leaving court for the day, mentioning the judge’s chastising of Costello, whom he called “highly respected.”

“I’ve never seen anything like that,” he said.

The former president said he hoped his lawyers’ move to dismiss the case succeeds “because this trial is a disaster for our country.”

Trump, carrying a legal notepad and printed pieces of paper, read statements that supporters such as Texas Sen. Ted Cruz made about the case, while also noting that he had to be careful of what he quoted because of the gag order. He also quoted recent remarks by filmmaker Oliver Stone, adding: “Haven’t heard his name mentioned in awhile.”

Trump claimed he’s not allowed to “have an expert witness.” His legal team is allowed to call the campaign finance expert, Bradley A. Smith, though the judge has limited what he can talk about.

The former president nevertheless declared that he thought the trial was going “very well.”

“There were no crimes. We did nothing wrong. And I want to get back to campaigning,” Trump said.

Once the defense rests its case, Judge Merchan says he plans on sending the jury home until closing arguments the day after Memorial Day.

If the defense rests Tuesday, as expected, that’ll mean the jury will be away from the trial for a full week. As the day was winding down, Trump lawyer Emil Bove advised Merchan the defense isn’t planning on calling any other witnesses after Costello, though they may still call campaign finance expert Bradley A. Smith for limited testimony. They haven’t definitively said Trump won’t testify, but that’s the clearest indication yet that he’ll waive his right to take the stand in his own defense.

For now, at least, the trial continues Tuesday morning.

Trump attorney Blanche beseeched the judge to “not let this case go to the jury relying on Mr. Cohen’s testimony,” arguing Cohen had not only lied repeatedly under oath in the past, but again while testifying in this trial.

But Judge Merchan appeared unmoved by the argument, asking the defense attorney whether he believed that “as a matter of law, this person’s so not worthy of belief that it shouldn’t even be considered by the jury?”

Blanche said that he did."You said his lies are irrefutable,” the judge replied. “But you think he’s going to fool 12 New Yorkers into believing this lie?”

The defense is asking Judge Merchan for an order dismissing the case immediately. Trump lawyer Todd Blanche argued: “There’s absolutely no evidence that the filings were false. The business records were not false. There’s no disputing that Mr. Cohen provided legal services for President Trump in 2017.”

Blanche argued that prosecutors have failed to prove their case and there’s no evidence of falsified business records or an intent to defraud.

Blanche underscored that Trump was in the White House while Cohen was being repaid, far removed from the Trump Organization offices where Cohen’s invoices and checks were being processed. Trump signed the checks in the White House, but he was doing so because Cohen was performing legitimate legal services for him as his personal attorney, Blanche argued.

Costello will return to the witness stand on Tuesday.

Trump appeared alert and engaged, his attention focused on the witness box, during Costello’s testimony. When his attorneys finished their questions, he wrote a note on a piece of paper in front of him.

After the fireworks over Costello’s testimony, Bove tried to get at one of the main reasons he said he called the attorney to the stand: to rebut any suggestion from prosecutors that Costello was part of an effort to arm-twist Cohen to stay loyal to Trump.

“Mr. Costello, did you ever put any pressure on Michael to do anything?” Bove asked.

“No,” Costello testified. He said he considered Cohen a client and had only his interests, not Trump’s, in mind during their interactions.

Costello is back on the stand, but with a tight rein on his testimony. Trump attorney Bove is urging Costello to confine his answers to the questions asked, and prosecutors are raising objections — some, but not all, of them sustained by the judge — when he gets expansive.

Costello aggravated Merchan repeatedly in his testimony by making comments under his breath and continuing to speak after objections were sustained — a signal to witnesses to stop talking.

At one point, frustrated as he was again cut off by a sustained objection, Costello remarked, “Jeez.”

“I’m sorry? I’m sorry?” a peeved Merchan asked.

“Strike it, I’m —.” Costello replied, cutting himself off.

At another point, he called the whole exercise, “ridiculous.”

After excusing the jury, Merchan told the witness: “Mr. Costello, I want to discuss proper decorum in my courtroom. When there’s a witness on the stand, if you don’t like my ruling, you don’t say ‘jeez’… You don’t give me side eye and you don’t roll your eyes.”

“Are you staring me down right now? Clear the courtroom, right now. Clear the courtroom,” the judge said.

Costello testified that Cohen lamented to him, “I don’t understand why they’re trying to put me in jail” over nondisclosure agreements, and disclosed that he’d arranged one with Daniels.

But, Costello said, Cohen told him Trump “knew nothing” about the hush money paid to the porn actor.

“Michael Cohen said numerous times that President Trump knew nothing about those payments, that he did this on his own, and he repeated that numerous times,” Costello testified.

Costello testified that in a meeting shortly after federal authorities searched Cohen’s home, office and hotel room in April 2018, a “manic” Cohen asked about an “escape route” from his legal problems.

“He kept on pacing back and forth, left and right,” Costello said. “He said my life is shattered, my family’s life is shattered. I don’t know what’s going to happen.”

Costello said he told Cohen the matter could be resolved quickly “if he had truthful information about Donald Trump and he cooperated.”

“I swear to God, Bob, I don’t have anything on Donald Trump,” Cohen replied, according to Costello.

Costello, a former federal prosecutor in New York, is relevant to the case because of his role as a Cohen antagonist and critic in the years since a professional relationship splintered in spectacular fashion.

He had offered to represent Cohen soon after the lawyer’s hotel room, office and home were raided and as he faced a decision about whether to remain defiant in the face of a perilous criminal investigation or to cooperate with investigators in hopes of securing more lenient treatment.

During Cohen’s testimony last week, prosecutors presented correspondence showing that Costello boasted about his closeness at the time with Trump ally Rudy Giuliani — a relationship he suggested could be beneficial to Cohen — and reassured him that he was “loved” inside the White House. In presenting those messages to the jury, prosecutors hoped to prove that Costello’s outreach was designed to keep Cohen in the Trump fold and to discourage him from flipping on Trump and cooperating.

But Cohen ultimately went with a lawyer and did exactly that, pleading guilty to federal crimes and implicating Trump. Costello in the years since has repeatedly maligned Cohen’s credibility and was even a witness before last year’s grand jury that indicted Trump, offering testimony designed to undermine his account.

Before Costello took the stand, Judge Merchan ruled he would allow the defense to question him about two allegedly inconsistent statements in Cohen’s testimony and to “offer some rebuttal” to his testimony. But, the judge said, he’s not going to allow this to become a “trial within a trial” as to whether there was a pressure campaign and how it affected Cohen.

The judge said he will give Trump attorney Emil Bove “some latitude to explore the pressure campaign so you can explore some inconsistencies.”

With jurors out of the room, lawyers for both sides argued about what, if anything, the defense should be able to ask attorney Robert Costello.

Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger contends Costello shouldn’t be allowed to testify, but if he is, he shouldn’t be allowed to offer his opinions on Cohen’s credibility. Trump attorney Emil Bove counters that Costello is being called to rebut the prosecutors’ suggestion that he was part of a supposed Trump-engineered pressure campaign to keep Cohen in the fold.

Judge Merchan cut off the arguments, saying: “We’re going to take five minutes. Don’t leave the courtroom.”

Next, the defense is calling attorney Robert Costello to the witness stand. But first, the prosecution has asked for a bench conference out of earshot of the jury.

It’s a paralegal who works in Trump attorney Todd Blanche’s law office. The paralegal, Daniel Sitko, said he was tasked with creating a summary chart of phone calls between Cohen’s phones and attorney Robert Costello.

Cohen concluded his testimony after nearly four full days on the witness stand. He looked in Trump’s direction as he walked out of the courtroom before a court officer directed him down the aisle.

After Cohen left the room, Assistant District Attorney Joshua Steinglass told Judge Merchan: “Your honor, the people rest.”

“My entire life has been turned upside down as a direct result,” Cohen said when asked how speaking out about Trump has affected him. “I lost my law license, my businesses, my financial security, which I was fortunately enough early to have been able to obtain. My family’s happiness, which is paramount… just to name a few.”

During a short break, as the prosecution team and court staff were troubleshooting the problem, the recording played loudly for a few seconds. Judge Merchan flashed a startled smile and chuckled as prosecutor Susan Hoffinger suggested lowering the volume slightly.

Back on the witness stand just before the break, Cohen testifies that he has “no doubt” Trump gave him a final sign-off to make the payments to Daniels. In total, he said he spoke with Trump more than 20 times about the matter in October 2016. Some conversations were brief, while others were longer, he said, adding that they happened both by phone and in person.

Prosecutors appear to be eliciting testimony from Cohen aimed at diminishing the importance of a single phone call, which defense attorneys contend was not about the Daniels payments, but about a teenager prank caller who’d been harassing Cohen.

The break is to address an audio issue that’s severely muffling the playing of a recording for the jury.

After initially objecting, Donald Trump’s lawyers have agreed to let prosecutors show the jury a still image taken from a C-SPAN video of Trump and his bodyguard Keith Schiller together at a campaign event at 7:57 p.m. on Oct. 24, 2016.

Trump lawyer Todd Blanche said he agreed to what’s known as a stipulation, allowing prosecutors to introduce the image without the need for extra steps, such as summoning a C-SPAN representative back to the witness stand to authenticate the image.

The defense made the compromise after prosecutors said they would seek to have the C-SPAN representative testify Tuesday morning, likely after the prosecution rests its case and the defense starts calling witnesses.

Blanche conferred with prosecutor Joshua Steinglass and reached the deal during a short break in the trial after conferring with Trump and other members of his defense team about how to proceed.

The jury returned to the courtroom and prosecutor Susan Hoffinger showed jurors the C-SPAN image of Trump and Schiller.

Zito, who helped found the biker club’s local branch in the 1980s before setting his sights on Hollywood, was part of Trump’s entourage Monday, and was sitting in the back row of the courtroom before lunch.

Also known for his role as “Chucky The Enforcer” on the HBO prison drama “Oz,” Zito served real time on a drug charge in the late ’80s and early ’90s.

He’s not the only Trump ally in the courtroom who’s been convicted of a criminal charge in the past: former NYPD commissioner Bernard Kerik served three years behind bars after pleading guilty to federal tax fraud and other charges before his release in 2013. Trump pardoned Kerik in 2020.

Judge Merchan has asked the prosecution to work to confirm that the C-SPAN representative can be in court Tuesday at 9:30 a.m.

During a break, lawyer and former Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz offered his reason for being in court amongst Trump’s allies: “I’m not here to show political support for anybody, but to show strong opposition to the case itself.” In 60 years of practicing law, he says it’s “weakest case I’ve ever seen.”

Todd Blanche argued it will unnecessarily prolong the trial. He said prosecutors are on the verge of resting their case and that the defense may rest its case Monday, too.

The defense plans to call a campaign finance expert, a lawyer who offered to represent Cohen after the FBI raided his property in 2018 and a paralegal.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass said he hopes to have the executive director of the C-SPAN archives, Robert Browning, back on the witness stand Tuesday.

Steinglass blamed the defense for prolonging things, saying: “It doesn’t even seem like Mr. Blanche is contesting that they were together so I don’t even see why we’re jumping through all of these hoops, but I understand the rules of evidence apply.”

Before the jury returned from the lunch break, Judge Merchan ruled prosecutors can’t show the jury still images pulled from a C-SPAN video of Trump and his bodyguard Keith Schiller together at a campaign event at 7:57 p.m. on Oct. 24, 2016 — about five minutes before Cohen called Schiller’s cellphone.

The judge said the photo amounts to hearsay without being authenticated by a representative of the TV network. Assistant District Attorney Joshua Steinglass said prosecutors are arranging to have the executive director of the C-SPAN archives, Robert Browning, return to the witness stand. Browning testified earlier in the trial to authenticate videos of Trump campaign speeches in 2016.

Steinglass had said they wanted to show the image to blunt any suggestion by the defense that Trump and Schiller might not have been together at the time in question.

Cohen previously testified that he needed to speak with Trump “to discuss the Stormy Daniels matter and the resolution of it” and he knew Schiller would be with him. Cohen wired $130,000 to Daniels’ lawyer two days after the call in question.

Citing text message and telephone records, Blanche pressed Cohen last week on the subject matter of the call, eliciting testimony that the witness was also dealing with harassing phone calls from a person who’d identified himself as a 14-year-old boy.

He paused at the defense table and turned around to look at supporters filing in behind him including Kash Patel and former NYPD commissioner Bernard Kerik. He then grabbed his chair and sat down, patting lawyer Todd Blanche on the arm as he eased into the seat.

Costello, whose well-publicized split from Cohen was chronicled in testimony last week, was invited last year to appear before the grand jury that indicted Trump after asserting he had information that undermined Cohen’s credibility.

In a news conference after his grand jury appearance, he told reporters he had come forward to provide exculpatory information about Trump and to make clear he did not believe Cohen, who pleaded guilty to federal crimes and served time in prison, could be trusted.

“If they want to go after Donald Trump and they have solid evidence then so be it,” Costello said at the time. “But Michael Cohen is far from solid evidence.”

The move to call Costello is a risky gambit for the defense because it could open the door to additional testimony about what Cohen alleged was a strong-armed effort by the lawyer to keep him in line during the federal hush money investigation and to deter Cohen from cooperating with prosecutors after his home, office and hotel room were raided by the FBI in 2018.

As he exited, he fixed his eyes on two supporters in the back row of the gallery.

After the jury was excused for lunch, prosecutors said they’re seeking to show jurors a screengrab from a C-SPAN video of Trump and his bodyguard Keith Schiller together at a campaign event at 7:57 p.m. on Oct. 24, 2016, just minutes before Cohen called Schiller’s cellphone.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass told Judge Juan M. Merchan they wanted to show the image to blunt any suggestion by the defense that Trump and Schiller might not have been together at the time in question. Trump lawyer Todd Blanche said he never suggested, nor would he suggest, they were apart.

Cohen previously testified that he needed to speak with Trump “to discuss the Stormy Daniels matter and the resolution of it” and he knew Schiller would be with him. Cohen wired $130,000 to Daniels’ lawyer two days after the call in question.

Citing text message and telephone records, Blanche pressed Cohen last week on the subject matter of the call, eliciting testimony that the witness was also dealing with harassing phone calls from a person who’d identified himself as a 14-year-old boy.

Judge Merchan made the announcement after a bench conference prompted by prosecutor Susan Hoffinger’s question revisiting Cohen’s testimony about a phone call he said he had with Trump on Oct. 24, 2016.

Cohen previously testified that he spoke with Trump about paying porn actor Stormy Daniels, but Trump’s lawyers suggested Cohen was contacting Trump’s lawyer to complain about a prank caller.

Small pro- and anti-Trump crowds gathered there Monday, with the latter group sometimes drowning out the former president’s allies with boos and chants during their news conference.

Several fans waved large Trump flags, and one held a sign reading “Trump = Victim.” On the other side of the political aisle, protesters chanted “Trump lies, Democracy dies.”

One protester waved a homemade sign that said, “Cult Sheep” at the politicians as they left.

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Protesters try to drown out people speaking on behalf of former President Donald Trump in a park across the street from his criminal trial in New York, Monday, May 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

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Protesters try to drown out people speaking on behalf of former President Donald Trump in a park across the street from his criminal trial in New York, Monday, May 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

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Illinois Rep. Mary Miller, left, speaks to reporters while someone waves a pro-Trump flag in a park across the street from former President Donald Trump’s criminal trial in New York, Monday, May 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

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The group sought to attack the case, the judge, the judge’s daughter and President Joe Biden.

South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson said Cohen lied to Congress, the news media and the court.

“You’d have trouble finding a single person he has actually told the truth to,” the South Carolina attorney general said.

Kash Patel, who served in Trump’s administration, said Monday’s proceedings marked the first time in six weeks of trial that “we finally have a crime,” because Cohen admitted to stealing money from the Trump Organization.

“We also have a victim. That victim is Donald J. Trump,” Patel said.

Rep. Andrew Clyde of Georgia called for the U.S. government to withhold any federal money from being used in New York’s court system and Illinois Rep. Mary Miller said “any normal judge would have dismissed this case by now.”

As she questioned Cohen again on re-direct, prosecutor Susan Hoffinger took a dig at the defense’s exacting cross-examination, asking the witness: “I know you might feel like you’re on trial here after cross-examination, but are you actually on trial here?”

“No, ma’am,” Cohen replied after a defense objection was overruled.

Asked to describe the difference between testifying in court against Trump and the 2018 federal case in which he pleaded guilty to various crimes, Cohen said: “My life was on the line. My liberty. I was the defendant in that case. Here, I’m just a non-party subpoenaed witness.”

Cohen’s admitted theft from the Trump Organization came after, he says, his annual holiday bonus was slashed to $50,000 from the $150,000 he usually received.

Cohen testified that Trump owed technology firm Red Finch $50,000 for its work artificially boosting his standing in a CNBC online poll about famous businessmen.

Cohen said he’d paid the company’s owner $20,000 in cash “to placate him for the time being” after Trump had gone months without paying the bill.

Cohen said he later sought reimbursement for the full amount at the same time he was seeking payment for the money he paid Daniels. He said he kept the difference instead of paying Red Finch as a way of making up for his reduced bonus.

“I was angered because of the reduction in the bonus and so I just felt like it was self-help,” Cohen said.

Cohen testified that he shelled out money to a tech firm to help boost Trump’s performance in an online CNBC poll about the most famous businessmen of the last half century.

At the beginning, Trump was polling near the bottom “and it upset him,” Cohen said. So Cohen reached out to Red Finch, who said they could create an algorithm that would get Trump’s name “to rise and rise significantly” in the poll by acquiring IP addresses to cast phony votes.

He said Trump initially wanted to finish first, but the two decided that would be suspicious. Instead they decided to settle for 9. But Trump refused to pay the firm after CNBC decided to nix a second round of the poll featuring the top 10 names. Trump, Cohen testified, didn’t feel he’d gotten his money’s worth.

When he was later reimbursed by Allen Weisselberg to pay back Red Finch, Cohen kept the proceeds for himself – an act of deception that, Cohen admitted earlier in the day, amounted to stealing from the Trump Organization.

But describing his actions to the prosecutor, Cohen defended the move. “I felt it was almost like self help,” he said.

As prosecutor Susan Hoffinger began asking Cohen her second round of questions, she took aim at a point Trump’s defense made during their questioning: that Cohen helped Trump and his family with some legal matters in 2017, when Cohen received $420,000 from the then-president. The sum included reimbursement for the $130,000 Cohen had paid Stormy Daniels, according to testimony and evidence at the trial.

Prosecutors say the $420,000 in payments was deceptively logged as legal expenses to disguise the Daniels deal. Trump’s defense says Cohen was indeed paid for legal work, so there was no cover-up.

Cohen testified that he never billed for the work he did for Trump and his family in 2017. When Hoffinger asked whether the $420,000 was related at all to those 2017 legal endeavors, Cohen answered, “No, ma’am.”

“Notwithstanding everything you’ve said over the years, you have specific recollection of having conversations with then-candidate Donald J. Trump about the Stormy Daniels matter?” defense attorney Blanche asked Cohen.

“Yes, sir,” Cohen answered.

“No doubt in your mind?”

No doubt, Cohen answered, and Blanche said he had no more questions.

Cohen testified he’d be better off financially if Trump isn’t convicted because it would give him more fodder for the podcasts that provide a sizeable chunk of his livelihood.

Cohen was responding to questions from Trump lawyer Todd Blanche asking if he’d benefit financially from a conviction in the hush money case.

“The answer is no,” Cohen said, explaining: “It’s better if it’s not (guilty) for me because it gives me more to talk about in the future.”

As he spoke, Trump looked directly at the witness box, his arm draped over his chair.

Asked about his recent claim that he might run for Congress because he has “the best name recognition out there,” Cohen insisted he hasn’t built his profile on Trump’s back.

“My name recognition is because of the journey that I’ve been on. Is it affiliated to Mr. Trump? Yes. Not because of Mr. Trump,” he testified.

“Well, the journey that you’ve been on,” Blanche noted, “has included near-daily attacks on President Trump.”

“My journey is to tell my story, yes, sir,” Cohen said, eventually acknowledging his frequent criticisms of Trump.

Pushed before the morning break to describe his lucrative Trump-related side businesses, Cohen told defense attorney Todd Blanche “there is a television show” in the works.

Tentatively titled “The Fixer,” the show is based on Cohen’s own life and career. A producer on his podcast is currently shopping the show to studios, but it hasn’t been picked up yet, Cohen testified.

And the jury has entered the courtroom.

The ex-lawyer said he’s made about $4.4 million from his books and podcasts since 2020, the year he was released from prison to home confinement. Cohen was freed from home confinement in 2021.

Cohen also noted that he makes some income from a real estate rental property. Before pleading guilty in 2018 to campaign finance violations and other charges, Cohen made about $4 million in 18 months, he testified. That money came largely from corporate consulting deals, plus the $420,000 he got from Trump to reimburse the Daniels payout and a technology expense, cover taxes and provide a bonus.

Trump gave a fist bump as he exited the courtroom.

Jurors remained largely engaged with Cohen’s testimony, though some appeared to be dragging as his testimony stretched into a fourth day.

Several jurors stifled yawns while peering at the witness and looking at monitors in front of them as emails and other evidence were displayed. A few continued to take notes. Others sat back and took in the testimony, occasionally peering at the gallery of reporters and public observers.