Trump trial live: Hush money case to resume after judge threatens ex-president with jail over gag order

LIVE – Updated at 09:39

Donald Trump’s New York hush money trial will continue at Manhattan Criminal Court on Tuesday after Judge Juan Merchan found the former president in contempt of court for a tenth time during Monday’s session.

The justice fined the defendant another $1,000 and warned him the next violation of his gag order would result in jail time.

The jury then heard from two more witnesses, Jeffrey McConney and Deborah Tarasoff, about the paper trail within the Trump Organization leading to Michael Cohen’s $130,000 payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels to ensure her silence about the sexual encounter she alleges she had with Mr Trump, which his inner circle feared could sink his presidential campaign in late 2016.

As the day drew to a close, the prosecution told Judge Merchan that they expect to be able to wrap up their case in about two weeks — an extensive list of witnesses remains to be called.

Yesterday’s hearing followed Friday’s emotional testimony from the former president’s one-time White House communication director Hope Hicks, who recounted the panic that set in when the notorious Access Hollywood tape first emerged.

The Independent’s Alex Woodward is covering the trial at Manhattan Criminal Court.

Key Points

• Judge threatens Trump with jail over gag order violations
• Trump used personal checking account to pay Michael Cohen for Stormy Daniels hush money
• Trump compares Biden to ‘Gestapo’ in 75-minute tirade to Republican donors

New York hush money trial: Trump used personal checking account to pay back Michael Cohen

09:15 , Joe Sommerlad

Jurors seated in Trump’s hush money trial on Monday finally got to see the paper trail of payments leading to Michael Cohen for buying Stormy Daniels’ silence, whose story about an alleged sexual encounter with the defendant threatened to derail his 2016 presidential campaign.

Those payments included cheques bearing the former president’s Sharpie-inked signature, according to documents shown in court.

A bulk of those cheques – sent to Cohen whilMr Trump was in his first year as president – came out of the then-president’s own personal checking account.

Alex Woodward reports.

Trump used personal checking account to reimburse Michael Cohen for hush money

New York hush money trial: Trump threatened with jail over gag order violations

08:45 , Joe Sommerlad

The judge overseeing Donald Trump’s hush money trial will consider putting the former president in jail if he continues to violate a gag order intended to protect witnesses, jurors, court staff and their families.

New York Justice Juan Merchan warned Trump at the start of Monday’s session at Manhattan Criminal Court that jail remains “truly a last resort” that would disrupt the proceedings, court staff and law enforcement but which could yet become necessary.

“The magnitude of such a decision is not lost on me,” the judge told Trump, but insisted he was more than prepared to take action to uphold “the dignity of the justice system” and prevent “a direct attack on the rule of law”.

He also fined the defendant another $1,000 – meaning he has wracked up $10,000 in fines so far – the judge siding with the prosecution on 10 of the 14 potential violations of the order they have raised while acknowledging that the sum was proving insufficient as a deterrent.

Alex Woodward reports.

Trump could see jail for gag order violations: ‘Fines are not serving as a deterrent’

How Donald Trump plans to turn his legal woes to his advantage

07:45 , Arpan Rai

Donald Trump has been forced to adapt his campaign to his first criminal trial in New York. Prosecutors allege he committed financial fraud to hide hush money payments to a porn actor, Stormy Daniels, who says she had a sexual encounter with Trump. He denies her claim and has pleaded not guilty.

For now, Mr Trump is forced to attend the trial most weekdays. A verdict is likely still weeks away. And after that, he faces the prospect of more trials related to his efforts to overturn the 2020 election and his handling of classified documents. The Supreme Court is weighing whether Trump should be granted immunity, or partial immunity, for the actions he took while in office.

The former US president over the past week wedged in campaign stops around his court schedule, rallying voters in Wisconsin and Michigan, where the abortion debate is raging.

He seemed to be searching for a way to lessen the political sting from the upheaval over the Supreme Court’s overturning of national abortion rights. The former president suggested the issue will ultimately bring the country together as states carve out differing laws.

“A lot of bad things will happen beyond the abortion issue if you don’t win elections, with your taxes and everything else,” he told Michigan voters.

Mr Trump’s camp privately maintains that his unprecedented trial in New York will dominate the news — and voters’ attention — for the foreseeable future. His campaign has largely stopped trying to roll out unrelated news during the trial.

Even if Mr Trump were to be convicted by the New York jury, his advisers insist the fundamentals of the election will not change. He has worked aggressively to undermine public confidence in the charges against him. Meanwhile, more traditional issues work in his favour, including stubbornly high inflation and the situation at the US-Mexico border, in the view of the Trump team.

Analysis: Does the quashing of Harvey Weinstein’s rape conviction spell hope for Trump?

06:45 , Oliver O’Connell

Gustaf Kilander asks if the same legal reasoning that saw Weinstein’s conviction appeal succeed help Trump overturn a possible guilty verdict in Trump’s New York trial?

Read on…

Does the quashing of Harvey Weinstein’s rape conviction spell hope for Trump?

Trump fined $1,000 for gag order violation in hush money case

05:30 , Arpan Rai

The judge in Donald Trump’s hush money trial fined him $1,000 on Monday and, in his sternest warning yet, told the former president that future gag order violations could send him to jail.

The reprimand opened a revelatory day of testimony, as jurors for the first time heard the details of the financial transactions at the centre of the case and saw payment checks bearing Trump’s signature.

The testimony from former Trump Organization controller Jeffrey McConney provided a mechanical but vital recitation of how the company reimbursed payments that were allegedly meant to suppress embarrassing stories from surfacing during Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and then logged them as legal expenses in a manner that Manhattan prosecutors say broke the law.

McConney’s appearance on the witness stand came as the first criminal trial of a former US president entered its third week of testimony. His account lacked the human drama offered Friday by longtime Trump aide Hope Hicks, but it nonetheless yielded an important building block for prosecutors trying to pull back the curtain on what they say was a corporate records cover-up of transactions designed to protect Trump’s presidential bid during a pivotal stretch of the race.

At the centre of the testimony was a $130,000 payment Trump’s then-lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen made to porn actor Stormy Daniels in October 2016 to stifle her claims of an extramarital sexual encounter with Trump a decade earlier.

The 34 felony counts of falsifying business records accuse Trump of labelling the money paid to Cohen in his company’s records as legal fees.

Prosecutors contend that by paying him income and giving him extra to account for taxes in monthly instalments for a year, the Trump executives were able to conceal the reimbursement.

McConney and another witness testified that all but two of the monthly checks were drawn from Trump’s personal account. Yet even as jurors saw the checks and other documentary evidence, prosecutors did not elicit testimony Monday showing that Trump himself dictated that the payments would be logged as legal expenses — a designation that prosecutors contend was intentionally deceptive.

McConney acknowledged during cross-examination that Trump never asked him to log the reimbursements as legal expenses and never discussed the matter with him at all.

Another witness, Deborah Tarasoff, a Trump Organization accounts payable supervisor, said under questioning that she did not get permission to cut the checks in question from Trump himself. “You never had any reason to believe that President Trump was hiding anything or anything like that?” Trump attorney Todd Blanche asked. “Correct,” Tarasoff replied.

The testimony followed Judge Juan M Merchan’s sober warning to Trump that additional violations of a gag order barring inflammatory out-of-court comments about witnesses, jurors and others closely connected to the case could land the former president behind bars.

The $1,000 fine imposed Monday marks the second time since the trial began last month that Trump has been sanctioned for violating the gag order.

ICYMI: Hope Hicks breaks down at Trump trial

04:45 , Oliver O’Connell

A chief aide who gave voice to Donald Trump’s chaotic 2016 campaign for the presidency broke down in tears on the witness stand in his hush money trial, moments after she testified about payments to an adult film star whose allegations threatened to derail his campaign.

The emotional moment from Hope Hicks inside a Manhattan criminal court on Friday followed revealing testimony about her damage control in the weeks before Election Day, and her behind-the-scenes public relations efforts to salvage Mr Trump’s campaign while stories about his alleged affairs and vulgar comments about women were piling up.

Alex Woodward reports:

Hope Hicks breaks down as she testifies about Michael Cohen at Trump hush money trial

Trump waves to crowd and visits McLaren garage at F1 Miami Grand Prix

02:45 , Oliver O’Connell

Donald Trump visited Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium for Sunday’s F1 race while he took a break from his high-profile hush-money trial in New York.

The security surrounding the event in Florida has been significantly increased following the former US President’s decision to attend the sixth round of the F1 campaign.

Kieran Jackson filed this report over the weekend:

Donald Trump waves to crowd and visits McLaren garage at F1 Miami Grand Prix

Rubio refuses to say whether he’d leave Florida if Trump picks him as VP

01:45 , Oliver O’Connell

Kelly Rissman reports:

Florida Senator Marco Rubio, the man Donald Trump once dubbed “Little Marco,” is now vying to be his 2024 vice presidential pick.

And due to a ”technical glitch” in the Constitution, it may be difficult for both the VP and president to be from the same state, which means Mr Rubio may have to leave Florida.

On Fox News Sunday, host Shannon Bream asked whether the Florida Senator would leave the state of Florida or change his residency if he were asked to join Mr Trump’s 2024 ticket.

In short, the Republican lawmaker didn’t answer her question.

Continue reading…

Marco Rubio refuses to say whether he’d leave Florida if Trump picks him as VP

Tuesday 7 May 2024 00:45 , Oliver O’Connell

Trump responds to Columbia University canceling commencement: ‘That shouldn’t happen’

Former Republican lieutenant governor of Georgia says he’s voting for Biden

Monday 6 May 2024 23:45 , Oliver O’Connell

A lifetime member of the Republican party and former lieutenant governor of Georgia has revealed he will be voting for Joe Biden this November after heavily criticizing presumed rival Donald Trump and warning of the threat he poses to the presidency.

Geoff Duncan announced on Monday that he will be voting for Mr Biden despite being critical of the Democrat for years.

Amelia Neath has the story:

Former Republican lieutenant governor of Georgia says he’s voting for Biden

Jury hears how Trump used personal checking account to pay Michael Cohen for Stormy Daniels hush money

Monday 6 May 2024 23:15 , Oliver O’Connell

Alex Woodward reports from the courthouse in Lower Manhattan:

Jurors seated in Donald Trump’s hush money trial finally got to see the paper trail for payments to Michael Cohen for buying the silence of an adult film star, whose story about a sexual encounter with Mr Trump allegedly threatened to derail his 2016 presidential campaign.

Those payments included checks bearing the former president’s Sharpie-inked signature, according to documents shown in a Manhattan courtroom on Monday.

A bulk of those checks – sent to Cohen while Mr Trump was in his first year as president – came out of Mr Trump’s own personal checking account.

Continue reading…

Trump used personal checking account to reimburse Michael Cohen for hush money

Watch: Trump claims he thought prosecution would finish today

Monday 6 May 2024 22:45 , Oliver O’Connell

Despite all reporting to the contrary, Donald Trump claims he thought the prosecution would wrap up their case today… 🤔

You know, without bringing their key witness.

Which is odd given he thought the trial was moving too slowly just a week ago…

Leaked audio reveals Trump discussing his potential running mates

Monday 6 May 2024 22:15 , Oliver O’Connell

New audio recorded at a private lunch reveals Donald Trump’s thoughts about his potential picks for a running mate in the 2024 election.

The audio, obtained by Axios, was recorded during Mr Trump’s high-profile GOP event at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida on Saturday. Attendees included major Republican donors and his many contenders for vice president. Mr Trump’s top picks for a running mate include several senators, representatives, governors and former presidential candidates.

Katie Hawkinson reports:

Leaked audio reveals Donald Trump discussing his VP picks

Watch: Trump says ‘he’ll do that sacrifice any day’ regarding threat of jail

Monday 6 May 2024 21:45 , Oliver O’Connell Monday 6 May 2024 21:22 , Alex Woodward

Judge Merchan asks, “generally speaking,” whether the prosecution is on schedule.

“Well,” Steinglass says.

Merchan: We’re doing well? Not gonna give me anything more than that?

Steinglass: Are you asking how much time?

“I would say about two more weeks. … This week and next week and then maybe a bit the week after … Very, very rough estimate. I would say two weeks from tomorrow.”

A couple of days were recently knocked off the calendar this month, so they think their time might spill over a bit after next week.

Next week and the week after are three-day trial weeks.

Monday 6 May 2024 21:16 , Alex Woodward

The defence has had the prosecution’s witness list “for months,” lead prosecutor Joshua Steinglass argues, concerning complaints from team Trump that they don’t know who will be up on the witness stand next.

Steinglass doesn’t want to be accused of “sandbagging” them by not telling them what order they would be called in, reiterating that the reason prosecutors haven’t is to protect them from Trump’s public attacks.

Monday 6 May 2024 21:07 , Oliver O’Connell

Judge Merchan has excused the jury for the day a little early.

The trial will resume tomorrow with a new witness.

Standby for our key takeaway from the day.

Monday 6 May 2024 21:03 , Alex Woodward

Only a few questions from Blanche and no follow up from the prosecution.

Ms Tarasoff is off the bench.

Monday 6 May 2024 20:59 , Alex Woodward

Trump was hovering around the defence table with his hand in his pocket, talking to Todd Blanche before they took their seats and the judge came in.

Ms Tarasoff is back on the stand. Going through the second half of 2017’s invoices.

After only a few more questions from the prosecution, it’s over to the defence for cross-examination.

Blanche is now questioning Ms Tarasoff.

Trump returns to courtroom for final session of day

Monday 6 May 2024 20:46 , Oliver O’Connell

Per the pool report:

Trump walked into the courtroom at about 3:42 p.m. and gave a fist pump with his right hand.

He did not responded to shouted questions:

• Does this witness have anything to do with the case?
• Did you sign the checks?

Trump campaign fundraising off judge’s jail time threat

Monday 6 May 2024 20:45 , Oliver O’Connell

The latest Trump 2024 campaign fundraising email blast is leaning heavily on the threat of jail time for Donald Trump if he violates his gag order again.

It reads: “Breaking from Trump: Judge just threatened me with jail time.”

“This is all hands on deck,” it continues. “The liberal judge in New York just threatened to THROW ME IN JAIL for violating an unconstitutional ‘gag order’ that should NEVER be in place!”

It goes on to claim “they” want him handcuffed, incarcerated, and “THEY WANT ME SILENCED FOREVER SO THEY CAN WALK ALL OVER YOU!”

“A MASSIVE pushback is needed — right here, right now — to let the whole WORLD know we will NEVER SURRENDER!”

The campaign asks for “ONE MILLION Pro-Trump Patriots to chip in”.

Monday 6 May 2024 20:36 , Alex Woodward

On Cohen’s invoice from July 2017, which didn’t have an amount, Tarasoff wrote “PAY SAME AMOUNT PER JEFF + ALLEN”

The court is now taking its afternoon recess.

Monday 6 May 2024 20:25 , Alex Woodward

For posterity we’re looking at the “stop report” from Capital One to confirm that the check was indeed cancelled.

This is getting tedious but jurors are being constantly reminded that Cohen’s payments were listed everywhere – across accounting software, pay stubs and invoices that landed on Trump’s own desk – as a “legal expense” or for his “retainer” for “services rendered.”

Prosecutors have argued that those payments were Trump’s reimbursements to Cohen for paying off Stormy Daniels, not for payments that had anything to do with his work as an attorney, but as work done to boost Trump’s chances of winning by hiding compromising stories from voters.

We also get to see Trump’s massive Sharpie signature on these checks.

Monday 6 May 2024 20:20 , Alex Woodward

The process for each check is described.

Tarasoff gets the email with the invoice, she stamps it for approval, the invoice gets entered into the company software, the check is cut, and it gets sent out for signature.

Cohen’s April payment, which was the first of the remaining payments to be cut from Trump’s personal account, was voided after the check appeared to get lost in the mail. It was cut again in June.

Monday 6 May 2024 20:07 , Alex Woodward

We’re seeing invoice vouchers that Tarasoff entered into the accounting software based on Cohen’s invoices. They are all named as “legal expense.”

Now we see Cohen’s paystubs, which name in the description that the attached checks are for “RETAINER.”

That first check, which encompassed January and February 2017, totaled $70,000.

The check, from the Donald J Trump – Revocable Trust Account, is dated 14 February 2017. It is signed by Eric Trump and Allen Weisselberg.

Monday 6 May 2024 20:02 , Alex Woodward

Did Trump have to sign the check?

“If he didn’t want to sign it he didn’t sign it.”

Then what would happen?

“He would write void on it and send it back. … It was signed in Sharpie. It would be black. That’s what he uses.”

Tarasoff confirms McConney’s testimony, that she cut the checks for Cohen and processed payments just as he described.

After Trump moved into the White House, checks from Trump’s personal account were sent from the Trump Organization to Washington, DC by FedEx. “We would send them to the White House for him to sign.”

The court is shown the chain of emails mentioned in this morning’s testimony concerning payment to Cohen.

Monday 6 May 2024 19:45 , Alex Woodward

ADA Christopher Conroy asks whether the dollar amount would impact who could approve it payments.

“If it was under a certain amount, Allen [Weisselberg] would approve, and it was over, it would have to be someone higher up.”

That meant Eric Trump, Donald Trump Jr or Donald Trump himself.

Again, more paper trail:

What happens once a check is printed out?

“Before he was president or after?”

Let’s say before.

Tarasoff would cut the check, “put the check on top of the invoice, staple it and bring it over” to Rhona Graff, Trump’s executive assistant. Then it would be signed by Trump and returned to her with the check still stapled on top of the invoice.

Monday 6 May 2024 19:38 , Alex Woodward

Tarasoff is wearing a loose blue and white plaid shirt. She has white hair and glasses.

She still works with the Trump Organization. She’s been there for 24 years.

Like McConney, she is here under a subpoena and the company is paying for her legal representation.

She is the Trump Organization’s accounts payable supervisor. She started as accounts payable 24 years ago.

Asked who is the owner of the company, she said: “Correct me if I’m wrong but Mr Trump.”

Here’s what Tarasoff does: “I get approved bills, I enter them into the system, and I cut the checks.”

What was Allen Weisselberg’s management style?

“He had his hands in everything.”

She did not interact with Trump at all, though she recalls seeing him around the office in 2016-2017.

New witness: Deb Tarasoff

Monday 6 May 2024 19:25 , Oliver O’Connell

The next witness up on the stand is Deb Tarasoff.

Ms Tarasoff was mentioned during this morning’s testimony regarding her role at the Trump Organization as an accounts payable supervisor and how Michael Cohen was paid.

This underlines that at the heart of this case is paperwork and not an alleged affair with a porn star as it is often framed.

Ms Tarasoff also testified at the civil fraud trial.

Court resumes after lunch

Monday 6 May 2024 19:16 , Oliver O’Connell

Court is getting back underway after lunch.

Per the pool report: “Trump did not speak when he walked back into the courtroom moments ago. He looked in the direction of the cameras and gave a thumbs up.”

Judge Merchan has returned to the bench.

Monday 6 May 2024 19:12 , Oliver O’Connell Monday 6 May 2024 19:05 , Oliver O’Connell

Trump responds to Columbia University canceling commencement: ‘That shouldn’t happen’

What happened in court this morning?

Monday 6 May 2024 18:29 , Oliver O’Connell

Alex Woodward summarises what we learned from this morning in court:

For the first time, jurors got to see the Trump Organization’s paper trail behind the 34 falsified records related to paying back Michael Cohen for paying off Stormy Daniels, including invoices and ledger entries that prosecutors say Trump had falsely approved as “legal expenses”.

In a remarkable moment at the very end of the prosecution’s questions, former Trump Organization comptroller Jeffrey McConney confirmed that he was “in the dark” about arrangements between Trump, Cohen and former CFO Allen Weisselberg.

“This was all happening above your head?” ADA Matthew Colangelo asked: “You were told to do something and you did it?”

McConney said yes to both.

We still don’t know who is left on the witness list. But as I mentioned before, the star of this trial, other than Trump, has been Michael Cohen, whose name and actions are central to nearly every witness’s testimony.

McConney was the trial’s 10th. We’ll find out who is No 11 when the trial resumes at 2.15pm.

Trump also has to delete any Truth Social content related to his gag-violating comments about the jury by then.

Leaked audio reveals Trump discussing his possible running mates

Monday 6 May 2024 18:25 , Oliver O’Connell

New audio recorded at a private lunch reveals Donald Trump’s thoughts about his potential picks for a running mate in the 2024 election.

The audio, obtained by Axios, was recorded during Mr Trump’s high-profile GOP event at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida on Saturday. Attendees included major Republican donors and his many contenders for vice president. Mr Trump’s top picks for a running mate include several senators, representatives, governors and former presidential candidates.

Katie Hawkinson reports:

Leaked audio reveals Donald Trump discussing his VP picks

Monday 6 May 2024 18:03 , Oliver O’Connell

Court will resume at 2.15pm.

Expect a new witness to take the stand…

Monday 6 May 2024 17:55 , Alex Woodward

Assistant District Attorney Colangelo is back for a few questions in redirect.

Did McConney later become aware that there were “conversations that Weisselberg left you in the dark about?” Yes.

“This was all happening above your head?” Yes.

“You were told to do something and you did it?” Yes.

That’s it for McConney as a witness.

Judge Merchan excuses the jurors for lunch.

Monday 6 May 2024 17:54 , Alex Woodward

Bove notes that the 1099 form doesn’t offer space to note whether Cohen’s paid “legal expenses” were for expenses incurred while working as a lawyer, and that it wasn’t up to them to tell Cohen “how to account for those personal payments on his taxes”.

“You don’t know what he did with that, right?” he asks.

Basically, if Cohen didn’t note what he did with his money elsewhere, that’s not on Trump.

Bove concludes cross-examination. He also noted an agent signed off on government ethics forms.

Monday 6 May 2024 17:48 , Alex Woodward

Bove: “Retainer agreements can be verbal, correct?”

Bove notes that McConney’s instruction for Cohen’s first invoices to be paid from the Trust was an attempt to “try to figure out how to pay President Trump’s expenses while he is in DC.”

Don Jr and Eric could sign off on them. McConney agrees.

Bove says that an attempt to “get around that practical issue.” McConney agrees.

Monday 6 May 2024 17:38 , Alex Woodward

Bove asks McConney if he believed the ledger-generating software “was a bit antiquated, was it not?”

“These categories there was a level of rigidity to them, right?” he said. “When you’re talking about payments to an attorney, ‘legal expenses’ is the category you would use, right?”

Bove’s style of questioning is evident again — leaning heavily on yes or no answers.

I should’ve kept a counter for the number of yes or no questions Bove has asked throughout this trial so far. It’s pretty much every single one. I can’t recall any open-ended ones.

Monday 6 May 2024 17:29 , Alex Woodward

Bove is suggesting that Cohen’s email signature (“personal attorney to President Donald J Trump”) would lead McConney to believe that Cohen was being paid for legal work.

In January 2017, the Trump Organization was in “flux” and in “chaos,” Bove says, using McConney’s prior testimony.

“That’s putting it mildly,” McConney says. Things were “drastically” changing.

For the first time, Trump was “hundreds of miles away,” according to Bove.

“I don’t remember seeing him in New York at all,” McConney says.

Cross-examination of McConney begins

Monday 6 May 2024 17:21 , Alex Woodward

The prosecution concludes the direct examination of McConney and Trump defence attorney Emil Bove begins to cross-examine the former Trump Organization executive.

In 2017, “Michael Cohen was a lawyer, right?” Bove asks.

McConney, smiling: “OK.”

Fair to say that McConney is not a fan.

Bove is asking whether McConney ever talked to Trump about any of this and whether Trump ever asked him to do “anything” that he just testified about. He says he did not.

McConney also never talked to Cohen about it.

Monday 6 May 2024 17:18 , Oliver O’Connell

Former Trump Organization controller Jeffrey McConney is questioned by prosecutor Matthew Colangelo before Justice Juan Merchan during former president Donald Trump’s criminal trial on charges that he falsified business records (REUTERS)

Monday 6 May 2024 17:16 , Alex Woodward

Colangelo asked McConney to read the line above the signature: “I certify that the statements I have made in this report are true, complete and correct to the best of my knowledge.”

The report notes the following: “In the interest of transparency, while not required to be disclosed as ‘reportable liabilities’ … in 2016 expenses were incurred by one of Donald J Trump’s attorneys Michael Cohen. Mr Cohen sought reimbursement of those expenses and Mr Trump fully reimbursed Mr Cohen in 2017. The category would be $100,001 – $250,000 and the interest rate would be zero.”