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

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

70% : Supporting Trump in court today:
61% : “He said my life is shattered, my family’s life is shattered.
56% : Others sat back and took in the testimony, occasionally peering at the gallery of reporters and public observers.
53% : Trump leaves courtroom for lunch break As he exited, he fixed his eyes on two supporters in the back row of the gallery.
53% : With jury gone for lunch, prosecution seeks to show video screenshot 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.
52% : “If they want to go after Donald Trump and they have solid evidence then so be it,” Costello said at the time.
51% : Judge says prosecution can’t use C-SPAN screenshot 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.
51% : Has Cohen built his name recognition on Trump’s back?
49% : 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.
48% : he spoke, Trump looked directly at the witness box, his arm draped over his chair.
47% : 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.
46% : Trump’s lawyers drop objection to C-SPAN image 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.
43% : In total, he said he spoke with Trump more than 20 times about the matter in October 2016.
43% : Trump pardoned Kerik in 2020.
42% : And I want to get back to campaigning,” Trump said.
42% : 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.
42% : 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.
42% : 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.
41% : The defense has finished their direct questioning of Costello Trump appeared alert and engaged, his attention focused on the witness box, during Costello’s testimony.
40% : said he told Cohen the matter could be resolved quickly “if he had truthful information about Donald Trump and he cooperated.
40% : (Steven Hirsch/New York Post via AP, Pool) Trump leaves courtroom as trial takes brief recess 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.
40% : Trump, Cohen testified, didn’t feel he’d gotten his money’s worth.
39% : 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.
39% : 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.
39% : The trial is breaking early for lunch 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.
37% : Attorney Robert J. Costello talks to reporters after testifying before a grand jury investigating Donald Trump in New York, Monday, March 20, 2023.
37% : 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.
37% : Cohen testified that he never billed for the work he did for Trump and his family in 2017.
36% : Trump speaks after court Former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks after exiting the courtroom alongside his attorney Todd Blanche during his trial at Manhattan Criminal court, Monday, May 20, 2024, in New York.
36% : “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.
36% : Court takes a morning recess Trump gave a fist bump as he exited the courtroom.
35% : 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.
35% : But Cohen ultimately went with a lawyer and did exactly that, pleading guilty to federal crimes and implicating Trump.
35% : The cross-examination of Michael Cohen has ended Donald Trump, far left, watches as defense attorney Todd Blanche, at podium, cross examines Michael Cohen on the witness stand with Judge Juan Merchan presiding in Manhattan criminal court, Monday, May 20, 2024, in New York.
34% : 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.
33% : 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.
33% : 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.
32% : 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.
32% : Why the defense called Costello to the stand 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.
32% : 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.
32% : Judge Merchan has returned to the bench Trump walks back into the courtroom after a lunch break 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.
32% : Cohen’s cross-examination ended with him reiterating he discussed the Stormy Daniels deal with Trump “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?”
31% : The jury returned to the courtroom and prosecutor Susan Hoffinger showed jurors the C-SPAN image of Trump and Schiller.
31% : 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.
30% : But, Costello said, Cohen told him Trump “knew nothing” about the hush money paid to the porn actor.
30% : He said Trump initially wanted to finish first, but the two decided that would be suspicious.
30% : But Trump refused to pay the firm after CNBC decided to nix a second round of the poll featuring the top 10 names.
29% : 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.
29% : At the beginning, Trump was polling near the bottom “and it upset him,” Cohen said.
27% : ”“I swear to God, Bob, I don’t have anything on Donald Trump,” Cohen replied, according to Costello.
27% : Trump has returned to the courtroom after a short break Former President Donald Trump returns from lunch to his trial at the Manhattan Criminal court, Monday, May 20, 2024, in New York.
26% : Prosecution has finished re-direct questioning of Cohen “My entire life has been turned upside down as a direct result,” Cohen said when asked how speaking out about Trump has affected him.
25% : Trump’s lawyers say they will call attorney Robert Costello to the witness stand 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.
24% : 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.
23% : Costello says Cohen told him Trump ‘knew nothing’ about payment to Stormy Daniels 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.
22% : Cohen testified he had ‘no doubt’ Trump signed off on Stormy Daniels payment 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.
21% : Prosecution begins 2nd round of questions for Cohen 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.
20% : 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.
11% : “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.

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