Trump trial live updates: Ex-president could mount no defense… as his lawyers reveal he

Michael Cohen made roughly $3.4 million from sales of two books he wrote about Donald Trump, the former president’s hush money trial heard on Tuesday.

It came as lawyers for the president sought to portray Cohen, the star witness in the trial, as motivated by money and revenge.

Jurors also heard that Cohen had flung insults at Trump on social media – including calling him a ‘dictator douchebag’ and ‘Cheeto-dusted cartoon villain’.

Cohen, who was for years Trump’s ‘lawyer and ‘fixer’, earned about $400,000 from his second book, ‘Revenge: How Donald Trump Weaponized the US Department of Justice Against His Critics.’

The much awaited cross-examination of Michael Cohen began with a shock-and awe opening meant to shatter the composure of the witness, but ended with the usual courtroom tedium and Cohen correcting Donald Trump’s lawyer on real estate.

There were swear words, insults – ‘Cheeto-dusted villain’ is one – and questions about Cohen’s move from Trump loyalist to resistance crusader, and whether it was an awakening or self-serving scheme.

Many of Blanche’s early punches didn’t land, and had the effect of bringing Cohen’s wealth of character attacks on Trump, like calling him a con man he was ashamed to work for, into the record.

Click below for the key takeways from the dramatic Day Two of Michael Cohen’s testimony, with one day left:

Donald Trump‘s red-tied loyalists were in the courtroom to lend their support to the former president as his former lawyer-turned-nemesis gave evidence.

What they got was a cautionary tale of a man who once wore the red tie, rising to become an essential part of the Trump machine, before serving 13 months in prison for tax evasion, lying and other offenses.

‘At that time I was knee-deep into the cult of Donald Trump,’ said Michael Cohen, 57,  during his cross-examination on Tuesday afternoon, to explain how he once talked warmly of the man facing him in court. ‘It was how I felt.

He lost his moral compass, is how he put it, in the relentless pursuit of the boss’s approval.

These days he is more likely to think of his former employer as a ‘Cheeto-dusted cartoon villain,’ or a ‘dictator douchebag’ who should be locked up, he admitted.

In front of him, Trump leaned back in his chair, eyes closed, as if to signal sleep or disdain, while his surrogates in the two rows fiddled with their phones.

Judge Merchan called Trump’s attorney Todd Blanche to the bench after proceedings wrapped for the day for a ‘sidebar.’

He reportedly asked Blanche: ‘Why are you making this about yourself?’

The judge referred to the first question he asked of Cohen during the cross-examination.

‘You know who I am, don’t you?’ Blanche had told Cohen, who agreed he did.

‘You went on TikTok and called me a crying little shit didn’t you?’ Sounds like something I would say,’ Cohen responded.

But the judge wasn’t amused, despite Blanche insisting it shows Cohen’s bias.

‘It doesn’t matter if he has bias towards you; it doesn’t matter,” Merchan stated according to a transcript. ‘The issue is whether he has bias towards the defendant.’

Former U.S. Deputy Assistant Attorney General John Yoo told DailyMail.com that Cohen’s testimony today ‘did not add anything new to what is already known.’

‘That means that the whole trial will turn on the question of Cohen’s credibility, which was already in shambles before he ever took the stand thanks to his convictions for perjury,’ he continued.

‘But Trump’s attorneys still must do their best to destroy whatever credibility Cohen has left without appearing abusive and generating sympathy for the witness.’

Trump addressed reporters outside of the courtroom on Tuesday during a long 10-minute rant.

He called it a ‘very, very good day’ despite prosecutors’ star witness Michael Cohen being on the stand for a second day.

He went on to say Joe Biden has a ‘problem’ with young voters, while touting other demographics who are more inclined to vote for him over the sitting president.

Trump decried the criminal case that is expected to last nearly five weeks.

‘This is election interference at the most obvious,’ he continued.

He stated going after Judge Merchan – who imposed a gag order on him – for being ‘highly conflicted,’ before pivoting.

‘I don’t want to say that about him,’ he said.

‘I am not allowed to talk about big portions of my case, and that’s never happened,’ Trump lamented.

The former president went on to criticize Biden’s handling of Israel relations.

‘If you’re Jewish, and you’re a Democrat – and that includes Alan Dershowitz – you ought to have your head examined when you see what’s going on with Israel.’

Cohen told the court that he had made around $3.4 million from his two books about Trump: Disloyal and Revenge.

Blanche also asked about Cohen being known as a ‘fixer’ for Trump.

‘When you call yourself a fixer, are you fixing things that you broke?’

Judge Merchan says it is a ‘good time to stop’ as Blanche asks Cohen about texting with a member of the DA’s staff.

Cohen disputes the characterization that they were texting ‘regularly.’

‘You’re going into a new area,’ says Merchan.

Trump’s attorney has repeatedly asked Cohen if he called the defendant a range of nicknames.

Blanche has grilled him on whether he described the former president as a ‘Cheeto dusted cartoon villain’ and a ‘boorish cartoon misogynist’ on his Mea Culpa podcast.

Each time, Cohen said it sounded like something he would say.

Todd Blanche committed what could be a cardinal sin with his client: mixing up real estate.

‘Instead of being in Otisville you were in your coop?’ Blanche asked Cohen, referencing his move from a New York prison to home confinement.

‘Condo,’ shot back Cohen, correcting him.

‘Understood,’ Blanche responded.

Cohen resisted when Blanche tried to get him to say he wants to see Trump convicted – another effort in the defense lawyer’s effort to show bias or a vendetta.

‘I would like to see accountability,’ is how Cohen put it. ‘It’s not for me, the jury and this court.’

‘I’m just asking you to say yes or now,’ Blanche pressed. He didn’t have to work too hard to get Cohen to respond, ‘Sure.’

From Rob Crilly, senior U.S. political reporter at Manhattan criminal court:

It is hard to overstate what an amazing day this is in court. Trump brought his campaign to courtroom 1530, with Gov. Doug Burgum, Vivek Ramaswamy (both possible VP picks), Rep, Byron Donalds (an outside VP chance), and Rep. Cory Mills taking up seats behind him. Naturally, they are all wearing red ties.

And they have basically been listening to a morality story, of the man who loved Trump too much, ‘I was knee deep into the cult of Donald Trump,’ but ended up in prison for 13 months after admitting a string of offenses carried out in his attempt to protect Trump.

Former federal prosecutor Jim Trusty says the defense should be delighted that the case against Trump is ending with Cohen.

He said the defense should not call any witnesses apart from perhapssa book keeping expert.

In terms of the defense case, it’s a dream come true to end with Cohen. There’s no pressure to put on anything. Certainly don’t put on your client at this point no matter who he is, no matter what what type of baggage he has or doesn’t have. It’s a fool’s errand. Let the credibility fight be all about Michael Cohen and nobody else.

I think the most what you would do is you would call somebody to describe billing practices as an expert perhaps.

After admitting that ‘sure’ he would like to see Trump convicted, Cohen is forced to confront anti-Trump items for sale on the web site for his podcast.

That includes a t-shirt that depicts Trump in an orange jump suit behind bars that Cohen was asked about.

It’s part of an effort by defense lawyers to paint him as biased.

‘Sure,’ Cohen responded, with two jurors immedaitely turning their heads to catch his answer.

‘If you go to the section that says mea culpa this shirt is available for sale. That’s one item,’ Cohen said, getting in a plug with his answer.

‘You actually wore that t-shirt last week on your ticktoc didn’t you on Wednesday night” Blanche asked trying to land a blow with the question.

‘I did,’ Cohen said, admitting to information that was widely available.

‘Actually encouraging peole to go buy it right?’ Blanche asked.

‘Yes. It’s part of the merch store,’ was Cohen’s dry response.

Cohen answers yes as Blanche asks him if he admired and spoke publicly about his old boss Trump.

It was from 2015, when Cohen was working as Trump’s lawyers.

He was questioned about TV appearances and when he said Trump wanted to ‘make this country great again’.

‘At the time you weren’t lying?’ Blanche asks.

‘At that time I was knee-deep into the cult of Donald Trump,’ Cohen responded. ‘It was how I felt.’

Todd Blanche is leading the cross-examination. He has asked Cohen about the way prosecutors repeatedly asked him to stop commenting on the case, about the ways in which he might have monetized his views on Trump, including selling a $35 T-shirt depicting Trump in an orange jumpsuit behind bars.

What he hasn’t asked him about yet is any of the evidence he presented about hush money payments and how he was reimbursed.

The strategy is clear: The defense wants to paint Cohen as an unreliable witness, who is obsessed by Trump and is consumed by hatred.

It makes for a spectacle. Whether it works is up to the seven men and five women of the jury.

Trump appears to have fallen asleep, while Cohen is keeping his cool.

The former president has his eyes closed with his chin resting on his chest.

Blanche brought up a February 2023 interview Cohen did on CNN with Don Lemon in which he said that the Manhattan District Attorney’s office asked him to hand over his two phones.

Blanche said that Cohen had ‘very specific recollections’ about calls with Trump in but ‘no recollection’ of promising prosecutors he wouldn’t go on TV.

In a flat voice, Cohen replied: ‘I don’t recall even having these conversations about not going on television’

Blanche tried asking the question again. Cohen replied: ‘I recall the conversations with President Trump at the time’

Blanche asked if Cohen asked if Cohen recalled a conversation with prosecutors last March in which they said ‘how important it was for you to stop talking?

Cohen said: ‘I don’t recall anything because I don’t recall agreeing not to go on television’

Blanche asked: ‘You don’t recall the District Attorney telling you you were unwittingly helping President Trump by going on TV?’

Cohen said: ‘No, sir’.

Cohen agreed that he had done about 200 episodes of his podcast and Trump was ‘mentioned in every single one’.

Turning to his posts on TikTok, Cohen said he started doing them to ‘vent because I have a difficult time sleeping, so I found an outlet’.

Cohen, an experienced attorney, is relying on a common answer in testimony and depositions: saying he doesn’t recall to multiple questions by Blanche. Blanche is trying to nail him down on repeated warnings from prosecutors to not talk about the case, or about other matters where he assisted prosecutors.

‘No sir, I do not recall that either,’ he said when asked if he got a warning from the DA. ‘Because I don’t recall ever agreeing not to go on television.’

You don’t recall the district attorney telling you that you were unwittingly helping President Trump going on TV?’ Blanche asked. ‘No sir, Cohen said, his voice dropping to measurably in volume.

That prompted Blanche to ask how he could firmly recall details of years-old conversations with Trump.

Cohen stood firm on his right to talk, despite not remembering getting admonished. ‘I do have a First Amendment right. I can speak,’ he said.

The cross-examination has started with fireworks. Cohen is being presented with things he has said or posted about Trump or this trial or the defense lawyers.

The public gallery in the overflow room has erupted in laughter. Reporters are on the edge of their seats, waiting to see whether Cohen gets tripped up. The judge has made several interventions as objections have flowed.

Only one person is unmoved. Trump is sitting back in his chair, eyes closed. Either he had a good lunch and is suitably relaxed. Or he is putting on a show of how little he cares about any of this.

Cohen is confronted with his own foul-mouthed attacks

Jurors are showing no signs of blushing at Blanche’s series of direct and even profane questions using Cohen’s own words.

The lawyer is establishing a record of Cohen speaking about the case despite the judge’s admonitions.

‘You referred to President Trump as a dictator douchebag, didn’t you?’ he said.

‘Sounds like something I said,’ was Cohen’s response.‘You referred to President Trump when he left the courtroom,’ saying he ‘goes right into that little cage, which is where he belongs in a f****** cage like an animal,’ was Blanche’s next question.

Donald Trump’s lead attorney Todd Blanche is asking Cohen the questions.

His first: ‘You went on TikTok and called me a crying little s*** just before this trial began?’

‘Sounds like something I’d say’, Cohen responded to laughs in the courtroom.

Former President Trump is back in the courtroom.

He looked toward the media and gave a slight nod as he came into the courtroom. Included in his entourage are Erica and Lara Trump, and lawyer Alina Habba, as well as Boris Epshteyn.

Vivek Ramaswamy is still here, seated a few seats down from Lara Trump.

Cohen is retaking the witness stand for the cross-examination as Trump is seen variously chatting with his attorneys.

Blanche, who is conducting the cross-examination, sets the brutal tone from the get-go.

‘You know who I am, don’t you?’ he tells Cohen, who agrees he does.

‘You went on TikTok and called me a crying little shit didn’t you?’ Sounds like something I would say,’ Cohen responds.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass told the court Tuesday morning they had plans to call another witness.

However, they decided against it, meaning Cohen will bring the curtain down on their case.

Defense lawyer Todd Blanche said his cross-examination of Cohen would continue until the end of day Thursday.

Trump lawyer Alina Habba, who has been seated inside the courtroom, got treated to cheers from people with ‘Trump Won’ signs, and jeers of ‘fraud outside the courthouse.

She kept her cards close when asked by DailyMail.com if Cohen was in for a rough cross-examination.

‘We’ll see – we got a lot of context,’ she said.

Prosecutors have completed their questioning of Cohen, saying ‘nothing further’, completing direct examiniation of the witness.

That came after a softball: asking if he has any regrets about working for Trump.

‘I regret doing things for him that I should not have. Lying, bullying people in order to effectuate the goal. I don’t regret working with the Trump Organiation,’ he said.

Cohen said there were ‘some very interesting and great times.’

But ‘to keep the loyalty and to do things that he had asked me to do, they violated my moral compass and I suffer the penalty as is my family.’

Cohen is going through his current professional engagements, which include a pair of podcasts where he makes money and discusses Trump. He lost his law license after decades of practicing.

He said he unloaded his real estate other than a sincle ‘secondary apartment.’

As a felon he was forced to liquidate his taxi medallions.

Cohen wrote his first book, Disloyal, while in prison.

‘When you’re in prison time management is very important,’ he said. ‘It helps the time go by quicker.’

From Rob Crilly, Senior Political Reporter inside the courtroom

The prosecution is working hard now to inoculate Cohen against what will be a difficult cross-examination.

In particular, Cohen pled guilty to tax evasion and making a false statement to a bank.

But during a recent Trump civil case, under oath, he said the guilty plea was essentially a lie, that he wasn’t guilty, making him a perjuror in one court or the other.

That is a problem for the prosecution which now has him at the center of its case. What will the jury make of the idea that this is a man who lies to courts?

The prosecution is trying to tease out that Cohen has accepted the facts of the case against him, that there was an omission in his bank forms and an error in his taxes.

His point, he explains, is that for a first time offender with a clean tax history, prosecutors came down on him in an unusually heavy way.

The prosecution now has to deal with the fact he lost his law license and is now an outspoken critic of Trump – issues that will all be emphasized when the defense gets its chance to ask the questions.

Hoffinger tries to breeze through questions about the complicated episode that landed Cohen back in prison after he had been released to home confinement.

Cohen was eager to raise ‘First Amendment violations’ in a document he was being asked to sign, amid a clash over a book he planned to write.

He ended up back in prison, with a stint in solitary confinement.

Then he confirms the cooperation he provided with the New York AG, the New York County DA.

He was asked if he got ‘automatic immunity’ when appearing before the grand jury.

The prosecution is raising issues the defense is sure to revisit, that his cooperation is bringing him a benefit.

Cohen said he pursued a letter from prosecutors that would have vouched for his cooperation, but never got one after the SDNY objected.

Cohen testifies about matters alrady in the public record – that he served time in jail and paid fines after his guilty plea.

He had already stated in court that the tax related charges he pleaded to did not involve Trump. They were for an unrelated business matter.

He said he was given a sentence of 36 months of incarceration, and paid the IRS ‘1,394,000.’

He ended up serving 13 months due to ‘comorbidities’ during covid.

He also paid a pair of $50,000 fines.

Then he described his 2019 testimony to Congress, where he revealed details became key to Trump’s fraud trial.

‘I apologized to congress I apologized to the country I apologized to my family.’

Cohen disclosed the details of a ‘pressure campaign’ to get him to cooperate.

It was the backdoor deals and coercion that led to him turning on President Trump, despite years of loyalty, he explained.

He was describing an email communication with Costello where he didn’t state Trump’s name outright.

Cohen told the court that the reason behind that was ‘to be covert.

‘It’s all back channel, spyish. Didn’t want to put in anybody’s name,’ he went on.

Cohen continued to detail correspondence with Costello who said Trump and Guiliani were trying to throw him under the bus.

‘If you really believe you are not being supported by your former boss, you should make your position known,’ Costello advised Cohen.

‘This is part of the pressure campaign,’ Cohen said in court.

‘The president still supports you, do not listen to what the journalists say and stay in the fold. Don’t flip, don’t speak, don’t cooperate.’

Judge Merchan tells the jury not to consider Cohen’s guilty plea. He says it can assist the jury in assesssing Cohen’s credibilty as a witness, and for ‘context,’ but for ‘those purposes only.’

Merchan has read several similar instructions today.

The politicians are back.

Fresh from a press conference in the park across the street slagging off proceedings, Gov. Doug Burgum, Vivek Ramaswamy, Rep. Byron Donalds and Rep. Cory Mills file back into court at 12:03.

Judge Juan Merchan turns his attention from witness Michael Cohen to direct a long, hard glare at them as they take their seats in the second row of the courtroom.

Vivek Ramaswamy speaks outside the court and calls the trial ‘disgusting’.

‘If this were happening in another country we would be laughing at them as a sham democracy,’ he said.

‘Our justice system should be blind to politics that regardless if your last name is Biden or Trump, regardless of whether you’ve been a politician or not you get a fair shake in our legal system,’ Ramaswamy told reporters.

Multiple Republican politicians dawned blue suits with red ties while delivering stump speeches in support of Donald Trump outside of the courthouse.

Former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, Reps. Cory Mills and Byron Donalds all spoke out about the president’s hush money trial.

They condemned the trial as politically motivated and illegitimate.

Cohen decided not to work with criminal defense lawyer Robert ‘Bob’ Costello, eventually hiring other lawyers.

He never told Costello about the Stormy Daniels matter, he said.

‘I didn’t trust him. Meaning Bob Costello. And I still remained loyal to Mr. Trump,’ he said.

Cohen ultimately decided to make his break after speaking to his family.

‘My wife my daughter my son all said to me. Why are you holding on to this loyalty? What are you doing? We’re supposed to be your first loyalty,’ he said.

Asked about his decision, he said he decided ‘that it was about time to listen to them. To my wife my daughter my son and the country.’

When asked to explain how he felt, Cohen replied that it was the ‘worst day of my life.’

By April he would plead guilty to crimes in federal court.

Cohen had yet to retain Costello, but the former SDNY attorney repeatedly touted his proximity to Giuliani, emails show – and Cohen took it as a sign of access to Trump.

‘I spoke to Rudy – very very positive. You are “loved”’, Costello emailed at one point.

‘I told him everything you asked me to and he said they know that. There was never a doubt and they are in our corner,’ he wrote.

He ended one message: ‘Sleep well tonight, you have friends in high places.’

Asked about the effect of messages from Costello and Trump’s tweets, Cohen said it was to ‘let me know that I was still important to the team and stay the course that the president had my back.’

Cohen speaks about meeting with lawyer Robert Costello in 2018 about obtaining legal respresentaiotn

He said Costello told him he was ‘as close as you can imagine’ to Rudy Giuliani, the former New York mayor, who is close to Trump.

Costello told him ‘this would be a great way to have a back channel communication to the president in order to ensure that you’re still good and that you’re still secure.’

But he held back in providing details of what the FBI had seized or putting Costello on retainer.

There was ‘something really sketchy and wrong about him,’ he said.

Costello would later represent Giuliani, and subsequently sue Giuliani for upaid legal bills.

Republican former Oklahoma Speaker T.W.Shannon tells Fox News:

This case is bulit on two things. It’s built on a liar, a professional liar, and a whore. And I use that as a Biblical term because she’s accepted money for sex.

But you’ve got the liar now who’s whoring himself out selling merch and propaganda based upon the trial. Our Founding Fathers are turning over.

Cohen speaks about meeting with lawyer Robert Costello in 2018 about obtaining legal respresentaiotn

He said Costello told him he was ‘as close as you can imagine’ to Rudy Giuliani, the former New York mayor, who is close to Trump.

Costello told him ‘this would be a great way to have a back channel communication to the president in order to ensure that you’re still good and that you’re still secure.’

But he held back in providing details of what the FBI had seized or putting Costello on retainer.

There was ‘something really sketchy and wrong about him,’ he said.

Costello would later represent Giuliani, and subsequently sue Giuliani for upaid legal bills.

Phil Holloway, a former assistant district attorney, says:

I think what they (prosecutors) are trying to do is sort of take the sting out of some of the cross-examination that that they know is coming. It’s going to be a bloodbath for him (Cohen).

But it’s not going to be enough. The defense lawyers have so many things to work with in this case that there’s just no rational way that any jury is going to be able to believe this.

Cohen got asked about an infamous 2018 Tweet after the FBI raid where Trump vouched for Cohen and said he wouldn’t flip, amid a New York Times report on how he might respond.

‘The New York Times and a third rate reporter named Maggie Haberman, known as a Crooked H flunkie who I don’t speak to and have nothing to do with, are going out of their way to destroy Michael Cohen and his relationship with me in the hope that he will “flip,” Trump wrote, in a tweet that the j

ury heard, with Haberman sitting in the coutroom.

After bashing the paper and its sources, Trump calls Cohen ‘a fine person with a wonderful family. Michael is a businessman for his own account/lawyer who I have always liked & respected. Most people will flip if the Government lets them out of trouble, even if..it means lying or making up stories. Sorry, I don’t see Michael doing that despite the horrible Witch Hunt and the dishonest media!’

Hoffinger then asked Cohen who Trump was communicating the message to. ‘To me,’ he said. He said the message was: ‘Stay in the fold. Stay loyal. I have you. You’re a fine person. Don’t flip.’

Cohen spoke about the emotional impact of the FBI raid on his apartment that brought his world crashing down.

Looking on was Trump, who has himself been raided by the FBI, in conjunction with the national security documents case in Florida.

‘How to describe your life being turned upside down. Concerned. Despondent. Angry,’ he said.

He left a message for then President Trump and and got a call back, he testified.

‘He said to me don’t worry I’m the president of the United States, there’s nothing here. Everything’s going to be okay. Stay tough. You’re going to be okay,’ he said.

He said they hadn’t spoken directly since.

He said the call was ‘extremely important’ to him.

‘Frist of all I was scared – first time in my life anything like this.’

‘And I wanted some reassurance that Mr. Trump had my back. Especially as this dealt with issues that related to him,’ he said.

Legal scholar Jonathan Turley, a professor at George Washington University Law School, is not impressed with Cohen’s testimony. He tells Fox News:

It’s almost as if he (Cohen) thinks there should have been a second lawyer watching him and advising Trump if he could believe what he (Cohen) was saying.

He was the lawyer. He as drafting it. He was crafting these transactions.

And we are still significantly short of any showing of intention to defraud to hide a crime, which has still not been defined by the prosecutors.

From Rob Crilly, Senior Political Reporter inside the courtroom:

Cohen has just walked the court through a statement he drafted in February after he had received a complaint about the payment from the Federal Election Commission.

In it, he said: ‘In a private transaction in 2016, I used my own private funds to facilitate a payment of $130,000 to Miss Stephanie Clifford. Neither the Trump Organization nor the Trump Campaign was a party to the transaction.’

He concluded that there was therefore no campaign finance violation.

‘Just because something isn’t true doesn’t mean that it can’t cause you harm or damage. I’ll always protect Mr. Trump.’

On the stand, Cohen admits that the whole thing was meant to be misleading, hiding the fact that he was then reimbursed for the payment.

Cohen speaks about his testimony to Congress about Trump Tower Moscow amid the Russia probe.

It came after describing legal work he said he did for the benefit of Trump.

He said he spoke to Trump three times about it, when in fact they had spoken ten times.

‘I was staying on Mr. Trump’s message that there was no Russia Russia Russia. And again in coordination with the joint defense team that’s what was preferred,’ he said, referencing a joint defense agreement with Trump’s lawyers.

He said he felt a ‘tremendous amount of pressure’ and it was the first time he’d been subpoenaed by Congress to testify.’

‘I told them that it was a truncated time period and that I’d only spoken to Mr. Trump about this project three times,’ Cohen said.

While Cohen is testifying a mid-level appeals court has denied Trump’s latest effort to throw out the gag order that has been imposed on him.

Trump asserted the order violated his right to free speech and left him unable to respond to criticisms from people like Cohen.

The order, imposed by Justice Juan Merchan, who is overseeing the trial, prohibits Trump from making public comments about jurors, witnesses, and families of the judge and prosecutors if meant to interfere with the case.

The prosecution is now running through all the denials issued by Stormy Daniels as reporters pored over the details of Stormy Daniels story.

Prosecutors have to get through the fact that Cohen was lying his head off at the time to protect Trump, in order to at least take some of the sting out of what will likely be a brutal cross-examination.

‘Did you know at the time this statement was false,’ asks Susan Hoffinger, about a January 2018 statement issued by Daniels denying she was paid hush money or had an affair with Trump.

‘Because I helped him craft it.’

How did he know Daniels was paid hush money?

‘Because I’m the one who paid it,’ he says.

Cohen testified about doing legal work for Trump and for Melania Trump gratis. He said it was ‘very minimal.’

One bit involved reviewing an agreement by Maddam Tussaud’s to create her likeness in wax.

He even did some work relating to Sumner Zervos, an ‘Apprentice’ contestant who brought a defamation case against Trump, but didn’t bill Trump anything and ‘didn’t expect to be paid.

But he said he banked $4 million through a consulting arrangement, working for the firm Squire, Patton Boggs, where he maintained an office in both New York and Washington.

‘Is this the last invoice that you emailed?’ Cohen is asked about his December 2017 invoice.

He agrees, and is asked why it is his last invoice.

‘Because now I had been reimbursed $420,000,’ he responded.

His final check was signed by Trump, he testifies.

‘Was this the last check that you received from Mr. Trump or anyone at the Trump Organization?’ Hoffinger asks himn.

Appearing outside President Trump’s criminal hush money trial, Speaker Mike Johnson said ‘no one should believe a word [Michael Cohen] says today.’

‘I came here today on my own to support President Trump because I am one of hundreds of millions of people and [I am] one citizen who is deeply concerned about this.’

Johnson insisted Trump is ‘innocent of these charges’ and they are ‘not about justice and all about politics.’

From Rob Crilly, Senior Political Reporter inside the courtroom:

Eric Trump is sitting in the second row next to his wife Lara.

He just gave up his seat in the front row to accommodate Rep. Byron Donalds.

‘The entire Republican Party is in this room.’ Trump himself looks more relaxed today, smiling as he talks to lead defense lawyer Todd Blanche.

Hoffinger takes Cohen through a series of invoices, checks, and pay stubs.

She repeatedly asks him to answer, ‘Is that a false record,’ and he agrees. He also identifies signatures on checks he received, including one by ‘Donald J. Trump,’ and one by Donald Trump, Jr.

Cohen lists ‘payment for services rendered’ in monthly invoices that are continuing through the spring and summer of 2017.

Cohen testifies about a Feb. 14, 2017 memo.

‘Pursuant to the retainer agreement, kindly remit payment for services rendered for the months of January and Februaryu, 2017,’ it says. Cohen says he created the invoice after speaking to Jeff McConney, who reported to Allen Weisselberg.

Cohen had asked McConney via email how much the monthly agreement was for. ‘$35,000,’ he responded.

‘Does the invoice say that it’s for services rendered not only for the month of January but February,’ Hoffinger asks. Cohen agrees.

‘In truth was this invoice for any services that you had rendered for those two months?’ she asked him. Cohen says it wasn’t.

He gets asked if the reimbursement for services rendered was a truthful statement. He says it isn’t.

‘The reimbursement to me for the hush money fee as well as Red Finch and the bonus,’ he said.

Michael Cohen is back on the stand. He began his testimony with a ‘good morning’ to prosecutor Susan Hoffinger.

After speaking about an internal document related to invoices, he speaks about his Feb. 8, 2017 trip to the White House.

‘I was stiting with President Trump. And he asked me if I was okay. He asked me if I needed money. I said no all good because I can get a check,’ Cohen said.

One piece of evidence establishes that he is as giddy to be there as any tourist. Cohen is seen posing in front of the podium in the White House briefing room.

‘I do have a lot of surrogates and they are speaking very beautifully,’ said Trump to reporters as he walked into court Tuesday.

North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum, Vivek Ramaswamy, Speaker Mike Johnson and GOP Congressmen Byron Donalds and Cory Mills are accompanying Trump to court today.

He is wearing a golden orange tie similar in color to the tie he wore last week.

‘You ask me questions that I’m not allowed to answer. They’re the easiest questions that could possibly be asked,’ Trump said about Judge Merchan’s gag order.

He went on to slam Judge Engoron, who presided over his civil fraud trial.

‘He’s under investigation right now, he under a big investigation I hear.’

Trump went on to complain about the ‘icebox’ temperatures in Manhattan criminal court.

‘I’ve been here for nearly four in weeks in the ice box I call it the icebox.’

Before things can get underway, the prosecution asks for a bench conference. Lawyers for Trump and the government huddle with Judge Merchan. Trump chats with lawyer Emil Bove while Todd Blanche speaks with the judge.

Members of Trump’s entourage are chatting, with Doug Burgum rustling in his seat and Vivek Ramaswamy turning backward to speak to Lara and Eric Trump.

Ramaswamy also flashes a cell phone, which was in his hand.

Former President Donald Trump sauntered into court, sporting a yellow tie, and dropped some documents onto the defense table in front of him.

He immediately began chatting with lawyer Todd Blanche, and pointed to someone on the prosecution side of the courtroom.

He once again submits to photographs by a group of photographers with cameras close in to get the shot.

House Speaker Mike Johnson’s move to join Trump’s court entourage is an extraordinary move for the man who is third in line for the presidency, and is another sign of the total embrace Trump is getting from congressional Republicans.

It comes days after days after the House rejected an effort by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) to remove Johnson from office through a procedural motion.

Trump sided with the speaker in the spat, meeting with Johnson and posting in advance that ‘this is not the time’ to move to vacate the chair, as Greene was proposing.

The Speaker’s office left no doubt which side he is on.

‘The Speaker will then address media outside of the ongoing sham prosecution of President Trump,’ his office announced.

‘Speaker Johnson will address the political persecution of the 45th President of the United States by President Biden’s weaponized Department of Justice and the left-wing Manhattan district attorney.’

Former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), a Trump critic, criticized the move.

‘Have to admit I’m surprised that @SpeakerJohnson wants to be in the “I cheated on my wife with a porn star” club. I guess he’s not that concerned with teaching morality to our young people after all,’ she posted.

Donald Trump attacked the judge in the hush money trial again on Tuesday by claiming he is ‘making big money’ off the ‘scam and its outcome’.

The former president took his targeting of Judge Juan Merchan to a new level in an early morning tirade on Truth Social.

‘Virtually every Legal Analyst and Scholar said yesterday, at the end of the day, THAT THERE IS NO CASE, AND THAT THIS WITCH HUNT SHOULD HAVE NEVER BEEN BROUGHT, AND SHOULD BE THROWN OUT NOW!!!

‘WHY WASN’T THIS HOAX BROUGHT SEVEN YEARS AGO, INSTEAD OF IN THE MIDDLE OF MY WINNING CAMPAIGN FOR PRESIDENT — ELECTION INTERFERENCE.

‘The problem is that this Judge, Merchan, is TOTALLY COMPROMISED, CONFLICTED, AND CORRUPT, MAKING BIG MONEY OFF OF THIS SCAM AND ITS OUTCOME.

‘He can’t render a fair decision, too much is at stake for him and the Democrats. The Appellate Division should remove him immediately!’

Stormy Daniels wore a bulletproof vest to and from the courthouse in New York last week when she appeared as a witness in Donald Trump‘s hush money trial.

Stormy Daniels attorney, said his client was particularly worried about being targeted as she came to detail the alleged sexual encounter at the center of the trial.

‘She was concerned about the security coming in to New York,’ Clark Brewster told CNN on Monday night.

‘She wore a bulletproof vest every day until until she got to the courthouse’, he explained.

Michael Cohen has left his Manhattan apartment to head downtown to the court for his second day of testimony.

Donald Trump’s former fixer stepped out in a suit and light blue tie after spending Monday detailing how he arranged hush money deals for his old boss.

He will take the stand and will first be questioned by the prosecution.

Then he will face a bruising cross-examination from Trump’s lawyers who will attack from all sides to undermine his credibility

Donald Trump will bring two running mate contenders in his entourage when he arrives in court for the Manhattan trial on Tuesday.

The former president brought his son Eric and his team of loyal aides for the opening weeks of the case.

Now he is turning to Republican politicians and candidates to be his vice president for support.

North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum and Vivek Ramaswamy will sit in the Manhattan Criminal Court on Tuesday for the second day of Michael Cohen’s testimony.

Speaker Mike Johnson and GOP Congressmen Byron Donalds and Cory Mills will also be in tow.

Limited in the campaigning he can do from the courtroom, he is now bringing the VP stakes and his biggest allies with him.

Michael Cohen was new on the job, and anxious to please his new boss that he was worth his new $375,000 salary and Fifth Avenue skyscraper office.

So in an early display of his tough guy lawyer chops, he went to work on an outstanding billing conundrum at the ill-fated Trump University. About 50 vendors had not been paid, with a total that ‘far exceeded’ the $2 million available in the venture’s bank account.

The personal injury lawyer got to work, creating a hand-written spread sheet that ‘came up with basically 20 percent of everyone’s invoice’ – denying each of them 80 per cent of what they were owed. (Two other vendors ‘just went away.’) He called each of them one-by-one to tell them what they were getting.

Donald Trump’s response when Cohen told him what he accomplished? ‘Fantastic,’ Cohen testified. It made him feel ‘like I was on top of the world,’ at a company that he described as like ‘a big family.’

Years later, it would be Cohen’s turn to feel what it was like to feel stiffed, even after helping guide Trump to the White House. His annual bonus came in at two-thirds of what it had been before.

‘I was truly insulted, personally hurt by it,’ Cohen told prosecutor Susan Hoffinger. He told her he was ‘truly pissed off and angry’ and that ‘I used quite a few expletives.’

When Donald Trump sat down with his lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen to discuss his plans to run for president in 2016 he had a simple warning.

‘You know that when this comes out, meaning the announcement, just be prepared, there’s going to be a lot of women coming forward,’ is how Cohen remembered the conversation.

During more than five hours of riveting testimony on Monday, Cohen described the extraordinary lengths he went to in keeping their stories out of the headlines.

He worked his contacts in the media, set up front companies and received invoices from businesses with meaningless names like ‘Investor Advisory Services.’

And in so doing the prosecution’s star witness added the one link missing from the past three weeks of evidence: He told the court that Trump told him to do it.

Michael Cohen will return to the stand on Tuesday morning to deliver more testimony against his old boss, Donald Trump.

The fixer and lawyer, who was convicted over the hush money payments to Stormy Daniels and lying to Congress, is set to face grueling questioning from the former president’s lawyers.

Cohen also described working at ‘the direction of and for the benefit’ of the presumptive Republican nominee.