Donald Trump's Hush Money Trial, Week 5: Live Updates

In comments after court Monday, Trump dismissed the proceedings as fundamentally political and not legal in nature.

“There’s nothing illegal, it’s called politics, a lot of people are saying that. They’re all saying that,” he said. “Everybody’s saying there’s no crime.”

The former president then read from a stack of what appeared to be opinion pieces, characterizing them as definitive facts about his trial being a “scam.”

Asked whether he expected compensation in exchange for work he would complete under his new title, Cohen said he had “none at all.”Cohen said he planned to profit “by monetizing that role as personal attorney” as a consultant.

Jurors were shown a peculiar text sent Cohen received from an acquaintance shortly after announcing his new title on Sean Hannity’s program in early 2017. The man, Steve Denari, congratulates Cohen on being made "Trump's personal counsel (consigliere)” — a reference to organized crime.

And now we're done. Trump has exited the courtroom.

Jurors were shown a record showing the transfer of $130,000, which Cohen said he provided to Weisselberg. Written in the corner is “plus $50,000 paid to RedFinch for tech services,” for a total of $180,000. (Cohen reportedly arranged for RedFinch to rig polls in favor of Trump's 2016 campaign. He said on the stand that he ultimately paid RedFinch less than $50,000 and kept the remainder for himself, feeling that he deserved it.)

Because Cohen would be receiving the reimbursement as income, taxes would be applied, so Weisselberg said the repayment needed to be “grossed up.” In order for Cohen to get back the $180,000, Weisselberg doubled the amount to $360,000. With a little extra bonus for Cohen — although not the full bonus he'd expected to receive — the total owed by Trump came to $420,000.

All of this is familiar to jurors by now. We've been over these numbers multiple times.

Weisselberg then came to Trump with Cohen to explain how they would pay Cohen back in monthly installments of $35,000, categorized as "legal services." Trump approved the plan, Cohen said, but he got the feeling that Trump and Weisselberg had already discussed the matter beforehand. He estimated that the meeting happened on Jan. 17, 2017.

Cohen testified that after the trouble he went through in 2016 to help Trump keep quiet stories of his alleged affairs, he received an extremely disappointing bonus that December. Bonuses at the Trump Organization usually came in the form of a holiday card attached with a check. Cohen said he did a "double-take" when he saw his.

“I was truly insulted, personally hurt,” Cohen said on the stand. “After all that I had gone through in terms of the campaign, as well as things at the Trump Organization and laying out $130,000 to protect him, it was insulting that the gratitude shown back to me was to cut the bonus by two-thirds.”

Cohen said he stormed into Weisselberg’s office and used “quite a few expletives” to express how he felt. Weisselberg assured him Trump appreciated him and that Trump would “make it right,” he said.

Once Trump won the election, he gave no indication that he wanted Cohen to serve in his administration. While Reince Priebus offered Cohen an assistant general counsel position in the White House, Cohen said, he did not want the position. Asked whether he was “disappointed” to not be considered for a position like chief of staff, Cohen said yes, even though he did not want to leave New York.

“I had other ideas for myself that I wanted, but I wanted to at least be considered — it was more about my ego than anything,” Cohen said.

“I would have liked to have been considered,” he reiterated.

Cohen explained how he pitched Trump other roles, saying he could serve as personal attorney to the president or as a consultant. He thought Trump would need someone to help deal with some “outstanding matters.”

Jurors were then shown texts between Cohen and his daughter about not being considered for chief of staff. He testified: “My daughter and I are very close, we’re very much connected, and she was concerned that I was upset that I was not being considered for the role,” Cohen said. “I explained to her that there are so many opportunities." Trump eventually gave Cohen the "personal attorney to the president" title he sought.

Trump exited and reentered the courtroom for a quick afternoon break, once again pumping his fist at reporters.

The Wall Street Journal published a story linking the hush money payment to McDougal with the National Enquirer just days before the 2016 election. Cohen confirmed he spoke to Hope Hicks in a flurry of phone calls Nov. 4 and 5, 2016, about the story as they workshopped a response.

Cohen also recalled speaking to Davidson, expressing anger at the attorney who represented both McDougal and Daniels. Cohen said he told Davidson that Trump was upset, and that he hoped they did not find out that somebody on Davidson’s side had leaked information on the hush money. At the time, he thought that’s what might have happened.

All parties signed the agreement on Oct. 28, 2016, with Cohen signing on Trump’s behalf as “EC” — for “Essential Consultants.” He said this was to protect Trump.

During a five-minute phone call that day, Cohen said, he told Trump “that this matter is now completely under control and locked down.”

Going over the steps he took to conceal the source and true purpose of the payment to Daniels, Cohen said, “It was to protect him and to isolate him from the transaction.”

Trump shook his head almost imperceptibly.

Then-National Enquirer Editor-in-Chief Dylan Howard helped see the agreement through, Cohen said, adding that he thought Howard and Pecker wanted Trump to know they were still on his team.

Cohen is explaining to the jury how he “walked across the street” to the bank to transfer the hush money payment. The morning of Oct. 26, 2016, Cohen said, he spoke to Trump to get final approval to make the payment to Daniels’ attorney, who would ensure she got paid.

Asked whether he would have transferred the funds without Trump’s approval, Cohen said no.

"Everything requires Mr. Trump’s sign-off. On top of that, I wanted the money back," he testified.

Faced with coming up with $130,000, Cohen said that he could not take the amount from the account he shared with his wife without her noticing.

He felt he could not tell her the real reason he needed that money, so he took out a home equity line of credit to cover the sum. Once Trump paid him back, Cohen would pass the funds along “and nobody would be the wiser.”

Cohen said that he had been immediately shut down when he broached the subject of the payment with Pecker, who said that even though the McDougal situation had worked out in his favor, he could certainly not put up that kind of money again.

Cohen said he explained the situation to Trump, who later told him he’d talked the situation over with some smart friends and they recommended he pay the $130,000. At the time, the Daily Mail was interested in paying Daniels to publish her story.

"He expressed to me, 'Just do it. Go meet up with Allen Weisselberg and figure this whole thing out,'" Cohen said.

He initially tried to convince Weisselberg to put up the sum, but Weisselberg said he could not as he was covering several grandchildren’s prep school expenses. Cohen decided to cover the sum himself and wait for Trump to pay him back.

"I was doing everything I could and more in order to protect my boss, which was something I had done for a long time," Cohen said.

Cohen said he was "very concerned" to receive Davidson's email saying the agreement was void.

"We were losing control over the settlement ... in order to prevent the story from coming out,” he testified.

Cohen said he noticed Davidson was no longer taking his calls and acknowledged being under a lot of stress at the time. He then recalled calling Trump to tell him that Daniels had declared the agreement void.

He did not believe he could delay that transaction any further. He took steps to create another shell company after realizing the name he picked for the last one was in use by a friend. Essential Consultants LLC was born.

While Cohen was trying to put off the hush money payment to Daniels until at least after the 2016 election, he made various excuses to her lawyer, Keith Davidson, including the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur.

Cohen said he would tell Davidson he was incredibly busy with Trump’s campaign and traveling "all over," so he needed a few more days to send over the funds.

Jurors were then shown emails between Cohen and representatives of First Republic Bank, where Cohen was opening a new bank account on Oct. 13, 2016. Cohen admitted that he lied on the forms about the purpose of the account.

"I'm not sure they would have opened it if it had stated, 'To pay off an adult film star for a nondisclosure agreement.'"

On Oct. 17, 2016, Cohen received an email from Davidson with an ultimatum, followed by another email stating that Davidson and Daniels considered the agreement null and void. Cohen read both to the jury.

We are back from a lunch break. On the stand again is Cohen, wearing a dusty pink tie and dark gray suit.

Cohen said he had no intention of making the payment by the date specified in the hush money agreement with Daniels — Oct. 14, 2016. He said Trump told him to delay payment until the election was over, at which point it would not matter to him if the affair allegation came out.

An expressionless Trump has now left the courtroom for a lunch break.

Trump reacted badly upon learning that Daniels was shopping around her story about their alleged affair, Cohen said.

According to Cohen, Trump was angry with him, saying, "I thought you had this under control. I thought you took care of this."

Cohen said he told Trump that he had taken care of Daniels' 2011 attempt to make her story public through an interview with InTouch that was not published at the time. But he said he could not control what Daniels did afterward.

Cohen said Trump told him: "This is a disaster. A total disaster. Women are going to hate me. … Guys may think it’s cool, but this is a big disaster for the campaign."

Asked whether Trump was concerned about his wife’s reaction to the alleged affair, Cohen said no.

He said Trump told him, "How long do you think I’ll be on the market for? Not long."

"He wasn’t thinking about Melania. This was all about the campaign," Cohen said.

At the time, Trump was polling "very poorly with women," Cohen recalled.

Once he heard that Daniels was shopping her story about an alleged affair with Trump, Cohen said: “I immediately went to Mr. Trump’s office, knock on the door, ‘Boss, I’ve got to speak with you.’”

Cohen said Trump ultimately told him: “Do it. Take care of it.” Trump also allegedly told Cohen a bit about the 2006 golf tournament where he met the porn actor.

“He told me that he was playing golf with Big Ben Roethlisberger… and they had met Stormy Daniels and others there,” Cohen recalled, adding that Trump expressed the sentiment “that women prefer Trump even over someone like Big Ben.”

Cohen affirmed that he asked Trump whether Daniels’ claim was true, but he did not respond directly, only acknowledging that Daniels was a “beautiful woman.”

(Like Trump, Roethlisberger has been accused of rape and sexual assault. In 2012, Roethlisberger settled out of a civil rape suit filed against him in 2008.)

Evoking a teacher-student dynamic, Cohen has spoken several times about informing Trump of all the things he did to save Trump money or preserve his reputation in order to receive “credit.”

Those included squashing an October 2016 Radar Online headline that read: “Donald Trump, Playboy Man.”

Jurors were shown a text exchange between Cohen and now-former CNN anchor Chris Cuomo about appearing on TV to discuss the “Access Hollywood” tape. Cohen said he was in London and was being asked to appear on news shows the following Tuesday.

“Will be too late. He is dying right now,” Cuomo replied via text.

Cohen said he understood the message to mean “that this was going to be significantly impactful" to Trump's campaign, "especially with women voters.”

Cohen said he was in London on Oct. 7, 2016, celebrating both his anniversary and his daughter’s 21st birthday when the “Access Hollywood” tape was about to drop.

“I received a phone call … from Hope Hicks,” Cohen said. Jurors were shown an email from Washington Post reporter David Fahrenthold asking Trump's camp for comment on the tape.

Cohen affirmed that he was concerned about what the tape would mean for Trump’s campaign. He said Trump wanted to "spin" the story by saying his vulgar comments about women were just an example of "locker room talk."

It was "something that Melania had recommended," Cohen testified.

The shell company was given a boring name — Resolution Consultants LLC — and established on Sept. 30, 2016, for the purpose of reimbursing AMI for the life rights to McDougal's story and for “the other information” it had accumulated on Trump, Cohen said. Pecker told Cohen that he only expected a $125,000 repayment because of the content she was providing the AMI tabloid empire, which he valued at $25,000.

Asked who he understood would ultimately pay the life rights to McDougal's story, Cohen replied, "Mr. Trump."

"What I was doing, I was doing at the direction of and for the benefit of Mr. Trump," he testified.

But "Resolution Consultants LLC" did not end up reimbursing AMI, Cohen affirmed. He said that Pecker told him it was "no longer necessary" because McDougal's Men's Health magazine cover had sold a lot more copies than anticipated, Cohen said, meaning that AMI made "a lot of money" on the deal.

"He felt that even for the $150,000 it was an excellent business deal," Cohen said of Pecker.

“I expressed to him that we needed funding of $150,000 to consummate this transaction,” Cohen testified.

“Allen said to me, well, if we do it from a Trump entity, that kind of defeats the purpose, because the point is not to have the Trump name affiliated to this at all. Really create a barrier,” Cohen said. He ended up creating an LLC “to keep it separate.”

Cohen estimated having 10 to 12 conversations with Weisselberg about the McDougal situation. He used an encrypted app to communicate with an AMI representative about the payment, to further keep it "secret."

Cohen said he stopped recording on his phone when he received an incoming call.

“I didn’t want to record more,” he testified. “I already had enough that I would be able to show David Pecker as to convince him that he was going to receive $150,000 back.”

In the conversation that continued after the tape ended, Cohen said he told Trump he would go speak to Weisselberg.

"Did you ever alter that recording?" Hoffinger asked of the tape.

"No," Cohen replied.

During the morning break, the former president answered no questions from reporters pooled in the hall, instead choosing to pump his fist three times.

Cohen’s secret audio recording of a conversation he had with Trump in person was played for the jury once again. Cohen was simply recording on his phone, using a voice memo function, he said.

On the tape, he tells Trump that The New York Times was trying to get his divorce papers with first wife Ivana unsealed.

“We’re fighting it,” Cohen says on the tape, agreeing that the paper should “never” get the documents.

Cohen then turns to the McDougal matter, saying that he had spoken to Allen Weisselberg about it. He tells Trump that he needs to “open up a company” to handle the $150,000 hush money reimbursement to AMI.

Asked why he needed to do so, Cohen replied, “In order to have separation, keeping it away from Mr. Trump. For privacy purposes and for the benefit of Mr. Trump.” Cohen then tells Trump he would take care of another matter, clarifying in court that he was referring to Pecker’s drawer of documents.

Cohen affirmed that there was a locked drawer in Pecker’s office containing documents relating to Trump. He was concerned that the documents could fall into the wrong hands, particularly if Pecker changed jobs, so Pecker said Cohen could take over the drawer.

Cohen then testified about recording a conversation he then had with Trump.

“No, ma’am,” Cohen says when asked whether Trump knew he was recording.

AMI ended up agreeing to a deal with McDougal that helped rejuvenate her career in addition to the cash payment, providing her with writing opportunities and two chances to appear on a magazine cover.

Once it was all settled, Cohen said Trump told him, “Fantastic. Great job.”

Cohen then recalled having lunch with Pecker at "his favorite Italian restaurant" in September 2016. Pecker "expressed his anger" at not having been repaid the $150,000 to McDougal, allegedly saying he was concerned that the amount was "too much to hide" from his parent company, Cohen testified. (Again, Trump never paid up. In his testimony earlier in the trial, Pecker downplayed his disappointment at not being paid back.)

Jurors were shown June 16, 2016, text messages between Cohen and National Enquirer editor-in-chief Dylan Howard discussing an upcoming meeting with McDougal and her representatives. Howard ended up flying to California for the meeting. Another message from Cohen to Trump’s bodyguard, Keith Schiller, showed the attorney asking to speak with Trump as soon as possible. Cohen testifies that they spoke, and he shared updates on McDougal, illustrating how involved Trump was with Cohen’s activities.

“I’ve got this locked down for you,” Howard told Cohen in one message shown to jurors. Hoffinger began asking whether Howard told Cohen his opinion about the veracity of McDougal's claim, but the judge sustained an objection from the defense, preventing him from answering.

Cohen testified that Trump had a direct call with Pecker after Howard's meeting.

"David said, 'We have this under control. And we'll take care of this.'" It would cost $150,000 "to control the story," Cohen said, adding that Trump said he would "take care of it." Cohen took that to mean that AMI would front the money and Trump would provide a reimbursement. (He never did.)

Cohen affirms that he became aware of McDougal’s story about an alleged affair with Trump in June 2016. She was shopping it around to various tabloids, Cohen said.

Asked about the potential impact to Trump’s campaign, Cohen said it would have been “significant.” He immediately went to Trump, in person, and told him about McDougal.

“His response to me was, ‘She’s really beautiful.’ I said, OK, but there’s a story that’s right now being shopped.”

Hoffinger asked whether Cohen made any inferences about the story based on Trump’s response, but the judge sustained the defense’s objection to it, preventing Cohen from responding.

Cohen said Trump told him to “make sure it doesn’t get released,” which he took to mean that “we needed to acquire the story.”

Once Cohen became aware that a former Trump Tower doorman was shopping a story about a “love child” Trump allegedly had, he let the former president know.

He recalled Trump’s reaction: “You handle it.”

Pecker’s American Media Inc. then stepped in to purchase the rights to the story for $30,000. Cohen stipulated that breaking the agreement would lead to a $1 million fine. (Pecker testified earlier in the trial that his researchers determined the story to be false.)

Cohen said he “immediately” showed Trump the positive stories that ran in Pecker’s publications about his campaign, and the negative ones that ran about his enemies.

He recalled Trump’s response: “Fantastic.”

Jurors are shown an email between Cohen and an AMI executive, in which Cohen requested changes to Trump stories that were expected to be published; he wanted details on an affair and certain Atlantic City details taken out.

We learned last week that Michael Cohen had two phones, one of which had more than 30,000 contacts on it. Both were searched last year by the DA’s office.

Cohen told prosecutor Susan Hoffinger he’d saved all of Trump’s contacts onto one phone so he could make calls on Trump’s behalf when they were traveling.

He was “spending a significant amount of time with Mr. Trump, and we ultimately decided, he agreed, to have his contact numbers synced to my cell number, to my account as well,” he said.

“While watching the rallies, I had said … one of the things I had noticed was that it was very white. And if you’re going to win, you’re going to need diversity,” Cohen said he told Trump early in his 2016 campaign. Cohen then started a national coalition to spread Trump’s message among more diverse segments of the population.

He then testified about the infamous 2015 Trump Tower meeting between himself, Trump, and AMI CEO David Pecker to coordinate coverage of Trump's campaign. Pecker agreed to publish positive stories about Trump and negative ones about his political enemies. Pecker would also help squash any damaging stories.

Cohen said that Trump was heartened by the results of a poll in 2011 where some 60% of respondents said he should run for president. Cohen then made a website, shouldtrumprun.com, to further evaluate public opinion.

“Many people came to that website, and it was further proof that his name recognition, his popularity … was so strong,” Cohen said.

He did not ultimately run due to some high-profile real estate projects he had in the pipeline, and because "The Apprentice" was still running, Cohen said.

“Working for him … was an amazing experience in many, many ways. There were great times. There were several less-than-great times. But for the most part I enjoyed the responsibilities that were given to me. I enjoyed working with my colleagues at the Trump Organization, the Trump children,” Cohen said.

Asked whether he occasionally lied on behalf of Trump and bullied people for him, Cohen said that he had.

“The only thing that was on my mind was to accomplish the task, to make him happy,” Cohen testified. He adds that the moniker “Trump's fixer” was a “fair” description of the work that he did for Trump.

Trump, who notoriously does not use email, offered Cohen an explanation for the habit at one point.

“[Trump] would comment that emails are like written papers, it’s too many people that have gone down as a direct result of having emails that prosecutors can use in a case,” Cohen said.

Cohen testified that he was often asked to renegotiate bills with vendors. At one point, Trump asked Cohen to look at around 50 bills from vendors that provided services to the now-defunct Trump University. Almost all of them accepted a deal where they were paid just 20% of the amount invoiced.

Asked whether he occasionally threatened to sue individuals and companies, Cohen said yes. As an example, he spoke about calling media organizations if they had printed something that “angered” Trump and threatening to pursue legal action if they did not remove the item.

Speaking calmly in a loud, clear voice, Cohen went over how he came to work for Trump in 2007, saying that he was first introduced to him by way of Trump’s eldest son.

“I was honored. I was taken by surprise, and I agreed,” Cohen said of being asked to come aboard.

In exchange for the job, Cohen had to forget about billing the Trump Organization for assorted legal work he already completed for the company. He made $525,000 in his first year, and he reported directly to Trump.

A grey-haired Cohen has now been sworn in as a witness.

He is giving some brief background information, including the fact that his father was a Holocaust survivor. (It was Cohen’s father who reportedly urged him to turn on Trump in 2018.)

In the ongoing question of whether or not ex-Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg will be called to testify, Merchan provided one update Monday, saying that he would not allow Weisselberg’s severance agreement with the Trump Organization to come into evidence. It would be used to explain his absence, Merchan said, not to satisfy the prosecution’s burden of proof.

The former president entered the courtroom Monday with a larger-than-usual entourage. He was joined by Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-N.Y.), Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) and Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.).

After being booted from the courtroom last week for an alleged violation of the judge’s rules, pool photographers were allowed to snap Trump’s photo this morning.

Other regular trial attendees — Boris Epshteyn, Eric Trump, Jason Miller and Alina Habba — were also spotted.