Michael Cohen set to testify at Trump hush money trial Monday

The defense team’s cross-examination is over, and prosecutors are now starting another round of questions with Jaden Jarmel-Schneider on the stand.

Prosecutor Chris Conroy is handling this round of questions.

Trump attorney Emil Bove is now pulling up a text message previously shown about Trump’s longtime former aide Hope Hicks calling David Pecker, the former CEO of American Media.

Bove asks Jaden Jarmel-Schneider to confirm there were no records of such a call.

Jarmel-Schneider says he doesn’t believe so, but he isn’t sure off the top of his head.

Trump is now looking at Jarmel-Schneider as he testifies.

Defense attorney Emil Bove is challenging the evidence prosecutors are putting forward, asking paralegal Jaden Jarmel-Schneider about the deletion of some toll records between Keith Davidson and Michael Cohen after the defense submitted recordings between the two from 2018.

The paralegal has admitted that they’ve deleted some call records from the files. Bove also has Jarmel-Schneider confirm that some calls were removed from an exhibit of calls between Gina Rodriguez and Dylan Howard.

Bove said it was three-pages worth of records.

Jarmel-Schneider took issue with Bove characterizing it as a “significant” number but he did acknowledge some were removed.

Trump lawyer Emil Bove began by asking paralegal Jaden Jarmel-Schneider whether the work he prepared took a lot of time.

“At times, tedious work?” Bove asked.

“Honestly, I kind of enjoyed it,” Jarmel-Schneider responds, prompting laughter in the courtroom. Several jurors laughed, too.

“I hear that, respect,” Bove says.

Georgia Longstreet, a paralegal in the Manhattan District Attorney’s office who testified earlier in the trial, took the stand again Friday to introduce records of text messages, contact records and several Trump tweets.

In particular, she read a series of text messages between Stormy Daniels’ former publicist Gina Rodriguez and National Enquirer editor Dylan Howard as they negotiated over a deal to pay Stormy for her story about Trump.

“We’re not doing the Trump deal,” Rodriguez wrote to Howard on October 17, 2016. “They didn’t pay when they said they would and they keep trying to buy more time.”

Just over a week later, Howard texted about the deal again. “I blew a gasket at this people and told them not to f**k with people. Message made and heard.”

Rodriguez responded: “Thank you so much do you think it will happen,” and Howard wrote back, “Yes. They were told in no uncertain terms.”

On cross-examination, Longstreet confirmed she simply read the messages and could not provide any context around them.

Trump lawyer Emil Bove is now questioning district attorney office paralegal Jaden Jarmel-Schneider.

Trump is still looking down at his papers as the document on the 34 charges is displayed. He doesn’t appear to be paying attention during the recap of the charges against him

Most of the jurors are looking at their screens as the document is displayed.

The summary chart shows the 34 business records prosecutors allege have been falsified.

The jury is now seeing a summary chart of the 34 business records that prosecutors allege have been falsified.

This includes 11 invoices, 12 vouchers and 11 checks.

Each respective invoice, voucher or check in the demonstrative exhibit has a corresponding count number to spell out the indictment for the jury

Former Trump attorney William Brennan criticized Stormy Daniels on CNN today for “taunting the defendant” on social media, and called her actions “grounds for a mistrial.”

Daniels, who testified on Thursday about her alleged sexual encounter in 2006 with the former president, seemingly disparaged Trump on X later that evening: “Real men respond to testimony by being sworn in and taking the stand in court,” she wrote. “Oh…wait. Nevermind.”

Trump on Thursday afternoon had asked Judge Juan Merchan to alter the gag order to allow him to respond publicly to Daniels’ testimony. The judge denied the motion.

Every defendant in the US has the right not to testify, Brennan told CNN on Friday, and juries are instructed not to draw any adverse inference if a defendant chooses not to.

Daniels’ tweets “will play in the hands of the defense,” said Brennan. He said he would ask the judge to poll the jurors and ask if they had seen the tweet and whether it affected them.

“Jurors aren’t supposed to look at social media, but they do,” he claimed.

Trump attorney Emil Bove objects to the next exhibit prosecutors want to introduce. The defense engaged in a sidebar with prosecutors following Bove’s objection.

The next exhibit is a summary chart of vouchers, checks and ledger entries, according to reporters in the courtroom.

Paralegal Jaden Jarmel-Schneider said he identified an incoming call to Michael Cohen’s phone at the same time that his recording ended.

For context: Prosecutors have said that Cohen’s recording of his conversation with Doanld Trump about the Karen McDougal payment was cut off by an incoming call. Trump attorney Emil Bove on cross-examination of the computer forensics expert from the district attorney’s office suggested that there was no incoming call. 

The first document prosecutors are now going through shows calls between Michel Cohen and Allen Weisselberg.

The document includes times in both ET and UTC, who the call was from, who it was to and the duration of the call.

As another paralegal from the Manhattan district attorney’s office is on the witness stand, Donald Trump is leaning his elbows on the defense table, using a yellow highlighter to highlight lines on a piece of paper in front of him.

He appears to be reading a document and periodically highlighting parts of it, according to journalists in the courtroom. He does not appear to be engaged with the witness testimony.

Jaden Jarmel-Schneider is now confirming that the exhibits are calls between people like Dylan Howard, Keith Davidson, Gina Rodriguez and other witnesses.

Calls between Michael Cohen and Dylan Howard, Cohen and David Pecker, Cohen and Keith Schiller, and Cohen and Allen Weisselberg are also among those analyzed.

The exhibits are being introduced into evidence.

Jaden Jarmel-Schneider is now going through how he prepared the report.

He’s going into details like how they normalized the time zones from the different carriers.

Jaden Jarmel-Schneider prepared a report to show which phone numbers were associated with which people and where the phone numbers show up in evidence.

The report is being shown to the jury.

The next witness is Jaden Jarmel-Schneider, who is another paralegal from the Manhattan district attorney’s office.

Jarmel-Schneider was tasked on this case with analyzing phone records, including the AT&T and Verizon records introduced earlier today.

He reviewed reports on Michael Cohen’s phones. His review included text messages and call logs.

Georgia Longstreet was recalled to testify again today.

She testified for 44 minutes today.

Last Friday, she testified for 26 minutes, bringing her total time on the stand to an hour and 10 minutes.

Defense lawyer Todd Blanche is arguing that Georgia Longstreet reads social posts introduced in the trial but cannot offer any context around them.

“When Ms. Rodriguez talks about offers from the Daily Mail and the timing of those offers, you have no knowledge of whether she was telling the truth, do you?” Blanche asks.

“No,” Longstreet says.

Blanche points out that David Pecker testified about texts he was a party to and could offer context, but in this case, Longstreet has no personal knowledge of these text messages, their context or whether any of them are true.

“Were you also tasked with reviewing Ms. Daniels’ social media over the past couple of years?” Blanche asks. “Yes,” she answers.

She did not review a tweet from Daniels last night, she says.

Trump attorney Todd Blanche starts his cross-examination by asking Georgia Longstreet if she has continued to review social media, such as Michael Cohen’s TikTok from several days ago.

Prosecution objects, and Judge Juan Merchan overrules.

Longstreet says she has not reviewed his TikTok account recently.

Prosecutors have wrapped up their questioning of Georgia Longstreet. Defense attorney Todd Blanche is now up.

Georgia Longstreet, a paralegal at the district attorney’s office, read more messages between National Enquirer editor Dylan Howard and Stormy Daniels’ publicist Gina Rodriguez on October 25, 2016.

Howard: “Ok. I blew a gasket at this people and told them not to f**k with people. Message made and heard.”

“I had to apologize to my CEO,” Howard messaged on the same day. “I explained that 2 people saved his a** today and I’m leading this call with his people and I’m going to tell them how it’s going to be.”

Rodriguez responded: “Thank you so much do you think it will happen”

Howard: “Yes. They were told in no uncertain terms”

Howard added: “I’m not going to burn my lifelong contacts for these f**kers”

Further texts between Stormy Daniels’ former publicist and National Enquirer editor Dylan Howard on October 17, 2016 show them discussing the deal not happening.

Here’s what they said:

For context: These messages give the jury firsthand information from both Rodriguez and Howard via their texts about what was going on in 2016, even though neither has testified at this trial.

A series of text messages between Stormy Daniels’ then-publicist Gina Rodriguez and former National Enquirer editor Dylan Howard regarding their negotiations for Daniels’ story were introduced to jurors today.

Here are those messages:

The texts that are being read have now moved into October 2016, when Stormy Daniels’ former publicist Gina Rodriguez tells then-National Enquirer editor Dylan Howard that Daniels is willing to confirm her story on the record.

On October 8, 2016, Rodriguez texted: “Stormy Daniels and Trump with her [REDACTED LINES] is up on the Dirty and Fox News has been calling Stormy has not confirmed or spoken are you interested?”

Howard asks Rodriguez to email him the pitch so he can elevate it to then-CEO David Pecker. “He likely will pay,” Howard texts, with Rodriguez writing, “250k.”

Jurors are mostly looking at their screens, which are displaying the text messages that Georgia Longstreet is reading.

Georgia Longstreet, a paralegal at the district attorney’s office, is reading additional text messages that show Stormy Daniels’ publicist Gina Rodriguez followed up with National Enquirer editor Dylan Howard several times asking about how AMI, the publisher of the National Enquirer, was handling Daniels’ story.

On July 23, 2016, Rodriguez said, “What happened with the Stormy Daniels interview on Trump.”

Howard responded, “Let’s discuss this week.”

Georgia Longstreet is now reading more texts between Stormy Daniels’ publicist Gina Rodriguez and National Enquirer editor Dylan Howard into record.

The jury saw saw these texts during Daniels testimony.

On June 28, 2016, Howard texted Rodriguez: “Is she ready to talk?” and “I thought she denounced it previously.”

Rodriguez responded: “She said she will do it under two conditions” and “She never did.”

Georgia Longstreet is now being shown messages between former National Enquirer editor Dylan Howard and Stormy Daniels’ then-publicist Gina Rodriguez.

On June 28, Rodriguez wrote to Howard, “are you working in favor of trump?”

Howard responded immediately: “Out (typo) CEO endorsed him but I’m not no.”

The messages were visible on the screen. Longstreet is now reading some of them.

Georgia Longstreet continues reading tweets from Donald Trump, including a thread from May 3, 2018, which starts out:

The tweet was at the same time Rudy Giuliani told Fox News’ Sean Hannity that Trump paid back Cohen the $130,000 in hush money that was used to pay off Stormy Daniels.

Some context: Trump’s attorneys fought this tweet about the Cohen retainer and others from coming in before trial, arguing that Trump should be protected by presidential immunity for these public posts he published during what they argued was his capacity as president. This was also one of the unsuccessful attempts to delay the trial. His lawyers asked at the time for Judge Juan Merchan to wait for the Supreme Court to weigh in on Trump’s presidential immunity claim.

Jurors are now being shown some of Donald Trump’s tweets.

The first set is a thread related to Michael Cohen, dated April 21, 2018.

It also attacks New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman, who is in the courtroom today as well.

To note: This tweet is days after Cohen’s home, apartment and hotel room were raided by the FBI.

Georgia Longstreet reads another tweet from Trump on August 22, 2018: “If anyone is looking for a good lawyer, I would strongly suggest that you don’t retain the services of Michael Cohen!”

There are audible laughs to this from the public section in the overflow room.

Another tweet is read from the same day, in which Trump writes he feels “very badly for Paul Manafort and his wonderful family.”

Remember: The day before this tweet, on August 21, Paul Manafort was found guilty in federal court and Cohen pleaded guilty.

Trump attorney Todd Blanche renewed his objection to tweets from the former president being admitted to evidence. Judge Juan Merchan overruled the objection.

Georgia Longstreet is testifying about the text messages she reviewed for this case. She and the other paralegals on the case have reviewed 500 pages of text messages in relation to the case. She’s personally reviewed about 100 pages.

The paralegals have reviewed over 10,000 pages of call records for the case. She’s personally reviewed about 200 to 300, she says.

The paralegals have reviewed 300 to 500 pages of contact records. She says she’s matched about 50 contacts to phone records.

They also reviewed 75 different court cases.

Georgia Longstreet says the team of paralegals have reviewed and saved public posts from Trump’s Twitter account. This is how prosecutors are entering additional Trump tweets into evidence.

Donald Trump’s hush money criminal trial has seen a number of so-called custodial witnesses, including from AT&T and Verizon this morning.

Their testimony, while dry, is a way for prosecution to enter records they hold as evidence for the case. They can bring things like receipts, book excerpts and other things that are key to the case.

Some other examples of custodial witnesses that we have seen in the trial: Tracey Menzies of Harper Collins, Sally Franklin of Penguin Random House publishing group, Digital evidence analyst Douglas Daus and paralegal Georgia Longstreet from the district attorney’s office.

Georgia Longstreet is being called back to the witness stand.

The paralegal at the Manhattan district attorney’s office testified last week. Longstreet tells prosecutor Rebecca Mangold that as part of her duties as a paralegal, she’s responsible for analyzing records produced via subpoena.

Prosecutors have two more witnesses, which they estimate will take about an hour, according to reporters in the courtroom.

They have one more evidentiary issue to take up after their testimonies.

Judge Juan Merchan says they are going to end early today. They are going until 1 p.m. ET or perhaps a bit later but will not be returning after lunch.

Judge Juan Merchan sides with the defense and says he will not allow Trump’s interview in 1999 about campaign finance into evidence.

He says trying to draw an inference to what he knew in 2015 or 2017 is a step too far.

After a short break, Judge Juan Merchan is on the bench.

Prosecutors are back inside the courtroom following a short break. Trump and his attorneys have also returned.

Trump scanned the courtroom before taking his seat.

Donald Trump has left the courtroom. He gave Fox News host Jeanine Pirro a pat on the shoulder as he walked out into the hallway.

Lawyers are now taking up an objection to an upcoming exhibit.

Defense attorney Emil Bove says the exhibit is a clip of Trump on “Larry King Live” in 1999 being asked about campaign finance laws. Bove argues that Trump’s views on campaign finance in 1999 are not relevant to his state of mind in 2016 or 2017.

Prosecutor Rebecca Mangold says that the corporate contribution ban, which is what’s relevant here, has been part of campaign finance law since 1907.

Judge Juan Merchan says he will rule after the break.

Jennie Tomalin is off the stand. She testified for 12 minutes.

The court is taking a short break and jurors are leaving the courtroom.

Trump attorney Emil Bove is asking Jennie Tomalin about the Verizon records, including one for Keith Davidson.

Remember: Davidson is the former attorney for Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal. He testified last week.

Prosecutors have finished their first questions for Jennie Tomalin. Trump attorney Emil Bove is now asking her questions.

The records that prosecutors are introducing through Jennie Tomalin relate to 12 subscriber phone records, she says.

The records from Verizon are accepted into evidence, including one of a phone for Allen Weisselberg.

For context: These phone records being introduced into evidence are likely to be used later on by prosecutors.

Jennie Tomalin is the next witness. She works for Verizon as a senior analyst in executive relations.

Tomalin is also testifying about call and subscriber records kept by Verizon.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has entered the courtroom.

In a written order Friday, Judge Juan Merchan granted prosecutors motion to quash a subpoena from Donald Trump’s lawyers seeking to compel former Manhattan prosecutor Mark Pomerantz to turn over more records.

Merchan called Trump’s request for “all Documents” for a 13-month period from several individuals covering a range of topics including “Cohen’s recollection of interactions with President Trump” and “any form of bias or animosity toward President Trump” an “improper fishing expedition.”

Trump’s lawyers also asked for all documents relating to a February 2021 internal memo on “whether Stephanie Clifford a/k/a ‘Stormy Daniels,’ committed ‘extortion and or ‘larceny,’ and (b) whether President Trump was a ‘victim of blackmail.”

The order notes Trump’s legal team has received some discovery from Pomerantz as recently as March before the trial began.

There is no redirect, and Daniel Dixon leaves the witness stand.

He testified for 23 minutes.

Trump attorney Emil Bove is now asking about the limits of certain call records.

“These records don’t reflect the content of these calls?” Bove asks.

“Correct,” Daniel Dixon says.

“You can’t tell from the records themselves who actually spoke?” Bove asks.

“Correct,” Dixon says.

“You’re familiar with the concept of a pocket dial?” Bove asks, suggesting the transactional record shown could’ve been an accidental call.

Trump attorney Emil Bove is asking about what one code on the form stands for. “It’s the serial number of a SIM card,” Dixon says.

A SIM “can be pulled out of one phone and put into another,” Bove says.

“Yes,” Dixon confirms.

Cross-examination of Daniel Dixon is now beginning.

Trump lawyer Emil Bove introduces himself and says he represents former President Donald Trump over to his left.

Dixon glances over and smiles, appearing to shift in his seat when he acknowledges Trump.

Jurors are following along, looking at their monitors.

Most of the jurors are still paying attention to Daniel Dixon’s testimony. Dixon, a AT&T lead compliance analyst, is testifying about call-detail records and subscriber records.

However, one juror has his head down during this testimony.

Daniel Dixon is now going into detail about what subscriber reports are and what call-detail records are.

He is defining certain words, including “mobility,” “wireline,” “voice usage” and “SMS.” He adds that AT&T records are kept in the UTC time zone.

This may be the most tedious testimony of the trial so far. It’s required, like other records custodians, because Trump’s lawyers would not agree to admit the evidence.

Madeleine Westerhout, despite being called by the prosecution, served largely as a character witness that softened the appearance of former President Donald Trump, said CNN national correspondent Kristen Holmes on Friday morning.

“I do think that [Westerhout’s] testimony, in general, helps the defense because it softens Donald Trump,” said Holmes. “I mean, look at the witnesses that we’ve had so far – the kind of seedy underbelly that Donald Trump was associating with, or associating through Michael Cohen with. Then you have the ‘Access Hollywood tape,’ then you have this alleged affair in graphic detail with a porn star.”

Westerhout also said during her testimony that she wrote a book about her time in the administration because she felt that the president was mistreated and misrepresented publicly.

“I mean, she was a character witness for him,” said Holmes.

One of the AT&T records admitted into evidence is for Michael Cohen’s cell phone.

The records from AT&T have been admitted into evidence. They are being brought up to show jurors.

Madeleine Westerhout, a former White House aide, testified for an hour and 50 minutes over two days.

Daniel Dixon is being asked about call-detail records and subscriber records that are kept by AT&T.

Daniel Dixon, who works as a lead compliance analyst for AT&T, is the next witness.

He is testifying under subpoena to AT&T as a records custodian.

Madeleine Westerhout, a former White House aide, testified Thursday that she brought Trump a manilla envelope of checks each month to sign, as prosecutors sought to show the chain of command of the checks sent to Michael Cohen that are at the heart of the falsified business records case.

In addition, the prosecution has argued that Trump made the payments to influence the election, while the defense has said the payments were to protect his family. Westerhout testified that when the story about Stormy Daniels came out, Trump was “very upset,” adding, “My understanding was it would be hurtful to his family.”

But on redirect from prosecutors, she clarified, “He didn’t specifically speak about his family in that conversation.”

Madeleine Westerhout is off the stand and her testimony is over.

She raised her eyebrows and smiled at Trump as she left the courtroom. He smiled back at her and mouthed something.

At the end of redriect, Westerhout confirmed she works as the chief of staff to the chair of American Global Strategies, who is Trump’s former national security adviser Robert O’Brien.

Prosecutor Rebecca Mangold is asking whether the FedEx method of sending checks was an “end run” around White House security protocols.

“Not to my understanding,” Westerhout says, adding that it was a way to get things to Trump “faster.”

Madeleine Westerhout spoke with defense attorney Susan Necheles once before on Wednesday night — the day before she was called as a witness.

The meeting with Necheles was for one hour via zoom. Westerhout met with prosecutors three times for hours.

More on this: At the start of most cross-examinations, the defense attorneys have noted they have not previously spoken to witnesses. It is not uncommon for witnesses to speak with prosecutors or defense attorneys.

The defense is done with cross-examination. Prosecutor Rebecca Mangold is back up with another round of questions for Madeleine Westerhout.

Madeleine Westerhout says she spoke with Donald Trump after the article about the Stormy Daniels story was published.

“He was very upset by it,” Westerhout says. “My understanding was he knew it would be hurtful to his family.”

Westerhout then clarifies that was her understanding but not that Trump specifically said that to her. “He didn’t specifically speak about his family in that conversation,” she says.

Donald Trump’s attorney Susan Necheles is now asking about an invoice from the Winged Foot Golf Club, where longtime assistant Rhona Graff had asked for Madeleine Westerhout’s help in whether to suspend or pay for his membership while he was president.

“He answered one word, just pay,” Necheles says. “Boom, it was off his desk.”

“Yes,” Westerhout says.

“He was a person who would multitask?” Trump attorney Susan Necheles asks about the former president.

“Definitely,” Madeleine Westerhout says.

Trump attorney Susan Necheles is asking about Trump’s habits on signing and reviewing documents.

She’s digging into whether he was signing hundreds of documents a day. “Not every day, but sometimes,” Westerhout says.

Westerhout confirms that Trump would sign checks while doing other things, like sometimes while he was on the phone or meeting with others.

Former Trump aide Madeleine Westerhout testified about the personal mailing issues inside the White House and said “I don’t know what it was like in other administrations but I can’t imagine it would’ve been any different.”

“If he had the time when you gave them to him he would sign them right away,” Westerhout said after Trump attorney Susan Necheles asked about the checks.

“If he had the time… and if he was in the office, yes,” Westerhout said.

Trump attorney Susan Necheles is now going back to prosecutors’ argument that some of the checks Trump handled were sent to employees’ personal addresses

“That’s what this whole testimony about FedEx packages was about, right? It was a way items could be sent to you, and you could get them promptly to President Trump,” Necheles asks, placing emphasis on the word promptly.

“That’s right,” Madeleine Westerhout says.

With this line of questioning, Necheles is offering an innocent explanation through Westerhout for why Trump’s personal mail — like the checks to be signed for Trump’s personal account — were sent to an employee’s personal address rather than through official White House channels.

When speaking about the slowness of receiving personal items via a post office box, Madeleine Westerhout agrees the delay is how Keith Schiller — the former president’s bodyguard — ended up receiving personal mail for Donald Trump and Melania Trump.

Trump felt it was disrespectful if he didn’t return calls promptly, Madeleine Westerhout tells defense attorney Susan Necheles during cross-examination.

Madeleine Westerhout is saying that at some point, she was told a post office box was set up for the president to receive personal items.

Trump attorney Susan Necheles asks whether they learned that was a “really slow way to receive things?”

“Yes,” Westerhout says with a laugh.

There were times personal items were sent to the White House and Trump never received them, Westerhout confirms to Necheles.

Trump attorney Susan Necheles is now moving onto a line of questioning about checks.

Madeleine Westerhout testified yesterday about how checks were sent from the Trump Organization to the White House employee.

“You walked into the White House and you don’t know how President will get personal items?” Necheles asks now.

“No I did not,” Westerhout says.

Judge Juan Merchan is denying the introduction of the travel schedules into evidence.

The first sidebar ended, and Trump lawyer Susan Necheles started asking Madeleine Westerhout about his travel schedules.

But they are now back at the bench after prosecutors are objecting over travel schedules.

Prosecutor Rebecca Mangold was given the chance to ask Westerhout about whether she had viewed these specific schedules. Westerhout said her lawyer had shown them to her this morning but she wasn’t sure whether she had seen these specific schedules while she still worked at the RNC.

One juror started a second legal pad after he turned the page and reached the end of his first legal pad.

Trump is watching Madeleine Westerhout. He’s hunched forward and resting on his elbows.

Meanwhile, Trump campaign manager Susie Wiles is back in court seated in the front row behind the defense table.

Trump and attorney Todd Blanche are again chatting while lawyers are at sidebar after an objection from the prosecution.

Madeleine Westerhout is looking around the room, though not toward the defendant’s table.

Trump attorney Susan Necheles asked former White House aide Madeleine Westerhout whether she has any specific recollection of former Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg and Trump speaking during the first year that he was in office.

“That’s correct, yes,” Westerhout says.

“In fact, you really don’t recall any calls specifically between him and Allen Weisselberg?” Necheles asked.

“No he spoke to so many people,” Westerhout said.

Madeleine Westerhout confirms Trump often sent newspaper clippings to his contacts. Prosecutors have cited the fact he had sent a copy to Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg.

Westerhout laughs as she confirms she saw Trump send newspaper clippings to “everyone” but also says she doesn’t recall him sending any other clippings to Allen Weisselberg specifically.

Trump attorney Susan Necheles asks if sending newspaper clippings to his contacts was something Trump did often.

“Yes, quite often,” Westerhout says.

The jury is seeing a New York Times front page with the photo of Trump traveling on Air Force One for the first time.

Defense attorney Susan Necheles says, “Kind of an exciting thing, right?”

“Very exciting, yeah,” Madeleine Westerhout says, smiling.

“He was proud,” Necheles confirms with Westerhout who says “he was.”

The jury is now seeing a list of Donald Trump’s contacts provided by Rhona Graff, Trump’s former longtime assistant. 

Madeleine Westerhout says that the list of contacts included people he spoke to before he became president, as well as people he “might be interested in speaking to, to invite them to the White House or something.”

Necheles emphasizes these are people who Trump might contact before taking office. Westerhout confirms.

Madeleine Westerhout is answering questions about how the Republican National Committee and Trump’s campaign worked together on schedules.

“Am I correct that every day, the RNC and the campaign would jointly create a travel schedule,” Trump attorney Susan Necheles asks.

“Whenever the president-elect was traveling, yes,” Westerhout says.

Trump attorney Susan Necheles is resuming questioning.

Necheles begins by asking Madeleine Westerhout about 2016, while she was working for the Republican National Committee.

Westerhout confirms the RNC and the Trump campaign worked extremely closely together.

The jury has entered the courtroom.

Former White House aide Madeleine Westerhout is back on the witness stand to continue her testimony.

She is looking over at the defense table and smiled.

Attorneys are approaching the bench before the proceedings begin for day 15 of Donald Trump’s hush money trial.

Trump’s attorney Todd Blanche is sitting with the former president and whispering to him.

Former Trump White House aide Madeleine Westerhout is a “dream” witness for prosecutors because she “still loves Trump,” according to legal analyst Gene Rossi.

“When you have a witness for the prosecution that are biased toward the defendant, and they say things that don’t help the defendant, in terms of how the checks were cashed presented and all that, it’s very devastating or harmful to the defense,” Rossi, a former federal prosecutor, told CNN on Friday morning.

Westerhout, who served as the director of Oval Office Operations under Trump and was one of the chief gatekeepers to the president as his personal assistant, is a “great way [for the prosecution] to end the week,” said Rossi.

Judge Juan Merchan is on the bench, and court is in session for the day.

Trump is whispering with his attorney Todd Blanche at the defendant’s table before Judge Juan Merchan enters the courtroom.

Donald Trump is entering the courtroom. He has some papers that appear to be news stories printed out in color in his hand.

Prosecutors are entering the courtroom this morning ahead of the start of day 15 of Trump’s hush money trial.

Former President Donald Trump’s motorcade has arrived at the Manhattan courthouse where he’ll attend his criminal hush money trial. 

Defense attorney Susan Necheles cross-examines Stormy Daniels during the trial on Thursday, May 9.

Former President Donald Trump’s lawyers continued their attack on the credibility of Stormy Daniels for several hours Thursday, with defense attorney Susan Necheles accusing the adult film star of making up the story of having sex with Trump.

Thursday also saw testimony from a woman who was once among the closest people working with Trump in the White House, and failed efforts by the defense to get a mistrial and an exception to the defendant’s gag order.

Here are some key takeaways from Day 14 of the Trump hush money trial:

Contentious testimony: Daniels combatively and defiantly responded to questions from Necheles, insisting her story of a sexual encounter with Trump was true. Trump has denied the affair.

Trump’s attorney asked about minor inconsistencies in interviews Daniels has given about her interactions with Trump. Necheles also picked apart how Daniels has previously described the encounter.

Necheles also insinuated Daniels had employed her skills as a porn writer in making up the story. “You have a lot of experience of making phony stories about sex appear to be real,” the Trump attorney asked.

Lawyers spar over Daniels’ financial situation: Beyond the details of the alleged encounter itself, Trump’s attorneys and prosecutors had Daniels tell conflicting accounts of her financial situation.

Necheles continued to suggest that Daniels was making money off of saying she had sex with Trump, pointing to a tweet where she said she’d earned $1 million and others where she directed her supporters to her online store after Trump was indicted.

Prosecutors, meanwhile, had Daniels recount how telling her story has also cost her, from having to move her daughter and hire security to the lawyers’ fees she was ordered to pay after she sued Trump and lost.

Former aide takes us inside the Trump White House: Former White House aide Madeleine Westerhout described the inner workings of Trump’s West Wing, where she worked for more than two years sitting just outside the Oval Office.

Westerhout described Trump’s work habits, from his affinity for sharpies and hard copies of documents, to his close control over his social media posts and his preference to talk to people in person or on the phone — not by email.

While she did not testify to direct knowledge of the checks Trump signed to his former fixer Michael Cohen, which are cited in the charges against Trump, her story added to the prosecution’s narrative about his involvement with the checks in 2017.

Two failed efforts by Trump’s team: Judge Juan Merchan denied the request from Trump’s lawyers to make an exception to the gag order allowing him to speak publicly about Daniels, saying he must protect the integrity of the proceedings, and he doesn’t trust Trump not to violate an order if he were to modify it.

The judge also denied Trump’s renewed motion for a mistrial over the salacious testimony Daniels gave, which his attorneys say unfairly prejudices the jury against Trump. Merchan said the specificity is important to helping the jury make a determination.

Read a full recap of Thursday’s proceedings here.

Donald Trump’s former attorney Michael Cohen is expected to begin his testimony in the criminal hush money case on Monday, according to a person familiar with the case.

Cohen is at the center of the hush money payment and is expected to implicate Trump in the reimbursement payments.

Prosecutors allege Trump falsified business records to cover up his reimbursement to Cohen of the $130,000 payment he advanced to Stormy Daniels to silence her from going public about a past tryst. Trump has denied the affair.

His testimony, which is expected to last days, is likely to be the last substantive witness to take the stand in the prosecution’s case.

Former President Donald Trump sits in Manhattan Criminal Court in New York on Monday, May 6.

Former President Donald Trump is on trial in Manhattan for his alleged role in a hush money scheme to silence his alleged mistresses before the 2016 election. He faces 34 counts related to “falsifying New York business records in order to conceal damaging information and unlawful activity from American voters before and after the 2016 election.” 

Adult film actress Stormy Daniels was paid $130,000 – the “hush money” payment – to keep her from going public before the 2016 election about her claim that she had an affair with Trump in 2006. The alleged reimbursement payment Trump made to Cohen is at the heart of the charges against the former president.

Trump’s attorneys have kept their defense close to the vest, but in court filings they’ve indicated that they plan to attack the credibility of Cohen and Daniels and paint them as liars who are motivated by grudges and money.

Adult film actress Stormy Daniels leaves Manhattan Criminal Court in New York after testifying on Thursday.

Donald Trump’s lawyers finished their cross-examination of Stormy Daniels on Thursday and spent most of the time trying to undermine her credibility by pointing out inconsistencies in her story.

In her more than 6 hours of testimony over two days, Daniels described her first meeting with Trump, the details of their alleged sexual encounter in 2006 and how the hush money payment unfolded years later. The defense tried to establish some of the ways the porn star gained publicity and money from her story going public.

The other witnesses on Thursday were a junior bookkeeper at the Trump Organization, an employee of Harper Collins and Trump’s former personal assistant at the White House. 

Here’s what happened in court on Thursday:

Stormy Daniels on cross-examination: 

On redirect: 

Rebecca Manochio: 

Tracey Menzies 

Madeleine Westerhout 

Judge makes other rulings: Judge Juan Merchan denied the defense’s motion for a mistrial. He said he disagrees with the Trump team’s assertion that Daniels gave a new account in her testimony this week. He also denied a motion to modify the gag order to allow Trump to talk about Daniels.

Former President Donald Trump is en route to the Manhattan courthouse to attend his criminal hush money trial.  

New York prosecutors introduced documents into evidence this week that they say establish Donald Trump’s knowledge of “falsifying business records” to cover up his repayments to his former attorney, Michael Cohen, who paid Stormy Daniels “hush money” in 2016. 

CNN has transcribed some of the handwritten notes in the exhibits, and what prosecutors say they hope to establish for the jury. 

Click here to see some of the documents that have been submitted as evidence. 

This sketch by CNN's Jake Tapper shows Stormy Daniels on the witness stand on Thursday, May 9. At the bottom right is defense attorney Susan Necheles.

We are in the fourth week of court proceedings in Donald Trump’s historic hush money criminal trial.

To refresh your memory, here are the key moments and witnesses from the trial so far:

April 15: Trial began with jury selection.

April 19: A panel of 12 jurors and six alternates was selected.

April 22: The prosecution and defense made their opening statements. Former tabloid boss David Pecker was called to testify.

April 23: Judge Juan Merchan held a Sandoval hearing for Trump’s alleged gag order violations, but reserved his decision.

April 25: While Trump sat in the Manhattan courtroom, the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., heard arguments on the matter of his immunity in special counsel Jack Smith’s election subversion case against him.

April 26: Pecker’s direct questioning and cross-examination concluded. Trump’s former longtime assistant Rhona Graff was called to testify briefly. Finally, Michael Cohen’s former banker Gary Farro testified.

April 30: Farro’s testimony concluded. Prosecutors then called Dr. Robert Browning, the executive director of C-SPAN archives, and Philip Thompson who works for a court reporting company. Then, Keith Davidson, the former attorney for Daniels and McDougal, took the stand.

May 2: Davidson’s testimony concluded. Digital evidence analyst Douglas Daus was called to testify.

May 3: After Daus finished testifying, Georgia Longstreet, a paralegal at the district attorney’s office, spoke about reviewing Trump’s social media posts for this case. She was followed by Hope Hicks, once a longtime Trump aide. Her highly anticipated testimony was a little less than three hours.

May 6: Prosecutors called two witnesses who worked in accounting in the Trump Organization: Jeffrey McConney, a former Trump Org. controller, and Deborah Tarasoff, an accounts payable supervisor.

May 7: Prosecutors called Sally Franklin, the senior vice president and executive managing editor for Penguin Random House publishing group. After her testimony, Stormy Daniels was called to the stand.

May 9: Stormy Daniels finished her testimony, with the defense trying to undermine her credibility by pointing out inconsistencies in her story on cross-examination. Prosecutors also called Rebecca Manochio, a junior bookkeeper at the Trump Organization, Tracey Menzies, an employee of Harper Collins, and Madeleine Westerhout, Trump’s former personal assistant at the White House. 

Read a full timeline of key moments here.

Former President Donald Trump arrives at Manhattan Criminal Court in New York on Thursday.

The hush money criminal trial against former President Donald Trump is one of four criminal cases he faces while juggling his presidential campaign.

The former president faces at least 88 charges over the four criminal indictments in Georgia, New York, Washington, DC, and Florida. Trump has pleaded not guilty to every charge in these cases. 

Here’s a recap of each case: 

Read more about the four criminal cases Trump faces. 

Former President Donald Trump’s first criminal trial is expected to take six to eight weeks, from start to finish.

Where we are in the trial: Prosecutors are presenting evidence through witness testimony and exhibits. Defense attorneys can cross-examine the prosecution’s witnesses and typically aim to discredit their testimony.

Prosecutors told Judge Juan Merchan on Monday that they have roughly two weeks left of testimony in their case.  

Read up on the stages of the proceedings here.

Prosecutors are trying to prove that Donald Trump falsified business records to cover up hush money payments made to prevent adult film star Stormy Daniel’s claim of an affair with Trump from becoming public before the 2016 presidential election. 

Here’s a timeline CNN compiled of key events in the case:

See a full timeline and read up on the key players in the case below:

Here’s what to know about the gag order imposed on Donald Trump by Judge Juan Merchan in late March: 

Why was it imposed? Merchan implemented the gag order because, he said, the former president has a history of making “threatening, inflammatory, denigrating” statements against people at all levels of the justice system, including jurors. According to CNN senior legal analyst Elie Honig, the fundamental reason for the gag order is to protect members of the jury. 

What does it do? The ruling limits the former president from making statements about potential witnesses in his hush money criminal trial. It prevents Trump from criticizing his former attorney, Michael Cohen, who has yet to testify, or adult film star Stormy Daniels, who was a witness this week. But it does not prevent Trump from talking about New York District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who is a public figure, or Merchan himself. 

Merchan also ruled that Trump can’t make statements about attorneys, court staff or the family members of prosecutors, lawyers, family members of the court and family members of the Manhattan district attorney. Trump is also barred from making statements about any potential or actual juror. 

What does Trump say? Trump and his attorneys have argued that as the leading Republican candidate for president, Trump’s speech should not be restricted as he appeals to voters in the 2024 election. Merchan has already fined Trump and held him in contempt of court for violating the order.

Trump attorney Todd Blanche speaks during court on Tuesday, May 7.

Donald Trump’s legal team is led by Todd Blanche and Emil Bove, two former federal prosecutors from New York, and Susan Necheles, a veteran criminal defense lawyer with deep experience in New York and with appearing before Judge Juan Merchan.

Here are the key things to know about Trump’s legal team: