Michael Cohen testifies in Trump hush money trial

Michael Cohen testifies that he was angry, beyond angry” because Donald Trump had slashed his bonus by two-thirds.

Cohen says after fronting “$130,000 on his behalf to protect him, it was insulting that the gratitude that was shown back to me was to cut the bonus by two-thirds.”

Trump provided bonuses in an annual Christmas card to his staff. “Right after opening it I actually had to take a double take,” Cohen says.

He immediately went to (CFO Allen) Weisselberg’s office “and in some colorful language expressed to him how truly pissed off and angry I really was. This makes no sense at all.”

Trump laughs to himself and nods as Cohen testifies about how angry he was about the bonus cut.

Cohen’s tone is still very even and measured.

He says, with a smirk, “I was even for myself unusually angry.”

Michael Cohen said he didn’t expect to be compensated by Donald Trump for being his personal attorney as president because he understood he’d make money from the companies that would pay him for insights on Trump.

A day or two before Trump left for the inauguration in January 2017, Cohen said Trump officially made him his personal counsel.

Michael Cohen is now being shown text messages he exchanged with his daughter after the 2016 election.

He says he explained to her his role would not be in government, but it would be “a hybrid” with access to Trump while being able to monetize his relationship with various companies.

Michael Cohen is looking directly at the jury as he explains his pitch to be Donald Trump’s personal attorney.

“Mr. Trump was an enigma. He was a businessman no one knew what his position was,” he says.

Cohen says he thought he could monetize the position and knowledge of Trump. “Because of my close proximity to him for a decade, I did understand him,” Cohen says.

Cohen says he brought in an attorney who helped him pitch the idea to Trump.

He presented Trump with a 3-page memo explaining why Trump needed a personal attorney and why it should be Cohen. They met for about an hour about it, Cohen testifies.

Michael Cohen says he wanted to be personal attorney to the president but he really wanted to be “consultant” so he could stay in New York.

Cohen said being personal attorney to the president “opens up a tremendous amount of doors for people who are trying to understand the mind of Trump.”

Cohen is looking at the jury directly as he’s explaining his pitch to Trump.

Donald Trump shakes his head when Michael Cohen says he was disappointed he wasn’t considered for the position of White House chief of staff.

Cohen is testifying that he was disappointed that he wasn’t considered for chief of staff at the White House after Trump was elected president — although Cohen acknowledges he was not “competent” for the job.

“I just wanted my name to have been included,” Cohen says. “I wanted to at least be considered. It was more about my ego than anything,’ he added

As Cohen mentions his ego, Trump opens his eyes to look at Cohen briefly.

Michael Cohen was asked if he would continue to work for the Trump Organization after the 2016 presidential election.

“No, because my service was no longer necessary. I was special counsel to Mr. Trump and he was now president-elect,” Cohen testified.

Trump nodded with his eyes closed as Cohen said this.

Michael Cohen texted Hope Hicks about the reaction to the Wall Street Journal story.

“Even CNN not talking about it. No one believes it and if necessary, I have a statement by Stormy (Daniels) denying everything and contradicting the other porn stars statement. I wouldn’t use it now or even discuss with him as no one is talking about this or cares!”

The prosecution’s questions resumed with text messages between Michael Cohen and Hope Hicks on November 5, 2016, the day after the Wall Street Journal story came out.

The text messages said:

Cohen testifies they were concerned “this story would explode into a massive issue and we were monitoring to see the type of traction the story was getting from other news sources.”

Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger resumes questioning Michael Cohen.

Remember, she said before the break that her direct examination would continue Tuesday morning.

Donald Trump is back in the courtroom as we prepare for the final stretch of today’s testimony.

Judge Juan Merchan is also back.

Cohen walks to the witness stand and avoids looking at Trump’s table after the judge directed security to get “Mr Cohen.”

Trump is reading a sheet of paper and did not lift his eyes when Cohen walked by.

The jury has entered.

Michael Cohen testified Monday afternoon about why he agreed to pay $130,000 of his own funds for Stormy Daniels’ story: Because Donald Trump told him to.

On October 17, 2016, Daniels’ attorney, Keith Davidson, emailed Cohen to say the deal was off because the agreed-upon $130,000 payment had not yet been made. Cohen testified he didn’t send the payment because he was stalling, per Trump’s directions.

Cohen called Trump that day and left a voicemail saying that the agreement was off, he testified. Trump then directed Cohen to speak with ex-Trump Org. CFO Allen Weisselberg to resolve the issue, according to Cohen.

Cohen and Weisselberg agreed that Cohen would pay the $130,000 upfront and then would be reimbursed later, and they spoke to Trump about the plan. “He stated to me, ‘Don’t worry, you’ll get the money back,’” Cohen testified.

Cohen testified he did not do this for his own benefit. “I would not lay out $130,000 for an NDA (nondisclosure agreement) needed by somebody else,” he said.

He said he used a home equity line of credit (HELOC) to obtain the funds because there was no paper trail from that account and so his wife wouldn’t find out. Cohen had two phone calls with Trump on the morning of October 26 to confirm the plan before he went to the bank and made a $130,000 payment to Davidson.

Cohen gave false documents about Essential Consultants LLC to the bank in order to hide the true purpose of the payment, he testified. Once Cohen had the signed agreement from Daniels, Cohen said he “immediately” told Trump.

On October 28, Cohen called Trump and said, “This matter is now completely under control and locked down.”

The court is taking a short break. Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger said her direct examination would go into tomorrow.

Trump scanned the galley as he left the courtroom.

Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger asked if Donald Trump was angry and upset.

“Yes,” Cohen says. “Because there was a negative story that, once again, impact the campaign as a result of women.”

Trump’s bodyguard Keith Schiller sent Michael Cohen a text at 7:26 p.m. asking if he could take a call in 30 minutes.

Just after 9 p.m., Schiller left Cohen a voicemail and they connected with a 5:55-long call at 9:06 p.m.

Cohen says he spoke to Trump on Schiller’s phone.

Cohen says he relayed the current situation to Trump and assured him “we would do everything in our power to protect Mr. Trump.”

Trump is leaning forward at the defense table now writing.

Michael Cohen had several calls with Dylan Howard of the National Enquirer that evening.

He says he “was expressing to him in a rather angry manner” that Karen McDougal was now part of his team and “you need to get ahold of this” and also issue denials.

Michael Cohen says he believed that Keith Davidson’s side had leaked the story about Karen McDougal.

Davidson issued a statement denying the story. “That was the way he was going to appease me. More importantly, to appease Mr. Trump,” Cohen says.

Davidson was the former attorney of Karen McDougal and Stormy Daniels.

Michael Cohen says he spoke with Stormy Daniels’ attorney Keith Davidson seven times that day.

Cohen says he “wanted to ensure Ms. Daniels did not go rogue.”

Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger also asks if he spoke to Davidson about Karen McDougal. “Yes,” Cohen says, as if it stirred his memory.

“Were you angry at him?” Hoffinger asks.

“Very,” Cohen says.

“She was his client, and I respected that he would have this under control,” Cohen says of Davidson, adding, “I wanted to ensure Mr. Trump was safe.”

Hope Hicks sent Michael Cohen an email at 5:29 p.m. with several potential statements to respond to the Wall Street Journal story.

Cohen says the email was a “series of ideas and thoughts to use to the media” … to “get control over the release of the article.” 

Michael Cohen says he understood ahead of time that the Wall Street Journal story was going to be about Karen McDougal but also would mention Stormy Daniels.

When asked by prosecutor Susan Hoffinger, Cohen confirmed he reached out to Hope Hicks and David Pecker to coordinate the situation.

He spoke to them “so that we could all coalesce around this issue in an attempt to again quell the potential effects of an article like this.”

The jury is seeing call logs indicating there were many calls between Michael Cohen and Hope Hicks on November 4, between 4:51 p.m. and 9:15 p.m.

Michael Cohen called Donald Trump on October 28 at 11:48 a.m. They spoke for 5 minutes.

It was the same day Cohen signed the nondisclosure agreement and side letter.

He said he told Trump “That this matter is now completely under control and locked down.”

Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger is now moving on to the November 4, 2016, article from the Wall Street Journal about Karen McDougal and AMI, the publisher of the National Enquirer, four days before the election.

Michael Cohen says that he thought that “down the road” he would transfer the Essential Consultants LLC to Donald Trump, so that he would then own the life rights.

The jury is shown the side agreement between David Dennison and Peggy Peterson.

These are pseudonyms: Peggy Peterson for Stormy Daniels and David Dennison for Trump.

Cohen said he initialed EC in the signature spaces for Essential Consultants.

Michael Cohen testifies he “immediately” let Donald Trump know he had the signed agreement from Stormy Daniels.

He also explains why he did so:

Michael Cohen says the real reason for the wire transfer was “to pay Stormy Daniels to execute the non-disclosure agreement and to obtain the story, her life rights.”

The jury is now being shown the wire transfer from Michael Cohen’s Essential Consultants account to Keith Davidson’s account.

The document states the purpose of the wire is “retainer.” Cohen says that is not truthful.

Michael Cohen is shown an email from his bank saying that funds had been transferred from his HELOC.

He says he sent the email to Stormy Daniels’ attorney Keith Davidson “in order to demonstrate to him that the deal is going to be consummated, that we’re moving forward with it, make sure everything stays locked down, that Ms. Daniels is under control.”

Michael Cohen says that the documentation he gave to the bank about Essential Consultants LLC was false.

He says it was false in order “to hide the intent of the reason for opening Essential Consultants, which is to pay for a nondisclosure agreement.”

Asked if he thought the bank would open the account if he was truthful, Cohen says, “I believe that they probably would not.”

Trump is looking up at Michael Cohen as he testifies.

On why Trump was not included on the bank documentation, Cohen says, “again it was to protect him and to isolate him from the transaction.”

Pursing his lips, Trump smiled and nodded as Cohen said this.

Michael Cohen testifies that on the two October 26, 2016, calls with Donald Trump, he was “laying out exactly what was going to happen in order to ensure the (Stormy Daniels) story didn’t get sold to Daily Mail or somebody else. “

Cohen says he told Trump he was going across the street to the bank to open the account for the LLC that would wire the money to Daniels.

Michael Cohen had two phone calls with Donald Trump around 8:30 a.m. on October 26, 2016, before Cohen went across the street to the bank to make the payment to Keith Davidson.

“I wanted to ensure that once again he approved what I was doing because I require approval from him on all of this,” Cohen says.

Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger follows up and asks whether Cohen would have gone forward to the bank without Trump’s approval. “No,” Cohen says.

Jurors are also shown a call record between Allen Weisselberg and Michael Cohen on the evening of October 25, 2016.

Donald Trump briefly chats with his attorney Emil Bove, turning away from Cohen to whisper to his lawyer.

The jury is seeing a bunch of calls between Michael Cohen and Keith Davidson, who represented Stormy Daniels, on October 25, 2016.

“In order to ensure that he knew that the matter was being taken care of and soon there was going to be the transfer of funds in order to have him execute the nondisclosure agreement and side letter,” Cohen says.

There were at least 10 calls on the log between 6:22 p.m. and 7:11 p.m. Several of them are less than 10 seconds long.

Cohen says he checked in with Davidson to ensure the deal was in order “so I could express to Mr. Trump as an update that the matter is under control.”

Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger is showing jurors a “flurry” of calls between Michael Cohen and ex-National Enquirer publisher David Pecker on the Signal app.

“Yes,” Cohen says with a laugh as to why there were so many calls. “

“Signal is terrible with keeping phone calls. They drop all the time.”

Michael Cohen spoke with David Pecker and Dylan Howard on October 25, 2016.

Cohen says he asked Pecker if he would make the payment. “I figured why not ask,” Cohen says.

Donald Trump leaned in to say something to his attorney Todd Blanche. He briefly looked over in Cohen’s direction.

“I had to get this done,” Cohen says on the stand. “This would be catastrophic to the campaign.”

Trump exhaled opening his eyes briefly. He pointed to something in front of Blanche as he said something to him.

More on this: This is Cohen explaining why he reached back out to Pecker to fund the deal, determined to get the Stormy Daniels agreement nailed down.

Michael Cohen is looking at the jury directly as he explains why he chose a home equity line of credit (HELOC) to fund the Stormy Daniels payment: It was paperless.

He didn’t draw money from his personal bank account because his wife was “CEO of the household” and she would notice a $130,000 withdrawal, Cohen says.

“She would’ve asked me and I clearly could not tell her and that would’ve been a problem to me.”

Call logs show former Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg left a voicemail for Michael Cohen on October 23.

Cohen testified that he recalls the message was following up on how the Stormy Daniels nondisclosure agreement was going to get funded.

He also called Weisselberg at 7:23 p.m. ET on October 25.

Cohen testified that it was unusual to talk to Weisselberg after hours.

“It had to do with the Stormy Daniels matter” and he says, “there was significant urgency.” 

Cohen said, citing the call logs, “I needed to speak to Mr. Trump and knew that Keith Schiller was with him,” the evening of October 24.

He called “to discuss the Stormy Daniels matter and the resolution of it,” Cohen said.

“I was doing everything I could and more to protect my boss, which is something that I had done for a long,” Michael Cohen said.

Cohen testified that he would not have paid the nondisclosure agreement on his own.

“I would not lay out $130,000 for an NDA needed by somebody else,” Cohen says.

Eventually then-Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg suggested that Michael Cohen front the money to Stormy Daniels, Cohen says.

Weisselberg said he wasn’t financially in a position to do it, citing prep school and camp bills for his four grandkids.

Cohen says he and Weisselberg informed Trump that Cohen would front the money, and Trump was “appreciative.”

“He stated to me, ‘don’t worry, you’ll get the money back,’” Cohen testified.

Michael Cohen says that Allen Weisselberg also suggested to him whether it was possible to use a golf course membership or an event like a wedding or bat mitzvah to give someone a credit to make the payment. But Cohen says that wasn’t possible because Trump’s name would be on all of his clubs.

“The whole purpose was to ensure the Trump name in no way was disclosed in this non-disclosure agreement,” Cohen says.

Michael Cohen says he spoke to Alan Weisselberg at the time and told the Trump Organization CFO that he was setting up an LLC and that “it just needed to be funded.”

Weisselberg asked if AMI, which owned the National Enquirer, could pay Stormy Daniels.

Cohen says he told him that wasn’t going to happen.

Remember we heard from the Enquirer publisher David Pecker, the first witness in the trial, that he wasn’t willing to get involved with the Daniels story or shell out any more money to kill Trump stories.

Michael Cohen is recounting his conversation with Donald Trump about the Stormy Daniels story and payment that is at the center of the case.

“He stated to me that he had spoken to some friends, some individuals, smart people, and that it’s $130,000. You’re a billionaire, just pay it,” Cohen testified.

“There’s no reason to keep this thing out there so do it. He expressed to me, just do it. Meet up with Allen Weisselberg and figure this whole thing out,” Cohen said.

Michael Cohen is recalling when he appeared on CNN with Wolf Blitzer on October 18, 2016.

Cohen says he went on “as a surrogate” for the Trump campaign.

“I advocated for Mr. Trump in the best light possible,” Cohen said of his appearance on the show,

Cohen says he was asked on the show about Trump’s behavior with women. He says he offered “denials as well as explanations” that he had never seen him act in this manner before.

Cohen says he believes he went on CNN with talking points that night, noting, “I received regular talking points from the campaign.”

On October 18, 2016, Melania Trump texted Michael Cohen:

“Good morning Michael. Can you pls call DT on his cell. Thanks.”

Cohen responded less than a minute later, “Of course.”

The text was sent at 8:45 a.m.

Cohen said he was at work at that time and believes he spoke to Donald Trump on his office landline phone.

Michael Cohen says he set up the Essential Consultants LLC that day, to make sure he had a “vehicle” to transfer funds to Keith Davidson to “lock down the story.”

Michael Cohen called Trump at 5 p.m. on October 17, 2016.

The call log shows it lasted for eight seconds and Cohen says he left a voicemail.

“I called Mr Trump in order to advise him of the situation that because I didn’t forward the funds, (Stormy Daniels) is now declared the agreement void, that we were not going to be in a position to delay post the election, which is what he wanted me to do. And that the matter, the story, was going to go to the Daily Mail,” Cohen testified.

On October 17, National Enquirer editor Dylan Howard texted Michael Cohen: “I’m told they’re going with DailyMail. Are you aware?”

Cohen responded: “Call me.”

“Well???” Cohen texted later Howard, looking for an update.

“Not taking my calls,” Howard responded.

“You’re kidding,” Cohen wrote.

“Who are you trying to reach?” Cohen asked.

The “agent” Howard wrote, and Cohen testifies that was a reference to Stormy Daniels’ lawyer Keith Davidson.

Cohen recalls at the time, “This was obviously incredibly stressful, incredibly important.”

Michael Cohen looks in the jury’s direction after he answers they were very worried if Keith Davidson was no longer going to represent Stormy Daniels.

The jury is seeing emails between Michael Cohen and Keith Davidson in which Davidson tells Cohen that due to his failure to wire funds, the deal was off.

On October 17, 2016, Cohen says, “My intent was to continue to delay it, as per Mr. Trump’s demand. And I clearly did not send funds to Mr. Davidson’s lawyers account on this date.”

“We were losing control over the settlement of this agreement in order to prevent the story from coming out,” Cohen says. Asked if he was concerned, Cohen said, “very.”

Michael Cohen knows his cross-examination by Donald Trump’s legal team is not going to be friendly because that’s going to be the former president’s defense, CNN Chief Legal Correspondent Paula Reid said Monday.

“This is how they’re going to make their case on behalf of their client. They are going to try to paint Michael Cohen as a liar who is out for revenge against his former boss,” Reid explained.

Here’s how they will try to discredit Cohen, according to Reid:

But while Trump attorney Todd Blanche will want to go after Cohen, he must tread carefully, Reid added.

Michael Cohen, testifying about creating the company named Resolution Consultants, says it “dawned on me it’s actually the name of a company of someone I know, from outside the state.”

“I didn’t think he would appreciate if I used the same name as his company,” Cohen adds.

Cohen says this is why he created a second LLC — this one named Essential Consultants.

The jury is shown paperwork when Michael Cohen opened the bank account for Resolution Consultants, LLC.

Cohen filled out the form saying it was a management consulting company.

Cohen says he lied on the documents to open the account.

Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger is now showing jurors emails between Michael Cohen and his banker Gary Farro. The emails, from October 13, 2016, are about opening a bank account for Resolution Consultants, LLC.

Remember: Jurors already saw these emails when Farro testified.

Trump, meanwhile, is back to leaning back in his chair with his eyes closed.

According to prosecutors, on October 27, 2016, Michael Cohen paid Stormy Daniels $130,000 to her attorney through a shell company in exchange for her silence about an affair she allegedly had with Donald Trump in 2006.

This $130,000 sum is separate from the $150,000 paid to Karen McDougal.

Trump has publicly denied having any affairs and has denied making the payments.

Prosecutors say Daniels first brought her story to AMI, whose executives brought the story to Cohen on Trump’s behalf.

According to prosecutors, Trump directed Cohen to delay making the payment as long as possible, telling him if they delayed paying until after the election they could avoid paying it at all.

Read a full timeline about the hush money case.

The jury is shown an email between Michael Cohen and Keith Davidson, an attorney who represented Stormy Daniels.

“In this specific case I used the holiday Yom Kippur as the way of just once again try to delay until after the election,” Cohen explains as he says Trump told him that it “wouldn’t matter” if the story came out after the election.

Remember, this is a Trump quote, according to Cohen’s testimony this morning:

“I want you to just push it out as long as you can just get past the election. Because if I win it will have no relevance because I’m president. And if I lose, I don’t even care.”

More of Donald Trump’s allies are expected to join the former president in court throughout the duration of his New York criminal hush money trial, according to a Trump campaign official.

A number of Trump’s friends and supporters have reached out to him and the campaign to ask if they can appear alongside Trump in the Manhattan courtroom, the official added.

Some of Trump’s allies in the Senate have already made the trip to New York to show their support. That includes Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance and Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville who are in court today. Florida Sen. Rick Scott accompanied Trump last week. Vance has been speculated as a potential running mate choice for Trump. 

New York Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall and Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird are also in court today with Trump and spoke to reporters outside the courthouse.

“It’s going to continue, and it’s just a demonstration of how offended so many of our friends are by what’s happening to the president,” a Trump campaign official told CNN.  

Former GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy will join Trump at court tomorrow, a spokesperson for Ramaswamy tells CNN.

Two weeks ago, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton made the trip to show his support. Trump’s son Eric has also appeared with his father at the trial, as have several of his top campaign advisers.

The jury has reentered the courtroom, and testimony is resuming.

Several jurors immediately picked up their notepads and pens upon reentering.

Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger is at the podium and has resumed direct examination of Michael Cohen.

Trump is whispering to his attorney Todd Blanche as the testimony resumes.

Michael Cohen is back in the witness box for today’s proceedings.

Judge Juan Merchan is back on the bench this afternoon.

Donald Trump is back in the courtroom.

Some of the political supporters who joined him at the start this morning are also back, along with Eric Trump and Alina Habba.

Sen. Tommy Tuberville hasn’t returned, but Sen. JD Vance and Rep. Nicole Malliotakis are here again.

Prosecutors are entering the courtroom.

They are a little early as Judge Juan Merchan said before lunch that the trial would resume at 2 p.m. ET.

Prior to the lunch break, Donald Trump’s ex-attorney Michael Cohen testified about the campaign’s concerns about Trump’s standing with women and Cohen’s efforts to buy adult film actress Stormy Daniels’ story.

On October 7, 2016, The Washington Post published an “Access Hollywood” video from 2005 in which Trump used vulgar language to describe his sexual approach to women. The story threatened to hurt Trump’s campaign, particularly its standing with female voters.

Cohen testified he learned from the National Enquirer higher-ups that Daniels was looking to sell her story about an alleged affair with Trump in 2006. If released publicly, her story would be “catastrophic” for the campaign, Cohen said.

“(Trump) said to me, ‘This is a disaster, a total disaster, women are going to hate me. This is really a disaster. Women will hate me. Guys, they think it’s cool. But this is going to be a disaster for the campaign,’” Cohen testified.

Trump told him to stop Daniels’ story from getting out, he testified. Trump said at the time, “I want you to just push it out as long as you can, just get past the election, because if I win it will have no relevance because I’m president, and if I lose, I don’t even care,” according to Cohen.

On October 10, National Enquirer editor Dylan Howard sent a text to Cohen and Daniels’ attorney Keith Davidson to connect them about a “business opportunity,” a reference to a “catch-and-kill” deal for Daniels’ story, Cohen testified. The next day, they agreed on a deal to pay $130,000 in exchange for Daniels’ rights to the story.

Cohen then asked for a 10-day delay to get the funds together, but he said he planned to delay again to push the timeline past Election Day on November 8, per Trump’s instructions.

Some Republican politicians have joined Donald Trump in court today, a move that CNN’s Chief National Affairs Correspondent Jeff Zeleny says could have an effect on the jury’s perception of the former president.

“The (Trump) campaign put in an all-call to anyone with any connection to New York or law enforcement in an official-like capacity to come and join him at the trial,” Zeleny said, noting that Trump has been “very upset that he’s been alone” in the trial process.

“Today…he’s surrounded by people who adore him,” Zeleny added.

US Republican Senators Tommy Tuberville of Alabama and JD Vance of Ohio, as well as Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird were among Trump’s entourage at court today.

Zeleny acknowledged that by aligning themselves publicly with Trump, they may be hoping to benefit politically if he is reelected in November.

Michael Cohen, right, testifies on Monday. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is in the foreground.

Cameras are not allowed inside the courtroom during proceedings, but sketch artists are helping to give us a look at what it’s like inside.

Check out these sketches from Michael Cohen’s testimony on Monday morning:

Cohen put on glasses to read an email on a monitor during his testimony.

Cohen is questioned by prosecutor Susan Hoffinger on Monday.

Cohen was a longtime attorney of Trump's before he occupied the Oval Office.

Judge Juan Merchan is off the bench. The court is breaking for lunch.

“See you at 2 p.m. ET,” Merchan says.

Michael Cohen said he had asked for a 10-day delay to get the funds together for Stormy Daniels’ agreement and then he planned to delay again, “which is what I was instructed to do. Push it past the Election Day.”

Michael Cohen said he was the only person who would retain the side-letter agreement to ensure that “the information would never get out.”

About the document: The one-page agreement stated that the names Peggy Peterson and David Dennison, which referred to Stormy Daniels and Donald Trump.

Michael Cohen testifies it was his idea to include a punitive damages clause penalizing Stormy Daniels if she violated the agreement “to ensure that she didn’t speak.”

Michael Cohen is now being shown an email from Keith Davidson, which includes an attachment of the initial settlement agreement between Stormy Daniels and Donald Trump from October 10, 2016.

The email was sent from Davidson on October 11, 2016. The settlement was dated October 10.

Cohen testified that by October 11, he and Davidson had already agreed on the terms of the agreement, including the $130,000 sum and the liquidated damages clause of $1 million per violation. Cohen says the $1 million damages clause was his idea.

Trump passed attorney Todd Blanche another note during discussion of the settlement agreement.

While discussing the Stormy Daniels deal, Michael Cohen said he raised Melania to Trump.

“Don’t worry, he goes 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.”

Trump smirked and shook his head when Cohen made his remarks about Melania.

Donald Trump wanted the Stormy Daniels situation under wraps until after the election, according to Michael Cohen.

Cohen adds: “He wasn’t even thinking about Melania. This was all about the campaign.”

Trump smirks and shakes his head at that remark.

Michael Cohen says that Trump was mad at him when he was informed about the Stormy Daniels story.

“I thought you had this under control. I thought you took care of this,” Trump expressed at the time.

Cohen says Trump told him: “Just take care of it.”

In the courtroom, Trump flicked his eyes up at Cohen as he was saying this.

Cohen continues recounting from Trump: “Women are going to hate me … Guys may think it’s cool, but this is going to be a disaster for the campaign.”

“He said to me, ‘this is a disaster, a total disaster,’” Cohen testifies.

Cohen adds: “He told me to work with David and get control over this,” referencing David Pecker.

Michael Cohen says he kept Donald Trump informed about the Stormy Daniels situation.

“That was what I always did, which was to keep him abreast of everything,” he says.

Michael Cohen is now reading an October 10, 2016, text National Enquirer editor Dylan Howard sent to both Cohen and Ketih Davidson, Stormy Daniels’ attorney.

As we approach lunchtime, Michael Cohen seems to be getting fatigued on the witness stand.

He’s asked a few times now to have questions repeated to him.

Cohen also paused for several seconds before identifying attorney Keith Davidson, who he had been talking about repeatedly in this part of his testimony.

Michael Cohen is being shown more texts he exchanged with former National Enquirer editor Dylan Howard.

He placed his glasses on before he read the texts for the jury.

In the texts, Cohen told Howard that he had formed Resolution Consultants LLC a week prior to the text exchange. He says he told him about the LLC because it was what would be used to buy the Stormy Daniels life rights.

The “business opportunity” referenced in the text was the “acquisition of the life rights of Stormy Daniels,” Cohen said.

Michael Cohen says that Donald Trump told him about meeting Stormy Daniels and explained that quarterback Ben Roethlisberger was also there. 

Cohen says Trump told him: “Women prefer Mr. Trump even over someone like ‘Big Ben.’”

There’s no reaction from Trump at the defense table to this. He’s got his eyes closed again.

Michael Cohen first learned about Daniels’ story in 2011 when he worked with Keith Davidson to get thedirty.com to remove a blog post about the alleged account.

“After I received the information from Dylan Howard, I immediately went to Mr. Trump’s office, knocked on the door. “Boss, I gotta speak to you,” Cohen says.

He said he told Trump what he learned. 

Asked what kind of impact Stormy Daniels’ story would have on the Donald Trump campaign, Michael Cohen says, “Catastrophic. This is horrible for the campaign.”

Cohen emphasizes “catastrophic,” pausing before finishing the sentence.

Michael Cohen testified that National Enquirer editor Dylan Howard was the one to tell Cohen that Stormy Daniels is out looking to sell her story about Donald Trump.

Cohen spoke with David Pecker and Howard about the Radar story and thats when Cohen said he learned that Daniels was looking to sell her story.

Prosecutors now moving on to questions about Stormy Daniels.

Michael Cohen is now reviewing an email from former National Enquirer editor Dylan Howard, saying he deleted a 2008 story on Radar, before AMI owned it, titled “Donald Trump, Playboy Man.”

Howard told Cohen this was the only story posted.

Cohen says that he told Trump he had gotten the story removed, which he did in part to get credit for doing so.

After the mid-morning break, Michael Cohen testified about his recorded call with Donald Trump and closing the “catch-and-kill” deal with former Playboy model Karen McDougal.

In the Sept. 6, 2016, recorded call, Cohen said he planned to open an LLC to make the payments and said he had discussed it with former Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg, who handled finances.

The defense has argued the call was edited, but Cohen testified the recorded conversation was cut off because he received an incoming call. Prosecutors showed the jury Cohen’s phone records, which showed he received a call from a bank branch manager at that time.

Later that month, Cohen formed the entity Resolution Consultants LLC to handle the payment. He said the agreement with American Media Inc., the parent company of the National Enquirer, was for $125,000, not $150,000, because AMI agreed the compensation to McDougal for her articles and covers was worth $25,000.

Cohen said he did not buy the life rights to McDougal’s story for himself.

AMI used a third-party entity for the transaction called Investor Advisory Services. The invoice described a “flat fee for advisory services,” but Cohen testified that was not actually accurate.

Ultimately, AMI chief David Pecker contacted Cohen and told him the payment was no longer necessary, he testified. McDougal’s cover on Men’s Health magazine had sold more copies than expected, so Pecker said the $150,000 was worth it.

“He told me to rip it up, forget it,” Cohen said.

Micheal Cohen recalls thinking at the time of the release of the “Access Hollywood” tape, “this is going to be significantly impactful especially with women voters.”

Texts between Michael Cohen and former CNN anchor Chris Cuomo at CNN are now displayed.

Cohen says he received calls from many contacts in the press after the “Access Hollywood” tape, which he describes as “quite damaging.”

For background, the tape was recorded in 2005 and it was leaked to The Washington Post, which published the video on October 7, 2016, a little more than a month before Election Day. 

Texts with Chis Cuomo on October 8, 2016:

Asked what Cuomo meant by “he is dying right now,” Cohen says: “This is a tremendously negative story in regard to the Trump campaign.”

Michael Cohen said that he was still in London on October 8, when he had several calls with Hope Hicks, including one call that Donald Trump joined.

Cohen also spoke separately to Trump that day, he said.

Cohen recalled stepping out of dinner with his family and friends in London to take the calls with Trump.

There were two calls, according to the phone logs. They have been entered into evidence.

Prosecutors are showing call records with the calls: one lasting 4 minutes, 19 seconds and one lasting 7 minutes, 46 seconds between Trump and Cohen.

Steve Bannon forwarded the email from the Washington Post seeking comment on the “Access Hollywood” tape to Michael Cohen. According to the email, Cohen responded to Bannon, “Please call me.”

“It’s all over the place. Whose doing damage control here?” Cohen wrote.

Cohen says he wanted to “ensure” that things were being taken care of properly and that Trump would be protected.

Prosecutors are now showing a Washington Post email to Hope Hicks seeking comment on the “Access Hollywood” story.

Donald Trump leans forward to look at the email on his screen.

Prosecutors have previously shown this email chain to jurors during Hicks’ testimony.

Hicks, once a longtime trusted aide in Trump’s inner circle, testified on May 3 in the trial after being subpoenaed.

Donald Trump is done reading his papers and has returned to sitting back in his chair with his eyes closed as his former fixer Michael Cohen is testifying.

Michael Cohen said he was in London for his daughter’s birthday and wedding anniversary when he became aware of the “Access Hollywood” video.

“I received a phone call,” he said. “from Hope Hicks.”

More background: On October 7, 2016, The Washington Post released an “Access Hollywood” video from 2005 in which Donald Trump uses vulgar language to describe his sexual approach to women with then show host Billy Bush.

Fallout from the “Access Hollywood” tape prompted Trump’s inner circle to do damage control of any more potentially bad press like an alleged affair story from adult film star Stormy Daniels, according to prosecutors. 

Michael Cohen says there was never a need to play the recorded conversation with Trump for David Pecker.

“I told him I could, but I just never played it,” Cohen says.

Remember: Cohen said he recorded the September 6, 2016, call with Donald Trump in part to make sure Pecker remained loyal.

Alabama Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville told reporters Monday that Donald Trump is being put through “mental anguish” in his hush money trial and criticized the court for calling the former president “Mr. Trump” instead of “Former President Trump.”

“That courtroom is depressing,” said Tuberville. “This is New York City, icon of our country, and we got a courtroom that is the most depressing thing I’ve ever been in. The Republican candidate for president of the United States is going through mental anguish in a courtroom that’s very depressing.”

Tuberville also called Michael Cohen a “convicted felon” and “a serial liar.”

Ohio Republican Sen. JD Vance, who also spoke to reporters outside the courtroom, said Cohen’s testimony should not be believed by any reasonable juror.

Michael Cohen says he had “quite a few” conversations with Donald Trump about the Karen McDougal issue, in person and on the phone.

As far as conversations with Dylan Howard and David Pecker of AMI, Cohen testifies, “also a substantial amount.”

Michael Cohen is testifying that David Pecker told him the Karen McDougal cover on Men’s Health magazine had sold more copies than they had anticipated, and they had a second cover coming.

“He felt it was even for the $150,000, it was an excellent business deal,” Cohen says of Pecker.

Cohen said: “David Pecker contacted me and stated it was no longer necessary to have Mr. Trump pay the $125,000.”

“He told me to rip it up, forget it,” he says of Pecker.

Michael Cohen is being shown the invoice from Investor Advisory Services, AMI’s third-party entity used for the transaction.

The invoice describes a “flat fee for advisory services.”

Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger asks Cohen whether that was truthful.

“No ma’am,” Cohen says, saying it was for the life rights of Karen McDougal.

Michael Cohen appears much more relaxed now. He’s looking at the jury while answering some of these questions about the Karen McDougal deal.

The jury is shown the call log showing Donald Trump and Michael Cohen spoke for seven minutes and 14 seconds on September 29, 2016.

Cohen says that he let Trump “know it was being taken care of” and “that the matter was being resolved.” 

Manhattan prosecutor Susan Hoffinger asked Michael Cohen if he was planning to own the life rights to Karen McDougal’s story.

“No ma’am. I had no reason to own the life rights,” Cohen said while explaining, “What I was doing was at the direction and for the benefit of Mr. Trump.”

Michael Cohen explains that the agreement with AMI was for $125,000, not $150,000, because AMI agreed the compensation to Karen McDougal for National Enquirer articles and covers was worth $25,000.

Michael Cohen says the purpose of the Resolution Consultants LLC was “to use this entity for the assignment of the (Karen) McDougal matter as well as the other information” that AMI had about Donald Trump.

Former Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg has come up multiple times in court today as Michael Cohen describes the hush money agreement regarding the Karen McDougal story.

Cohen’s testimony that Weisselberg handled all the financing coming in and out of Trump Org. may leave the jury wondering why they are not hearing directly from him and why the buck stopped with Allen, not Trump.

Weisselberg is not a witness in the case. He’s at Rikers Island, the notorious New York City jail, serving a prison sentence for perjury. The scheduled release date is July 19.

Michael Cohen formed a company named Resolution Consultants, LLC, to handle the payment.

The jury is now being shown the certificate of formation Cohen filed when setting up Resolution Consultants.

The likelihood of Michael Cohen lying is pretty small because he does not want to go back to prison, CNN special correspondent Jamie Gangel said.

She also noted that Cohen is also not necessarily benefitting by testifying.

“So the word loyal, let’s just talk about what’s behind everything here, which Michael Cohen’s credibility and I think it’s important to remind our audience, he is not getting anything for this testimony — maybe revenge — but there’s not a plea deal,” Gangel said.

The day after Michael Cohen recorded the conversation with Donald Trump, Cohen and another person at AMI texted and discussed possible LLC names.

We heard earlier how in the audio recording, Cohen explains that they talked about opening a company “in order to have separation, keeping it away from Mr. Trump.”

As Cohen also testified earlier, they used the Signal app to communicate.

Prosecutors are showing a screenshot of possible names and calls made on Signal.

Michael Cohen says he had 10 to 12 conversations with former Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg about the Karen McDougal transaction.

The papers that Donald Trump is thumbing through at the defense table may be news stories.

One of the pages has a giant photo printed on it.

As we’ve seen today and other days, the former president often comes into the courtroom with a large bundle of papers.

Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger is asking Michael Cohen about discussions regarding financial matters with Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg.

“Was it typical for you to discuss financial matters with Allen Weisselberg,” Hoffinger asks.

Cohen also notes that Weisselberg was a longtime loyal employee to Trump.

Hoffinger follows up and asks whether a deal of this size, of $150,000, would be handled by Weisselberg. “No. It wasn’t even a deal of this magnitude. It was any deal would end up going through Allen,” he says.

“Allen handled all the finances coming in and coming out,” Cohen says.

The prosecutor asked Michael Cohen whether he ever altered the audio recording with Donald Trump and he responds, “No.”

Trump and his attorney Emil Bove are talking to each other after Cohen denies altering the call.

While discussing the recording of Trump’s 2016 call with David Pecker, Michael Cohen says that the call that interrupted the recording came from a bank branch manager at Capital One bank.

Cohen indicates that it does match one of his contacts. He says the branch manager from Capitol One bank.

The prosecution is clearly aware of the need to corroborate Michael Cohen’s testimony — because the defense’s suggestion that it was doctored with and also given the obvious reputation Cohen has for lying.

Michael Cohen is one of the good guys and history will “reward him for the honesty he’s showing today,” said Anthony Scaramucci, former Trump White House communications director.

Scaramucci added that he believes that Cohen has “has already paid a price for lying in court and I see it as a near impossibility that he would be lying about this and I think he and the prosecutors built a good foundation of that today before the jury. And so, I think the facts that Michael are laying out are irrefutable.”

Donald Trump hasn’t really had much reaction throughout Michael Cohen’s testimony but he just leaned over a few times to say something to his attorney Emil Bove.

This is happening as Cohen is giving testimony about his phone records.

Circling back to recorded conversation with Trump, Michael Cohen says he didn’t think cash was a good idea to repay AMI for the Karen McDougal transaction so he suggested “by check to make it appear to be a proper transaction.”

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

Trump shook his head as Cohen said this, while continuing to read the papers in his hand.

Michael Cohen says the recording was cut off because he received in incoming call.

More on this: Trump’s attorneys have suggested that the call was not cut off by an incoming call to raise questions about whether it was doctored with.

Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger is back at the podium to resume the direct examination of Michael Cohen.

Donald Trump has his stack of papers in his hand and is reading them as Hoffinger resumes questioning.

He looks over in Cohen’s direction for a second and then turns to say something to his attorneys, Emil Bove and Todd Blanche.

Trump is sitting back in his chair and thumbing through his papers some more.

Judge Juan Merchan is now instructing the jury about the call with Donald Trump that Michael Cohen recorded and was presented as evidence before the break.

“The evidence in the case is the tape itself,” he said.

“The transcript is an aide,” he added.

The political entourage that came to support Donald Trump appears to have skipped out during the break.

Before the brief pause, the politicians seated in the second row like Sen. Tommy Tuberville and Rep. Nicolle Malliotakis split their time between their phones and the testimony underway in the courtroom.

Key witness Michael Cohen is back on the witness stand in Donald Trump’s historic criminal trial.

Cohen, who once said he would take a bullet for his former boss, is now the only witness who can directly implicate Trump in both the decision to pay Stormy Daniels hush money shortly before the 2016 and the reimbursement plan to him.

The two men, who have publicly blasted each other, have not been in the same room together since Cohen testified at Trump’s New York civil fraud trial last fall, in a brief but tense appearance.

Cohen is the 20th witness to be called by the prosecution. In court, defense attorney Todd Blanche was whispering to Trump as Cohen walked by, and Trump did not look over.

CNN’s Laura Dolan contributed reporting to this post.

Judge Juan Merchan asked Trump attorney Todd Blanche if he would like him to instruct the jury that the tape of the call is evidence, not the transcript.

Merchan said that is his normal practice but no one had asked for it.

Blanche said they would like Merchan to instruct the jury

Judge Juan Merchan is back on the bench and the court is in session after taking a short morning break.

Donald Trump is back inside the courtroom. He’s seated and speaking with his attorney Todd Blanche.

The prosecutors are back in the courtroom.

Michael Cohen has so far testified for about an hour and 45 minutes.

Michael Cohen’s testimony on Monday morning focused on working with National Enquirer executives to “catch-and-kill” negative stories about Donald Trump, including from former Playboy model Karen McDougal.

When Trump ran for president in 2015, he expressed concern to Cohen that negative stories about his personal life could affect his candidacy, Cohen said. “You know that when this comes out, meaning the announcement, just be prepared there’s going to be a lot of women coming forward,” Trump said, according to Cohen.

That same year, Trump and David Pecker — the head of American Media Inc. (AMI), which owns the National Enquirer — met and agreed the tabloid would place positive stories about Trump and negative stories about other candidates, Cohen testified.

During the campaign, Cohen learned that a doorman was trying to sell a story that Trump fathered a secret child out of wedlock. Cohen told Trump about the story, and “he told me to make sure that the story doesn’t get out — ‘you handle it,’” Cohen testified.

Pecker and National Enquirer editor Dylan Howard agreed to pay $30,000 to the doorman for the rights to the story, with the idea being to take that off the market and bury it. Cohen was in contact with them about the deal and even made recommendations to its language.

Afterward, Cohen went to Trump to tell him the agreement was completed, and Trump responded, “That’s great,” he testified.

In 2016, Cohen learned from AMI that the former Playboy model Karen McDougal was selling a story about an affair with Trump, he testified. Trump told him to “make sure it doesn’t get released,” Cohen said.

In a phone call with Trump and Cohen, Pecker and Howard agreed to buy McDougal’s story, Cohen testified.

Once the deal was finalized, Trump reacted positively, saying “Fantastic. Great job,” according to Cohen.

Later, Pecker spoke to Cohen and insisted on being reimbursed.

“He wanted the $150,000 back because it was too much money for him to hide from the CEO of the parent company, and he also just laid out $30,000 previous, so he was putting pressure on me to speak to Mr. Trump to get the money back,” Cohen said. Cohen relayed the message to Trump, who said, “Don’t worry, I’ll take care of it.”

On September 6, 2016, Cohen recorded a conversation with Trump about the repayment. “It was so I could show it to David Pecker and that way he would hear the conversation, that he would know that … Mr. Trump is going to be paying him back,” Cohen testified. “I also wanted him to remain loyal to Mr. Trump.”

Prosecutors played the recorded conversation, which does not specifically mention McDougal’s name, for the jury. “So, what do we got to pay for this? One-fifty?” Trump said in the conversation.

“He already knew based upon conversation with David (Pecker), which is why he mentioned the number 150,” Cohen testified.

We’re taking the mid-morning break in the trial.

Judge Juan Merchan is off the bench.

Michael Cohen walks out and looks over to the gallery as he exits.

He didn’t look in Donald Trump’s direction.

Trump is also leaving the courtroom.

The jury has left the courtroom without looking at Trump.

On the tape, Donald Trump asked if they had to pay $150,000 for the Karen McDougal story.

“He already knew based upon conversation with David which is why he mentioned the number 150,” Cohen testified in court.

On the call, Trump says, “pay with cash”

Cohen explained that was “one way to avoid any type of a paper transaction but that’s not what I thought was the best way to do it.”

Susan Hoffinger is now playing snippets of the 2016 audio recording of the conversation with Donald Trump, stopping, and asking Michael Cohen what he was saying on the recording.

Cohen explains that they talked about opening a company “in order to have separation, keeping it away from Mr. Trump.”

Cohen says that he was going to open an LLC that would be the “owner of all of the information that was contained in that drawer that David was referencing.”

Hoffinger asks why Cohen referred to “David” and not David Pecker, the publisher of the National Enquirer.

He responds, “It wasn’t necessary Mr. Trump knew what I was referring to. It was an ongoing conversation that we had.”

On the call, Cohen mentioned he had spoken to CFO Allen Weisselberg about opening the LLC. Asked, why he mentioned Weisselberg, Cohen says:

“Because Mr, Trump previously directed me to speak with Allen Weisselberg about getting this matter handled.”

Trump is leaning forward to read the transcript on the screen in front of him.

Michael Cohen is now describing in generalities what was discussed in the recorded conversation.

The audio is being played to the jury.

A copy of the transcript is displayed on the monitors in front of them.

More about this: Jurors heard this recording earlier in the trial during the testimony of forensic expert Douglas Daus.

Michael Cohen said he recorded the September 6, 2016, call with Donald Trump and that it was the only time he recorded a call in 10 years of working for him.

“It was so I could show it to David Pecker and that way he would hear the conversation, that he would know that we’re going to be paid, Mr. Trump is going to be paying him back,” Cohen said.

“I also wanted him to remain loyal to Mr. Trump,” Cohen said.

Cohen said he had his cell phone in his hand and hit record while he had the conversation with Trump. He says he was on the opposite side of Trump’s desk.

Michael Cohen says Donald Trump was unaware he was recording their conversation in 2016.

“To your knowledge was Mr. Trump aware that you were recording this conversation?,” prosecutor Susan Hoffinger asks

“No ma’am,” Cohen says.

Remember: Cohen released an audio recording in 2018 in which he and Trump can be heard discussing how they would buy the rights to former Playboy model Karen McDougal’s story. 

In 2018, Michael Cohen released an audio recording from 2016 in which he and Donald Trump can be heard discussing how they would buy the rights to former Playboy model Karen McDougal’s story about an alleged affair she had with Trump years earlier, which the former president denies. 

The recording offered the public a glimpse at the confidential discussions between Trump and Cohen, and it confirmed Trump had contemporaneous knowledge of a proposal to buy the rights to the story of McDougal.

Cohen told Trump about his plans to set up a company and finance the purchase of the rights from American Media, which publishes the National Enquirer. The recording captured what appeared to be a routine business conversation of several matters on their agenda.

The audio is muddled and the meaning of Trump’s use of the word “cash” is disputed by the two sides.

The prosecution is trying to take the sting out of the defense argument that Michael Cohen was recording Trump in 2016 for Cohen’s self-gain or a nefarious purpose.

Instead, he suggests he recorded Trump because he wanted to placate David Pecker. He says the phone was in his hand but he had no knowledge as to whether Trump knew he was recording.

Prosecutors need Michael Cohen to express that he helped falsify records regarding the hush money payment, said Adam Kaufmann, former executive assistant district attorney for Manhattan.

“To the extent you want to talk about a false document, the initial false document was Michael Cohen’s invoice. That’s what’s received by the employees of the Trump Organization and they’re feeding off of that as they’re making their entries in the Donald Trump records,” Kaufmann explained.

So, the document and why it was made to be false and have that false recounting of the services provided “that’s crucial to the precise theory of criminal liability,” Kaufmann told CNN.

He added, “The prosecutors need Cohen to express to the jury that what he was doing when he created these entries was covering up the fact that they had paid hush money for this story and then tie it into the campaign.”

Michael Cohen is now describing his concern about the files that AMI had on Donald Trump. Cohen says at the time, Pecker was being considered CEO of Time Inc.

“One of the concerns that I had that I expressed to Mr. Trump was if he goes there’s a series of papers there that relate to you,” he testifies.

“I didn’t know what those stories were, nobody was discussing with me. But they would be open for use,” Cohen says.

Michael Cohen said he spoke with David Pecker about the reimbursement for the Karen McDougal story.

“He needed to get the $150,000. He wanted the $150,000 back because it was too much money for him to hide from the CEO of the parent company, and he had also just laid out $30,000 previous,” Cohen says. “So he was putting pressure on me to speak to Mr Trump to get the money back.”

Pecker “insisted” that he get reimbursed. When asked if the National Enquirer publisher was upset, Cohen testifies “very.”

They followed up with lunch at Pecker’s favorite Italian restaurant. “Again he expressed his anger,” Cohen says.

When he relayed the message to Donald Trump, Cohen says he responded, “Don’t worry. I’ll take care of it.”

Trump is still leaning back in the chair. His eyes appear to be closed.

Michael Cohen, Trump’s former “fixer” and the key witness in the trial, opened Monday’s testimony by speaking about what it was like working as Donald Trump’s personal lawyer.

Cohen testified he helped Trump with legal issues, worked to renegotiate specific bills or dealt with negative press. He acknowledged he was “often” aggressive in that work and said he would sometimes bully people. “The only thing that was on my mind,” he said, was to accomplish the task “to make him happy.”

Cohen also said it was “required” to keep Trump up to date on his actions, saying the boss was a micromanager.

Judge Juan Merchan sustained an objection to a follow-up question from Manhattan prosecutor Susan Hoffinger when she asked: “What was your understanding of why Keith Davidson reached out to you” after the deal was signed.

Donald Trump was delighted when the Karen McDougal deal was finalized, according to Michael Cohen.

“Fantastic. Great job,” was his reaction when Cohen told him, his former fixer testifies.

Michael Cohen said he first worked with Karen McDougal’s lawyer Keith Davidson to get the 2011 thedirty.com story about Stormy Daniels and Trump taken down.

Cohen called Davidson on August 5, 2016, at his request, after the McDougal matter was resolved. Cohen said he told Davidson that the boss was very pleased.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is sitting two rows behind the prosecutors.

He’s just sitting listening and watching. 

Michael Cohen said he learned from David Pecker that the Karen McDougal deal was finalized.

Some context from CNN’s Laura Coates: Cohen is corroborating David Pecker and Keith Davidson’s testimony earlier in the trial that it was a bulletproof agreement.

Michael Cohen is reading more texts he sent to National Enquirer editor Dylan Howard.

In one text, Howard said he had “not heard back from our guy yet, so no update.”

Cohen said this was a reference to Keith Davidson, Karen McDougal’s attorney.

Howard told Cohen in a text on July 28, 2016, that “They rejected the offer. I told them to come back to me by EOD with a realistic number. He agreed to do that. He fears she’s been convinced to tell her story to ABC, and really wants to. I implored my guy to GET IT DONE. He’s getting back to me.”

Cohen said they had a “concern that the story was going to find its way to ABC, meaning ABC News.”

While discussing the Karen McDougal story, Michael Cohen says he told Donald Trump it would cost $150,000 to “control the story.”

Trump replied, “No problem, I’ll take care of it,” Cohen testifies.

Cohen says that meant that Trump was going to pay him back – though he says it was not discussed on the call how that might occur.

After the call with Trump, Cohen says he followed up with David Pecker in another call to confirm the details.

Michael Cohen says he was in Trump’s office when the former president had a call with David Pecker about Karen McDougal’s story.

Cohen says of Trump during the call, “He asked him how things were going with the matter.”

“David said, ‘He had this under control, and we’ll take care of this,’” Cohen says of Pecker during the phone conversation with Trump.

After the meeting with Karen McDougal, Dylan Howard texted Michael Cohen:

“Spoke to DP. We just broke. I’m wrapping up with them. And then we will convene a three way call between us all to sort this out. Understand I’ve got this locked down for you. I won’t let it out of my grasp.” (DP is a reference to David Pecker.)

Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger asks Cohen whether he insisted on having a call with Howard, right after he met with McDougal.

“Yes, ma’am,” Cohen says. “Because I needed to get an update so I could provide it for Mr. Trump.”

Judge Juan Merchan sustains an objection to Hoffinger’s question about whether Howard expressed to Cohen whether he thought McDougal’s story was true.

Then-National Enquirer editor Dylan Howard texted Cohen on June 20.

“I am about to meet her. Her name is Karen McDougal. Former Playboy Playmate,” the message said.

“Ok. We need to speak,” Cohen responded.

Susan Hoffinger is now showing call records that Donald Trump and Michael Cohen spoke by phone for 2 minutes, 31 seconds on June 16, 2016.

Jurors are now being shown a series of texts between Michael Cohen and Trump’s longtime bodyguard Keith Schiller on the same day, June 16, 2016. Cohen says the conversation was regarding “the Karen McDougal matter.”

“I thought it was important,” Cohen says.

Here’s the series of texts:

Cohen testifies, “Which of course references to Mr. Trump”

Michael Cohen says he used the Signal app to communicate about Karen McDougal, “because of the nature of the issue to make sure that it remained private.”

Cohen says that he would communicate with David Pecker by “phone, text, email, app.” He confirms that “app” referred to Signal.

Cohen said he updated Donald Trump frequently.

The jury is now seeing texts between Michael Cohen and former National Enquirer editor Dylan Howard in June 2016.

Cohen is now reading through the texts.

“This is about meeting with Karen McDougal and her people,” Cohen says, explaining the texts.

Before he entered the courtroom on Monday morning, Donald Trump repeated his false claim about security outside the Manhattan courthouse.

Trump boasted about the size of the crowd at his campaign rally in New Jersey on Saturday, then said that the area outside the courthouse was “like an armed camp outside. You can’t get one person within three blocks of this courthouse.” 

Facts First: While there are various security measures in place in the vicinity of the courthouse, including some street closures enforced by police officers, there is a designated protest zone for the trial at a park directly across the street from the courthouse.

People are also permitted to drive right up to the front of the courthouse and walk into the building, which remains open to the public. If people show up early enough in the morning, they can even get into the courtroom itself or the overflow room that shows near-live video of the proceedings. 

The reality is that few of Trump’s supporters have chosen to show up. There were well under 100 visible Trump supporters gathered in the protest zone at the outset of the trial in mid-April, and there have often been three or fewer there on subsequent days, according to CNN journalists who have been reporting from the courthouse area. There were fewer than 10 present at one point on Monday morning before court began for the day.

Donald Trump is still sitting back with his eyes closed and is not reacting to the Michael Cohen testimony.

Michael Cohen said he alerted Donald Trump “immediately after I got off the phone with AMI.”

He went to his office and said, “Hey boss, I gotta talk to you.” Cohen said he he asked him if he knew who Karen McDougal was.

“His response to me was, ‘she’s really beautiful,”” Cohen said.

Cohen testified, “I said ‘okay, but there’s a story that’s right now being shopped.’”

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

Cohen continued, “the purpose is to stop the story from being sold or marketed to an outside source.”

Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger is now asking about former Playboy model Karen McDougal, who alleged she had an affair with the former president.

Cohen says he again received a call from either Dylan Howard or David Pecker about the story.

Asked what impact the story would have had on Trump’s presidential campaign, Cohen says, “significant.”

Prosecutors are now showing Michael Cohen the amendment to the agreement with the doorman that includes the $1 million liquidation clause and the perpetuity clause.

“AMI bought the life rights as part of what Mr. (David) Pecker had agreed to at the Trump Tower meeting with you and Mr. Trump in August 2015,” prosecutor Susan Hoffinger asks.

“Yes,” Cohen says.

Cohen says that he went to Trump to tell him the agreement was completed, as well as to get credit for executing it. He told Trump, “in order to get credit for accomplishing the task.” 

According to Cohen, Trump responded at that time, “That’s great.”

Michael Cohen says he saw the National Enquirer deal with the doorman as it was being finalized.

He emphasized the word “show” as he said this.

Cohen says that he advised AMI to add the $1 million penalty for any violation of the agreement and he recommended removing the end date to “make it in perpetuity,” meaning it lasted forever.

Cohen turns to the jury and explains: “That means it’s forever. They own the story forever. It can never come out.”

On December 19, 2015, Dylan Howard of the National Enquirer emailed Cohen confirming he added the liquidated damages clause. The email was shown in court.

Michael Cohen says the National Enquirer was going to pay $30,000 for the doorman story.

“They were executing an agreement with the doorman in order to obtain the life rights to the story,” he says.

Cohen says he was in contact with David Pecker and Dylan Howard about the story. When he got updates from them, he would tell Trump immediately, he says.

“Was he grateful,” prosecutor Susan Hoffinger asks of Trump. “Absolutely,” Cohen says.

He confirms the strategy was to take the story “off the market.”

Donald Trump is not reacting to Michael Cohen’s testimony as he sits at the defense table with his eyes closed.

Prosecutors are now showing the jury the National Enquirer cover of the headline, “The Donald Trump Nobody Knows!”

Cohen said he learned about the doorman story circulating about Trump having fathered “a love child.”

“I spoke I went to him immediately to advise him that there was a story because it was a negative story for him and to get his direction on what he wanted me to do,” Cohen said.

“He told me to make sure that the story doesn’t get out — ‘you handle it,’” Cohen testified that Trump said.

Michael Cohen has his back turned to the jury while testifying, which is weird, CNN Chief Legal Correspondent Paula Reid said.

CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins said that this is notable because it’s important for Cohen to develop a sense of trust with the jury given that he is probably the most important witness.

“This is interesting, though. Michael Cohen has not yet looked at the jury. He’s answering questions directly to the prosecutor. I’m not a prosecutor, but I think you would as a prosecutor want Michael Cohen to look at the jury to kind of establish this relationship with them.”

Collins used Keith Davidson’s, Stormy Daniel’s former lawyer, testimony as an example of how Davison’s entire body was turned toward the jury “away from the prosecutors almost as he was looking at them and directly answering their questions. It’s notable that Michael Cohen is not doing that because he’s probably the most important witness, who needs develop that trust and that relationship with the jury.”

Reid explained that Cohen not interacting with the jury is odd because he is also closest to them. “The fact that he’s not looking at them is weird. It could be that he’s uncomfortable, it could be that he wasn’t coached,” Reid said, adding that Cohen’s behavior is unusual.

Prosecutors are showing an email from Michael Cohen to AMI’s Barry Levine and Dylan Howard from January 2016.

Levine wrote:

“As our readers can’t get enough of Mr. Trump, we are repackaging and repurposing past material from our files and adding additional material – of course, also of a positive nature.” 

In a January 2016 email, Cohen responded to AMI with specific edits:

“Yes. Take out the part of the penthouse pet Sandra as it offers nothing. Also, I would like to reword the part about Atlantic City. Let’s speak tomorrow.”

Michael Cohen has not yet looked at the jury. He is answering questions and looking directly at prosecutor Susan Hoffinger.

Michael Cohen says when he’d show Donald Trump the National Enquirer coverage, his boss would be pleased and call it “fantastic.”

Michael Cohen has confirmed that American Media Inc. (AMI) would sometimes send over covers to him before they published. Cohen says he would “immediately show it to Mr. Trump.”

“So that he would see that David (Pecker) was loyal, on board, was doing everything that he said he was going to do in that August meeting — he was actually doing it,” Cohen says.

Cohen has put glasses on to now read an email displayed on the monitor.

Michael Cohen confirms he previewed some National Enquirer stories about Donald Trump’s political opponents.

 Among them he says, “Hillary Clinton wearing very thick glasses, some allegations she had some brain injury.”

Michael Cohen is now testifying about the 2015 meeting with David Pecker and Donald Trump.

“Yes ma’am,” Cohen said when asked about whether they met in 2015. They met in “Mr. Trump’s office on the 26th floor.”

“What was discussed was the power of the National Enquirer in terms of being located at the cash register of so many supermarkets and bodegas that if we can place positive stories about Mr. Trump that would be beneficial,” Cohen said.

Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger asked whether Pecker offered anything else. “What he said was that he could keep an eye out for anything negative about Mr Trump, and that he would be able to help us to know in advance what was coming out and try to stop it from coming out,” Cohen says.

Hoffinger confirmed with Cohen that Pecker via American Media Inc. executed that plan.

Michael Cohen confirmed to the prosecution that he would leverage his press contacts for Trump’s 2016 campaign.

Cohen says “I would frequently provide comment to press regarding different matters that kept popping up.”

Cohen added that he would go on TV, on MSNBC, CNN and ABC, on Trump’s behalf.

Cohen explains how he didn’t have a formal role on the 2016 campaign.

“I wasn’t going to be part of it. I was going to be a surrogate,” Cohen said.

Michael Cohen says Donald Trump worried about stories about his personal life as he weighed a run for president.

“Did he express to you any concern about negative stories about his personal life that might effect his candidacy?’ prosecutor Susan Hoffinger asks. “Yes,” Cohen said.

The former fixer says Trump told him:

Michael Cohen appeared relaxed on the witness stand as he gives his high-stakes testimony Monday morning.

Initially, Cohen sat with his hands close to his body, almost as if he was sitting on them. But as he continued his testimony, he placed them at his side on the arms of the chair.

He also spoke slowly in a very measured tone, occasionally chuckling to himself as he recounted some stories. Cohen’s demeanor and pacing indicates that he has been prepped by the prosecution to wait for the question and answer only that question.

Michael Cohen is recalling Donald Trump’s announcement at Trump Tower in June 2015.

Cohen explained how he didn’t have a formal role on the 2016 campiagn.

Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger is now asking about Donald Trump’s consideration of a presidential run in 2011, which Michael Cohen says he took to Trump when he saw an article with a poll saying 6% of people thought Trump should be president.

According to Cohen, “He said it’s interesting we should look into it.”

Cohen says they looked into it and created a website that posed the question if Trump should run for president.

Trump didn’t run in 2011, Cohen says.

“There were several large real estate projects that he had acquired as well as another season of the ‘Apprentice.’ As Mr. Trump told me, ‘you don’t leave Hollywood, Hollywood leaves you,’” he testifies.

Cohen is choosing his words very carefully as he describes the 2011 discussion. He is pausing between words, prolonging the sentence.

Michael Cohen is speaking about his relationship with former American Media Inc. chairman David Pecker.

When asked if he would say he had a good relationship with Pecker, Cohen said “I would, yes.”

“I spoke with everybody by phone, email and in person,” Cohen said. (edited) 

Cohen said he also communicated with Dylan Howard, who worked for Pecker.

Cohen says that Howard “worked for Mr. Pecker, to the same extent I worked for Mr Trump.”

Michael Cohen is asked about AMI, the publisher of the “National Enquirer,” and its so-called “catch and kill” practice.

Remember: David Pecker, the first witness in the trial, testified about the secret practice, which was buying exclusive rights to a story for the express purpose of never publishing the information.

Michael Cohen says sometimes he and David Pecker communicated using the encrypted messaging app Signal.

Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger follows up and asks if the encrypted app was used for matters he wanted to keep confidential?

“Yes, ma’am,” Cohen says.

Michael Cohen is now being asked about David Pecker, the former National Enquirer boss.

“Do you know someone named David Pecker?” the prosecutor asks.

“I do,” Cohen says.

Cohen says he knew Pecker before he knew Trump — they had mutual friends and met at a function on Long Island.

It will be interesting to see how the jury reads Michael Cohen’s tone towards his former boss.

On one hand, Cohen testified that he sought praise and wanted to make Trump happy.

On the other hand, he testified that he clearly viewed Trump as a micromanager who runs the show and assigns tasks.

Michael Cohen explains how he had more than 30,000 contacts on his cellphone, which came up during earlier testimony.

He says 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.”

When they were traveling and Donald Trump wanted to speak to somebody, Cohen had the number, he explains.

Prosecutors are now going over cell phones and land lines that Michael Cohen used while at the Trump Organization.

Donald Trump is still sitting back in his chair. His eyes are either closed or looking down.

Cohen says he consented to a request from the district attorney’s office to turn over his cell phones. He adds Trump’s contacts were synched onto his phone at some point.

Occasionally, Cohen’s eyes dart over in the direction of Trump.

Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger asks Michael Cohen if he would sometimes bully people.

“Yes,” Cohen says. “The only thing that was on my mind,” was to accomplish the task “to make him happy,” he says, in reference to Donald Trump.

Michael Cohen said “it’s fair” to describe him as having been Donald Trump’s “fixer.”

When asked if he’s been called Trump’s fixer, “yes some have described me as that.”

Trump’s eyes have been mostly closed through Cohen’s testimony so far.

Prosecutors are beginning to lay the foundation of how Donald Trump would assign a task and then set expectations on how to report back progress. 

We have been waiting for testimony on how Trump gave orders.

Was it just intimating or instruction? Michael Cohen is suggesting that Trump’s irritation with not updating him guided Cohen’s understanding of what he was expected to do.

Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger asks whether Michael Cohen would sometimes lie for Donald Trump.

“Yes, ma’am,” Cohen says.

Michael Cohen says he’d address Donald Trump as “boss” and “Mr. Trump.”

Eric Trump appeared to watch Cohen on the stand as he said this.

Cohen seems wistful as he’s recounting his time at the Trump Organization.

Michael Cohen continues to recount his experience working for Donald Trump.

“It was fantastic,” Cohen said. “Working for him, especially during those 10 years 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 was given to me. I enjoyed working with my colleagues at the Trump Organization. The Trump children. It was a bit (of a) family,” Cohen said.

Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger asked whether Donald Trump was a “micromanager” about the work of the Trump Organization.

“Yes ma’am,” Cohen said.

Michael Cohen explains that Donald Trump wanted to always know what was happening.

Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger asked if part of Michael Cohen’s job was to keep Donald Trump updated on his work.

“It was actually required,” Cohen testified.

“When he would task you with something he would then say, ‘keep me informed. Let me know what’s going on.’ What he was saying, what everybody did, as soon as you had a result an answer you could go straight back and tell him especially if it was a matter that was troubling to him,” Cohen testified.

Michael Cohen says he didn’t need an appointment to see Trump in his office.

“Mr. Trump had an open door policy,” Cohen said.

Michael Cohen’s office was moved closer to Donald Trump’s in Trump Tower.

He testifies he took Ivanka Trump’s old office on the 26th floor when he started working there.

Eventually, he moved to an office about 50 feet from Trump’s office. He spoke to him “every single day and multiple times a day.”

Michael Cohen says he’d speak to Trump in person or on a cell phone.

“Mr. Trump never had an email address,” Cohen says.

Cohen says he’d get to Trump through others like his executive assistant Rhona Graff or his longtime bodyguard Keith Schiller who Cohen called Trump’s “personal attache.”

Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger clarifies with Cohen, asking, “Going down, you mean getting in some sort of trouble?”

“Yes ma’am,” Cohen says.

Michael Cohen testified that interacting with the press was a “portion” of his job.

Cohen said he pushed positive stories about Trump with the media and reiterated, “if there was an article that caused him displeasure I would speak to them about them as well.”

Jurors are watching intensely, volleying between prosecutor Susan Hoffinger and Michael Cohen as he testifies.

Many are taking notes, though not all.

Michael Cohen is testifying about the different problems he’d solve for Trump.

“With press as an example, they said something that angered him, I would reach out to the press and I would express to them their need to either redact or take the article down or we would file an action against them,” he said.

“I would say so,” Cohen says when asked if he was aggressive. “Not all the time. Often.”

While Donald Trump is sitting back in his chair with his eyes closed, his attorney Todd Blanche is leaning forward and closely watching Michael Cohen’s testimony.

Blanche is expected to conduct the cross-examination of Cohen.

Michael Cohen said he would go into Donald Trump’s office to tell him when he accomplished a goal.

It was “really to obtain credit so that he understood that again I was accomplishing what he wanted.”

Cohen said he felt, “like I was on top of the world” when Trump said it was “fantastic or great.”

Michael Cohen describes renegotiating payment for vendors working with Trump University.

“Trump University fell into trouble and approximately 50 vendors had not been paid,” Cohen says.

Cohen offered to pay those vendors 20% of their invoices. All but two vendors accepted the offer. He had them paid within 48 hours of them accepting the renegotiated bill.

Asked about the other two that didn’t accept, Cohen said: “They just went away.”

“Meaning did you pay them?” Hoffinger asks.

“No, ma’am,” Cohen says.