‘That was a lie!’ Trump attorney blows up at Michael Cohen during hush money trial

Prosecutors reiterated to the judge that Michael Cohen is their final witness just before court broke for the day. Trump’s attorneys indicated they expect to be finished with cross examination by Monday’s morning break, and prosecutors said they expect to conduct a redirect examination of their star witness for about an hour.

Trump attorney Todd Blanche also indicated that, other than their possible expert witness, anyone else they call would be able to be on and off the stand by the end of the day Monday. He did not indicate whether Trump himself plans to testify.

“Please be prepared to begin summations on Tuesday if we do wrap it up on Monday,” Judge Juan Merchan told Trump’s attorneys and prosecutors with the Manhattan district attorney’s office.

— Zach Schonfeld and Ella Lee

Court adjourned Thursday afternoon at about 4:15 p.m. There will be no trial on Friday due to Trump attending his son’s high school graduation.

The defense is expected to resume their cross-examination of Cohen on Monday.

– Lauren Sforza

The judge has excused the jury for the day, about 40 minutes earlier than usual so one of the jurors can attend another commitment.

Cross examination will continue Monday.

Before ending for the day, the court is expected to hold a hearing about the permissible scope of Trump’s expert’s testimony, if he chooses to take the stand.

— Zach Schonfeld

Trump attorney Todd Blanche has repeatedly questioned Cohen about how he can vividly remember certain phone conversations during the hush money negotiations in 2016.

“You have a specific recollection of that phone call on June 16, 2016?” Blanche asked at one point, sounding skeptical.

Earlier, Blanche had noted that Cohen answered “I don’t recall” about certain more recent events.

Cohen rebutted the accusation by noting he has been publicly discussing certain matters related to the case for years.

— Zach Schonfeld

Cohen testified during the cross examination that he recorded people without them knowing, many of them journalists.

He noted that it was not illegal for him to record others in a conversation, adding that New York is a one-party consent state.

He said he recorded 40 separate conversations with journalists. Some of the people he recorded included Jeff Zucker and Trump, he testified.

He confirmed there were 95 “secret recordings” stored on his phone when asked by Blanche.

–Lauren Sforza

Blanche pressed Cohen about his relationship with the press and whether he recorded phone calls with journalists and others.

He described how he had close relationships with many reporters, who he would reach out to at times if he wanted to get a positive story written about him or Trump.

When asked if he recorded his calls with journalists, Cohen said he did. He said he recorded calls with reporters about 40 separate times.

He said he would not tell people he was recording them. Cohen noted that he also recorded Jeff Zucker and Trump at times.

— Lauren Sforza

Cohen is back on the stand after the lunch break.

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) returned with Trump, but the other lawmakers who were present earlier did not.

— Zach Schonfeld

The court took its lunch break shortly before 1 p.m. EDT. Blanche’s cross-examination of Cohen is expected to continue after the break.

– Lauren Sforza

Todd Blanche is accusing Cohen of lying during his testimony earlier this week when he claimed he spoke to Trump and finalized the Stormy Daniels hush money deal.

Phone records show the call was placed to Trump’s bodyguard, but Cohen says the phone was passed to the former president.

“That was a lie! You did not talk to President Trump on that night,” Blanche said, getting the most heated he’s been so far this trial, suggesting Cohen instead had talked to the bodyguard about harassing phone calls.

Cohen insisted he had told the truth.

— Zach Schonfeld

Jeffrey Clark, a Trump-era Justice Department official who faces charges in Georgia alongside the former president for allegedly entering a conspiracy to subvert the state’s 2020 presidential election results, said he is observing the proceedings in New York.

Clark is also an unindicted co-conspirator in Trump’s federal election subversion case in Washington, D.C.

“I’m live at the New York County Supreme Court today for the Trump trial, but which today has really converted over into the Michael Cohen trial,” Clark wrote on the social platform X.

“I had to come to see this farce for myself. And to be another voice in support of President Trump. Todd Blanche is tearing up Michael Cohen today. Exposing lie after lie after lie,” Clark continued.

Earlier in the day, Clark appeared on Steve Bannon’s “War Room” show.

— Zach Schonfeld

Blanche repeatedly asked Cohen whether he hoped he would be offered a position in the White House once Trump took office in 2017.

Blanche asked Cohen twice whether he “really wanted” to work in the White House, to which Cohen responded “no sir.”

“You hoped that you would be named the White House chief of staff, not just be considered, but be named the White House chief of staff?” Blanche said.

“No, sir,” Cohen responded.

— Lauren Sforza

Most of Trump attorney Todd Blanche’s cross-examination has comprised him bringing up instances where he believes Cohen has lied over the years.

But Blanche has not asked Cohen any questions today so far about the hush money deals or the alleged reimbursement scheme at the center of Trump’s case.

— Zach Schonfeld

Following the morning break, prosecutor Matthew Colangelo asked the judge provide the jury an instruction to correct “misleading” questioning of Cohen by Trump attorney Todd Blanche.

Colangelo took issue with how Blanche suggested Cohen learned of the indictment before it was unsealed, saying it left an impression that something was improper.

Judge Juan Merchan agreed that it needed correction, but he urged the parties to clear it up in their questioning later today and said he would only consider giving an instruction from the bench afterward if needed.

— Zach Schonfeld

After shutting his eyes for much of Cohen’s testimony earlier this week, Trump’s eyes have mainly been open during Thursday’s proceedings.

He is leaning back in his chair, his head turned slightly to face toward Cohen on the stand.

Cohen, meanwhile, has kept his cool on the stand but appears increasingly as if he wants to lash out at Trump’s attorney.

— Zach Schonfeld

Since breaking from Trump and pleading guilty to federal crimes, Cohen has repeatedly said he “accepted responsibility” for his actions.

Todd Blanche, Trump’s attorney, has asked a series of questions suggesting that Cohen was only doing so by continuing to lie, noting that Cohen has since suggested he lied to his judge when he entered his plea.

“When you got the credit at sentencing for accepting responsibility, you got that credit even though you lied!” Blanche said. “You lied to the judge when you pled guilty!”

The attorney eventually got Cohen to concede that his sentencing judge “would have” wanted to know he was lying.

— Zach Schonfeld

Trump’s attorney is bringing up Cohen’s various statements after he pleaded guilty to tax crimes in which he appeared to walk back his admission of guilt.

In his book, Cohen called the charges “bogus,” and attorney Todd Blanche brought up how the witness at one point had even called one of his judges “corrupt” and “in on it.”

Cohen has repeatedly tried to clarify he doesn’t dispute the underlying facts of his guilty plea, but he believes he should not have been charged because he was not “given the same opportunities” as others to first correct any issues with his taxes.

“I did not believe that it was a crime that I should have been charged with,” Cohen said.

— Zach Schonfeld

Todd Blanche, Trump’s attorney, is hammering Cohen for previously lying under oath, including falsehoods about a Trump project in Moscow that led Cohen to plead guilty.

Blanche is attempting to destroy Cohen’s credibility in front of the jury, noting at one point that Cohen lied after taking the same oath he did in the hush money courtroom this week.

“You knew you were lying, correct?” Blanche asked.

“Yes,” Cohen responded.

— Zach Schonfeld

Trump attorney Todd Blanche played two audio clips of Cohen’s podcast during his cross-examination Thursday.

“I truly f‑‑‑ing hope that man ends up in prison,” Cohen was heard saying in the second audio clip. He was also heard saying he wants “this man to go down.”

– Lauren Sforza

Trump attorney Todd Blanche questioned Cohen about when he first learned of Trump’s indictment last spring, suggesting he learned about it from an investigator in the district attorney’s office.

Cohen insisted he found out when The New York Times broke the news minutes after the indictment was filed.

“No sir,” Cohen said, shaking his head, when asked if the investigator had informed him.

“Are you sure about that?” Blanche followed up, his voice getting high in pitch.

Cohen replied, “Yes.”

— Zach Schonfeld

In remarks made before his trial began this morning, Trump appeared to take aim at a prosecutor in the Manhattan district attorney’s office — a comment that could run afoul of the gag order imposed on his speech.

“In fact, a lead person from the DOJ is running this trial,” Trump said Thursday morning. “So Biden’s office is running this trial. This trial is a scam, and it’s a sham, and it shouldn’t happen.”

Trump’s remark appears to make reference to prosecutor Matthew Colangelo, who was a senior Justice Department official in the Biden administration before joining the Manhattan district attorney’s office in December 2022. The former president is barred from publicly commenting about prosecutors, witnesses, court staff and Judge Juan Merchan’s family under the gag order, but he can still attack the judge and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.

Merchan previously warned Trump that another violation of his gag order could constitute jail time. The former president has been ruled to have run afoul of the order 10 times so far.

— Ella Lee

After a lengthy sidebar, Michael Cohen has retaken the stand for his third day of testimony.

— Zach Schonfeld

Judge Juan Merchan has taken the bench shortly after prosecutors entered the courtroom.

The trial begins with a sidebar, where prosecutors and Trump’s attorney have approached the bench.

— Zach Schonfeld and Lauren Sforza

The former president entered the courtroom flanked by one of his largest entourages of the trial, including a group of lawmakers featuring Reps. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), and Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.).

So many lawmakers showed up that they couldn’t all fit into the first two rows of the gallery, where Trump’s guests normally sit.

Eric Trump, the former president’s son, is in attendance, as is Trump’s legal team and a few of campaign aides and advisers.

— Zach Schonfeld

Trump spoke to reporters before entering the courtroom, noting that several members of Congress were joining him for Thursday’s proceedings.

“We have a lot of congressmen and some senators down today. And They’re all up in arms over this. They can’t even believe it,” Trump said.

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) and Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) were among those in attendance.

— Brett Samuels

The Manhattan district attorney’s office trial team has entered the courtroom, including prosecutors Susan Hoffinger, Becky Mangold, Joshua Steinglass, Katherine Ellis, Matthew Colangelo and Chris Conroy.

— Zach Schonfeld

Cohen’s first two days on the stand provided illuminating details about his involvement in the hush money payment to Stormy Daniels.

But he also provided testimony related to Trump’s wife, Melania, as well as what he called a “pressure campaign” to keep him from flipping on Trump as he was undergoing an FBI investigation.

Read 5 revelations from Cohen’s testimony so far.

Michael Cohen is expected to be the prosectors’ final witness in their case in chief, though they may later call a rebuttal witness if Trump has an expert testify in his defense.

“We had indicated that, potentially, that we could call another witness, that was going to be another book publisher, but we’ve decided that we really don’t need to do that,” Assistant District Attorney Joshua Steinglass said during a sidebar conference Tuesday.

The exchange was out of the earshot of reporters but surfaced in the court transcript.

“So, Mr. Cohen will be the last witness,” Steinglass said.

Cross-examination of Cohen from Trump’s attorneys is expected to last most, if not all, of Thursday.

Court will not meet Friday so Trump can attend his son’s graduation, meaning it is possible Cohen will need to return Monday.

— Zach Schonfeld

The lines to get into the courthouse to catch a glimpse of Trump’s hush money trial were already long at about 5:30 a.m. this morning.

Members of the public and the press were huddled underneath umbrellas to face the rainy weather.

Despite the early hour, most members of the public will likely not get in due to a very limited number of seats inside.

By 6:30 a.m., police appeared to already close off the line.

— Lauren Sforza