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Michael D. Cohen, the do-anything fixer who once boasted of burying Donald J. Trump’s secrets and spreading his lies, took the stand at the former president’s criminal trial in Manhattan on Monday and exposed those machinations to the jury and the world. Narrating the prosecution’s case in tell-all detail, Mr. Cohen testified that Mr. Trump in 2016 had personally directed him to pay off a porn star and had approved a dubious reimbursement plan. “Just do it,” the former fixer recalled Mr. Trump saying about the hush-money payment to the porn star, Stormy Daniels. After Mr. Trump had won the White House, Mr. Cohen demanded his money back, he said, and met with Mr. Trump, who approved monthly reimbursements. Then, the president-elect changed the subject to his new job, saying “This is going to be one heck of a ride in D.C.”

Persons: Michael D, Cohen, Donald J, Trump, Stormy Daniels, ” Organizations: White, Mr Locations: Manhattan

Donald J. Trump has always surrounded himself with lawyers — all types of lawyers. And then there was the singular Michael D. Cohen, lawyer by trade and enforcer by nature. With the loyalty of a surrogate son, he kept Mr. Trump’s secrets and cleaned up his messes. This week, however, Mr. Cohen is poised to unfix Mr. Trump’s life. When he takes the stand as a vital witness at Mr. Trump’s criminal trial in Manhattan, Mr. Cohen will unearth some of the secrets he buried, revealing a mess that prosecutors say his former boss was desperate to hide.

Persons: Donald J, Trump, litigators, Michael D, Cohen Locations: Manhattan

Mr. Manafort, 75, was an adviser for Bob Dole’s presidential campaign in 1996 and managed the Republican convention that year. He was brought on to Mr. Trump’s 2016 campaign in the spring as the candidate was facing an effort to deprive him of the delegates necessary to become the nominee at the convention. Mr. Manafort’s involvement with Mr. Trump’s campaign was relatively short-lived. Later, Mr. Manafort was ensnared in the investigation by Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel, into ties between Mr. Trump’s campaign and Russian officials. Mr. Trump praised him for not cooperating with the government investigation and pardoned Mr. Manafort at the end of his presidential term.

Persons: Manafort, Bob Dole’s, Trump’s, Robert S, Mueller III, Trump, Mr Organizations: Republican, Trump, Washington Post, Republican Party Locations: Russian, Ukraine

At Donald J. Trump’s Manhattan criminal trial, his lawyers have insisted he had “nothing to do” with any of the felony charges against him. The Manhattan district attorney says Mr. Trump orchestrated the disguise of 11 checks, 11 invoices and 12 ledger entries to continue the cover-up of a damaging story, paying his former fixer $420,000 in the process. And the testimony about Mr. Trump’s management style could play a central role as prosecutors seek to convince the jury that there is no world in which Mr. Trump was not tracking the outflow of cash from his accounts. The prosecutors’ strategy illustrates the risk of a criminal trial for Mr. Trump, one of the most famous men in the world, whose character and habits are familiar even to those who have not tracked his every move. The Manhattan district attorney’s office has accused him of orchestrating the falsification of the 34 documents to cover up a hush-money payment to a porn star, Stormy Daniels.

Persons: Donald J, Trump, Stormy Daniels Locations: Manhattan

Bret Baier. Those were among the dozens of names — celebrities, politicians, media personalities, relatives and more — that emerged at Donald J. Trump’s trial, when prosecutors displayed a list of the former president’s “close contacts” prepared by his former gatekeeper. Included on the list were people whom Mr. Trump spoke to often or might have wanted to speak to around the time he took office following the 2016 election, a former White House staffer testified. The list offered a clear look at the kind of celebrity-filled orbit Mr. Trump was interested in maintaining, one comprising people Mr. Trump had in many cases known for decades, some of whom looked at him differently after the election. It was not clear how often any of the particular contacts were in touch with Mr. Trump, whose longtime assistant prepared the partial list and sent it to the White House gatekeeper, Madeleine Westerhout, after he became president in 2017.

Persons: Bret Baier, Jeanine Pirro, Tom Brady, Michael D, Cohen, Donald J, ”, Trump, Madeleine Westerhout Organizations: White House

☆ Trump Summons Entourage for Moral Support During Mortifying Testimony
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-09 | by ( Jonathan Swan | Maggie Haberman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

As he walks into the courtroom at 9:30 a.m. each day of his trial, Donald J. Trump scans the benches for familiar faces. He has glared at George Conway, an antagonist who is reporting on the former president’s criminal case for The Atlantic magazine. He smiled at Greg Kelly, a reliably pro-Trump host on Newsmax, who was in court on Thursday. Several days ago, Mr. Trump was accompanied by Ken Paxton, the attorney general of Texas, and David McIntosh, the head of the anti-tax Club for Growth. During excruciating testimony about a story of extramarital sex, Mr. Trump’s son Eric was one of his sources of support, sitting behind him in court.

Persons: Donald J, George Conway, Greg Kelly, Rick Scott of, Trump, Ken Paxton, David McIntosh, Trump’s, Eric Organizations: Trump, The, Growth Locations: Rick Scott of Florida, Texas

Donald J. Trump, the onetime president, and Stormy Daniels, the longtime porn star, despise one another. But when Ms. Daniels returned to the witness stand at Mr. Trump’s criminal trial on Thursday, his lawyers made them sound a lot alike. During Thursday’s grueling cross-examination, Mr. Trump’s lawyers sought to discredit Ms. Daniels as a money-grubbing extortionist who used a passing proximity to Mr. Trump to attain fame and riches. But the more the defense assailed her self-promoting merchandise and online screeds, the more Ms. Daniels resembled the man she was testifying against: a master of marketing, a savant of social-media scorn. “Not unlike Mr. Trump,” she said on the stand, though unlike him, she did it without the power and platform of the presidency.

Persons: Donald J, Trump, Stormy Daniels, Daniels, Ms, grubbing, ”

When Donald J. Trump met Stormy Daniels, their flirtation seemed fleeting: He was a 60-year-old married mogul at the peak of reality television fame, and she was 27, not half his age, a Louisiana native raised in poverty and headed to porn-film stardom. But that chance encounter in Lake Tahoe, Nev., some two decades ago set off a chain of events that has brought the nation the first criminal trial of an American president. And on Tuesday, Ms. Daniels took the stand at that trial, bringing the former president face to face with the porn star at the case’s center.

Persons: Donald J, Trump, Stormy Daniels, Daniels Locations: Louisiana, Lake Tahoe, Nev

Ms. Daniels could take the stand to testify against Mr. Trump as early as this week. Her presence would let Mr. Trump’s defense lawyers attack Ms. Daniels as an extortionist and question her credibility. Nor can she testify about the plan for Mr. Trump to hide his reimbursements to Mr. Cohen by characterizing them as legal fees. Mr. Trump’s lawyers contend that he did not know that the checks he signed for Mr. Cohen were not for legal fees, and that Mr. Cohen and Mr. Trump’s employees were responsible for any false records. “He has never thought that the little man, or especially women, and even more, women like me, matter,” Ms. Daniels said.

Persons: Donald J, Trump, Stormy Daniels, Daniels, Alvin L, Bragg, Trump’s, Michael Bachner, Bachner, Dave Sanders, Stephanie Clifford, Barrett, “ I’m, Donald Trump, ” Ms, Norm, ”, Peacock, J., r. “ Organizations: Mr, The New York Times Locations: Manhattan, New York City, Baton Rouge, La, Texas, Florida, New York

☆ Candidates for Federal Office Can Raise Unlimited Funds for Ballot Measures
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-05 | by ( Maggie Haberman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The Federal Election Commission quietly issued an advisory opinion last week allowing candidates to raise unlimited money for issue-advocacy groups working on ballot measures in elections in which those candidates are on the ballot. The decision applies to all federal candidates, but with a presidential election taking place in six months, the biggest attention will fall to that race. If Mr. Biden can solicit money for abortion-rights ballot measures, he can add to an already-existing fund-raising advantage that his team currently has over Mr. Trump. In Arizona, an abortion rights group said it had the number of signatures required to put a referendum on the ballot. Florida — a state that has voted reliably for Republicans in recent presidential races — has a similar measure on the ballot.

Persons: Biden, Trump, — Locations: Nevada, Arizona, Florida

☆ Campaign Updates: At the R.N.C. donor retreat, Trump calls the Biden administration the ‘Gestapo.’
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-05 | by ( Maggie Haberman | Shane Goldmacher | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +8 min

“You have to respect the office of the presidency,” Mr. Trump said. “When you are Democrat, you start off essentially at 40 percent because you have civil service, you have the unions and you have welfare,” Mr. Trump said on Saturday. director whom Mr. Trump fired amid an investigation into Mr. Trump and his campaign, was connected to the Blagojevich investigation. Mr. Trump also mocked the physical appearance of Jack Smith, the special counsel who has indicted him twice. At another point, Mr. Trump said that if anyone wanted to donate $1 million to the R.N.C.

Persons: Donald J, Trump, Biden’s, ” Mr, Trump baselessly, Biden, “, Mr, ”, William P, Barr, Michael Whatley, Mitt Romney, Hope Hicks, Rod Blagojevich, Blagojevich’s, James B, Blagojevich, Jack Smith, Smith, Mike Johnson, Roe, Wade, Trump’s, — Susie Wiles, Chris LaCivita, Tony Fabrizio — Organizations: Republican National Committee, The New York Times, Trump, Democratic, Mr, Sun Locations: New York, Florida, Palm Beach, Fla, Manhattan, Illinois, Minnesota, Virginia, Nevada , Arizona, Georgia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin

☆ Chief Counsel at R.N.C. Pushed Out After Two Months on the Job
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-05 | by ( Maggie Haberman | More About Maggie Haberman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Charlie Spies, the Republican National Committee’s chief counsel, was pushed out of his new role just two months after taking the job, amid a storm of controversy over conflicts involving other clients at the firm where he still works, according to two people briefed on the matter. Spies, a veteran election-law lawyer whom the R.N.C. A spokeswoman for the Trump campaign and the R.N.C. His past work — including for the presidential campaign of Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, the super PAC supporting Jeb Bush against Donald J. Trump during the 2016 Republican primary and Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican presidential nominee — was highlighted for Mr. Trump by people seeking to oust Mr.

Persons: Charlie Spies, Ron DeSantis, Jeb Bush, Donald J, Mitt Romney, —, Trump, Mr, Spies Organizations: Republican National Committee’s, Trump, Gov, PAC, Republican, Mr Locations: Florida

☆ This is the moment Trump changed American politics
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-04 | by ( Zachary B. Wolf | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

CNN —Being elected president shortly after surviving the publication of the leaked “Access Hollywood” tape in 2016 is the moment in which Donald Trump defied political gravity. The ‘Access Hollywood’ tape reexaminedTrump’s 2016 victory in the Electoral College seems only more improbable in the retelling. It is worth revisiting the earthquake the “Access Hollywood” tape set off in the 2016 campaign. Return of the tapeNow, the “Access Hollywood” tape is back. Video Ad Feedback Trump asked if he stands by comments from 'Access Hollywood' tape.

Persons: CNN —, Donald Trump, Trump, Hope Hicks, Hicks, –, ”, crassly, Billy Bush, Bush, Sen, Mike Lee of, Chris Christie, Paul Ryan, Reince Priebus, Christie, Steve Bannon, Melania, ” Trump, “, Bill Clinton, WAZiGoQqMQ — Donald J, Hillary Clinton, James Comey’s, Clinton, Comey, Anthony Weiner, Michael Cohen, Stormy Daniels, Cohen, Daniels, Maggie Haberman, Jonathan Martin, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, ’ ”, Collins, Feedback Trump, Bannon, Charlie Rose, Rose, Jean Carroll Organizations: CNN, Republican, Electoral, Washington Post, Republicans, Trump, New, New Jersey Gov, Republican National, Twitter, Democratic, The New York Times, CBS Locations: New York, Mike Lee of Utah, New Jersey

Donald J. Trump is on trial for 34 felony counts of what could be the dullest sounding crime in New York’s penal code: falsifying business records. Yet, across nine witnesses and two weeks of testimony, jurors have been treated to hours of mesmerizing courtroom theater. There was talk of a sex scandal with a porn star, a surreptitious recording of a future president and the tearful testimony of a former confidante in the glare of the witness stand. There was even a celebrity roll call: Charlie Sheen, Lindsay Lohan and the reality television star Tila Tequila were all name-checked this week, drawing chuckles in the Lower Manhattan courtroom. The phrase “falsifying business records,” however, was not uttered to the jury during testimony.

Persons: Donald J, Trump, Charlie Sheen, Lindsay Lohan, Tila Tequila Locations: Lower Manhattan

“I’m really nervous,” Hope Hicks, the onetime Trump spokeswoman, messaging maestro and all-around adviser, acknowledged to the prosecutor questioning her, declaring what was already obvious to the riveted courtroom. Ms. Hicks’s unease came to a head hours later as Mr. Trump’s lawyer began to cross-examine her — and she began to cry. Mr. Trump locked his eyes on her. The question that initially unnerved Ms. Hicks was about her time at the Trump Organization, the family’s business, where she had fond memories of working. Ms. Hicks left the stand, and the trial paused so that she could compose herself.

Persons: Donald J, Trump, “, ” Hope Hicks, Trump’s, Ms, Hicks Organizations: Trump, Trump Organization

☆ Who Is Hope Hicks, Once One of Trump’s Most Trusted Advisers?
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-03 | by ( Maggie Haberman | Matthew Haag | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Hope Hicks was 26 years old and had no political experience when Donald J. Trump plucked her from a job at his daughter Ivanka’s clothing business and hired her for his presidential campaign in 2015. In the years that followed, she rose to be one of his most trusted advisers, eventually serving as the White House communications director. But Mr. Trump has been angry with Ms. Hicks since 2022, when text messages emerged during a House investigation into his efforts to stay in power after his election loss. The messages showed that she had been critical of him after the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol by his supporters. Now, Ms. Hicks, 35, has taken the stand in Mr. Trump’s hush-money trial in a Lower Manhattan courtroom.

Persons: Hope Hicks, Donald J, Trump, Hicks, Trump’s, Michael D, Cohen Organizations: White House, Capitol, Trump Locations: Lower Manhattan, Manhattan

☆ Donald Trump says he wasn't sleeping in court but simply closing his 'beautiful blue eyes' so that he could 'listen intensely'
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-03 | by ( Kwan Wei Kevin Tan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Read previewFormer President Donald Trump says he didn't fall asleep during his hush-money trial. Trump has been regularly appearing in a Manhattan court since the trial kicked off on April 15. "I simply close my beautiful blue eyes, sometimes, listen intensely, and take it ALL in!!!" Related storiesHaberman, however, did acknowledge that there were times where Trump really was just closing his eyes. Besides the case in Manhattan, Trump has been charged in three other criminal cases, including a state criminal case in Georgia over accusations that he attempted to overturn the 2020 election results.

Persons: —, Donald Trump, Trump, Stormy Daniels, Hunt, Maggie Haberman, CNN's Kaitlan Collins, Haberman, It's, UBLPJEbA0y, Jon Stewart Organizations: Service, New York Times, CNN, Washington Post, Business, Times, Independent, Trump Locations: Manhattan, Georgia, Lago

It might seem strange that prosecutors from the Manhattan district attorney’s office are eliciting such testimony about their central witness, especially given that the defense has already begun attacking Mr. Cohen’s credibility. Mr. Cohen, who pleaded guilty to federal crimes in 2018, was often belligerent as he did Mr. Trump’s bidding. It appears that the district attorney’s office will seek to turn that to their advantage: So far, they’ve drawn smiles and chuckles from jurors when asking witnesses to discuss Mr. Cohen. “I didn’t want to receive a million frustrating phone calls from Michael,” said the lawyer, Keith Davidson, who in 2016 represented a porn star, Stormy Daniels, who received the hush money. Prosecutors have accused the former president of falsifying business records to cover up the hush money deal and charged him with 34 felonies.

Persons: Cohen, they’ve, “, Michael, ”, Keith Davidson, Stormy Daniels, Daniels, Trump Organizations: Prosecutors Locations: Manhattan

☆ Video: Maggie Haberman on the ‘strangest moment’ of Trump trial today
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-02 | by ( Sarah Jorgensen | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: 1 min

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☆ Trump, Venting About Lawyer in His Criminal Trial, Seeks More Aggression
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-30 | by ( Maggie Haberman | Jonathan Swan | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Donald J. Trump’s Manhattan criminal trial had barely begun when he started to turn his anger toward his lead lawyer, Todd Blanche. Although Mr. Blanche has been Mr. Trump’s favorite lawyer for some time, behind closed doors and in phone calls, the former president has complained repeatedly about him in recent weeks, according to four people familiar with the situation. He has griped that Mr. Blanche, a former federal prosecutor and veteran litigator, has not been following his instructions closely, and has been insufficiently aggressive. Mr. Trump wants him to attack witnesses, attack what the former president sees as a hostile jury pool, and attack the judge, Juan M. Merchan. Mr. Trump, who often complains about legal fees and sometimes refuses to pay them, has also wondered aloud why his lawyers cost so much, according to the people, who all spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive topic.

Persons: Donald J, Todd Blanche, Blanche, Trump’s, litigator, Trump, Juan M, Merchan

☆ Trump Wants to Prosecute Biden. He Also Thinks Presidents Deserve Immunity.
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-30 | by ( Alan Feuer | Maggie Haberman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

“Could President Biden someday be charged with unlawfully inducing immigrants to enter the country illegally for his border policies?” the lawyer, D. John Sauer, asked. What Mr. Sauer did not mention was that Mr. Trump has done as much as anyone to escalate the prospect of threatening political rivals with prosecution. In 2016, his supporters greeted mentions of Hillary Clinton with chants of “lock her up.” In his current campaign, Mr. Trump has explicitly warned of his intent to use the legal system as a weapon of political retribution, with frequent declarations that he could go after President Biden and his family. In effect, Mr. Trump has asked the Supreme Court to enforce a norm — that in the United States, public officials do not engage in tit-for-tat political prosecutions — that he has for years threatened to shatter. In promising to sic his Justice Department on Mr. Biden, Mr. Trump has laid the grounds for the very conditions that he was asking the justices to guard against by granting him immunity.

Persons: Donald J, Trump, ceaselessly, “, Biden, John Sauer, Sauer, Hillary Clinton, ” Organizations: Mr Locations: United States

☆ Right-Wing Network Retracts False Story About Key Witness in Trump Trial
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-29 | by ( Maggie Haberman | Katie Robertson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

One America News, a right-wing cable news network, on Monday retracted a report claiming that Donald J. Trump’s former fixer had been the person who actually had an affair with the porn star whose claims of a sexual relationship with Mr. Trump are key to his criminal trial. The retraction came after the fixer, Michael D. Cohen, hired a leading defamation lawyer to address the false report, which was posted on the network’s website on March 27. The lawyer, Justin Nelson, had represented Dominion Voting Systems in a suit against Fox News that cost that network $787.5 million to settle. Mr. Nelson worked with Mr. Cohen’s longtime lawyer, Danya Perry, in what was a remarkably quick about-face by OAN. There are no monetary damages, but the story is being removed from the website “and all social media,” the network said in a statement on Monday.

Persons: Donald J, Trump, Michael D, Cohen, Justin Nelson, Nelson, Cohen’s, Danya Perry Organizations: America, Voting Systems, Fox News, Mr, OAN

☆ Opinion: Harvey Weinstein’s prosecutors made a huge mistake. Trump’s prosecutors risk repeating it
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-29 | by ( Opinion Jim Walden | Deanna Paul | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

Jim Walden Courtesy of Jim WaldenA few days later, New York’s highest court overturned the sex crimes conviction of Hollywood movie mogul Harvey Weinstein. And the recent dramatic developments in the Weinstein case demonstrate why the presiding judge in the Trump trial, Judge Juan Merchan, needs to reverse his ruling allowing Trump to be questioned about proven misconduct from other cases. If he doesn’t, Trump could have an easy path to having a conviction in the case tossed out. This is essentially what happened in the Weinstein case. If he does not, Trump could get a conviction overturned while the ink hasn’t yet dried on the jury’s verdict.

Persons: Jim Walden, Deanna Paul, Walden, Donald Trump’s Manhattan, Harvey Weinstein, Weinstein, Trump, Juan Merchan, Deanna Paul Meredith Eves Flynn Trump, —, Karen McDougal, Stormy Daniels, David Pecker, Michael Cohen, Cohen, Daniels, Maggie Haberman, Merchan, Letitia James, E, Jean Carroll, Merchan’s, James Burke, Burke’s Organizations: New, CNN, Republican, Hollywood, Trump, Prosecutors, National Enquirer, New York Times, New York, Manhattan, Appeals Locations: New York

Listen and follow The DailyApple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon MusicIn a special series leading up to Election Day, “The Daily” will explore what a second Trump presidency would look like, and what it could mean for American democracy. In the first part, we will look at Tump’s plan for a second term. On the campaign trail, Trump has outlined a vision that is far more radical, vindictive and unchecked than his first one. Jonathan Swan and Maggie Haberman, political correspondents for The Times, and Charlie Savage, who covers national security, have found that behind Trump’s rhetoric is a highly coordinated plan to make his vision a reality.

Persons: Trump, Jonathan Swan, Maggie Haberman, Charlie Savage Organizations: Spotify, The Times

On Today’s Episode:With Israel Poised to Invade Rafah, Negotiators Try Again for Cease-Fire Deal, by Isabel Kershner and Edward WongCrackdowns at 4 College Protests Lead to More Than 200 Arrests, by Anna Betts, Matthew Eadie and Nicholas Bogel-BurroughsTrump and DeSantis Meet for First Time Since Bruising Primary, by Maggie Haberman and Nicholas Nehamas

Persons: Isabel Kershner, Edward Wong Crackdowns, Anna Betts, Matthew Eadie, Nicholas Bogel, Burroughs Trump, Maggie Haberman, Nicholas Nehamas Locations: Rafah

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