Court hears that lawyers argued over paying Stormy Daniels
With Brandon Livesay, Kayla Epstein and Nada Tawfik reporting from court in New York
Related Video and Audio
RTL
With Brandon Livesay, Kayla Epstein and Nada Tawfik reporting from court in New York
Live Reporting
Phil McCausland
All times stated are UK
Juror reactions an interesting watch
Brandon Livesay
Reporting from court
It’s been interesting to watch the jurors as they take in this dense series of documents.
One man appears to be staring at Donald Trump and occasionally glancing at the witness, Gary Farro.
A woman at the other side of the jury bench looks at her mini television screen, but her eyes dart up towards the former president every so often.
They are into their second week of testimony - and it’s a long trial - but sitting in a court room with Donald Trump must still be a surreal situation for these New Yorkers.
What prosecutors were trying to show in banker's testimony
Kayla Epstein
Reporting from court
During their questioning, the prosecution showed a series of documents to illustrate the paper trail for Michael Cohen's payoff to Stormy Daniels.
The documents showed how Cohen moved the money out of his bank account to a limited liability company, then wired that money to an account controlled by Stormy Daniels’ lawyer.
Prosecutors quite literally brought the receipts, which include dates for each transaction. All of these transactions took place in late October 2016, just days before the 2016 election.
Farro testified that Cohen did not indicate that these were funds intended to buy a media story, or to help a political candidate.
If they had, it would have triggered extra layers of due diligence for the bank.
And if Cohen had indicated that the money was actually going to an adult film star, it would have triggered even more scrutiny before being approved.
Defence team takes up Gary Farro
Brandon Livesay
Reporting from court
Cross examination has now started, with Trump’s lawyer Todd Blanche speaking.
He says he has never met with witness Gary Farro, but the banker has met with some of the prosecution.
Farro testimony wades deeper into hush-money funds
Brandon Livesay
Reporting from court
We’ve been looking at a series of emails that were marked as “high importance”. The messages discussed Michael Cohen's urgent transfer of $131,000 in 2016 .
One email is from Cohen, who asks for confirmation that the money had been transferred.
The jury are staring at screens in front of their seats which show the emails in close detail.
Meanwhile, Trump is leaning back in his chair and shifting his head from side to side.
Gary Farro asked if Cohen account used to pay adult film star
Brandon Livesay
Reporting from court
After that early excitement, we're also now getting some witness testimony.
With banker Gary Farro now on the stand, prosecutors say they have gone over the opening of Michael Cohen’s account in detail.
"Probably more details than anybody wanted," the lawyer says.
That gets a few laughs from the jury, who have been staring at a series of emails with account numbers and bank jargon.
Farro is asked if there was any indication that the account would be used to pay an adult film star.
He says it’s an industry “we do not work with” and if they knew, it’s possible they would not have opened the account at all.
At the very least, it would have required more scrutiny, Farro tells the court.
Trump can attend his son's graduation
Brandon Livesay
Reporting from court
Beyond the gag order, we dealt with some other housekeeping matters before we got into Gary Farro's testimony.
We heard about Trump’s request to have a day off from court for his son Barron’s high school graduation.The judge asked for those specific dates, which are 17 May and 3 June.
"I don’t think the May 17th date is a problem," the judge said, which means the former president can attend his son's graduation
Judge Merchan also said that the jury should be deliberating on 3 June, but it will be fine for Trump to take that day off if they are not. .
Judges order threatens jail time if Trump violates gag order further
Kayla Epstein
Reporting from court
Justice Merchan has found that Trump willfully violated the court’s gag order in 9 of the 10 contempt charges leveled against him by prosecutors.
He imposed a financial penalty of $1,000 (£799) per violation, for a total of $9,000.
At the bench, Justice Merchan kept his decision curt and brief. But his actual order, handed down just now, contains a serious warning.
“Defendant is hereby warned that the Court will not tolerate continued willful violations of its lawful orders, and that if necessary and appropriate under the circumstances, it will impose an incarceratory punishment.”
In other words, of Trump continues to flout the court’s prohibitions on attacking witnesses, potential witnesses, jurors, and court staff, he could face time in jail.
Justice Merchan has essentially given prosecutors everything they've asked for: Trump is even ordered to remove 7 of the offending posts from Truth Social, and 2 from his campaign website.
Trump team to hold press conference after gag order ruling
Nada Tawfik
Reporting from outside court
Jason Miller, a key Trump adviser, just told me they are preparing for a small press conference in the park across from the courthouse at 10:30 local time (15:30 BST).
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Republican attorney David Macintosh will be in attendance.
Trump fined for contempt of court
Brandon Livesay
Reporting from court
Judge Merchan has ruled that Donald Trump has violated his gag order and was found in contempt of court.
Trump was fined $1,000 (£799) for each breach. There are nine total counts.
That means Trump will have to pay $9,000.
Trump joined by a family member - for the first time
Kayla Epstein
Reporting from court
After a great deal of speculation about why Trump's family wasn't attending court, as is typical for a criminal defendant, Trump's son Eric Trump is in court, seated in the first row of benches behind his father.
Trump compares campus protests to Capitol riot
Just before Trump entered the courtroom, he spoke to reporters outside and called the proceedings a “hoax” on US voters.
The former president claimed without evidence that the cases against him are "controlled by the White House". He called them "a scam" run by "people who hate Trump".
Trump also spoke about the ongoing campus protests, where students have built encampments to object to the rising death told in the Gaza Strip.
“Colleges are being overrun,” Trump said, alleging that the demonstrations were caused by President Joe Biden.
He noted that the protesters at Columbia University had taken over a building on campus.
I wonder if they'll get the same kind of treatment as J6," he said referring to 6 January 2021, when Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol building.
Many of the protesters who rioted that day have been arrested and found guilty of various crimes.
Trump concluded by complaining about the temperature in the courtroom: “I’m going back into the icebox.”
Trump enters courtroom
Brandon Livesay
Reporting from court
Donald Trump has just walked into the courtrooom.
Wearing a red tie and dark navy suit, he is the first through the door, followed by his extensive legal team. Some carry large boxes of documents.
Michael Cohen's banker returns to stand
Kayla Epstein
Reporting from court
This morning, we’ll hear more from Garry Farro, an executive at First Republic Bank who took the stand on Friday.
Michael Cohen was his client at the time the former Trump lawyer made the $130,000 hush money payment to Stormy Daniels, in exchange for her silence about allegations of a sexual encounter with the former president.
The mechanisms of that payout were under scrutiny when court adjourned last week, and Farro is the custodian of Cohen's records as he worked to pull that money together.
Farro testified about the limited liability company that Cohen set up in 2016 to funnel the payout to Daniels, and prosecutors had him confirm email addresses, business records, and banking records.
He also shared his personal recollections.
“Every time Michael Cohen spoke to me he gave a sense or urgency,” Farro testified.
He's expected back on the stand when court resumes this morning.
Trump supporters at court early
Kayla Epstein
Reporting from court
There is a group of a couple dozen pro-Trump protesters now gathered in the park across from the courthouse.
BBC has confirmed they are members of the New York Young Republicans Club
They’ve unfurled two large Trump flags and started chants of “USA! USA!”
Several wear red baseball hats, a signature piece of Trump merchandise, and at least one appears to have an American flag draped around their shoulders.
Hello from the courtroom
Brandon Livesay
Reporting from court
I’m here inside the New York City courtroom where Donald Trump will soon arrive for the second week of testimony in his hush-money trial.
We’re still waiting for both legal teams, who should arrive in the next 20 minutes. To give you an idea of what it’s like in here, there are 12 long wooden rows of seats filled with journalists and court sketch artists.
There’s a heavy police presence in the hallways and the room itself - we had to go through security twice to get here - as we wait for the former president to appear.
Trump trial to hear second week of testimony
Hello and welcome to our live coverage of Donald Trump’s hush-money trial in New York.
The former president is back in New York City for the second week of witness testimony in his historic criminal trial.
We have already heard from David Pecker, the former publisher of the National Enquirer, who spoke about a “catch-and-kill” scheme where he bought and buried stories that could have harmed Trump’s 2016 presidential hopes.
We also heard from Trump’s former assistant Rhona Daniels, who mentioned she once saw Daniels in Trump Tower’s reception area in 2016.
The third witness is Gary Farro, a banker, who started his testimony on Friday.
He will continue today, talking about the $130,000 (£104,000) transaction paid to porn star Stormy Daniels.
Stick with us, it’s set to be another big day in court.