Kayla Epstein
Reporting from court

The prosecution's Susan Hoffinger has one last question for Michael Cohen: Do you have any regrets about your past work and association with Donald Trump?

Cohen says he does.

“I regret doing things I should not have. Lying, bullying people," Cohen says.

“I don’t regret working for the Trump Organization. As I expressed before, some very interesting and great times.”

But he adds that to maintain "loyalty and to do the things he asked me to do, I violated my moral compass."

He says he suffered, as did his family.

Kayla Epstein
Reporting from court

We're wading into the very public back-and-forth between Cohen and Trump which has played out on social media.

The prosecution's Susan Hoffinger displays a Truth Social post by Trump, in March 2023, referring to his ex-lawyer as "convicted liar and felon, jailbird Michael Cohen".

Kayla Epstein
Reporting from court

Michael Cohen testifies that he was disbarred from practicing law as a result of his felony pleas, and now mostly does "media and entertainment".

Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger is likely trying to head off another likely defence attack: Cohen's comments about Trump and this trial which he has made outside of court.

Hoffinger asks him about his two books, Disloyal and Revenge.

She also asks him about his podcast Mea Culpa, a title Cohen says refers to his public reversal against Trump. Cohen says the podcast is about "news of the day".

But Cohen also talks about Trump frequently, she asks.

Yes, he says.

Kayla Epstein
Reporting from court

The prosecution asks Michael Cohen if he ever lied to a judge about his guilty pleas.

Cohen responds he did not.

It is doubtful this will be the end of the matter, however.

Trump's defence team are expected to bring up Cohen's past statements on cross-examination at a separate trial into the Trump Organization, and use them to undermine his credibility.

In Trump's civil business fraud trial last year, one of the ex-president's attorneys relentlessly grilled Cohen on the subject of his guilty pleas - eliciting some of the responses that got him in hot water.

Kayla Epstein
Reporting from court

Image source, Getty Images

Michael Cohen is recalling his experience of testifying before Congress in 2019 about the hush-money payments he made to adult-film star Stormy Daniels.

This occurred before he went to prison in May of that year.

He says he wanted to apologise in Congress, to the country, and to his family for lying about the payments.

Cohen says Americans have the right to know the truth.

Kayla Epstein
Reporting from court

Cohen testifies that he was sent to serve a prison sentence at the Otisville prison in New York State after he pleaded guilty to multiple federal charges - some of which were related to his activity he says was on behalf of Trump.

During the height of the pandemic, he says he sought an early release to home confinement.

But when he went to sign the home confinement agreement, Cohen testifies, the actual document seemed sketchy to him.

He was sent back to prison and placed in solitary confinement, until a lawyer successfully petitioned to have him released to home confinement to serve out the rest of his sentence.

Kayla Epstein
Reporting from court

Image source, Reuters

Michael Cohen also pleaded guilty to charges related to his work with the publisher of the National Enquirer to catch-and-kill the story of Karen McDougal's alleged affair with Donald Trump.

He again testifies that he did this for Trump - and his political campaign.

After this, Justice Merchan gives an instruction to the jury about how they can use this testimony.

Cohen's guilty pleas were admitted into evidence so the jury could assess his credibility, and so they had context for events.

“Cohen’s plea is not evidence of the defendant's guilt,” Merchan stresses.

Kayla Epstein
Reporting from court

Why did you pay Stormy Daniels, prosecutor Susan Hoffinger asks.

"To ensure that the story would not come out, would not affect Mr Trump's chances of becoming president of the United States," Cohen tells the court.

Cohen pleaded guilty in August 2018 to federal charges, including a campaign finance violation that centred on the hush-money payment he made to Stormy Daniels.

If not for the campaign, would you have paid the money to Daniels? Hoffinger asks.

"No," he says.

On whose behalf did you commit that crime? Hoffinger asks.

“On behalf of Mr Trump," Cohen replies.

Kayla Epstein
Reporting from court

Image source, Reuters

After being absent for a few minutes, Trump's VIP guests are back in the courtroom.

North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum, Trump's onetime rival for the GOP nomination Vivek Ramaswamy, Congressman Byron Donalds and Congressman Cory Mills fill out the seats behind Trump.

Ramaswamy appears to be carrying a notebook.

Also with them is one of Trump's campaign press secretaries.

Kayla Epstein
Reporting from court

Michael Cohen has kept his voice relatively even throughout two days of testimony, but his voice seems to falter when he talks about the impact on the federal investigation on his family.

"The conversation with my family was, what to do? We’re in this unique situation," Cohen says.

His wife, daughter, and son asked him why he continued to remain loyal to Donald Trump, Cohen testifies.

Ultimately he decided he would not lie for Trump any longer, Cohen tells the court.

Kayla Epstein
Reporting from court

In another email, from June 13 2018, lawyer Robert Costello writes to Michael Cohen that “my friend has communicated to me that he is meeting with his client this evening".

Cohen testifies that he understood "friend" to mean Rudy Giuliani, and "client" to mean Donald Trump.

He tells the court he believed Costello was writing in code because he was trying to be covert and “all sort of eye-spy-ish”.

As Cohen walks us through the paper trial of the unravelling of his life in 2018, he looks calm and composed on the witness stand.

He occasionally puts on a thin pair of black glasses so he can read the evidence displayed on a screen.

Kayla Epstein
Reporting from court

As the feds' scrutiny on Michael Cohen heated up, Cohen met with a lawyer, Robert Costello.

Cohen tells the court they discussed opening a "back channel" to then-President Trump which involved Rudy Giuliani.

The back channel would be Costello to Giuliani, and Giuliani would relay information to Trump, Cohen testifies.

The same would work in reverse.

The court is shown emails between Cohen and Costello discussing the back channel, and positive sentiments that Giuliani was purportedly relaying from the White House.

As we review another email, Cohen adds that he had not yet retained Costello as of June 2018, but Costello was - in Cohen's understanding - demonstrating that he was in Giuliani's proximity and could serve as a connection to the White House.

Kayla Epstein
Reporting from court

We are back in session after a brief break.

Trump has returned but some of his VIP guests have not.

We didn't see North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum, congressman Byron Donalds, or former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy return to the courtroom.

Image source, X

We're on a short break, but just before it started we saw some of Trump's tweets from 2018.

In April of that year, Trump sent a volley of tweets about Cohen and Maggie Haberman (the reporter we mentioned in a previous post) that are now being displayed as evidence.

The first of the tweets is shown above and you can find the thread here, external.

Cohen testified that the tweets “reinforced my loyalty and intention to stay in the fold”.

Kayla Epstein
Reporting from court

After the FBI raid, Michael Cohen says he and Donald Trump and spoke on the phone.

Trump emphasised his status as the president of the United States, meaning that “everything’s going to be OK… stay tough, you're going to be OK,” Cohen testifies.

Cohen tells the court that he was "scared" at the time and he had “wanted some reassurance that Mr Trump had my back, especially as this dealt with issues that related to him”.

After the call, Cohen says, “I felt reassured because I had the president of the United States protecting me.”

He remained in Trump's "camp", he says.

It was the last time they spoke directly, Cohen confirms to the prosecutor.

Kayla Epstein
Reporting from court

Michael Cohen is speaking about the April 2018 raid on his apartment by the FBI, which was the start of his legal issues.

"How to describe your life being turned upside down?" Cohen said of the FBI raid.

"Despondent, angry."

This moment later sparked him breaking away from Trump's circle and led to a guilty plea and a prison sentence for Cohen.

As his ex-lawyer speaks, Trump is leaning back in his chair and shifting back and forth in his seat. Every few moments, he seems to tilt his head side to side.

Kayla Epstein
Reporting from court

The jury is keeping up its usual poker face throughout Michael Cohen's testimony.

Some of them are watching Cohen, while others take notes.

One is resting their chin on their hand while listening.

Kayla Epstein
Reporting from court

Image source, Getty Images

We just saw Signal messages between Michael Cohen and another Trump lawyer, Jay Sekulow, discussing Cohen's statements.

"Client says thanks for what you do," wrote Sekulow, who served as Trump's chief outside counsel during the former president's first impeachment trial.

On the stand, Cohen testifies that he believed the "client" referred to Trump, and "what you do" referred to the public statements and denials he was making about the federal election officials' inquiry.

Kayla Epstein
Reporting from court

For readers' context: we're getting into the story of how Michael Cohen would end up getting into trouble with federal authorities for the payout he made to Stormy Daniels, and how it was reimbursed to him.

Cohen pleaded guilty in 2018 to several federal charges that included campaign finance violations tied to the Daniels payment.

Kayla Epstein
Reporting from court

Image source, Getty Images

We just got a very unorthodox piece of evidence, text messages between Michael Cohen and New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman.

Cohen's text message was responding to reports of the Federal Election Commission investigation.

He texted her: “Big boss just approved me responding to complaint and statement. Please start writing and I will call you soon.”

Haberman has long covered Donald Trump. She wrote a biography of the former president, and is in the courtroom with me today.