Kayla Epstein
Reporting from court

After Donald Trump was elected, Cohen got something of a promotion in 2017 - becoming the personal attorney to the president.

It was the same job that he'd already been doing as Trump's longtime personal lawyer, with the added prestige that came with Trumps' new job.

Blanche displays the goodbye email Cohen sent to his colleagues at the Trump Organization in January 2017.

“It is an incredible honor for me and I look forward to productive and exciting times with President Trump," the email says.

Madeline Halpert
Reporting from court

We’re looking at an email from former Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg to Michael Cohen.

Weisselberg first criticises Cohen in the email for not stopping to give him a “bro hug”.

Then, Weisselberg adds, “Please prepare the agreement we discussed so we can pay you monthly,” referencing the hush-money reimbursement scheme that prosecutors allege was fraudulent.

Defence lawyer Todd Blanche pulls up another email that shows Trump’s sons Eric and Don Jr needed to sign off on the repayment plan.

Blanche asks why his sons would sign off - and not Trump himself.

Cohen explains that the money was first coming from Trump’s trust, and Trump’s sons were representatives of the trust.

Kayla Epstein
Reporting from court

Image source, Getty Images

Todd Blanche is firing off questions at a breakneck pace all morning. He is throwing a lot of information at Michael Cohen, about a lot of things going on in the ex-fixer's life back in October 2016.

He's speaking so fast it's hard to write down everything he's saying.

His voice grows higher and more indignant at some points when he tries to catch Cohen in a false statement, or is accusing him of bad behaviour.

Cohen - who has a reputation for being pretty loquacious - is responding slowly and without much passion or emotion in his voice.

Kayla Epstein
Reporting from court

Todd Blanche points out that Michael Cohen only paid $20,000 to the tech company Red Finch, but asked Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg to reimburse him $50,000. (They tacked this reimbursement on to the overall repayment for the Stormy Daniels hush money).

Trump’s lawyer then accuses Cohen of stealing from the company.

“You did steal from the Trump Organization, based upon the expected reimbursement from Red Finch, correct?

Cohen doesn’t hesitate. “Yes, sir,” he says.

As he has done at a few other points when Cohen wronged Trump, Blanche’s voice gets a little higher as he points out that Cohen stole from the boss.

Kayla Epstein
Reporting from court

Todd Blanche seems to be moving towards a similar successful attack that he launched last week.

That's back when he called into question Michael Cohen's claim that he phoned Donald Trump via his bodyguard on 24 October 2016 to discuss the Stormy Daniels hush-money payment.

Blanche asks Cohen about the multiple other things that Cohen was engaged in at the time of the call, and Cohen acknowledges that Trump's youngest daughter had a photo extortion issue and that his ex-boss was opening a hotel in Washington DC.

Trump's lawyer tries to suggest that Cohen could have been talking to his boss about Tiffany Trump's issue, rather than the hush-money payment.

It was another attempt to undercut the prosecution's timeline of events, but this blow doesn't land quite as squarely as Blanche's attack last week - that a prank-calling teenager could have been the actual subject of Cohen's October call.

Madeline Halpert
Reporting from court

Todd Blanche is finally touching on the heart of the case - the reimbursement scheme used to repay Cohen for the Stormy Daniels hush-money payment.

Blanche quizzes Cohen about a meeting where former Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg allegedly developed a plan to pay Cohen back for the hush money.

Cohen was also reimbursed for services he had paid to a company called Red Finch, and for his bonus he had been shorted.

Blanche seems to try to cast doubt on how Cohen paid back the Red Finch polling company.

Cohen tells Blanche he gave Red Finch $20,000 that he withdrew from his account over the course of several days.

Blanche asks him if he gave them a “duffle bag of cash”.

No, Cohen says. He used a “small brown paper bag”.

“You had $20,000 in a brown paper bag?” Blanche asks.

Yes, Cohen says.

Madeline Halpert
Reporting from court

Todd Blanche is tossing a lot of information at Michael Cohen and the jurors early in today's session, but it seems like he's building toward something here.

He’s asking Cohen about a time he spoke to former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker to help Tiffany Trump with a potential extortion scheme. Now he’s asking about investments he made in the taxi medallion business.

Blanche is jumping all over the place in terms of timelines, a strategy that some experts say can be effective in cross examination. It can help throw off the witness, though it can be difficult for jurors to follow.

Still, Blanche scored a win last week when he cast doubt about a phone call Cohen claims he made to Trump’s bodyguard in 2016 about the hush-money payment to Stormy Daniels.

Blanche made it seem as though Cohen was actually calling to talk about a teen prankster.

Madeline Halpert
Reporting from court

It’s early but the 12 New York jurors are focused today.

As per usual, they are taking notes on large notepads and looking back and forth between Todd Blanche and Michael Cohen.

One man is scratching his head as we continue to talk about taxi medallions.

In just a week, they will be sent off to decide whether Trump will become the first-ever former president to be charged with a felony.

Madeline Halpert
Reporting from court

Michael Cohen is maintaining his composure on the stand this week, like he did last week.

He frequently responds to Todd Blanche’s questions with a simple “Yes, sir”.

As he looks at Blanche, Cohen is relatively expressionless.

Some had expected more fireworks from a man who has called Trump every name in the book in his own writing, on his podcast and on social media.

Kayla Epstein
Reporting from court

Trump's eyes are closed as we get underway this morning.

The former president is leaned back in his seat while his lawyer Todd Blanche begins what is expected to be another aggressive day of questioning Michael Cohen.

Image source, Getty Images

Madeline Halpert
Reporting from court

Donald Trump's lawyer Todd Blanche is at the podium again and he’s alleging that Michael Cohen spoke to journalists about his testimony last week. He's asking how many reporters Trump's former fixer spoke to.

“I didn’t speak to reporters about what happened last week,” Cohen says.

He clarifies to say he spoke to reporters but, “I did not talk about this case”.

Madeline Halpert
Reporting from court

We're now bringing in the witness.

Michael Cohen walks into the room wearing a black suit and lavender tie. He does not look at Trump as he walks to the stand.

The jurors enter in after him.

Madeline Halpert
Reporting from court

We're taking a 10 minute break before we bring jurors in and begin testimony.

Stick with us.

Madeline Halpert
Reporting from court

After a lengthy and in-the-weeds discussion, lawyers are now approaching the bench to discuss the issue of the expert witness.

Justice Merchan says he wants to avoid a "battle of the experts" in the final weeks of testimony.

Kayla Epstein
Reporting from court

Donald Trump looks restless during this long exchange about expert witnesses and eventual jury instructions.

During some of the most technical discussions, he looks over at his lawyer Emil Bove and whispers to him.

He's shifting in his seat a lot as his lawyers haggle with the judge and prosecutors on their motions.

Why closing statements got pushed backpublished at 14:15 British Summer Time 20 May

14:15 BST 20 May

Kayla Epstein
Reporting from court

It's not surprising that Justice Merchan would move the closing statements to next week. We’re about to go into a four day break for the Memorial Day holiday in the US.

Anna Cominsky, a professor at New York Law School, told me that most lawyers would not want a gap between the jury hearing closing statements, and being sent out to deliberate.

Giving closing statements before a long break would “give them four days to forget all about” the summary of the case, she says.

Additionally, “we don't want the jurors to feel rushed,” she says.

“The break can be positive to get them out of out of the courtroom a little bit, get their energy back up."

Justice Merchan is now discussing his ruling on how much Trump's legal team's expert witness, Brad Smith, can testify about campaign finance law.

Trump, meanwhile, is seated quietly at the defence table, reading some papers laid out in front of him.

Nada Tawfik
Reporting from outside court

There’s been a real ebb and flow of small protests during this long trial.

As it winds down, a familiar group that dislikes Donald Trump came to block traffic with their message.

Police officers kept them far back from the courthouse entrance and after a few minutes they dispersed without a fight.

But moments later, they returned and ran in front of the assembled media, shouting: “no one is above the law.”

Madeline Halpert
Reporting from court

Court starts with an argument about an email from Michael Cohen and whether it should be used as evidence.

Justice Merchan says there are too many layers of hearsay to use the email, which is a message that apparently includes some of Cohen’s thoughts.