Trump Trial Day 11: Stage Set for Michael Cohen to Testify Monday

NEW YORK—On the 11th official day of testimony in the trial of former President Donald Trump, the prosecutors laid out the groundwork to call star witness Michael Cohen to the stand starting next Monday. Like the testimony of adult star Stormy Daniels, Cohen's testimony is central to the case brought against Trump by the Manhattan District Attorney's Office. Trump stands accused of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. Alvin Bragg, the district attorney, characterized the crimes as a "catch-and-kill" scheme involving Cohen, David Pecker and several high-profile individuals related to Trump's campaign and White House staff. Pecker was the former publisher of the tabloid National Enquirer and its former parent company, American Media Inc., to catch-and-kill negative stories about Trump. This includes the capture of a story alleged by Karen McDougal, a former Playboy model, who had a relationship with Trump from 2006 to 2007. Pecker paid $150,000 for the rights to McDougal's story. Cohen, Trump's former attorney and fixer, played a central role in paying off Daniels to silence her about an affair she had with Trump in 2006 at Lake Tahoe.  Cohen's actions were part of a coordinated effort instigated by Trump's 2016 presidential campaign to suppress any negative press that would harm his chances of beating Hillary Clinton. The prosecution has previously presented strong evidence that Cohen paid Daniels $130,000 through her attorney, Keith Davidson, in a separate agreement orchestrated by Cohen on behalf of Trump through a shell corporation he formed to shield the payment from potential regulatory and legal scrutiny.  Judge Juan Merchan asked Cohen on Friday, via the prosecutors, to refrain from making further public comments about the trial. After the court adjourned for the week, Trump criticized the judge, calling this advice to Cohen a "disgrace." “There is no gag order for Michael Cohen," Trump said. "What the judge did was amazing, actually. Everybody can say whatever they want, but I’m not allowed to say anything about anybody. It’s a disgrace."  Trump has already been held in contempt of court 10 times for violating a gag order restricting him from commenting on the case publicly, as it could risk the trial. Merchan has also not placed orders to silence witnesses in the case from speaking publicly. Todd Blanche, one of Trump's attorneys, asked Merchan to restrict Cohen like Trump. “I will direct [the prosecutors] to communicate to Mr. Cohen that the judge is asking him to refrain from any more statements about this case,” Merchan said. Madeleine Westerhout, Trump's former director of Oval Office Operations and his personal assistant, resumed her testimony from yesterday. After exchanging smiles with her former boss, Westerhout was cross-examined by Trump attorney Susan Necheles. Necheles asked whether Westerhout knew if Trump cared about his family. Westerhout recollected that she remembered how upset Trump was in 2018 when the story of Stormy Daniels' affair came out. She acknowledged that, "My understanding was he knew it (the Stormy Daniels story) would be hurtful to his family." She also testified that Trump signed dozens of documents a day when he was president, often multitasking and not reviewing what he was signing. She confirmed that personal mail of Trump's was sent through a back channel via an employee's actual home address to circumvent the White House screening system for personal mail. Prosecutors also added several pieces of evidence after testimony concluded, including a summary of the charges, 11 invoices, 12 vouchers and 11 checks made to Cohen.   In addition, they introduced a series of texts between Stormy Daniels' former manager, Gina Rodriguez, and former National Enquirer editor, Dylan Howard, in 2016.