Trump defense cross-examines Michael Cohen in hush money trial

Donald Trump’s latest attempt to end the gag order against him in the hush money criminal trial was denied by a New York appeals court on Tuesday.

"We find that Justice Merchan properly weighed petitioner’s First Amendment Rights against the court’s historical commitment to ensuring the fair administration of justice in criminal cases, and the right of persons related or tangentially related to the criminal proceedings from being free from threats, intimidation, harassment, and harm," according to the order.

Earlier: Trump said that the gag order implemented by Judge Juan Merchan is unfair to him and should be lifted. "You ask me questions I'm not allowed to respond," Trump told reporters before the ruling was issued. He later added, "The gag order has to come off."

Michael Cohen confirmed that in 2018 he learned Stormy Daniels was going to appear on shows like "60 Minutes." At that time he heard from Eric Trump and he started to move on the temporary restraining order against Daniels to stop her from going public.

Cohen says he and Larry Rosen successfully obtained a temporary restraining order against Stormy Daniels.

He tried to serve the order on Daniels via her then-attorney Keith Davidson because he didn't have an address for Daniels.

"We weren’t able to do that. Keith Davidson responded to me that he’s no longer representing her," Cohen said.

Eventually, Cohen says he figured out "Michael Avenatti was going to be representing her going forward."

Attorneys were at a sidebar as prosecutor Susan Hoffinger began asking Michael Cohen about a Wall Street Journal story from 2018 on American Media Inc., the payments and Cohen's conversation with ex-National Enquirer publisher David Pecker.

"David was very concerned because it was going to affect AMI, it was going to affect him," Cohen said. "And so I had told him I would assist with this matter, and I ultimately told him after conversations with the president, do not worry, we have this thing under control, it’s going to be taken care of."

Merchan instructs the jury that, as he previously told them, the evidence is permitted to let them assess Pecker's credibility and they can consider it for those reasons.

Cohen testifies that he told Pecker that because "that was post my conversation with the president."

Hoffinger confirmed with Cohen that he had already had a conversation with Trump about it at that point.

Michael Cohen outlined who signed his checks for the hush money installments, explained why he continued to lie for Trump and made false statements to Congress in 2017.

Here are the highlights of his testimony:

“False invoice”: Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger went through multiple check stubs and reiterated that Michael Cohen was getting paid for a retainer agreement that did not exist. She repeatedly used language like "false invoice" that "falsely states" to do so. And, Trump signed each check from April 2017 on.

The last invoice: Cohen said he sent the last invoice in December 2017 because he was reimbursed for the full $420,000. 

Not getting paid: After getting the last of the hush money installments, Cohen said he was never paid from Trump personally or the Trump Organization. He added he reviewed an agreement for Melania Trump when Madame Tussauds wanted to make a wax figure of her, but he was not paid, he said.

Cohen said he thinks he spent less than 10 hours on work for Trump in 2017.

He continued to lie for Trump: Cohen said he continued to lie for Trump "out of loyalty and in order to protect him." He confirmed he continued to pressure people like attorney Keith Davidson to lie about the deals with Karen McDougal and Stormy Daniels in 2018, and he said it was done to protect Trump.

He made false statements to Congress: Cohen said he felt "a tremendous amount of pressure" when he was subpoenaed to testify to the House and Senate Intelligence Committees during the Russia investigations in 2017. Cohen’s attorney was being paid by the Trump Organization

While on the stand, Cohen said he made false statements to Congress. When asked why, Cohen said:

Michael Cohen is now being shown a message then-Trump attorney Jay Sekulow sent him on February 19, 2018, through the Signal app. The message came after Cohen sent him his public statement.

"Client says thanks for what you do," Sekulow wrote, according to the message.

Cohen testifies that "client" means Trump and that the "thanks" was for denying in the statement.

The jury just saw Michael Cohen's response to the Federal Election Commission investigation into the payment to Stormy Daniels.

Judge Juan Merchan then read the jury an instruction cautioning jurors that the statement was permitted to assist them in assessing Cohen’s credibility and to provide context. They were instructed not to consider it for the fact that there was an FEC investigation. The judge also told the jury not to give it weight when considering Trump's guilt.

At the end of the 2018 statement, Cohen wrote, "Just because something isn’t true doesn’t mean that it can’t cause you harm or damage. I will always protect Mr. Trump."

Cohen explains that the line validated what he had said about providing his own personal funds for the transaction.

Michael Cohen is now being shown a text messages he sent to New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman, who is sitting in court today, in February 2018.

"Big boss just approved me responding to complaint and statement. Please start writing and I will call you soon," Cohen wrote. Cohen confirms that "big boss" was a reference to Trump.

Cohen recalls, "I was going to give it to her first so she had the scoop."

Trump is sitting with his eyes closed as Cohen recalls texting Haberman.

Michael Cohen said on the stand that the 2018 letter to the Federal Election Commission (FEC) about the Stormy Daniels hush money payment is "a true statement but it's misleading ... because neither the Trump Organization nor the Trump campaign was Mr. Trump himself."

Cohen testified that he meant it to be misleading, "in order to protect Mr Trump, stay on message, demonstrate my continued loyalty."

In 2018, Cohen received a complaint letter from the FEC regarding the $130,000 payment to Daniels, he said.

Prosecutors enter into evidence a February 2018 letter to the Federal Election Commission about the payment to Stormy Daniels.

In response to an FEC complaint, Cohen's lawyer wrote in the letter: "In a private transaction in 2016, before the U.S. presidential election, Mr. Cohen used his own personal funds to facilitate a payment of $130,000 to Ms. Stephanie Clifford. Neither the Trump Organization nor the Trump campaign was a party to the transaction with Ms. Clifford, and neither reimbursed Mr. Cohen for the payment directly or indirectly."