Ex-attorney for Daniels and McDougal testifies in Trump trial

Catch up on the key takeaways after the ninth day of Donald Trump’s historic hush money trial wrapped.

Trump is fined – and faces more later this week: Before the jury was called in Tuesday morning, Judge Juan Merchan fined Trump for nine violations – $1,000 each, the maximum allowed by law – of the judge’s gag order barring public discussion of witnesses in the case or the jury. This came after prosecutors had filed a motion to hold Trump in contempt over his social media posts and public comments about Cohen, Daniels and the makeup of the jury pool.

This won’t be Trump’s last run-in with Merchan’s gag order. Last week, the district attorney’s office cited another four comments from Trump that allegedly violated the order. Merchan has scheduled a hearing on those violations for Thursday. In his order, the judge warned Trump that he could be imprisoned if he continues to willfully violate the gag order. Merchan could jail Trump for 30 days for finding him in contempt.

Daniels’ lawyer takes the stand: Keith Davidson, an LA-based attorney, represented both Karen McDougal and Stormy Daniels when they were shopping stories about their romantic relations with Trump in 2016. He described in detail his conversations with American Media Inc.’s then-chief content officer Dylan Howard – aided by text exchanges between the two rich in detail to help freshen up Davidson’s memory – as he cut a $150,000 deal with AMI for McDougal’s story and then struck a $130,000 deal directly with Trump’s then-fixer Michael Cohen for Daniels after AMI backed out.

Jurors hear about the Stormy Daniels payment paper trail: Cohen’s former banker Gary Farro returned Tuesday morning to walk the jury through Cohen’s bank activity around the payment to Daniels. Records show it took Cohen less than 24 hours to open an account for a shell company and use it to wire the money to Daniels’ attorney. The banker also said First Republic Bank closed all of Cohen’s accounts, leaving only his existing mortgages with the institution, after news of the Daniels hush money payment became public.

Trump videos played for the jury in court: Prosecutors used records custodians to enter several video clips into evidence Tuesday morning.

Trump allies in court: Trump’s son, Eric Trump, attended the trial – the first family member of the former president to appear during the trial. Others present included: Susie Wiles, Trump’s senior campaign adviser, Ken Paxton, the Texas attorney general, and David McIntosh, who has cofounded conservative political groups including the Club for Growth.

Trump can attend his son’s graduation: Before the trial began, Trump’s attorneys had asked for May 17 off so that Trump could attend his son Barron’s graduation. The judge had said he didn’t know yet if that was possible – but on Tuesday, Merchan said things were moving quickly enough that he was comfortable having no court that day so Trump could attend graduation. Trump had previously attacked the judge for preventing him from attending Barron’s graduation, even though the judge had only previously said he was withholding a decision on the request.

The hush money criminal trial against former President Donald Trump is one of four criminal cases he faces while juggling his presidential campaign.

The former president faces at least 88 charges over the four criminal indictments in Georgia, New York, Washington, DC, and Florida. Trump has pleaded not guilty to every charge in these cases. 

Here’s a recap of each case: 

Read more about the four criminal cases Trump faces. 

Prosecutors and the defense have been zeroing in on key moments related to the hush money case.

Keith Davidson, the former lawyer of Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal, on Tuesday testified about the negotiations that led to the tabloid deals with both women.

CNN compiled a timeline of the events leading up to the historic trial. Read up on the moments below:

See the full timeline. 

Robert Browning, executive director of C-SPAN archives, testified under a subpoena received by CSPAN from the Manhattan DA’s office.

The hush money trial against Donald Trump started Tuesday with Michael Cohen’s former banker Gary Farro back on the stand. At the end of last week, jurors saw the paper trail for a shell company and corresponding account Cohen opened to pay Karen McDougal and later a second account intended to pay Stormy Daniels.

Prosecutors then called Dr. Robert Browning, the executive director of C-SPAN archives, and Philip Thompson who works for a court reporting company. 

Keith Davidson, the former attorney for Daniels and McDougal, then took the stand. He walked the jury through the negotiations that led to Daniels’ tabloid deal and hush money payment, which is at the center of the case against Trump.

Here’s a recap of what happened in court:

Gary Farro

Robert Browning

Phillip Thompson

Keith Davidson

Gag order violation: Judge Juan Merchan has found Trump in contempt of court for violating his gag order. He is handing down his written decision to the parties. Merchan has fined Trump $1,000 for each violation and warned of jail time if violations keep occurring. As part of the order, Trump removed the posts this afternoon.

CNN’s Kara Scannell, Lauren Del Valle, Jeremy Herb contributed reporting to this post.

Former President Donald Trump again criticized the gag order placed on him in his hush money criminal trial, calling it “unconstitutional.”

What the gag order says: Trump is barred from making statements about witnesses, jurors, prosecutors, court staff and family members of the prosecutors, court staff and Manhattan district attorney. 

This morning, he was fined $9,000 after Judge Juan Merchan ruled he had violated the gag order in nine different posts on social media and his campaign website.

Trump reiterated his claim that there’s “no crime” in the case.

Judge Merchan is off the bench.

Trump is standing and has turned to leave the courtroom.

The prosecutors are waiting to leave.

Before breaking for the day, Keith Davidson described Michael Cohen like the dog who yells “Squirrel!”

Steinglass asks how was Cohen’s demeanor during this time on the phone. “He was highly excitable, sort of a pants-on-fire kind of guy,” Davidson said.

The jury is being excused for the day.

Judge Juan Merchan told the jury he’ll see them Thursday at 10 a.m. ET.

Reminder: A gag order hearing is set for 9:30 a.m. ET Thursday.

The jury is now seeing an email from October 26, 2016, from Keith Davidson to Michael Cohen with wiring instructions.

“This is the fourth or fifth time I sent my wiring instructions to Michael Cohen,” Davidson testifies.

Davidson is now discussing a series of texts from October 2016 about efforts to salvage the Stormy Daniels deal.

On October 25, Howard texted Davidson: “Going to see Pecker in 15. Will ask for an update. Any word?” That was a reference to the publisher of the National Enquirer David Pecker.

“I’m awaiting a call any second,” Davidson responded via text. He testified he could not remember who that was in reference to.

Davidson says he thought AMI, the owner of the National Enquirer, was attempting to “resurrect” the Stormy Daniels deal.

Davidson explained that Howard forwarded him a text Howard had sent to Cohen:

“I wrote — Keith calling you urgently. We have to coordinate something on the matter he’s calling you about or could look awfully bad for everyone.”

Howard texts Davidson: “push (Cohen) for the cash. DP and I just told him he has to pay the 150k.”

Davidson texts Howard, “He says that you are paying.”

Some context: Looking at these texts from October 25, 2016, Davidson testified his understanding from Howard at this point was Michael Cohen would resurrect the deal and Davidson “should try to get as much as he could up to $150,000.”

We’re back to looking at text messages between Davidson and Howard.

These texts pick up after Howard said Trump was tight.

Howard texted Davidson, “I reckon that Trump impersonator I hired has more cash.”

Davidson testified he interpreted that text to mean “that Trump wasn’t as wealthy as he stated.”

Trump was looking at a note from Todd Blanche just now and the attorney was smiling. Trump was not and handed it back to him.

Trump leaned back to look toward prosecutor Joshua Steinglass as the judge continued sustaining objections to the prosecutor’s questions.

Davidson said, “It was my understanding that Mr. Trump was the beneficiary of the contract.”

Davidson added that typically in his experience the beneficiary funds the deal.

Judge Juan Merchan sustained a defense objection to that speculation and struck that part of Davidson’s answer though the jury heard it in open court.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass just asked Keith Davidson: “Did you have an understanding of how this deal was going to be funded?”

Davidson says he had an assumption.

Donald Trump’s lawyers objected to a line of questioning related to Keith Davidson’s grand jury testimony.

The judge sustained the objection.

Trump is shaking his head side to side in court.

Donald Trump is sitting alone at the defendant’s table while the lawyers are at the bench.

Defense attorney Susan Necheles is two seats over from him, but she isn’t talking to him during the bench conference.

Davidson is back on the stand.

The jury is now being shown another string of text messages between Davidson and Dylan Howard after the deal to pay Stormy Daniels seemed to crumble.

Davidson texted, “I can’t believe Cohen let this go. It’s going to be a sh*t show.”
Howard replied, “I bet. All because Trump is tight.”

Davidson explained to the jury when Howard said Trump is tight he meant that Trump “was frugal.”

Davidson said he believed “they had this deal sort of on a silver platter and it was just there for the taking.”

He said the only reason the deal didn’t close was “because they didn’t want to spend the money.”

Keith Davidson, the attorney who represented both Karen McDougal and Stormy Daniels, testified for about an hour after the lunch break about his efforts to negotiate settlement deals on behalf of his clients.

Continuing his earlier testimony, he said American Media Inc. (AMI), which publishes the National Enquirer, agreed to pay $150,000 to McDougal for her story about an alleged affair with Trump. Davidson received 45% of that payment.

He said AMI decided not to actually run the story for two reasons: because they wanted to build McDougal into a “brand” and because there was an “unspoken understanding” that the story would hurt Trump.

Separately, Davidson and Howard messaged regarding the adult film actress Stormy Daniels’ story about having an affair with Trump in 2006. Though the allegation was old, her story took on new importance after the release of the “Access Hollywood” tape in which Trump made vulgar comments about his treatment of women.

“Yeah but her talking and taking (redacted) is the final nail in the coffin,” Howard messaged to Davidson.

Still, AMI decided not to go through with paying for Daniels’ story. Instead, former Trump attorney Michael Cohen stepped in and agreed to pay $130,000 to Daniels, her former manager and Davidson as part of a settlement for her silence, Davidson testified.

The settlement said that the payment would be made by October 14, 2016, but Cohen did not send the money, Davidson testified. Cohen gave him a series of excuses, but Davidson said he did not believe them and threatened to cancel the settlement.

“I let him know that the level of dissatisfaction was quite high. He stated, ‘G–damn it. I’ll just do it myself,’” Davidson testified.

On October 17, Davidson wrote in an email to Cohen: “Please be advised that my client deems her Settlement agreement cancelled and void ab initio.” He also said he no longer represented Daniels.

Trump has entered with his phone in his right hand.

Eric Trump and Susie Wiles have returned.

Judge Merchan is speaking off-mic to prosecutors.

Davidson, who is testifying, has also entered the courtroom.

The jury has just filed back as well.

Natalie Harp, the former One America News anchor-turned-Trump aide who often prints out articles for him, is also in the courtroom. She is in the second row behind political aides.

Judge Juan Merchan is on the bench and the prosecutors are back in the courtroom.

However, Donald Trump is not here yet.

The judge had warned Trump attorney Todd Blanche about not being late when they returned from lunch.

Former President Donald Trump on Tuesday railed against the gag order he’s under in his New York criminal hush money trial after being fined for violations. 

“This Judge has taken away my Constitutional Right to FREE SPEECH. I am the only Presidential Candidate in History to be GAGGED. This whole “Trial” is RIGGED, and by taking away my FREEDOM OF SPEECH, THIS HIGHLY CONFLICTED JUDGE IS RIGGING THE PRESIDENTIAL OF 2024 ELECTION. ELECTION INTERFERENCE!!!” Trump posted on Truth Social.

Remember: Trump is not barred from speaking at the trial. He is barred from making statements about witnesses, jurors, prosecutors, court staff and family members of the prosecutors, court staff and Manhattan district attorney. This morning, he was fined $9,000 after Judge Juan Merchan ruled he had violated the gag order in nine different posts on social media and his campaign website.

Trump departs with no comment.

Reporters have asked about the gag order fine every time he’s left/entered the hallway and he hasn’t responded.

The court is scheduled to resume at 3:50 p.m. ET.

The court is taking a short break and the jury has left the courtroom.

David McIntosh, who cofounded the two conservative political groups, The Federalist Society and The Club for Growth, is also in the courtroom today.

Davidson says he had conversations with Dylan Howard during this time, where he said he would express that Cohen “was not being truthful.”

“I thought he was trying to kick the can down the road until after the election,” Davidson testified about Cohen’s excuses for not coming up with the funding.

Trump is leaning in and appeared to look at the October 17 email displayed on the monitor in front of him.

The email shows that Davidson wrote to Cohen to note that Stormy Daniels’ settlement agreement had been canceled.

While the hush money trial against former President Donald Trump is ongoing in a Manhattan courtroom, a full panel of appellate judges denied one of Trump’s attempts to stay the trial on Tuesday.

On April 10, Trump asked a New York appeals court for emergency relief to stop the criminal trial from going ahead so he could appeal a lower court’s ruling on presidential immunity and have the judge recused from the case. His attorneys also challenged Judge Juan Merchan’s previous ruling related to how dockets are made publicly.

At the time, a single appellate judge heard oral arguments and then swiftly denied the interim motion to delay the trial.

The full appellate panel, made up of five justices, issued their order to also deny the motion on Tuesday.

Keith Davidson says he wrote in an email to Michael Cohen on October 17: “Please be advised that my client deems her settlement agreement canceled and void ab initio,” which means from the start.

“Please further be advised that I no longer represent her in this or any matter,” Davidson added in the email.

Davidson says he let Cohen know he was off the case. “I didn’t want to receive a million frustrating phone calls from Michael,” he says.

Davidson says this email was “the straw that broke the camel’s back” and “this is where push came to shove.”

Davidson testified that he came to believe that Cohen didn’t have the authority to spend the money.

“I think you can tell by these emails I was sending him there was a great level of frustration by me and my client,” Davidson said.
“I let him know that the level of dissatisfaction was quite high. He stated, ‘Goddamn it. I’ll just do it myself,’” Davidson testified.

Keith Davidson listed a series of excuses Michael Cohen gave him after he followed up about the Stormy Daniels’ payment, including that the computer systems are “all f**ked up,” placing blame on the Secret Service, among others.

“The Secret Service is in here, they’ve got so many goddamn firewalls,” Davidson recalled Cohen saying.

Conversations with Cohen were “conciliatory” but full of contradictions that made Davidson feel like Cohen didn’t plan to fund the deal, Davidson said on the stand.

After days of excuses with no money wire, Davidson said he told Cohen, “I don’t believe a word really that you say.”

Cohen responded, “goddamnit what do you expect me to do, my guy is in five different states today.”

Davidson says that he believed Cohen began making excuses for “failure to fund” their agreement as he walked through emails he exchanged with Cohen in October 2016.

On October 14, 2016, Davidson sent Cohen wiring instructions for the second time after Cohen said he’d send the money that day.

On October 17, Davidson emailed Cohen at his Trump Org address again: “I have been charged by my client with forwarding the below message.

The messages included:

The agreement that Keith Davidson emailed included a requested deadline of October 14, 2016, for Michael Cohen to provide the money — but Davidson says the money was not sent by that date.

“We good?” Davidson emailed to Cohen on October 12, 2016.

Davidson said Daniels’ manager Gina Rodriguez approached him and asked him to close the deal.

 “It’s going to be the easiest deal you’ve ever done in your entire life,” Davidson says, pauses, and then lets out a little laugh.

Rodriguez told him it had already been negotiated. “All you have to do is talk to that a**hole Cohen,” Davidson recalled.

He chuckled on the stand as he said it – with a dramatic pause for the jury to catch the irony.

Keith Davidson is explaining how they used fake names in the agreement between Donald Trump and Stormy Daniels.

“Peggy Peterson” was used Daniels because she was the plaintiff, and “David Dennison” was used for Trump because he was the defendant, Davidson said.

Asked if David Dennison is a real person, Davidson said, “Yes, he was on my high school hockey team.”

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass asked him, “How does he feel about you know? “

“He’s very upset,” Davidson said, drawing laughs from some of the jurors.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass is now showing an email from Keith Davidson to Michael Cohen with the Stormy Daniels’ agreement attached.

The email states there’s a “settlement sum” of $130,000.

According to Davidson, when he got involved, National Enquirer editor Dylan Howard told him the deal would go up to $150,000 to compensate the lawyer and either American Media Inc. or Cohen would pay for it.

Ultimately, it was settled at $130,000.

Enquirer editor Dylan Howard was “washing his hands of the deal,” Davidson said of the Stormy Daniels’ story.

Remember how publisher David Pecker testified last week that he wanted nothing to do with an adult film star even if it would help Trump. It would not play well with big tabloid distributors like Walmart, he said on the stand.

Davidson said it was unusual for Howard to refer him to someone outside AMI to arrange a deal. “This is the only time it ever happened,” Davidson said.

Davidson said when he got involved “the deal had really already been cut at 120.”

Davidson testified “Stormy and Gina weren’t going to take a discount so that 120 became 130,” referring to amounts of $120,000 and $130,000.

Davidson says that the deal with AMI was essentially the same deal that was struck with Cohen, and after AMI washed its hands they handed it off to Cohen.

“In essence, Michael Cohen stepped into AMI’s shoes,” Davidson said.

Keith Davidson testified that he texted former National Enquirer editor Dylan Howard on October 9, 2016, letting him know about a published post from a gossip website called TheDirty.com referencing his client, Stormy Daniels.

Davidson texted Howard after the website republished that original blog post following the release of “Access Hollywood” tape, saying, “Hi, the story is already out there.”

Howard texted Davidson: “Yeah but her talking and taking (redacted) is the final nail in the coffin…but he’s f**ked already.”

Davidson explained that he thought Howard meant that “the dirty post was bad but it could get a lot worse” if Daniels spoke publicly.

In response to the release of the “Access Hollywood” tape, Keith Davidson texted Dylan Howard, “Trump is f**ked,” Davidson is explaining in court.

“Wave the white flag. It’s over people!” Howard responded to Davidson’s text, according to Davidson.

Trump is again leaning back in his chair as Keith Davidson testifies about Stormy Daniels. He looks like his eyes are closed or staring off.

Texts between Dylan Howard and Davidson about the Access Hollywood tapes – like the other exhibits – have been displayed on the individual screens in front of the jurors for them to see closely.

On October 10, 2016, Howard connected Davidson and Cohen via text: “Keith/Michael: connecting you both in regards to that business opportunity. Spoke to the client this AM and they’re confirmed to proceed with the opportunity. Thanks. Dylan.”

Davidson explains that Gina Rodriguez and Howard had come to terms on an agreement for AMI to purchase Daniels’ story. But then AMI backed out of the deal.

Davidson explained how he ultimately came to be involved.

“The moral of the story is no one wanted to talk to Cohen,” saying that both he and Rodriguez both refused to deal directly with Cohen.

Howard called Davidson to convince him to work with him to get the deal done.

Keith Davidson is being asked about what impact the release of the “Access Hollywood” tape had on the interest in Stormy Daniels’ story

Davidson says there was very little interest in the “marketplace” in Daniels’ story about an alleged affair with Trump in the summer of 2016 through the fall. But the “Access Hollywood” tape sparked interest in Daniels’ story, Davidson says. That’s when interest in her story “reached a crescendo.”

“So, far as I’m aware, it had tremendous influence,” Davidson says.

Witness Keith Davidson is speaking to the jury while answering the prosecutor’s questions about Michael Cohen and Stormy Daniels’ former manager Gina Rodriguez.

National Enquirer editor Dylan Howard texted Keith Davidson on June 30, 2016:

“FYI Gina trying to hawk Stormy again,” a reference to her manager Gina Rodriguez.

“Part of Gina’s role and responsibility, the services she provided, was to monetize stories in the press. She was like a story broker,” Davidson said in explaining the text message.

“Gina was bringing this story back to market,” Davidson explained.

Davidson responded to Howard at the time: “Lol - she’s trying to sell a story to you?”

Donald Trump is closing his eyes for sustained periods as Keith Davidson continues his testimony.

Trump attorney Todd Blanche cracked a smile when Davidson was describing Cohen’s screaming.

Keith Davidson sent a “cease and desist” letter to the blog on Stormy Daniels’ behalf. The 2011 post was about Daniels’ relationship with Donald Trump.

Rodriguez, who represented Daniels in 2011 and referred her to Davidson then, called Davidson, saying: “Some jerk called me and was very very aggressive and threatened to sue me and I would like you, Keith, to call this jerk back.”

“Who was that jerk?” Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass asked.
“Michael Cohen,” Davidson said.

When he called Cohen, Davidson recalled being immediately “met with a hostile barrage of insults and insinuations and allegations and that went on for quite a while.”

“I don’t think he was accusing us of anything. He was just screaming,” Davidson said of Cohen.

Davidson said he was successful in “accomplishing my client’s goal” of getting the blog post taken down after he sent the “cease and desist” letter.

The jury is getting a picture that Cohen is aggressive and difficult to deal with.

Days after the contract was signed but before AMI wired McDougal the money, Davidson texted Howard – I’m going to let ABC know that Karen has decided to keep her story quiet.

“I’m going to let them know that the family has begged and pleaded with her not to come out and that she has promised her family she wouldn’t. I will have Karen ignore all of their calls. Any objection?

“I needed to sort of off-board ABC,” Davidson testified.

“Stormy Daniels was a client of mine,” Keith Davidson says.

Donald Trump has his lips pursed and briefly glanced over at Davidson as he begins answering questions about how he knows Stormy Daniels.

Davidson says there were two explanations for why AMI would buy McDougal’s story without planning to run it.

The first was they were trying to build up her brand and that story would not help it. The second was more of an “unspoken understanding,” Davidson said.

“I think one explanation that was given was that they were trying to build Karen into a brand and didn’t want to diminish her reputation. And second was more of an unspoken understanding that there was a close affiliation between David Pecker and Donald Trump and that AMI would not run this story or any story related to Karen and Donald Trump because it would tend to hurt Donald Trump.”

Keith Davidson says he received 45% of the $150,000 deal.

Steinglass is showing the jury that the text messages were sent the same day as the effective date of AMI’s contract with McDougal.

Prosecutors are now showing Keith Davidson’s email to Michael Cohen on August 5, 2016, asking Cohen to call him.

“I called him to let him know as a professional courtesy that the deal involving his client closed,” Davidson testified.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass asked him, who was Cohen’s client. “Donald Trump,” Davidson said.

Donald Trump was not a named party to the deal, Davidson said, but also added he recognized the benefit this deal with former Playboy model Karen McDougal would serve Trump.

AMI General Counsel Cameron Stracher suggested Davidson call Cohen.

Davidson texted Dylan Howard:

“he wants me to call Cohen. U think that’s ok? Ive been trying like hell to avoid that.”

Davidson says that “even when we spoke,” he and AMI’s general counsel “still weren’t on the same page.” He explains this was why Strachter told him to call Cohen.

Davidson testified “I thought it was odd” that he was told to call Cohen.

Davidson says he didn’t want to talk to Cohen because of his last conversation with Cohen in 2011 around the blog post. He said it was “not pleasant or constructive. I didn’t particularly like dealing with him and that’s why I was trying like hell to avoid talking to him.”

“Ok we are paying,” Howard texted Davidson on August 8, 2016. “Glad it all sorted.”

“F**ken Jesus,” Howard texted.

Davidson testified, “I think it was just a frustrating deal for everybody involved.” It was a lot of “heavy lifting.”

“Yes, I believe so. I told Cohen this never would’ve happened without you,” Davidson responded to Howard.

“He’s hopeless. Oh well. Another one done!” Howard responded.

Testifying about 2016 texts surrounding the discussion around the Karen McDougal deal, Keith Davidson described “growing frustration.”

“On my side of the aisle there was growing frustration with process,” Davidson testified.

“It was difficult to red-line something that didn’t even closely resemble” the deal points that had initially been reached, Davidson added.

Witness Keith Davidson is looking at another series of texts from August 2016 regarding the Karen McDougal deal.

Davidson texted former National Enquirer editor Dylan Howard: “I can’t believe they are asking me to go back for another 25 but they are. (T)He deal is accepted at 150k. Can u do that?”

Howard responded: “He just called me. F**ck it. Not my money. I’ll ask.”

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass is continuing to walk Howard through the text messages.

“We are figuring out the mechanics of the deal already,” Howard texted Davison in August 2016. “Right now I mean,” Howard said in a follow-up text.

“We had come to terms by this point at AMI on the deal points,” Davidson testifies as he explains an August 5, 2016, text message discussing concerns with the agreement he had received from AMI’s general counsel.

Trump is sitting back in his chair, looking up at the messages on the screen that prosecutors are showing to Davidson. He is intermittently commenting to his attorney, Emil Blanche.

The jury is back and prosecutor Joshua Steinglass is beginning his questioning of Davidson.

Judge Juan Merchan is back on the bench and court is in session.

Attorney Keith Davidson, a key witness who represented Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal, will continue his testimony in the hush money trial. 

Davidson walked in front of Eric Trump on his way to the witness stand. They gave slight nods to each other.

Trump has entered the courtroom.

Eric Trump is here along with Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton who is sitting in the first row.

The former president didn’t answer questions in the courtroom hallway.

Prosecutors have also entered the room.

Trump is chatting to his attorney Emil Bove at the defense table.

Former President Donald Trump has removed the social media posts that Judge Juan Merchan ruled violated the gag order he is under for his New York criminal hush money trial.

Trump was fined $9,000 earlier on Tuesday for violating the gag order by criticizing expected trial witnesses nine times in posts on social media and his campaign page.

Trump was ordered to remove the posts by 2:15 p.m. ET on Tuesday and pay the fine by close of business day on Friday, May 3. 

The links to the Truth Social and campaign website posts now redirect to a “Not found” and a “404” error page, respectively. 

Keith Davidson, an attorney, testified for about an hour prior to a lunch break Tuesday that he signed a contract to represent the actress and model Karen McDougal in her claim that she had a romantic affair with Donald Trump.

On the stand, Davidson went over his text exchange with National Enquirer editor Dylan Howard negotiating the rights to her story in June 2016 amid the presidential race.

“I have a blockbuster trump story,” Davidson wrote to the editor.

“Talk 1st thing. I will get you more than ANYONE for it. You know why…” Howard responded.

Davidson and McDougal were also in conversations with ABC News about telling her story, he testified. However, McDougal “did not want to tell her story” and so preferred the deal with AMI, which would not have required her to speak, Davidson said.

At one point, while Davidson and Howard were negotiating, Davidson wrote, “Throw in an ambassadorship for me. I’m thinking Isle of Man.” He said that text was a joke about Trump’s presidential run – “That somehow if Karen did this deal for AMI, that it would help Donald Trump’s candidacy.”

Davidson will return to the stand at 2:15 p.m. ET

No cameras are allowed inside the Manhattan courtroom where Donald Trump’s hush money trial is underway, but sketch artists are capturing the scenes.

Michael Cohen's former banker Gary Farro testifying on the stand on April 30 in New York.

Former President Donald Trump’s son, Eric Trump, is in attendance in court, currently seated in the courtroom in the first row in the galley behind his father.

Former President Donald Trump in court on Tuesday.

The court is taking a lunch break until 2:15 p.m. ET.

Donald Trump has left the courtroom. He passed by court reporters in the hallway without making any remarks.

Former National Enquirer editor and AMI executive Dylan Howard texted Keith Davidson on July 28: “She’ll get more out of a deal with AMI than ABC.”

“I need this to happen,” Davidson responded over text.

More on this: Earlier, Davidson confirmed he was in discussions with ABC News about a possible deal for Karen McDougal’s story.

Keith Davidson testified that at that point in the conversations with former National Enquirer editor Dylan Howard, “Karen (McDougal) was teetering between two competing deals.”

“And we had requested meetings where each entity could make a pitch as to why they were the correct avenue for Karen,” he added.

Keith Davidson is testifying about his first offer to former National Enquirer editor Dylan Howard.

Davidson’s offer to Howard over text was: “How about 1m now,” meaning $1 million, he explained. “And 75k per year for next 2 years as a fitness corresponded for ami & ur related pubs.”

“I’ll take it to them but thinking it’s more hundreds than millions,” Howard responded over text on July 23. Davidson said he interpreted that warning to mean, “I should expect a counter offer that was substantially less.”

Davidson responded by offering $800,000 now and $100,000 per year for a total of $1 million.

Howard’s response “leave w/ me” suggested they were not “in the same ballpark,” he testified.

“We are going to lay it on thick for her,” Howard texted Davidson on July 28, 2016.

Davidson replied, “Good. Throw in an ambassadorship for me. I’m thinking Isle of Mann.”

Davidson noted that was a joke.

“It was sort of in jest,” Davidson said. “That was just a joke.”

Davidson said that the joke was a reference to “Mr. Trump’s candidacy.”

“That somehow if Karen did this deal for AMI, that it would help Donald Trump’s candidacy,” he testified.

Keith Davidson is testifying that Karen McDougal “did not want to tell her story.”

Davidson says McDougal’s goals were to “rejuvenate her career, to make money and to avoid telling the story and being termed the scarlet letter.” She didn’t want to be termed “the other woman,” he said.

On July 23, 2016, former National Enquirer editor Howard texted Davidson: “Get me a price on McDougall (sic). All in. Consulting gig perhaps as a fitness expert thrown into the mix.”

The ABC deal required her to tell her story, so she liked the AMI deal that wouldn’t force her to do that, Davidson says. 

“That was one of her stated goals” not to have to tell her story, he says.

In a July 22 text, Keith Davidson texted Dylan Howard: “Don’t forget about Cohen. Time is of the essence. The girl is being cornered by the estrogen mafia.”

Testifying about the “estrogen mafia” comment, Davidson called it “a very unfortunate regrettable text I sent.”

“That phrase is not one I used or came up with, that was a term I think by one of Karen’s associates at that first meeting,” Davidson said.

Keith Davidson told prosecutors that former Playboy model Karen McDougal was “teetering” about the ABC deal.

Earlier, he confirmed that he was also in discussions with ABC News about McDougal’s story.

Keith Davidson explains why he went to ABC News as well as the National Enquirer.

“At the time, as if often the case with negotiations, I was trying to play two entities off of each other,” Davidson says, adding that the objective was to “create a sense of urgency, if you will.”

His goal was to get the best deal for his client with whichever outlet, Davidson said.

Howard said he told Davidson “we need to talk urgently.” Davidson says he assumes that message was conveyed to former AMI CEO David Pecker.

Keith Davidson confirmed he was also in discussions with ABC News about Karen McDougal’s story.

On July 27, former editor in chief of the National Enquirer, Dylan Howard, texted, “Let’s talk DT/Ross. I think this is the entrée for me to go back to them.”

This is a reference to ABC News journalist Brian Ross.

Davidson replied, “better be quick.”

Davidson said he assumed that text meant Howard would go back to David Pecker, then chair of American Media Inc., to revisit the negotiations over McDougal’s story.

Keith Davidson is now discussing the June 2016 meeting he arranged between Karen McDougal and former National Enquirer editor Dylan Howard, where she told her story about Donald Trump to AMI — the parent company of the tabloid.

AMI’s initial response was to decline to purchase McDougal’s story with the reasoning that she “lacked documentary evidence of the interaction.”

After the meeting ended, “we said we’d keep in touch,” Davidson says.

In a text message from June 27, 2016, Davidson texted Howard: “It’s a story (t)hat should be told…”

“I agree,” Howard texted back in response.

While testifying, Keith Davidson has been referring to the matter as “the personal interaction that Karen had with Donald Trump.”

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass just asked him to say what it is.

“Ms. McDougal alleged she had a romantic affair with Donald Trump some years prior,” Davidson says.

Asked if the relationship was sexual in nature, Davidson says, “That’s what she expressed.”

Prosecutors are now going over text messages between Keith Davidson and Dylan Howard, the former editor of the National Enquirer.

A June 10 text from Howard reads, “Did he cheat on Melania?”

Another text on June 12 text from Howard reads, “Do you know if the affair was during his marriage to Melania?”

“I really can’t say yet. Sorry,” Davidson responds on June 12.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass the asked Davidson whether he said that because he didn’t know or because he wasn’t ready to discuss the details yet. “It was because I was not prepared to discuss the details at that point,” Davidson says.

Donald Trump is passing another note to his attorney Emil Bove as Keith Davidson continue to testify.

The jury is now seeing texts that Keith Davidson sent to former National Enquirer editor Dylan Howard.

The first text is sent June 7, 2016.

Davidson texts: “I have a blockbuster trump story”
Howard responded: “Talk 1st thing. I will get you more than ANYONE for it. You know why…”

Davidson explains he reached out concerning the alleged interaction between Karen McDougal and Donald Trump.

Davidson testifies it was meant to be an “entree or teaser” to let Howard know he had a good story.

He also testifies, “I don’t know if I had a clear understanding at the time,” but said he understood former American Media CEO David Pecker and Trump were friends and that AMI — the parent company of the National Enquirer — had endorsed Trump.

The jury is shown a portion of the retainer agreement that explains the scope of the work.

In part it reads, “Client is hiring attorney to represent client in the matter of client’s claim against Donald Trump and or assisting client in negotiating a confidentiality agreement and/or life rights related to interaction with Donald Trump and/or negotiating assignment of exclusive press opportunities regarding same.” 

Keith Davidson says he won’t get into his discussions with Karen McDougal about this agreement, but he says that the paragraph above authorized him to negotiate with media outlets on his client’s behalf.

Keith Davidson is now on the stand. He was the lawyer who was at the center of the so-called hush money agreements with Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal.

The lawyer helped negotiate the deals to silence Daniels and McDougal over their alleged encounters with Donald Trump. Davidson said in an interview with CNN in 2018 that he’d spoken with Michael Cohen on several occasions about the two women.

Davidson also said he called Cohen in the late summer of 2016 to inform him that he’d settled a case involving Playboy model McDougal. McDougal sold the rights to her story to American Media Inc., the parent company of the National Enquirer, for $150,000 and other perks. Davidson said he informed Cohen of the deal as “a professional courtesy.”

During his testimony last week, David Pecker, the former publisher of the National Enquirer, testified about his communications with Davidson throughout the process of negotiating the payments.

CNN’s Scott Glover and Sara Sidner contributed reporting to this post.

Keith Davidson was shown an email he sent to former Playboy model Karen McDougal saying, “Great seeing you today. I’ve already started on your case.”

The email also contained a retainer agreement and was dated June 15, 2016.

Keith Davidson said he represented Karen McDougal in 2016 to provide her advice of counsel about her rights about a personal interaction she had with Donald Trump.

Davidson said McDougal became his client because they were reintroduced by her former brother-in-law.

Keith Davidson is being asked if knows Karen McDougal.

“She was a client of mine,” he said, adding that he met her 25 years ago when she was dating his friend.

Davidson is McDougal’s former attorney.

Trump just wrote a note on a notepad and handed it to his attorney Emil Bove. Bove wrote something and handed it back to Trump.

Former President Donald Trump has been accused of taking part in an illegal conspiracy to undermine the integrity of the 2016 election and an unlawful plan to suppress negative information, which included a hush money payment made to adult film star Stormy Daniels to hide an affair. Trump has denied the affair.

Daniels, whose legal name is Stephanie Clifford, received a $130,000 payment just days before the 2016 presidential election. Prosecutors allege Trump disguised the transaction as a legal payment and falsified business records numerous times to “promote his candidacy.” Trump faces 34 counts of falsifying business records. He has pleaded not guilty.

Daniels shared in a documentary released in March that she accepted the payment to keep her one-night stand with Trump in 2006 from becoming public to protect her husband and daughter.

Meanwhile, Karen McDougal is a model and actress who has said she had a monthslong affair with Trump in 2006. She was paid $150,000 to keep quiet about it by the National Enquirer, according to prosecutors. Trump has denied the affair.

While the hush money trial is focused on the hush money deal involving Daniels, prosecutors have used the alleged McDougal payoff as evidence the schemes were aimed at protecting Trump’s electoral chances.

See a full timeline of key moments in the case.

Michael Cohen was working on Donald Trump’s behalf when they interacted over the Stormy Daniels’ blog post, Keith Davidson testified.

Davidson was given a thumb drive in court with emails and attachments from his law firm’s servers. 

Keith Davidson explains how he knows Michael Cohen, saying they first spoke over a blog posting in 2011 involving his client and Donald Trump.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass asks Davidson who that client was, and he replied that she was Stephanie Clifford, also known as adult-film star Stormy Daniels.

Donald Trump has looked over at Keith Davidson from time to time as he’s begun testifying, though he’s mostly facing forward and not reacting to the testimony.

Keith Davidson tells prosecutors he’s had “very little” contact with ex-tabloid publisher David Pecker, saying he’s only ever interacted with Pecker three or four times in his life.

Keith Davidson says he “rarely” negotiated the sale of stories to the tabloids.

Keith Davidson says he’s known Gina Rodriguez for well over ten years. He says he’s represented her in legal matters over the years.

He also confirms his relationship with Dylan Howard, the former chief content officer at AMI, saying he’s known him for well over 10 years through professional matters. 

Davidson categorized his relationship with Howard as “professional acquaintances and friends.”

Keith Davidson says he received immunity to testify in the grand jury but did not seek it.

He says he’s testifying today pursuant to a subpoena.

Some background: Under New York law, a person can automatically get immunity for testifying before a grand jury.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass is beginning his questioning by walking through Keith Davidson’s employment history. Davidson says he owns his own law firm in Los Angeles, Davidson and Associates.

When asked about the period of time from 2015 to 2017 Davidson says, “At that time, my practice was heavily involved with media cases.”

Davidson confirms that his work frequently involved non-disclosure agreements in those cases.

Davidson is looking at the jury as he’s answering many of these questions.

Bill Brennan, the Former Trump Payroll Corporation attorney, said Tuesday that it’s unusual for witnesses to have to testify that videos and evidence provided in court are real.

CNN’s Jake Tapper asked Brennan why a witness from C-SPAN was called to court, and why Phillip Thompson, from a court reporting company had to testify that videos and depositions were correct.

When asking Brennan, Tapper said:

“This is not normal. The reason that they’re having to have these individuals testify, ‘this deposition is real, these video clips are real,’ is because there is no willingness between the prosecution and defense to work together. Is that right?”

Brennan agreed it was happening due to an unwillingness for both the prosecution and defense to cooperate.

“We’re not in the court room, we don’t know what’s going on but it sounds like there’s a line in the sand… makes for a little bit of a longer trial, a little more of a boring trial,” Brennan said.

Phillip Thompson, the prosecution’s fifth witness, testified for a total of 19 minutes.

He testified on behalf of his company, Esquire Deposition Solutions.

Keith Davidson, the former attorney for Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal, is called to the witness stand next and is being questioned by prosecutor Josh Steinglass.

Davidson glances over to Donald Trump’s table as he walked past him to the witness stand.

Trump glanced over at Davidson as he walked past, too.

Former President Donald Trump has closed his eyes and leaned back in his chair several times during testimony on Tuesday, according to CNN reporters in the courthouse.

At about 10:20 a.m. ET, Trump’s eyes were closed as his lawyer started the cross-examination of Gary Farro, Michael Cohen’s former banker who testified about the paper trail.

At about 10:30 a.m., Trump slumped back in his chair with his eyes closed.

And just before noon, Trump again leaned back in his chair with his eyes closed during testimony of Phillip Thompson, who works for a court reporting company.

In the next video clip, Donald Trump is asked about the “Access Hollywood” tape.

“Thats you in that video, speaking?” Trump is asked about the tape. “Yes, correct,” Trump says in the clip that’s being shown.

Remember: The “Access Hollywood” tape itself will not be shown, as the judge previously ruled it could not come into evidence.

Donald Trump is leaning in close to the monitor in front of him while the video clips are being played.

The jury is shown the cover page of the transcript of the video deposition of Donald Trump, which took place on October 19, 2022, at the former president’s Mar a Lago resort in Florida.

Prosecutors are playing a clip from the deposition of Trump describing Truth Social.

“It’s a platform that’s been opened by me as alternative to Twitter,” Trump says in the deposition. 

They also have the corresponding transcript excerpt to accompany the video clip.

In a second video clip, Trump confirms that he is married to Melania Trump since 2005.

Phillip Thompson’s company, Esquire Deposition Solutions, was subpoenaed for the video and transcript of Donald Trump’s October 2022 deposition taken in the E. Jean Carroll defamation case.

Esquire produced more than one version of the transcript of Trump’s deposition, but the substance of Trump’s testimony is identical in both versions, Thompson says. Trump did not submit any corrections to his testimony.

Trump is leaning back with his eyes closed, with no visible reaction to the mention of the Carroll case.

We’re going over the nuts and bolts of depositions.

Phillip Thompson explains that depositions are recorded via a court reporter, who prepares a transcript, and sometimes they are also videotaped.

Prosecutors have called their fifth witness to the stand. Phillip Thompson works for a court reporting company.

Prosecutor Rebecca Mangold is questioning Thompson, who said he is testifying on behalf of his company, Esquire Deposition Solutions, in response to a subpoena.

According to his LinkedIn profile, Thompson is the regional director of field operations at Esquire Deposition Solutions. The company provides several services aimed at supporting legal teams, including managing depositions, court reporting and legal videography, according to its website.

Robert Browning is off the stand. There is no cross-examination.

He testified for 14 minutes in total.

Defense attorney Todd Blanche is whispering with Donald Trump as Browning leaves the stand.

Prosecutors are now entering clips into evidence as Robert Browning, executive director of C-SPAN archives, sits at the witness stand.

These three clips were played to the jury:

“As you have seen, right now I’m being viciously attacked with lies and smears. It’s a phony deal. I have no idea who these women are,” Trump says in the first clip they’re playing from October 2016.

This was in response to stories of women alleging sexual assault after the “Access Hollywood” tape was released in October 2016.

“These are all horrible lies, fabricated,” Trump said in the other video taken in Pennsylvania.

“Michael Cohen is a very talented lawyer. He’s a good lawyer in my firm,” was said in the third clip.

C-SPAN executive Robert Browning is now explaining what the C-SPAN digital video library is. He says it has “278,000 digital hours to date.”

Robert Browning, the executive director of the C-SPAN archives, is explaining to the jury what a network pool is.

Browning says they’re able to authenticate the feed. “While the event is taking place, there’s a producer who is watching the video from beginning to the end to make sure there’s no interruptions in the transmission,” he testifies.

It’s Browning’s first time testifying at a trial. He traveled from Indiana for this. He said he’s a little nervous.

C-SPAN received a subpoena to testify, confirms Robert Browning, the executive director of the C-SPAN archives.

The subpoena was from the Manhattan district attorney’s office to turn over recordings in its archives of Donald Trump, Browning says.

Trump is whispering with attorney Emil Bove as Robert Browning begins his testimony.

Prosecutors are calling their fourth witness, Dr. Robert Browning, the executive director of C-SPAN archives. His testimony will be a vehicle to get records into evidence.

Prosector Rebecca Mangold is handling the questions.

Browning is a professor at Purdue University and teaches courses on the US Congress and media, his university bio states.

As executive director of the C-SPAN Video Library, Browning accepted a Peabody Award in 2010 for excellence in communication “for creating an enduring archive of the history of American policymaking, and for providing it as a free, user-friendly public service.”

Judge Juan Merchan says that he will allow prosecutors to raise Donald Trump’s 2018 comments about Michael Cohen and Stormy Daniels for their first two purposes:

But the judge says that prosecutors cannot use Trump’s claims to argue consciousness of guilt as of now.

Judge Juan Merchan says he won’t let prosecutors introduce some text messages in from Gina Rodriguez, Stormy Daniels’ then-publicist.

The judge said they are prejudicial and don’t advance anything.

More on this: Prosecutors had hoped to get into text messages from Rodriguez to AMI executive Dylan Howard. The prosecutors argued these messages will help contextualize messages Howard sent to her that they plan to show the jury.

Judge Juan Merchan ruled court will not be in session the Friday before Memorial Day, May 24, because a juror has to catch a flight. Neither side objected.

As Banker Gary Farro wrapped up his testimony, he revealed that at no point did he discuss Donald Trump with Trump’s former attorney, Michael Cohen, nor did he ever speak directly to Trump.

Here’s what else we learned through the testimony:

CNN’s Kristina Sgueglia contributed reporting to this post.

Judge Juan Merchan, assessing Trump attorney Todd Blanche, is asking to keep breaks short, adding he doesn’t like to keep the jury waiting

“Let’s try to keep the breaks short,” the judge says. “Let’s do better.”

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is inside the Manhattan courthouse with Donald Trump to show his support for his longtime ally.

“With President Trump in NYC to sit through this sham of a trial. This trial is a travesty of justice. I stand with Trump,” Paxton posted on X.

Trump, notably, helped pressure Texas Republican senators to acquit Paxton during an impeachment trial last year.

Trump is reentering the courtroom following the break. He is speaking to his attorney Todd Blanche as he walks down the aisle.

Judge Juan Merchan is back on the bench. Trump is not in the courtroom.

Prosecutors are reentering the courtroom after a short break.

Trump did not speak in hallway as he left the courtroom for the break, but he did give a little fist pump as he left.

The third reason to introduce the evidence is to show Donald Trump’s “consciousness of guilt,” Prosecutor Matthew Colangelo says again.

Judge Juan Merchan asked Colangelo to elaborate on what evidence would articulate a consciousness of guilt.

Colangelo wants to show the jury Trump’s public comments back when Cohen’s home was first raided in 2018.

Trump spoke positively of his then-personal fixer at the time.

Prosecutors also want to show the jury Trump’s change of tune in public comments about Cohen after he started cooperating with law enforcement against Trump.

What Trump’s team says: Trump attorney Todd Blanche responds that the “idea that President Trump was feeling guilty or somehow had consciousness of guilt” with his comments about Cohen in 2018 “doesn’t work.”

“The statements that President Trump made at the time” leading up to Cohen’s guilty plea were not “not consciousness of guilt of anything happening in this courtroom,” he says.

“The risk the jury will hear that and use for an improper purpose is huge,” Blanche argues.

Judge Juan Merchan isn’t making a decision yet on this.

Judge Juan Merchan asked prosecutor Matthew Colangelo to explain the aims for presenting evidence that show Donald Trump’s “attempt to dissuade witnesses” like Michael Cohen and Stormy Daniels.

Colangelo says the first reason is to “offset the defense claim that the witnesses are benefiting from their willingness to testify, showing their cooperation with law enforcement has harmed them more than it has helped them.”

The second purposes is “to explain why both witnesses initially denied certain facts,” and have now acknowledged those facts, Colangelo says.

Prosecutor Matthew Colangelo says prosecutors want to introduce evidence to show “the defendant’s attempt to dissuade witnesses including Michael Cohen and Stormy Daniels” through what he calls a public pressure campaign, retaliation and harassment online.

Colangelo argues that the defense “opened the door” to these arguments in their opening statements criticizing Michael Cohen and Stormy Daniels for saying their financial livelihoods depends on attacking the defendant.

The prosecutor says this would be evidence of Trump’s “consciousness of guilt.”

Trump attorney Todd Blanche says he wants to know more about what prosecutors plan to do.

Judge Juan Merchan said if the door has been opened, then they’ll find out their plan when the prosecutors question witnesses about it and he’ll handle it then.

Prosecutor Matthew Colangelo says if Donald Trump testifies, they would like to use the gag order violations during cross-examination.

Trump looked over at Colangelo briefly as the prosecutor spoke.

Prosecutors want to get in some text messages from Stormy Daniels’ then-publicist Gina Rodriguez to AMI executive Dylan Howard. The prosecutors say these messages will help contextualize messages Howard sent to her that they plan to show the jury.

Trump attorney Todd Blanche says that text would cause the jury to improperly speculate about what she meant at the time.

Judge Juan Merchan says he’ll rule after the break.

Banker Gary Farro testified for a total of two hours and seven minutes.

The jury has left, and prosecutor Josh Steinglass is bringing up redactions with Trump’s team and where they are not in agreement.

Gary Farro is off the stand in the courtroom. The court is now taking a morning recess.

Gary Farro confirmed to attorney Todd Blanche that the decision to close Michael Cohen’s accounts was not his.

Earlier, he told prosecutor Rebecca Mangold the bank chose not to be “attached to negative press.” Cohen’s accounts that could be closed were closed, the banker said. Cohen’s mortgages were left in tact.

Farro confirmed that the closures happened when the bank learned about the Stormy Daniels news. He testified that once a client is no longer completely honest with them, they “choose not to do business with them going forward.”

The cross-examination of Michael Cohen’s former banker Gary Farro is done, and prosecutor Rebecca Mangold is back up for the redirect.

Gary Farro confirmed that nothing about the way Cohen’s Essential Consultants account was opened, funded and the wire sent out raised any red flags at the time.

“Not based on the answers I was given for the questions I asked,” Farro says. 

Defense lawyer Todd Blanche is asking Gary Farro: “You never had any communications with him about Donald Trump himself did you?”

“I did not,” Farro says.

“You never have spoken with Donald Trump yourself?” Blanche asks.

“I have not,” Farro testifies.

Todd Blanche just stepped away to consult with Donald Trump and another attorney, Emil Bove.

When asked by attorney Todd Blanche, Gary Farro says he wouldn’t consider Michael Cohen a politically exposed person when he was Trump’s personal attorney.

Banks keep a closer eye on account activity for clients they designate as politically exposed persons, Farro says.

Gary Farro testifies he learned Michael Cohen left the Trump Organization in March 2017 when he received a bounce-back to an email.

Trump attorney Todd Blanche reminded Farro that Cohen opened a new bank account for his new law firm around that same time.

Farro said there were no concerns about the opening of that account.

Gary Farro is testifying that had he known Essential Consultants was a shell company and not an operating business, he would not have opened the account for Michael Cohen.

“If client told me it was a shell corporation, it would not have been opened. It would give me pause very frankly,” Farro says.

The only type of shell corporation he would open would be for a mortgage to remain anonymous, he explains.

Farro confirms that Cohen never told him the account was being opened for political activity.

Farro adds that if any account was associated with an entity flagged on a Office of Foreign Assets Control list, the bank would automatically deny the request.

Trump attorney Todd Blanche is confirming that Michael Cohen indicated on the paperwork for Essential Consultants LLC that he was not “acting as an agent” of anyone when he opened the account.

“We would have to know who he was acting as an agent for,”banker Gary Farro said explaining that they’d need proof beyond a verbal assurance. “We would have to ensure that he was not working with a person of interest.” 

While Judge Juan Merchan held Donald Trump in contempt for violating his gag order, there is a narrow scope where the former president could still post about witnesses to defend himself if provoked, CNN legal analyst Karen Friedman Agnifilo said.

Agnifilo noted that the judge talks about witnesses Michael Cohen and Stormy Daniels and “he does acknowledge that Trump can respond if required. So he’s almost sending a message in here as well saying,’Look if it turns out that other people are using this gag order as a way to attack you, you can attack back.’”

She added, that Merchan is essentially saying that the gag order will not apply to witnesses who clearly are not afraid to provoke Trump. So Merchan really drilled down on what is allowed and what is not allowed, Agnifilo said.

Witness Gary Farro says he has “no idea why” the Resolution LLC account was never opened.

This was the account that was to be used for payment of Karen McDougal.

“It’s not a red flag,” Farro says.

Trump attorney Todd Blanche asked Michael Cohen’s former banker Gary Farro, “If he had said this is a deal I was doing with my employer, you may have asked questions?”

“I would have asked questions,” Farro said.

“Donald Trump didn’t bank with First Republic, as far as you know?” Trump attorney Todd Blanche asks.

Witness Gary Farro says he doesn’t know, but confirms Trump did not do business with him.

Gary Farro says that when the information about Michael Cohen’s transaction to Stormy Daniels became public, he was taken off of Cohen’s account at the bank.

Eric Trump is continuously looking at the screen in the courtroom as Gary Farro testifies.

Meanwhile, his father, visible on the screen, is slumped back in his chair with his eyes closed.

Banker Gary Farro says he was assigned Michael Cohen because he is firm with clients.

Defense attorney Todd Blanche is asking: “Cohen, you believe he’s an aggressive guy, fast speaker. Not easy if you’re not firm.”

Farro says he agrees.

Trump attorney Todd Blanche is asking witness Gary Farro about his initial meeting with Michael Cohen at Trump Tower when he took him on as a client and how he spoke to Cohen a few times a year.

“90% of the time it was an urgent matter,” Farro said of dealing with Cohen.

Trump’s eyes are closed as his lawyer starts his cross-examination of Michael Cohen’s former banker Gary Farro.

Most jurors appear to be following along as Gary Farro, Michael Cohen’s former banker, testifies. Some have started taking notes.

Banker Gary Farro says he met with the Manhattan district attorney’s team twice in the last two months ahead of the trial.

Farro says he also met with prosecutors twice in Washington, DC, in 2018 or 2019 about the same bank activity.

Farro confirms that the banks he’s worked for are paying for his attorneys.

Defense attorney Todd Blanche has started his cross-examination of Michael Cohen’s former banker, Gary Farro.

Trump, meanwhile, is sitting back in his chair. His eyes are closed as his lawyer starts his cross-examination of Farro.

Remember: Defense attorneys can cross examine the prosecution’s witnesses and typically aim to discredit their testimony. Witnesses’ responses are considered evidence, but not the questions posed by an attorney. Read more about the stages of the trial, and what they mean here.

Prosecutor Becky Mangold is now showing the Essential Consultants account statement from October 2016, the deposit, the wire transfer and a $35 wire transfer fee. It shows once more that this happened within 24 hours.

The paperwork does not indicate the transfer was made on behalf of a political candidate, witness Gary Farro testified.

Farro says that the paperwork was consistent with a real estate transaction.

Once again, Farro is explaining that things would have been different had the bank known that the money was being used on behalf of a political candidate, for a media story and on behalf of an adult film star.

The prosecution is really leaning into the paper trail on this transfer and its speed.

Michael Cohen’s former banker Gary Farro says that the opening of Cohen’s account and the transfer of the funds out of that account all occurred over the course of 24 hours.

In last week’s hearing on gag order violations, Trump’s defense made two key arguments in his favor: (1) Reposts of other people’s words do not violate the gag order, and (2) the posts represent protected political speech in response to attacks.

Judge Juan Merchan rejected both arguments in his contempt ruling Tuesday.

First, he found that reposts are, in this case, endorsements. “There can be no doubt whatsoever, that Defendant’s intent and purpose when reposting, is to communicate to his audience that he endorses and adopts the posted statement as his own,” he wrote.

Second, Merchan acknowledged that the gag order does allow Trump to respond to political attacks, but said criticisms of key witnesses were not allowed.

“To allow such attacks upon protected witnesses with blanket assertions that they are all responses to ‘political attacks’ would be an exception that swallowed the rule. The Expanded Order does not contain such an exception,” he wrote.

About 50 minutes after Michael Cohen walked into the bank to initiate the wire transfer, he received email confirmation that the wire was sent to Keith Davidson.

The wire transfer was for $130,000, from Essential Consultants to Davidson’s trust account. Davidson’s client was Stormy Daniels.

Donald Trump is writing something that seems lengthy. He just whispered and handed attorney Todd Blanche a note.

Judge Juan Merchan ruled Tuesday that nine of Trump’s posts breached his gag order.  

In the ruling, the judge said the gag order imposed by the court was “lawful and unambiguous” and said that Trump violated it “by making social media posts about known witnesses pertaining to their participation in this criminal proceeding and by making public statements about jurors in this criminal proceeding.”

Here’s what those posts were:

A Truth Social post on April 10 at 10:48 a.m. Truth Social post, April 13, 12:56 p.m. Truth Social post, April 15, 9:12 a.m. Truth Social post, April 15, 10:26 a.m.   Campaign website post, April 15 Truth Social post, April 16, 1:50 p.m. Campaign website post, April 16 Truth Social post, April 16, 7:09 p.m. Truth Social post, April 17, 5:46 p.m.

Explaining why an attorney would pay a retainer to another attorney in a real estate transaction, Gary Farro says, “There could be a number of things.”

Remember: At the time, Farro’s understanding was that the new Essential Consultants account was a real estate endeavor.

Prosecutor Becky Mangold is now showing the wire transfer authorization form that Michael Cohen filled out the following morning on October 27.

The wire transfer was for $130,000, from Essential Consultants to Keith Davidson’s trust account. Davidson’s client was Stormy Daniels.

The wire transfer form says the beneficiary is Keith M Davidson Associates PLC Attorney Trust Account.

“It’s an account that’s held by attorneys on behalf of one of their clients,” Witness Gary Farro explains.

Farro testifies that Cohen listed the purpose of the wire as a “retainer.”

Judge Juan Merchan issued a ruling Tuesday finding Donald Trump in contempt of court for “for willfully disobeying a lawful mandate” nine times this month, saying he violated a gag order and criticized expected trial witnesses.

“This Court rejects Defendant’s arguments and finds that the People have established the elements of criminal contempt beyond a reasonable doubt as to Exhibits 2-10,” the ruling states.

“Defendant violated the Order by making social media posts about known witnesses pertaining to their participation in this criminal proceeding and by making public statements about jurors in this criminal proceeding.”

The nine incidents represent seven posts and reposts on Truth Social and two posts on Trump’s campaign website. He was fined $1,000 for each violation, must pay the fine by the close of business Friday and must remove the posts by 2:15 p.m. today.

Merchan also threatened incarceration if Trump willfully violates the gag order again.

“THEREFORE, 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,” he wrote.

The gag order restricts prosecutors and the defense from commenting on court figures outside of the courtroom.

Prosecutors have subsequently flagged an additional four comments that Trump has made since last week’s hearing, including about Michael Cohen and former AMI chief David Pecker. Merchan has scheduled another hearing on Thursday to address those comments.

Each of the emails the jury is seeing is labeled “high” importance as they seek to make the transfer from Cohen’s line of credit to the Essential Consultants account.

Internal bank communications show that bank personnel worked to get the transfer approved the same day. An internal email shows an employee internally wrote “please expedite pending wire.”

“Can you please send me confirmation that the funds were deposited into the other account? Important…” Cohen wrote to the bank at 4:11 p.m. ET on October 26.

Four minutes later, Cohen is told the funds have been deposited.

“Fully funded and live for business,” Farro says of the account.

Banker Gary Farro says that Michael Cohen got the home equity line of credit transfer in three minutes before the cut off time at 3 p.m. ET on October 26 — the same day he opened the account.

Records show that Cohen’s wife is also listed on the home equity line of credit connected to their personal property.

Prosecutor Rebecca Mangold is now showing emails to and from Michael Cohen confirming a bank transfer of $131,000 from his home equity line of credit into a checking account.

Within 23 minutes of opening the account, Cohen made the transfer.

The money was transferred to the newly opened Essential Consultants LLC.

“It was a second mortgage in this scenario,” Farro explains about Cohen’s home equity line of credit.

“Confirmed,” Cohen wrote one minute after First Republic sent the details about the wire transfer.

Remember: Farro is testifying to the paper trail that underlies the payment to Stormy Daniels at issue in this trial. Cohen pleaded guilty in 2018 to federal charges connected to this bank activity.

Gary Farro also testified that the banking paperwork did not indicate the account would be used to pay someone in the adult film industry.

If it had, he testified, it would require additional scrutiny and might not be opened at all.

“It is an industry that we do not work with,” Farro said.

Banker Gary Farro says there was no indication given that the bank account Michael Cohen set up would be related to a political candidate.

“There would be additional scrutiny,” if the bank had known that, Farro says.

It “quite possibly” would’ve delayed the opening of an account for Essential Consultants had Cohen flagged it’d be used to pay expenses for a political candidate, Farro says.

“We would certainly ask additional questions,” Farro says, adding that it’s possible the account would not have been opened.

Donald Trump is whispering with defense attorney Todd Blanche as prosecutors question Gary Farro, Michael Cohen’s former banker.

Gary Farro’s colleague, who opened Cohen’s account, sent him an email on October 26, 2016: “Account is good to go – gave him wire instructions & ordered checks.”

Farro said it took about five or six hours to open the account for Essential Consultants — what he says is very quick for the process.

Prosecutor Rebecca Mangold is now showing documents that Michael Cohen provided to the bank showing the LLC was created in Delaware.

Prosecutor Rebecca Mangold just showed emails regarding a Michael Cohen’s bank account.

The “type of business” listed on the account document was “consulting.” Gary Farro, Cohen’s former banker, says that is consistent with what Cohen told him about the purpose of the business was in a phone call.

The jury is seeing Cohen’s signature on the account documents.

Gary Farro testifying in court Friday.

Witness Gary Farro, a former senior managing director at First Republic Bank, is back on the stand to testify about his time working with Donald Trump’s former personal attorney, Michael Cohen.

Farro worked at First Republic Bank when Cohen used his home equity line from the bank to pay the $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels, which is at the center of the hush money case.

Cohen’s then lawyer Michael Avenatti provided an email to CNN in 2018 that showed a First Republic Bank employee confirming the deposit to Cohen, who used his personal and trumporg.com email accounts.The bank employee who confirmed the deposit was an assistant to Farro, according to NBC News.

Farro’s testimony Tuesday is expected to get into the documents that underly the paper trial tied to the 34 counts of falsifying business records Trump faces. Trump has pleaded not guilty to all charges and denies the alleged affairs.

What Farro said Friday: When Farro took the stand as prosecutors’ third witness, jurors saw the paper trail for a shell company and corresponding bank account Cohen created in Delaware that was meant to be used to pay AMI for the rights to Karen McDougal’s story – a transaction that never transpired. That account was ultimately never funded, according to the banker’s testimony.

Farro testified to records that show Cohen changed course about two weeks later in October 2016 to instead open an account for another company – Essential Consultants – an entity ultimately used to pay Daniels in the hush money scheme to suppress her story about an alleged affair with Trump.

CNN’s Kaanita Iyer contributed reporting to this post.

Prosecutor Rebecca Mangold is showing emails from First Republic Bank about the opening of the Essential Consultants bank account for Michael Cohen.

Prosecutor Rebecca Mangold has resumed questioning Michael Cohen’s former banker Gary Farro.

Judge Juan Merchan has fined Trump for violating the gag order nine times.

Trump must remove the seven “offending posts” from Truth Social and the two “offending posts” from his campaign website by 2:15 p.m. today.

According to the order, “THEREFORE, 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.”

The jury is being brought in and testimony will resume soon.

Gary Farro is back on the witness stand. The judge has called for the jury to be brought in.

Donald Trump did not visibly react as the judge was reading his decision.

Judge Juan Merchan found Trump in contempt for violating his gag order, and he has fined Trump $1,000 for each violation.

Judge Juan Merchan has found Trump in contempt for violating his gag order. He is handing down his written decision to the parties.

Merchan has fined Trump $1,000 for each violation.

The judge said that prosecutors had met the burden of proof.

Judge Juan Merchan said he’ll allow Trump to attend his son Barron’s graduation on May 17.

“I don’t think the May 17 date is a problem,” Merchan said, noting that a jury was picked quickly and things have been moving.

Judge Juan Merchan is back on the bench and the court is in session.

Prosecutors are presenting trial evidence through witness testimony and exhibits. Michael Cohen’s former banker Gary Farro is the prosecution’s third witness.

Defense attorneys can cross examine the prosecution’s witnesses and typically aim to discredit their testimony. Witnesses’ responses are considered evidence, but not the questions posed by an attorney.

Read more about the stages of the trial, and what they mean here.

Donald Trump has entered the courtroom, walking down the center aisle.

Trump and his son Eric are standing and speaking separated by the wooden barrier that distinguishes the galley from the well of the courtroom.

Before entering the courtroom, Trump railed against the case and trial.

Trump supporters showed up outside criminal court this morning, waving flags and putting up banners around their designated area in Collect Pond Court, which is across the street from the courthouse.

Supporters were also seen driving around the streets surrounding the courthouse in cars with pro-Trump slogans. One vehicle contained a Trump mannequin in the back seat.

Tuesday’s crowd is larger than the majority of the days of the trial.

The former president’s son, Eric Trump, is attending the trial today.

This is the first time a member of Donald Trump’s family will be attending this trial. Eric Trump attended a dozen or so days of the civil fraud trial but he was also a defendant in that case.

The prosecution team has now entered the courtroom as Donald Trump’s hush money trial is set to pick up again.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is not present

What prosecutors need to prove to convict Trump: Prosecutors need to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Trump falsified business records with the intent to commit or conceal another crime, but they don’t have to prove that Trump committed that crime.

Donald Trump has been accused of taking part in an illegal conspiracy to undermine the integrity of the 2016 election and an unlawful plan to suppress negative information, which included a hush money payment made to an adult film star to hide an affair. Trump has denied the affair.

Prosecutors allege that Trump allegedly disguised the transaction as a legal payment and falsified business records numerous times to “promote his candidacy.” Trump faces 34 counts of falsifying business records. He has pleaded not guilty.

Read up on the key people in the Trump hush money criminal trial:

Former President Donald Trump's motorcade arrives at court in Manhattan on Tuesday.

Donald Trump’s motorcade has arrived at the Manhattan courthouse where the former president is expected to attend witness testimony from a third witness, Gary Farro.

Farro is a former banker who arranged Michael Cohen’s home equity line of credit that would eventually be used to pay Stormy Daniels $130,000 in hush money.

Court is expected to begin at 9:30 a.m. ET and wrap sometime around 4:30 p.m. ET (or later).

Former President Donald Trump sits in the courtroom during the second day of his criminal trial at Manhattan Criminal Court on April 16 in New York City.

We’re now in the third week of court proceedings in Donald Trump’s historic hush money criminal trial.

To refresh your memory, here are the key moments and witnesses from the trial so far:

April 15: Trial began with jury selection

April 19: A panel of 12 jurors and six alternates was selected.

April 22: The prosecution and defense made their opening statements. Former tabloid boss David Pecker was called to testify.

April 23: Judge Juan Merchan held a Sandoval hearing for Trump’s alleged gag order violations, but reserved his decision.

April 25: While Trump sat in the Manhattan courtroom, the Supreme Court heard arguments on the matter of his immunity in special counsel Jack Smith’s election subversion case against him.

April 26: Pecker’s direct questioning and cross-examination concluded. Trump’s former longtime assistant Rhona Graff was called to testify briefly. Finally, Michael Cohen’s former banker Gary Farro testified.

Before opening statements last week, Judge Juan Merchan determined that some of Donald Trump’s past wrongdoings and legal matters can be brought up in his hush money trial, but others cannot.

His ruling came after a Sandoval hearing — a routine process through which the court will determine to what extent Trump’s past wrongdoing can be brought up in the current trial.  It is required under New York law when a defendant plans to testify in their own trial and is meant as an indicator of whether it would be a good idea for them to take the stand.

What is allowed:

What’s not allowed:

Donald Trump’s motorcade has departed Trump Tower and is headed to the Manhattan criminal court where the jury is hearing from its third witness, Gary Farro.

Farro is Michael Cohen’s former banker who arranged the home equity line of credit that would eventually be used to pay Stormy Daniels $130,000 in hush money, which is the center of the case and the falsifying business records charges.

Eric Trump was also seen getting in the vehicles as part of the motorcade.

CNN’s Kristina Sgueglia contributed reporting to this post.

Donald Trump will make his most concentrated effort yet to turn his criminal trial into a political asset in the next two days, heading from the courtroom to the campaign trail and back again.

The former president’s hush money trial resumes in New York on Tuesday as prosecutors seek to prove that Trump falsified business records to cover up an alleged affair and thereby interfered in the 2016 election by misleading voters. They’ve been unwilling to reveal witnesses in advance in order to shield them from Trump’s attacks. But they are expected to press on with questioning a former banker for Michael Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer and fixer who made hush money payments to adult film actress Stormy Daniels, who alleged the affair that Trump denies. Trump has pleaded not guilty in the case.

With court dark on Wednesday, the presumptive GOP nominee will fly to the epicenter of his clash with President Joe Biden, making stops in two swing states, Wisconsin and Michigan, that could decide the destiny of the White House. The trip will show how useful it is for an indicted candidate to have his own plane. But more significantly, this will be Trump’s most intense campaign travel in weeks, and he is sure to dig in on his false claims that his four indictments were directly instigated by the White House.

Trump’s return to full-time campaigning will be fleeting, however. He must be back in court Thursday — when Judge Juan Merchan will hold another hearing over prosecution claims he’s regularly violating a partial gag order meant to protect witnesses, court staff and even the judge’s own family.

Read the full analysis here.

In this court sketch, Judge Juan Merchan sits while “tabloid king” David Pecker, not pictured, testifies in Manhattan criminal court in New York, on Thursday, April 25.

Judge Juan Merchan has yet to rule on whether he’ll hold Donald Trump in contempt for violating a gag order that bars him from talking publicly about trial witnesses, the prosecutors, court staff and their families.

Prosecutors have asked Merchan to fine Trump $1,000 for each of 14 violations they say he’s committed in his public comments and social media posts – most of which rail against key trial witnesses Michael Cohen and Stormy Daniels. 

The Manhattan district attorney’s office also wants Merchan to warn Trump that if he keeps it up, he could end up in jail.

Merchan heard arguments about 10 of the alleged violations last Tuesday and has scheduled another hearing for Thursday when he’ll address four other alleged violations prosecutors flagged.

Jurors had a three-day weekend to think about what they heard during the first full week of testimony in the historic Donald Trump hush money trial.

David Pecker stepped down from the witness stand after more than 10 hours of testimony across four days, where the former American Media Inc. chief described in detail how he helped Donald Trump suppress negative stories and pummel Trump’s rivals in the National Enquirer during the 2016 campaign.

On Friday afternoon, prosecutors called Rhona Graff, who was Trump’s assistant at the Trump Organization, where she worked for more than 30 years. She was quickly off the stand, and a banker for Cohen came next – signaling a move in the trial toward the documents at the heart of the charges against Trump.

Here are the key takeaways from Friday:

Rep. Elise Stefanik listens during a House Committee on Education and the Workforce hearing about antisemitism on college campuses on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on April 17.

As former President Donald Trump faces another day on trial in a New York courtroom, one of his closest allies in Congress – and a potential vice-presidential contender – is coming to his defense in the federal 2020 election interference case against him.

House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik has filed a complaint against special counsel Jack Smith over his January 6 case, citing election interference, according to the letter obtained by CNN.

Stefanik, a top GOP fundraiser whose name remains on Trump’s shortlist as a potential vice president, has emerged as one of Trump’s staunchest allies. The complaint is one of a number Stefanik has filed in Trump’s various legal cases, as she jockeys to show her allegiance to the former president amid his search for a potential running mate.

In December, Stefanik filed a complaint against US District Court Judge Beryl Howell, who oversaw several January 6-related cases and has ruled against Trump’s lawyers. Earlier this year, the New York congresswoman filed a complaint against New York Attorney General Letitia James over her civil fraud case against Trump.

The newest complaint calls for an ethics investigation into Smith and echoed Trump’s rhetoric that the cases brought by the Department of Justice are political, alleging Smith had abused “the resources of the federal government” to “unlawfully interfere with the 2024 presidential election.”

“At every turn, he has sought to accelerate his illegal prosecution of President Trump for the clear (if unstated) purpose of trying him before the November election,” Stefanik said in a statement.

The complaint comes ahead of a donor retreat in Florida this weekend, where Stefanik and other potential vice-presidential candidates will be featured as special guests.

The list includes Gov. Doug Burgum, Sens. Marco Rubio, Tim Scott and J.D. Vance among others. Trump routinely floats names to allies and donors, often asking for their opinions on potential candidates.

The third week of the Donald Trump criminal hush money business fraud trial will resume Tuesday with the Manhattan district attorney’s office continuing to be secretive about it its plan of attack.

Prosecutors are expected to pick up questioning of Michael Cohen’s former banker in the morning. But it’s unclear what other witnesses will take the stand this week.

Prosecutors have been tightlipped on their witness order, blaming Trump for his unpredictable public comments. In court, they said they would not give Trump’s legal team much in an effort to avoid subjecting witnesses to Trump’s social media wrath before they take the stand.

Read more about how the day could play out here.

Former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker explained Thursday the machinations of Karen McDougal’s “catch and kill” deal.

McDougal is a model and actress who said she had a monthslong affair with Donald Trump in 2006 and was paid $150,000 to keep quiet about it by the National Enquirer. Trump has denied the allegations.

Here’s how Pecker’s explanation went:

President Joe Biden took jabs at his predecessor and poked fun at his own age at the annual White House Correspondents’ Dinner on Saturday as a sizable group of pro-Palestinian protesters outside the venue underscored the trouble his campaign faces amid criticism over his handling of the war in Gaza.

“Of course, the 2024 election’s in full swing and, yes, age is an issue: I’m a grown man running against a 6-year-old,” Biden said, referring to former President Donald Trump, whom he called “Sleepy Don.”

Speaking to a crowd of nearly 3,000 journalists, celebrities and politicians, Biden added, “Age is the only thing we have in common. My vice president actually endorses me.”

The president went on to draw a contrast between his reelection campaign, which has ramped up since his State of the Union address last month, and that of Trump, who has spent less time on the trail amid his criminal trial in New York related to an alleged hush money payment to adult-film star Stormy Daniels.

“I’ve had a great stretch since the State of the Union, but Donald has had a few rough days lately,” Biden said. “You might call it ‘stormy’ weather.”

The evening’s other headliner, Colin Jost of “Saturday Night Live,” also addressed Trump’s legal troubles, beginning his set with, “Can we just acknowledge how refreshing it is to see a president of the United States at an event that doesn’t begin with a bailiff saying, ‘All rise’?”

The far-right cable network One America News retracted a story and apologized Monday after it falsely claimed former President Donald Trump’s ex-lawyer Michael Cohen was the one who had an affair with adult film star Stormy Daniels and secretly used it to “extort” the Trump Organization.

Cohen and Daniels are both key witnesses against Trump in his ongoing New York state criminal trial. Trump is accused of falsifying business records to cover up the $130,000 payment that Daniels received so she wouldn’t publicly reveal their alleged affair before the 2016 election. Trump has pleaded not guilty and denies the affair.

The announcement from OAN contained a public apology to Cohen “for any harm the publication may have caused him” and said that the network “regrets” publishing the “false” allegations about a Cohen-Daniel affair, which they both denied. The network said the story would be removed from its website and social media accounts. The retraction did not include a financial payment, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The article was published last month and claimed, according to a single unnamed source, that Cohen and Daniels were in a years-long affair and that “the whole hush money scheme was cooked up” by Cohen. The false allegations appear to originate from a right-wing figure who posted the allegations on X, formerly Twitter.

“The notion that right before the election I would extort the man I fervently supported and believed was about to become president, all to make $130,000 that I did not even keep for myself, is beyond absurd. It’s just plain stupid,” Cohen said in a statement.