Trump trial: Drama sweeps courtroom as defense tries to get case tossed - WEIS | Local & Area News, Sports, & Weather

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

76% : In the email, Cohen said he is starting "a new journey," and that he is "truly excited" to begin new position as personal attorney to Trump as president.
65% : Prosecutors want to introduce screenshots from a C-SPAN video showing Trump and Schiller together at that time.
63% : Trump has arrived with his entourage.
59% : My family's happiness is paramount," said Cohen.May 20, 2:53 PMCohen says he spoke 'more than 20' times with Trump about DanielsMichael Cohen returned to the stand and prosecutors displayed an image of Trump and bodyguard Keith Schiller on Oct. 24, 2016, the night of the phone call Cohen said he had with Trump to finalize the Stormy Daniels deal.
57% : "You agree with me, right, that you had a lot going on both in your personal life and with President Trump in those first two weeks of October?"
54% : Sitko introduced a summary chart of phone calls between Michael Cohen, his one-time attorney Robert Costello, and the law firm of Davidoff Hutcher & Citron.May 20, 3:14 PMProsecution rests its caseDefense attorney Todd Blanche, on redirect examination, asked Michael Cohen about the photograph of Trump and bodyguard Keith Schiller together on Oct. 24, 2016, at 7:57 p.m."Your testimony is still, just so I understand, is in that 90 seconds you spoke to Mr. Schiller about the problem you were having with the 14-year-old, got him to agree to take care of it," and also had time to talk to speak about Daniels to Trump.
54% : Cohen told jurors that even if he was busy with other matters at the time, he was sure he communicated with Trump about the Stormy Daniels' payment.
52% : "It's hard to imagine what book -- how was this supposed to be booked by Ms. Tarasoff," Blanche asked about Trump Organization accounts payable supervisor Deborah Tarasoff.
52% : May 20, 12:58 PMProsecutors seek to introduce photo from time of phone callJudge Merchan dismissed the jury for the lunch break, after which prosecutor Joshua Steinglass asked permission to show the jury a photo of Donald Trump and Keith Schiller together on Oct. 24, 2016, at 7:57 p.m.Prosecutors hope to introduce the evidence to counter the defense suggestion that Cohen lied about the purpose of an Oct. 24, 2016, phone call to Schiller.
51% : Blanche emphasized all the legal work that Cohen did for Trump and his family in 2017.
50% : Trump last April pleaded not guilty to a 34-count indictment charging him with falsifying business records in connection with a hush money payment his then-attorney Michael Cohen made to Daniels in order to boost his electoral prospects in the 2016 presidential election.
50% : Pursuant to the "agreement," Cohen said he received nine checks directly from Trump in 2017.
48% : "We're not allowed to put it in an expert witness," Trump said.
48% : According to Blanche, Cohen and Costello spoke for a total of nine hours over the course of a few months in 2018.May 20, 11:08 AMCohen says he asked Robert Costello to ask Giuliani for infoLast week, Michael Cohen testified that he did not trust Robert Costello to be his lawyer because he worried any information shared with him would get to Rudy Giuliani and then get to Trump.
48% : Cohen confirmed the "person" mentioned above was Rudy Giuliani.May 20, 10:58 AMCohen details consulting work he did in 2017Defense attorney Todd Blanche asked Cohen about the large sums of money he made through his consulting work with other companies in 2017 -- an apparent effort to legitimize the money Cohen made from Trump as the being the result of legal work.
47% : Trump, at the defense table, jotted down notes as Colangelo spoke.
45% : "Going after President Trump, that's your name recognition?" defense attorney Todd Blanche asked.
44% : You know, election law is very complicated, actually."May 20, 5:02 PMJudge says he'll reserve his decision on motion to dismissResponding to the defense's motion to dismiss the case, prosecutor Matthew Colangelo Colangelo argued that Trump, at a minimum, can be found responsible for the actions of his accomplices if he set the action into motion.
43% : Defense counsel and Trump huddled over the question.May 20, 2:35 PMAttorneys continue to argue over admission of photoAfter Judge Merchan ruled that he would not admit a photo that prosecutors said showed Trump and his bodyguard Keith Schiller together on Oct. 24, 2016 -- the night of the phone call Michael Cohen said he had with Trump to finalize the Stormy Daniels deal --
41% : He also showed the jury an email from Allen Weisselberg, where he requested Cohen to "please prepare the agreement we discussed so we can pay you monthly."Amid frequent objections, Blanche has referenced the "agreement" mentioned above as a "retainer agreement," though Cohen never had a formal retainer agreement with Trump.
41% : Blanche asked Cohen about what else Trump did that day, including the opening ceremony for one of his buildings in Washington, D.C., and a national television interview, which Cohen said he didn't remember.
39% : Trump looked directly at Blanche as the attorney addressed Merchan.
39% : At the defense table, Trump shook his head and pursed his lips.
38% : Under additional questioning, Cohen said he had "more than 20" conversations, in person or by phone, with Donald Trump in October 2016 about the Stormy Daniels payoff.
36% : Nobody's ever seen anything quite like it," Trump said.
36% : "Michael Cohen said numerous times that President Trump knew nothing about those payments, that he did this on his own, and he said that numerous times," Costello testified.
36% : "As Cohen answered, Trump looked on, facing Cohen directly.
35% : May 20, 12:10 PMOn redirect, prosecutors address 2016 phone callProsecutor Susan Hoffinger begun her redirect examination of Michael Cohen by attempting to rehabilitate Cohen's testimony about the phone call he said he had with Donald Trump on Oct. 24, 2016.
34% : prosecutor Joshua Steinglass said he respected Merchan's ruling, but criticized the defense for objecting to the evidence despite not contesting that Schiller and Trump are both in the photo together.
34% : Cohen said he asked Costello to tell Giuliani to communicate the payment issue to Trump.
34% : "Trump, at the defense table, hunched forward and examined the email as it was displayed on his monitor.May 20, 10:21 AMCohen admits he stole from Trump through his reimbursementMichael Cohen admitted that he stole $30,000 from the Trump Organization when, as part of his reimbursement for the Stormy Daniels reimbursement, he requested $50,000 for a reimbursement for IT services, when Cohen had actually paid $20,000 for the services.
34% : Defense attorneys have not yet declared who they plan to call to testify -- including whether Trump will testify in his own defense.
33% : May 20, 10:49 AMDefense says Cohen's repayment was for legitimate legal expenseThroughout his cross-examination this morning, defense attorney Todd Blanche has attempted to legitimize the repayment arrangement between Trump and Cohen in 2017.
33% : He took his seat in the witness box to resume his cross-examination as Trump looked on.May 20, 9:24 AMAttorneys conference at bench on discovery issueDefense attorney Todd Blanche asked to approach the bench about an ongoing discovery issue.
32% : Eventually Trump came in No. 9
31% : All times Eastern:May 20, 5:56 PMTrump says he's surprised judge cleared courtroomDonald Trump, exiting the courtroom, commented on the chaotic scene this afternoon when Judge Juan Merchan cleared the courtroom so he could admonish defense witness Robert Costello.
31% : Prosecutors have argued that Trump falsified business records by describing a reimbursement for the Stormy Daniels payment and other expenses as payment for legal services pursuant to a retainer agreement, even though Cohen never had a retainer agreement with Trump.
30% : "There are no other crimes," defense attorney Todd Blanche argued about the legal standard in the case -- that Trump falsified business records in furtherance of another crime.
29% : Trump also said he was unhappy that the judge decided to limit the testimony of the defense's expert witness on election law.
29% : The defense said it wants to use Costello to rebut Cohen's testimony about a "pressure campaign" carried out against him not to flip on Trump after Cohen made Stormy Daniels payment.
28% : "Bove told Merchan that Costello would testify that Cohen told him that Trump had no awareness of the Stormy Daniels' hush money payment.
28% : Blanche added that the fact that Trump and Schiller were together on Oct. 24 is not in dispute; rather, defense lawyers have hammered at the substance of Cohen's call with Schiller.
28% : On direct examination, Cohen had testified he did less than 10 hours of work or Trump in 2017 -- an attempt by prosecutors to cast doubt on the fact that the payments Cohen received were for any legitimate legal work.
26% : "Would you have paid Stormy Daniels $130,000 had Trump not signed off?"
25% : Trump sat slouched at his chair with his eyes closed.May 20, 9:38 AMMichael Cohen retakes witness standFollowing the break, former Trump attorney Michael Cohen has entered the courtroom.
24% : Defense attorney Todd Blanche pushed the theory that Trump has argued since the first days of the trial: How else would Trump describe a payment to his lawyer other than a legal expense?
24% : Attempting to rebuff the idea that Michael Cohen's then-attorney Robert Costello was asserting pressure on Cohen not to flip on Trump, Costello testified that Cohen was also trying to get information from him -- a backchannel that went both ways.
21% : In a sidebar, Trump's attorney told Judge Merchan want to use ex-Cohen attorney Robert Costello to push back on Cohen's claims that he was worried about speaking to Costello because he was worried it would get back to Trump.
21% : ""Your journey includes near-daily attacks on President Trump?"
20% : Costello said he told Cohen, "This entire legal problem he was facing would be resolved by the end of the week if he had truthful information about Donald Trump and cooperated with the Southern District of New York.
19% : "Costello said that Cohen on multiple occasions said, "I swear to god Bob, I don't have anything on Donald Trump.
17% : Judge Merchan has ruled that he will not admit into evidence two still images prosecutors want to introduce that purportedly show Trump and his bodyguard Keith Schiller together on Oct. 24, 2016, the night of the phone call Michael Cohen said he had with Trump to finalize the Stormy Daniels deal.
10% : May 20, 10:12 AMDefense seeks to cast doubt on other alleged phone callsAfter suggesting last week that Michael Cohen lied about the purpose of a phone call to Trump's security guard Keith Schiller on Oct. 24, 2016, defense attorney Todd Blanche sought to cast doubt on another instance of Cohen's testimony where he said he spoke to Trump about the Stormy Daniels deal -- specifically on two calls that occurred during the 8 a.m. hour on Oct. 26, 2016.
9% : May 20, 4:04 PMCostello says Cohen said Trump knew nothing of Daniels paymentMichael Cohen's former attorney, Robert Costello, testified that in their initial meeting on April 17, 2018, Cohen said Trump did not know about the payment to Stormy Daniels.

*Our bias meter rating uses data science including sentiment analysis, machine learning and our proprietary algorithm for determining biases in news articles. Bias scores are on a scale of -100% to 100% with higher negative scores being more liberal and higher positive scores being more conservative, and 0% being neutral. The rating is an independent analysis and is not affiliated nor sponsored by the news source or any other organization.