Israel-Hamas war Live: Trump trial Election 2024 Cannes Scarlett Johansson

EVEN WHEN THE NEWS IS FREE, JOURNALISM IS NOT.

SUPPORT INDEPENDENT, FACT-BASED JOURNALISM.
DONATE

U.S. NEWS

Defense witness who angered the judge in Trump’s hush money trial will
return to the stand

BY MICHAEL R. SISAK, JAKE OFFENHARTZ, JENNIFER PELTZ AND COLLEEN LONG

Updated 8:28 PM GMT+7, May 21, 2024

NEW YORK (AP) — A defense witness in Donald Trump’s hush money case whom the judge threatened to
remove from the trial over his behavior will return to the stand Tuesday as the trial nears its end.

Trump’s lawyers are hoping Robert Costello’s testimony will help undermine the credibility of a key
prosecution witness, Trump fixer-turned-foe Michael Cohen.

What to know about Trump’s hush money trial:

Follow the AP’s latest updates as Robert Costello returns to the stand.

A guide to terms used in the Trump trial.

Trump is the first ex-president on criminal trial. Here’s what to know about the hush money case.

Trump is facing four criminal indictments, and a civil lawsuit. You can track all of the cases here.
“They have no case,” Trump said outside the courtroom Tuesday. “There’s no crime.”

But Costello angered Judge Juan Merchan on Monday by making comments under his breath, rolling his eyes
and calling the whole exercise “ridiculous,” prompting the judge to briefly kick reporters out of the courtroom
to admonish him.

The judge told Costello, a former federal prosecutor, he was being “contemptuous,” adding, “If you try to
stare me down one more time, I will remove you from the stand,” according to a court transcript.

Costello didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Monday from The Associated Press.

The chaotic scene unfolded after prosecutors rested their case accusing Trump of falsifying business records
as part of a scheme to bury stories that he feared could hurt his 2016 campaign. The criminal trial, the first of
a former U.S. president, is in the final stretch, with closing arguments expected the Tuesday after Memorial
Day.

READ MORE

Judge in Trump’s hush money trial threatened to remove witness from court for behavior on stand
What we’ve learned so far in the Trump hush money trial and what to watch for as it wraps up

Michael Cohen pressed on his crimes and lies as defense attacks key Trump hush money trial witness

The charges stem from internal Trump Organization records in which payments to Cohen were marked as
legal expenses. Prosecutors say they were really reimbursements for a $130,000 hush money payment to
porn actor Stormy Daniels to keep her from going public before the 2016 election with claims of a sexual
encounter with Trump. Trump says nothing sexual happened between them.
Trump has said he did nothing illegal and has slammed the case as an effort to hinder his 2024 bid to reclaim
the White House. Trump, a Republican, called the judge a “tyrant” in remarks to reporters while leaving the
courthouse Monday and called the trial a “disaster” for the country.

After jurors left for the day Monday, defense attorneys pressed the judge to throw out the charges before
jurors even begin deliberating, arguing prosecutors have failed to prove their case. The defense has
suggested that Trump was trying to protect his family, not his campaign, by squelching what he says were
false, scurrilous claims.

Defense attorney Todd Blanche argued that there was nothing illegal about soliciting a tabloid’s help to run
positive stories about Trump, run negative stories about his opponents and identify potentially damaging
stories before they were published. No one involved “had any criminal intent,” Blanche said.
Former President Donald Trump sits in Manhattan Criminal Court during his ongoing hush money trial, Monday, May 20, 2024, in New York. (Mark
Peterson/Pool Photo via AP) Read More

“How is keeping a false story from the voters criminal?” Blanche asked.

Prosecutor Matthew Colangelo shot back that “the trial evidence overwhelmingly supports each element” of
the alleged offenses and said the case should proceed to the jury.

The judge didn’t immediately rule on the defense’s request. Such long-shot requests are often made in
criminal cases but are rarely granted.

The defense called Costello because of his role as an antagonist to Cohen since their professional
relationship splintered in spectacular fashion. Costello had offered to represent Cohen soon after the
lawyer’s hotel room, office and home were raided and as Cohen faced a decision about whether to remain
defiant in the face of a criminal investigation or to cooperate with authorities in hopes of securing more
lenient treatment.

Costello in the years since has repeatedly maligned Cohen’s credibility and was even a witness before last
year’s grand jury that indicted Trump, offering testimony designed to undermine Cohen’s account. In a Fox
News Channel interview last week, Costello accused Cohen of lying to the jury and using the case to
“monetize” himself.

Costello contradicted Cohen’s testimony describing Trump as intimately involved in all aspects of the hush
money scheme. Costello told jurors Monday that Cohen told him Trump “knew nothing” about the hush
money payment to Daniels.

“Michael Cohen said numerous times that President Trump knew nothing about those payments, that he did
this on his own, and he repeated that numerous times,” Costello testified.

Cohen, however, testified earlier Monday that he has “no doubt” that Trump gave him a final sign-off to make
the payments to Daniels. In total, he said he spoke with Trump more than 20 times about the matter in
October 2016.

Trump lawyer Emil Bove told the judge that the defense does not plan to call any other witnesses after
Costello, though it may still call campaign finance expert Bradley A. Smith for limited testimony. It has not
said definitively that Trump won’t testify, but that’s the clearest indication yet that he will waive his right to
take the stand in his own defense.

___
Long reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Jill Colvin and Michelle Price in New York; Meg
Kinnard in Columbia, S.C.; and Eric Tucker and Alanna Durkin Richer in Washington contributed to this report.
MICHAEL R. SISAK
Sisak is an Associated Press reporter covering law enforcement and courts in New York City, including former
President Donald Trump’s criminal and civil cases and problems plaguing the federal prison system.

JAKE OFFENHARTZ
Offenhartz is a general assignment reporter in the New York City bureau of The Associated Press.

COLLEEN LONG
The White House, law enforcement and legal affairs