NEW YORK (NEWSnet/AP) — With prosecutors’ hush money case against Donald Trump barreling toward its end, their star witness will be back in the hot seat Thursday as defense lawyers try to chip away at Michael Cohen’s crucial testimony implicating the former president.

The trial, now in its fourth week of testimony, will resume in Manhattan with potentially explosive defense cross-examination of Cohen, whose credibility could determine the presumptive Republican presidential nominee’s fate in the case.

Cohen is prosecutors’ final witness — at least for now — as they try to prove Trump schemed to suppress a damaging story he feared would torpedo his 2016 presidential campaign and then falsified business records to cover it up.

Gag Order Appeals Continue

 

Donald Trump is seeking to have New York’s highest court intervene in his fight over a gag order that has seen him fined $10,000 and threatened with jail for violating a ban on commenting about witnesses, jurors and others connected to his hush money criminal trial.

The former president’s lawyers filed a notice of appeal Wednesday, a day after the state’s mid-level appellate court refused his request to lift or modify the restrictions. The filing was listed on a court docket, but the document itself was sealed and not available.

Background on the Case

 

The hush money case, formally known as People of the State of New York v. Donald J. Trump, is the first of four criminal investigations pending against the former president to go to trial.

The 34 felony counts of falsifying business records involve a series of incidents and conversations that took place when Trump ran in 2016 for what became a successful election attempt to the White House. He has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing. 

There are usually no sessions on Wednesdays because of the judge’s schedule. There will be no court on May 17 or May 24.

Media Coverage Rules

 

New York state rules do not allow TV cameras during courtroom hearings.

There is an overflow room where news media can watch the proceedings live via monitor, but visitors are prohibited from recording and photography in the overflow space.

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