Trump doesn't take witness stand in his New York hush money trial; defense rests

by MICHAEL R. SISAK, JAKE OFFENHARTZ, JENNIFER PELTZ and COLLEEN LONG Associated PressFILE - Former President Donald Trump leaves Manhattan criminal court, Feb. 15, 2024, in New York . Trump 's hush money case is set for a crucial hearing Monday, March 25, as a judge weighs when or even whether Trump will go on trial. Donald Trump ’s lawyers rested their defense Tuesday without the former president taking the witness stand in his New York hush money trial.

Prosecutors have accused Trump of a scheme to bury negative stories to fend off damage to his 2016 presidential campaign and then falsifying internal business records to cover it up. Costello turned to Judge Juan M. Merchan before the jurors arrived to the court, speaking quietly. The judge acknowledged him and nodded, a much more cordial scene than the drama that unfolded during Monday's proceedings, when Costello made comments under his breath during testimony, rolled his eyes and called the whole exercise “ridiculous." The antics angered Merchan, and the judge briefly kicked reporters out of the courtroom to admonish him.

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.

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. 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.

Source: Law Daily Report (lawdailyreport.net)

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