Sam Levine

Michael Cohen is continuing in a calm steady voice, frequently using “ma’am” to answer yes and no.

His eyes are trained closely on prosecutor Susan Hoffinger as she asks him questions.

Michael Cohen just entered the courtroom and walked to the witness stand. He’s wearing a blue tie.

Cohen did not make eye contact with Donald Trump.

Donald Trump is entering the courtroom. He was carrying papers, which he dropped on to the defense table before sitting.

Trump is joined by Florida congressman Cory Mills, North Dakota governor Doug Burgum, former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, as well as Eric Trump and Lara Trump.

All of Trump’s guests are sitting in the first two rows of the gallery, directly behind the defense table.

Sam Levine

Almost all of the section in the courtroom reserved for the district attorney’s office is filled up, which is different from when I was here last week. This is perhaps a reflection of how important this testimony from Michael Cohen is.

Key takeaways from Cohen’s testimony so far

Hugo Lowell

1. Trump knew about the sham repayment scheme

Donald Trump was in his office in Trump Tower in January 2017 when he and Allen Weisselberg discussed how to structure the plan to repay the $130,000 hush money wired to Stormy Daniels, Michael Cohen testified on Monday – adding that Trump personally gave his approval then and there. “Good, good” Cohen recalled Trump as saying.

Trump was also present in the meeting when Weisselberg turned to Cohen and told him the reimbursement would come in 12 monthly checks, and be described as legal fees as part of a retainer agreement for Cohen supposedly working as personal attorney to Trump. But, Cohen testified, everyone in the meeting knew that the money had nothing to do with legal fees. After all, Weisselberg had developed the repayment plan himself, using numbers that he wrote out on a bank statement for the shell company Cohen had used to wire the hush money to Daniels.

The testimony from Cohen was important because it was evidence that Trump knew the payments to Cohen were hush-money reimbursements and Trump approved the plan’s details and logistics suggested by Weisselberg, sign-off that Cohen testified Weisselberg needed.

2. Trump had real-time updates about Daniels

Trump was apprised of every development with the Daniels catch-and-kill scheme in the weeks leading up to the 2016 election, Cohen repeatedly testified, in large part because Cohen was desperate to get “credit” for dealing with the matter.

The testimony about Cohen acknowledging he wanted to get recognition for resolving the Daniels situation further undercut the Trump defense argument that he was detached from the situation because he was busy with the 2016 campaign and later, being the president-elect. Cohen reinforced his testimony by adding he told Trump “immediately” once he had resolved the Stormy Daniels hush-money deal.

3. Trump knew deadline was the election

To get to a felony, prosecutors have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Trump falsified records with an intent to violate election law, either to conceal he exceeded campaign contributions or ran afoul of a New York state law barring the use of unlawful means to promote a campaign.

Cohen did not testify on Monday that Trump intended to commit a second crime. But he laid the groundwork, saying he slow-walked paying Daniels with Trump’s permission in the hope that they could delay it until after the election. Cohen says Trump told him to “push it out as long as you can, past the election, because if I win, I’ll be president, and if I lose, I wont really care.” Either way, Cohen suggested Trump knew the 2016 election was his deadline.

Michael Cohen is Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer who was for more than a decade his Mr Fix-It, but is now the prosecution’s star witness as it builds its case that the former president sought to conceal hush-money payments to the adult film star, Stormy Daniels.

Cohen served as Trump’s trusted adviser, personal attorney and self-described “attack dog with a law license”. But the relationship soured after Trump won the US presidential election in 2016 and did not offer Cohen a role in his administration.

Cohen, a native of Long Island, began practicing law as a personal injury lawyer in 1992 and joined the Trump Organization in 2006. He’d told Trump he’d read his book The Art of the Deal twice and soon became a close confidant.

In a 2018 profile, it was noted that Cohen performed a role much like that of Roy Cohn, the notorious New York political and legal fixer who had worked for Trump and his father. Cohen’s duties led him into fixing situations of a sensitive nature, including setting up “catch-and-kill” arrangements with David Pecker, publisher of the National Enquirer, which has circuitously led to today’s court confrontation.

House speaker Mike Johnson to attend trial in support of Trump

Chris Michael

Mike Johnson, the Republican speaker of the House of Representatives, will reportedly join Trump in court today during the trial, according to multiple sources.

Also rumored to be making appearances were the North Dakota governor Doug Burgum and the former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, who ran against Trump in the primaries before dropping out and supporting him.

Johnson has received backing from Trump on a number of occasions, including at a joint event at Mar-a-Lago while a far-right group of Republicans including Marjorie Taylor Greene were trying to oust the speaker – an attempt that ultimately failed.

For the first weeks of the trial, Trump had next to no supporters in the courtroom except occasionally for his son Eric. Yesterday, however, he was joined by an entourage that included JD Vance, the Republican senator who reportedly has his eye on becoming Trump’s running mate. Vance subsequently criticized the prosecution’s star witness, Michael Cohen – whom Trump is banned from attacking by judge Juan Merchan.

Victoria Bekiempis

The second day of Michael Cohen’s testimony appears to be the most highly anticipated trial day. Officials started turning away hopeful spectators at 6am and at present, there appear to be some 200 people in various lines, a court officer said.

Lori Grabowski, who’s the second member of the public in line, said she got a line sitter for an opportunity to sit in the courtroom.

The line sitter arrived at 1pm Monday, she said. What brought her here?

“My love for political news and, I don’t want to be trite and say this is historic, but to be in that room with Donald Trump and Michael Cohen, for me, would be an epic experience. Even if I can’t see much, the intensity inside that courtroom will be palpable,” Grabowski said.

And, “There is the added bonus of seeing Donald Trump squirm.”

Good morning. Michael Cohen, once one of Donald Trump’s most loyal lieutenants and enforcers, is expected to take the stand this morning for a second day after testifying that the former president demanded that he bury an adult film star’s account of an alleged sexual liaison weeks before the election.

Cohen’s hush-money payment to Stormy Daniels is at the heart of the historic trial in Manhattan criminal court. Prosecutors charge that Cohen wired $130,000 to Daniels’s then attorney just 12 days before the presidential election to keep quiet about her alleged sexual encounter with Trump. Trump is charged with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in connection with the payments and had pleaded not guilty.

Cohen is the prosecution’s star witness but jurors may see him as conflicted. The case against Trump is likely to succeed or fail on whether jurors believe Cohen’s account, or lean toward the defense claims that he is an “admitted liar” with an “obsession to get President Trump”.

We’re at the courthouse again today. Stay with us.

Trump’s criminal hush-money trial: what to know