Trump trial live updates: Prosecution calls more witnesses to establish Trump ties with Stormy Daniels, Karen McDougal

While court was in session, an eagle-eyed Yahoo News editor snapped a picture of Trump's plane on the tarmac at LaGuardia as it was preparing to take off.

Trump told reporters that after court was adjourned in his criminal hush money trial, he planned to fly home to Florida to celebrate Melania Trump's birthday. The former first lady turns 54 on Friday.

After prosecutors questioned Farro, Judge Juan Merchan dismissed court for the weekend.

"Have a good weekend, take care," Merchan told the jurors.

Court will resume on Tuesday morning.

Under questioning from prosecutors, Farro detailed his dealings with Michael Cohen to open an account for Essential Consultants LLC that was used to pay adult film actress Stormy Daniels $130,000.

"Every time Michael Cohen spoke to me, he gave a sense of urgency, and this was one of those times," Farro said of the call he had with Cohen about establishing the LLC account.

Farro testified that on the form First Republic Bank used to create the account, Cohen checked "no" when asked if the LLC was "associated with political fundraising/Political Action Committee (PAC)."

Prosecutors allege that the payment to Daniels violated campaign finance laws.

Former First Republic Bank senior managing director Gary Farro testified about how he came to work with Trump lawyer Michael Cohen, saying he inherited his new client in 2015 because Farro was known by colleagues for his "ability to handle individuals that may be a little challenging."

Prosecutor Rebecca Mangold questioned Gary Farro about banking regulations put in place under the Bank Secrecy Act for wire transfers as well as those made by political candidates. Farro worked at First Republic Bank when Michael Cohen arranged payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels.

As their third witness in the trial, prosecutors called Gary Farro, First Republic Bank’s former senior managing director, to the witness stand.

He will testify about the payment made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels.

After defense lawyers finished their cross-examination of Rhona Graff, Judge Juan Merchan excused the jury for a brief recess.

Graff testified that Trump had contract entries for adult film actress Stormy Daniels and former Playboy Model Karen McDougal, both of whom claim to have had extramarital affairs with him.

Rhona Graff said she had heard that Donald Trump was considering casting adult film actress Stormy Daniels for a role on his hit show, Celebrity Apprentice.

"I vaguely recall hearing him say that she was one of the people that may be an interesting contestant on the show," Graff testified.

During cross-examination by Trump attorney Susan Necheles, Rhona Graff spoke highly of working at the Trump Organization.

"It was a very stimulating, exciting, fascinating place to be," she said.

Graff also offered a glowing assessment of her former boss. "I think that he was fair and, what’s the word I’m looking for, [a] respectful boss to me," she said of Trump.

After Rhona Graff spent approximately 15 minutes on the witness stand, prosecutors finished their initial questioning, establishing that she saw Stormy Daniels in the Trump Tower reception waiting area prior to June 2015.

Rhona Graff, Trump's longtime assistant at the Trump Organization, said she saw adult film actress Stormy Daniels in the reception area at Trump Tower prior to his June 2015 announcement that he was running for president.

Assistant District Attorney Susan Hoffinger is now questioning Rhona Graff about the 34 years she worked at the Trump Organization.

Graff testified that she sat just outside Trump's office in Trump Tower and was responsible for scheduling his calendar and coordinating his contact with others in the company.

Prosecutors called Trump's former assistant Rhona Graff as their second witness in the hush money trial.

After four days on the witness stand, David Pecker's testimony as the first witness called in the historic trial has finished.

Resuming his redirect, prosecutor Joshua Steinglass asked Pecker about a phone call he had Michael Cohen after learning Stormy Daniels was shopping her story about an alleged affair with Trump.

Pecker testified that he warned Cohen that that if the story were to get out through another media outlet, “the boss is going to be very, very, very angry with you.”

Cohen eventually paid Daniels $130,000 in hush money in a deal that is at the center of the prosecution's case.

After an hourlong lunch break, Judge Juan Merchan is back on the bench, former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker is back on the witness stand, and court is back in session.

During his redirect, prosecutor Joshua Steinglass tried to poke holes in the defense’s argument that Pecker’s arrangement to bury negative stories about Trump during the 2016 campaign was, as Trump attorney Emil Bove put it, “standard operating procedure” at the National Enquirer and AMI.

Steinglass got Pecker to agree that the company’s contracts with former Playboy model Karen McDougal, who claimed to have had a sexual relationship with Trump, and a doorman at a Trump property, who falsely alleged Trump fathered a child out of wedlock, were not “standard operating procedure” at the tabloid.

Judge Juan Merchan has called for a lunch recess until 2:15 p.m. ET, when Pecker will return to the witness stand for more questioning from prosecutors.

The defense has concluded its cross-examination of former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker.

Trump attorney Emil Bove asked Pecker why he cooperated with the prosecution at this trial.

“To be truthful,” Pecker replied.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass is now asking Pecker follow-up questions.

While Trump was inside Manhattan criminal court at his hush money trial, President Biden was several blocks away at Sirius XM studios for a live interview with Howard Stern.

During the hourlong interview, Biden told Stern he would be “happy” to debate Trump this fall.

Trump has not yet committed to participating in the three presidential debates that have already been scheduled. And until Friday, Biden and his campaign had declined to commit to appearing onstage with Trump.

But when asked by Stern if he would debate Trump, Biden replied he would be “happy to debate him.”

After a brief recess, the defense continued its cross-examination of former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker.

During the break, Trump attorney Emil Bove told Judge Merchan that he has about an hour's worth of questions left for Pecker. Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass said there will be a redirect.

Per reporters inside the courtroom, the court has taken a short break. Pecker has stepped down from the witness stand, and the jury and Trump have left the courtroom.

Before the jury was brought in Friday, Judge Juan Merchan said that a hearing on the prosecution's latest claims that Trump violated the gag order imposed on him before will be held next Thursday, May 2, at 9:30 a.m. ET.

The hearing had been previously scheduled for Wednesday, May 1, — the same day his campaign had planned back-to-back rallies in Wisconsin and Michigan.

Court does not meet on Wednesdays, though Merchan has said that he reserves the right to adjust the trial schedule if needed.

During the defense's cross-examination of Pecker, the prosecution has objected to Trump lawyer Emil Bove referring to the defendant as “President Trump” while discussing the events that led up to the 2016 election.

“He wasn’t President Trump,” prosecutor Joshua Steinglass argued.

Judge Juan Merchan sustained the objection.

During opening arguments, Trump attorney Todd Blanche told the jury that he would be referring to his client by his former title.

“We will call him ‘President Trump’ out of respect for the office that he held from 2017 to 2021,” Blanche said during his opening statement on Monday. “And as everybody knows, it’s the office he’s running for right now.”

According to reporters inside the courtroom, Trump has been listening to Pecker's testimony with his eyes closed.

Cameras are not allowed inside the room during the proceedings, but photographers are allowed to shoot still images for 45 seconds at the beginning of each day. Trump appeared to be noticeably tired in photos taken this morning, like the one above.

Under cross-examination, David Pecker was asked by defense attorney Emil Bove about negative stories the National Enquirer ran about Donald Trump's 2016 Republican rivals, including Ben Carson and Marco Rubio.

Earlier this week, Pecker testified that part of the plan he hatched with Trump and his lawyer Michael Cohen was to publish positive stories about Trump and negative stories about his opponents and to buy and bury stories about any alleged extramarital affairs to help boost Trump's candidacy.

On Friday, Bove asked Pecker whether the Enquirer would have run such negative stories about Trump's rivals without his involvement, given the tabloid's practice of recycling content from other outlets and the fact that some of the stories were already in the public domain. Pecker acknowledged that the publication would have.

After some discussions with both sides, Judge Juan Merchan called for the jury, and former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker has returned to the witness stand.

Emil Bove, one Trump's defense attorneys, has resumed his cross examination.

After arriving at Manhattan criminal court, where he is facing 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to conceal the $130,000 hush money payment he made to adult film star Stormy Daniels to conceal an alleged extramarital affair, former President Donald Trump stopped to express his birthday wishes to his wife, former first lady Melania Trump, who turns 54 Friday.

"I want to start by wishing my wife, Melania, a very happy birthday," Trump told reporters outside the courtroom. "It would be nice to be with her. But I'm at a courthouse for a rigged trial."

Trump is required to attend every day of the trial, which is expected to last up to six weeks. He has been staying at Trump Tower in Midtown Manhattan, while the former first lady is home in Florida.

"I'll be going there this evening," Trump said.

• Trump's hush money trial is set to resume Friday at 9:30 a.m. ET.

• The former president arrived at the courthouse a few minutes ago.

• David Pecker, the former National Enquirer publisher, will return to the witness stand for more cross-examination by the defense. It's expected to take up much of the day.

• Trump's attorney Emil Bove will lead the cross examination of Pecker.

• On Thursday, Bove used his questioning of Pecker to argue that the tabloid's efforts to help Trump during the 2016 election was not unusual.

• Judge Juan Merchan has yet to issue a decision over whether Trump violated the gag order imposed on him before the trial. Another hearing on the gag order has been scheduled for next week.

Judge Merchan officially dismissed the jury for the day. Pecker will be back on Friday for his fourth day on the witness stand.

Before concluding the prosecution's examination of Pecker, the Manhattan district attorney's office brought up the non-prosecution agreement that he hasigned.

Vanity Fair first reported that Pecker was granted immunity in exchange for his testimonies against Trump and Cohen in 2018.

CNN legal analyst Elie Honig said the prosecution reiterating the immunity deal is to emphasize to the jury that Pecker's "incentive right now is to tell the truth."

While cross-examining Pecker, Trump's defense lawyer Emil Bove is arguing that "checkbook journalism" — a phrase for the practice of reporters or news agencies paying for rights to stories — was part of the "standard operating procedure" at the National Enquirer.

Bove is trying to establish that Pecker's relationship with Trump was no different from Pecker's relationship with other celebrities in terms of buying story rights. Some of the celebrities mentioned include Rahm and Ari Emanuel, Mark Wahlberg and Tiger Woods.

The prosecution has just concluded its examination of David Pecker, which ended with Pecker saying he does not feel any ill will toward Trump despite not speaking to him since 2019.

Emil Bove is handling the cross-examination for Trump's defense. Bove is the newest addition to Trump's legal team. He was previously a federal prosecutor in New York.

Prosecutors asked Pecker about a phone call he had with then-President Trump after the story of Karen McDougal's alleged affair with him was leaked.

Before the lunch break, Pecker testified that American Media Inc. amended its contract with McDougal — over the objections of Trump lawyer Michael Cohen — to allow her to speak to the press after the Wall Street Journal reported AMI's deal with the former Playboy model. He also testified that AMI had hired a press consultant to help McDougal navigate the crush of media surrounding her.

In March 2018, after McDougal was interviewed by CNN's Anderson Cooper about her alleged affair with Trump, Pecker said he got an angry call from the president, who told him he thought McDougal was not permitted to give any interviews or be on any television shows. After Pecker told Trump that he had amended McDougal's agreement, Trump was "very upset."

"He couldn't understand why I did it," Pecker said.

Trump is in attendance at today's testimony. He said that Judge Juan Merchan denied his request to attend a Thursday hearing at the Supreme Court weighing his claim that presidents are immune from prosecution for any potential crimes committed while in office.

Judge Juan Merchan is back on the bench and the prosecution's first witness, David Pecker, will continue his testimony.

Pecker's testimony about the relationship between Trump and the National Enquirer seems to be damaging the publication's credibility and therefore its parent company's ability to sell the publication, which it has been trying to do for five years.

“It just has zero credibility,” Lachlan Cartwright, a former executive editor for the Enquirer, told the Associated Press. “Whatever sort of credibility it had was totally damaged by what happened in court this week.”

American Media Inc., which currently owns the Enquirer, has been struggling to find a buyer — made worse by the publication's involvement in Trump's hush money trial. In April 2019, AMI said it was going to sell several of its tabloid publications, including the Enquirer, to James Cohen for a deal reportedly worth close to $100 million, but it never closed.

Pecker is testifying more about why AMI, the National Enquirer's parent company, couldn't pay $120,000 for Daniels's story.

"I said, 'I don't want the National Enquirer to be associated with a porn star,'" Pecker said on the stand, adding that with Walmart as a main distributor of the magazine, it would be very bad for AMI.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass then asked Pecker to explain why he sent Daniels's story to Michael Cohen.

Pecker said the story could be "very damaging" and he thought it should come off the market.

"If anyone was going to buy it, I thought Michael and Donald Trump should buy it," Pecker said.

David Pecker testified that before the 2016 election, Donald Trump would be concerned about his family hearing about or reading negative stories in the press.

"If a negative story was coming out with respect to Donald Trump and we spoke about it, he was always concerned about Melania, he was concerned about Ivanka, he was concerned about what the family may hear or say about it, not saying whether it was true or not," he said, according to CNN.

But while running for president, Pecker said Trump's concerns shifted to be more about the campaign.

"It was basically what the impact would be to the campaign and the election," Pecker said, adding that Trump never brought up his family during discussions on Karen McDougal and Stormy Daniels.

This distinction is important because it suggests Trump's concerns over negative stories were politically inclined, not personal.

The court is now on lunch break, and the proceedings will resume at 2:15 p.m. ET. Judge Juan Merchan, the jury, Donald Trump and his legal team have all left the courtroom.

In November 2016, the Wall Street Journal published an article detailing Karen McDougal's deal with AMI, the National Enquirer's parent company. Pecker testified that Trump was furious and accused Pecker or "one of your people" of having leaked the story.

Following the WSJ story, AMI issued a statement denying the allegations that it was killing negative stories about Trump. On the witness stand, Pecker said the denials were false.

"I wanted to protect my company, I wanted to protect myself and I wanted also to protect Donald Trump," he said

— David Pecker explaining another reason why he declined to buy the story that adult film actress Stormy Daniels was shopping in October 2016 about her alleged sexual affair with Donald Trump. "If anyone was going to buy it, I thought Michael [Cohen] and Donald Trump should buy it," Pecker testified.

The prosecution asked Pecker to describe how the National Enquirer came across the story at the center of the hush money case: the claim by adult film actress Stormy Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, that she had a sexual encounter with Donald Trump.

Pecker described an urgent phone call he received from Enquirer editor Dylan Howard in October 2016 in which he was informed that Daniels was shopping a story about her alleged tryst with Trump for $120,000.

Pecker said he refused to pay for the story, noting his previous payments of $30,000 to a Trump Tower doorman for a story about an out-of-wedlock child allegedly fathered by Trump and $150,000 to Karen McDougal for the story of her alleged affair with Trump.

"I am not a bank," Pecker said.

Outside the courtroom today, U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan, of the Southern District of New York, ruled that Trump's motions for a new trial for the E. Jean Carroll verdict are denied.

Carroll is one of dozens of women who have accused Trump of sexual assault. In January she won $83.3 million in damages for defamation.

Back on the stand, Pecker is discussing the infamous "Access Hollywood" outtake from the 2000s that showed Trump bragging to host Billy Bush about grabbing women sexually without asking for permission. The tape was released on Oct. 7, 2016, and Pecker said Cohen called and said it was "very embarrassing, very damaging" to Trump's campaign.

The jury is back in the courtroom and Pecker is back on the witness stand.

Prosecutors said that they anticipate that the direct examination of the former National Enquirer publisher will take several more hours.

After a brief recess, court resumed — but without the jury present, as both sides discussed disputes over exhibits that the prosecution wants to present to illustrate its case.

Prosecutors want to enter text messages sent by National Enquirer editor Dylan Howard entered into evidence. One of the texts from 2016 reads, "If he wins, I’ll be pardoned for electoral fraud."

Judge Juan Merchan said that for now, he won't allow the texts to be shown but would consider it some more over lunch.

Pecker testified he was expecting to be paid back for the $150,000 he sent to Karen McDougal but had a hard time getting Trump to reimburse him. Pecker claimed he asked Michael Cohen multiple times about repayment and was told not to worry and that "the boss" — referring to Trump — would take care of it.

Because of this, Pecker declined to buy Stormy Daniels's story, in which she alleged she had sex with Trump. Trump denies the claim.

Cohen bought her story instead for $130,000, which is the hush money accusation at the center of this case.

As part of his testimony, Pecker was asked about a line in America Media Inc.'s agreement with Karen McDougal that states that AMI acquired the lifetime rights for her story, including "any romantic personal and/or physical relationship McDougal has ever had with any then-married man."

Joshua Steinglass, one of the lawyers for the prosecution, asked Pecker who the "then-married man" was in reference to.

Pecker replied that it was "referring to Donald Trump."