Prosecution Rests Case in Trump Trial as Defense Targets Cohen Again

Here are the key moments and testimony from Mr. Cohen on the stand:

‘Just take care of it.’

On his first day on the stand, Mr. Cohen told jurors that Mr. Trump was involved in the hush-money deal to buy the silence of Stormy Daniels, the adult film actress who considered going public before the 2016 election with her account of a sexual encounter with Mr. Trump, a story that Mr. Trump denies.

Mr. Cohen testified that before the election, Mr. Trump directed him to pay off Ms. Daniels, who received $130,000 from Mr. Cohen, and also approved a reimbursement plan for Mr. Cohen. Mr. Trump, he testified, conveyed a general instruction to him: “Just take care of it.”

The hush-money deal to Ms. Daniels and Mr. Trump’s reimbursement to Mr. Cohen are at the heart of the 34 felony charges of falsifying business records against Mr. Trump. There is one count for each record involved in the reimbursement of Mr. Cohen: 11 checks, 11 invoices and 12 entries in the former president’s ledger.

Key meetings between Cohen and Trump

Under questioning from prosecutors, Mr. Cohen gave his account of two crucial meetings with Mr. Trump about the records. The first was in January 2017, where he said Mr. Trump approved of a plan to falsify them. The second occurred the following month, in the Oval Office, where Mr. Trump again confirmed his knowledge of the plan, and told Mr. Cohen that he would soon start receiving checks.

Other witnesses, including Madeleine Westerhout, the former director of Oval Office operations under Mr. Trump, testified about the White House meeting between them.

There was no legal retainer, Cohen testified

The repayments to Mr. Cohen in 2017 were recorded as having been for legal expenses by the Trump Organization, which cited a legal retainer with Mr. Cohen. But prosecutors have said there was no such retainer, and Mr. Cohen confirmed there had not been one.

Mr. Cohen received $420,000 in repayments in 2017 — to cover the deal to Ms. Daniels, a bonus, a reimbursement for his payment to a tech company on Mr. Trump’s behalf, and additional cash for tax considerations.

On Monday, a prosecutor, Susan Hoffinger, asked Mr. Cohen to confirm that the financial documents connected to the repayment were false. Mr. Cohen agreed.

A 14-year-old prankster

During cross-examination, a lawyer for Mr. Trump, Todd Blanche, offered an alternative theory for a 2016 conversation that Mr. Cohen testified he had with the former president about Ms. Daniels’s deal. Mr. Blanche said that Mr. Cohen had been dealing with a 14-year-old prankster around that time who was making harassing phone calls.

Mr. Blanche told Mr. Cohen that the purpose of that 2016 conversation was to discuss the prankster with Keith Schiller, Mr. Trump’s bodyguard.

“That was a lie,” Mr. Blanche shouted. “You can admit.”

Mr. Cohen said that he was telling the truth, and that he had reached Mr. Trump on Mr. Schiller’s phone.

On Monday, prosecutors introduced as evidence a photo showing Mr. Trump with Mr. Schiller about the same time as the call took place.

Cohen is seeking revenge, the defense team said

It was Mr. Cohen’s dream to work for Mr. Trump. But on the stand, Mr. Cohen underscored just how much his admiration and loyalty had faded.

“Do you want President Trump to get convicted in this case?” Mr. Blanche asked.

“Sure,” Mr. Cohen replied.

Mr. Blanche pressed Mr. Cohen again later during his cross-examination, suggesting that his drive for revenge was a major motivation for testifying against Mr. Trump in the trial.

Mr. Cohen admitted that his association with Mr. Trump had lifted his profile, but said that as far as his ability to generate content about Mr. Trump was concerned, he thought an acquittal would actually be “better” for him than a guilty verdict.

“It gives me more to talk about in the future,” Mr. Cohen said.

Cohen admitted he stole money from the Trump Organization

Of the $420,000 Mr. Cohen received in 2017, $50,000 of it was supposed to cover a payment to a tech company who Mr. Cohen had hired to rig an online poll for Mr. Trump. But when pressed on Monday by Mr. Blanche, Mr. Cohen acknowledged that he had kept $30,000 of the money earmarked for the company.

“You stole from the Trump Organization, is that right?” Mr. Blanche asked.

“Yes, sir,” Mr. Cohen replied.

Shortly after Mr. Costello took the stand on Monday, prosecutors objected to a series of questions. When the judge sided with the prosecution, Mr. Costello muttered “jeez,” registering his dismay and irking the judge, Juan M. Merchan. Mr. Costello tried to walk back his remark, mumbling under his breath that he wanted to “strike” it from the record.

The testimony continued, but after a few more objections, Justice Merchan again grew frustrated with the witness. He dismissed the jury, and excoriated him: “If you don’t like my ruling, you don't say, ‘jeez,’ and you don’t say, ‘strike it,’ because I’m the only one who can strike testimony in court,” he said, adding: “Are you staring me down?”

He then cleared the courtroom, dismissing reporters while allowing a group of Mr. Trump’s supporters to remain.

When onlookers left the room, according to a transcript, the judge told Mr. Costello that his conduct was “contemptuous” and said, “If you try to stare me down one more time I will remove you from the stand,” adding, to the defense lawyers, “I will strike his testimony, do you hear me?”

Mr. Costello asked, “Can I say something, please?” And Justice Merchan replied: “No. No. This is not a conversation.”

Mr. Costello has been around the New York legal world for decades and prides himself on not taking flack from anyone.

In 2018, Mr. Costello acted as Mr. Cohen’s back channel to Mr. Trump’s legal team. This role — which came by dint of Mr. Costello’s close ties to Mr. Trump’s personal lawyer at the time, Rudolph W. Giuliani — was mostly informal. Mr. Cohen never officially retained Mr. Costello or paid him a cent.

When questioning Mr. Cohen last week, the prosecution spotlighted his communications with Mr. Costello. Their emails and calls, Mr. Cohen said, left him with the impression that Mr. Costello was doing Mr. Trump’s bidding, delivering implicit instructions to, in the former fixer’s words, “stay in the fold, don’t flip, don’t speak.”

But Mr. Costello, a former federal prosecutor turned defense lawyer, disputes that characterization, and Mr. Cohen’s testimony opened the door for the defense to call him to tell the other side of the story.

After the unexpected break on Monday, Mr. Costello testified that he treated Mr. Cohen as a client and had only his interests at heart. He said he did not concern himself with Mr. Trump’s interests at that time. Prosecutors began cross-examining him before the jury was dismissed for the day just after 4:30 p.m.

Mr. Cohen, who pleaded guilty to federal charges in 2018, served more than a year behind bars. His crimes included orchestrating a hush-money payment to a porn star in the final days of the 2016 campaign, a deal at the center of the current state case against the former president. Mr. Cohen paid off the woman, Stormy Daniels, to silence her story of a sexual encounter with Mr. Trump.

The Cohen and Costello relationship began in the chaotic spring of 2018, after the F.B.I. searched Mr. Cohen’s home and office as part of the sprawling investigation.

They met through Jeffrey Citron, who was Mr. Costello’s law partner and Mr. Cohen’s acquaintance. Mr. Citron asked Mr. Cohen over email whether he wanted to connect with Mr. Costello and obtain “his insight into your situation, it would be my pleasure to arrange.” Mr. Cohen jumped at the offer: “I do. Can you connect me to him?”

When Mr. Trump hired Mr. Giuliani, Mr. Costello alerted Mr. Cohen to the potential upside: “I told you my relationship with Rudy which could be very very useful for you,” he wrote in an email. Mr. Cohen replied: “Great news.”

The records show that Mr. Costello pursued the relationship with Mr. Cohen.

As Mr. Costello lost patience, he wrote to Mr. Cohen complaining that he had “failed to communicate with me despite several text messages and emails.”

Mr. Costello also appeared to make a veiled reference to fear in Mr. Trump’s orbit that Mr. Cohen was poised to cooperate with prosecutors, writing: “We have continued our dialogue and need to bring you up to date concerning serious concerns on the part of our friends.”

Mr. Cohen was noncommittal. “When the right time comes, and now is not the right time, we will advance our conversations regarding this issue.”

But Mr. Cohen kept the channel open. For example, he sent Mr. Costello an article with the headline “Trump’s campaign to discredit Michael Cohen is already underway,” and added: “They are again on a bad path.”

And when Mr. Cohen’s relationship with Mr. Trump soured in summer 2018, he asked Mr. Costello to use Mr. Giuliani as a conduit for his assurances that he would remain loyal to Mr. Trump, according to Mr. Costello.

After Mr. Costello relayed the message, he told Mr. Cohen in an email that he had “conveyed all of your expressed concerns” to Mr. Giuliani “for transmission to his client” — the president. Mr. Cohen replied, thanking him.

Mr. Costello has said he was merely relaying messages from Mr. Trump’s legal team, including Mr. Giuliani, a former New York mayor. (Mr. Costello later represented Mr. Giuliani in criminal and congressional investigations.)

In one email to Mr. Cohen, Mr. Costello wrote, “Sleep well tonight, you have friends in high places.”

But in the end, no one remained friends, and much of the tension stemmed from money.

Mr. Costello and Mr. Cohen had a falling out, partly over unpaid legal bills. Last year, Mr. Costello testified before the grand jury that ultimately indicted Mr. Trump, seeking to undercut Mr. Cohen’s credibility.

Mr. Costello also sued Mr. Giuliani over delinquent bills.

And when Mr. Trump stopped paying Mr. Cohen’s legal fees, their relationship imploded as well. Mr. Cohen vowed to turn on Mr. Trump, a promise he is now fulfilling on the stand.