[Note: I have to slip away to a middle school awards assembly; our son is receiving some awards, so...I'll be away for a few hours]
Michael Cohen, come on down!
Every seat in the courtroom is taken, except those in the jury box and the judge’s chair. Palpable tension, and anticipation, as the fifth week of the trial is set to begin.
Trump has entered the room, wearing a blue-and-white striped tie, and Senator J.D. Vance and Eric Trump trailing him, among others.
Also with him are Boris Ephsteyn, his legal adviser; Alina Habba, one of the lawyers from his civil fraud trial; and Representative Nicole Malliotakis. This is the biggest entourage we’ve seen him with so far.
The prosecutors are in the courtroom, laden down with boxes, bags, and binders filled with documents. This is arguably the biggest day of their case so far. They look — pretty much the same as they do every day.
Today is easily the most crowded day of the trial. Some members of the public told me they started queuing at 3 a.m. Unlike other days, where the witness lineup wasn’t announced in advance, it was widely reported that Michael Cohen would be on the stand today, prompting hundreds of people to come down with the hope of getting a seat in the courtroom, or the nearby overflow room.
Before court adjourned on Friday, Justice Merchan asked prosecutors to tell Michael Cohen to stop talking about Trump, after a defense lawyer alerted the court to a recent TikTok video in which Cohen wore a shirt with a picture of Trump behind bars. We don’t know what, if any, discussions this prompted between prosectors and Cohen, but he appeared to stay off social media this past weekend.
Trump is expected to be traveling with a heavier entourage this week than he has previously. His advisers, concerned about having Republicans present to buoy him up, have been trying to line up people to show their support for him at court.
One expected visitor to court today: Senator J.D. Vance, Republican of Ohio. Vance is on the shortlist to be Trump’s running mate in his current presidential campaign. He will be the first of the V.P. contenders to support Trump in the courtroom, and the move will likely bolster Vance's already-strong chances.
Over the past two weeks, Trump has been scanning the courtroom, clocking which allies are — and are not — showing up for him. Last week Senator Rick Scott, Republican of Florida, came to court, but besides that we’ve seen very little support for Trump here in Manhattan from elected Republicans.
Good morning from the Manhattan Criminal Courthouse, where in less than an hour, the final week of the prosecution’s case against Donald Trump is set to start.
Michael Cohen, Trump’s former fixer and current nemesis, is expected to take the stand today and to testify that Trump himself was the hidden hand behind the hush money payment Cohen made in 2016 to a porn star, Stormy Daniels. The witness will also likely say that Trump personally approved reimbursements for the payment, which prosecutors say were illegally disguised as payments for legal services.
It’s expected to be a tense and exciting day as the two New Yorkers face off in the courtroom.