Donald Trump trial LIVE: Prosecutors say case could last over TWO more weeks to connect Trump to 'hush money' payments as he fires back that the 'witch hunt' should end 'today'

Trump railed against the latest gag order violation handed down today by Judge Merchan against him.

He was threatened with serving jail time and has to pay $10,000 in fines for speaking out about the jury, witnesses and the judge.

But it didn't seem to bother the former president, who told reporters as he departed court that he'd be willing to serve time to protect the First Amendment.

'I have to watch every word I tell you people,' he lamented.

'Yes, we have questions, a simple question - I’d like to give it but I can’t talk about it because this judge has given me a gag order and said you’ll go to jail if you violate.'

'And frankly, you know what, our Constitution is much more important than jail. It’s not even close. I’ll do that sacrifice any day.'

Prosecutors in Trump's hush money case told Judge Merchan they could wrap their case two weeks from tomorrow.

That would mean the prosecution rests May 21. Merchan said he would not hold them to it.

Trump decried that it's a 'political witch hunt' and a ploy to keep him off the election trail for another few weeks.

A fired-up Trump spoke to reporters before departing the courthouse.

'The government just said they want two to three more weeks. That means they want to keep me off the trail for two to three more weeks.'

'But we just heard two to three more weeks? I thought they were finished today, and they are finished today if you look at what’s happening.'

The jury has been dismissed for the day.

After a lengthy questioning by the prosecution, Trump's lawyers only cross-examined Deborah Tarasoff for a few minutes.

Tarasoff agreed that the Trump Organization was a ‘family business,' as Trump lawyer Todd Blanche put it.

She has now left the stand.

Deborah Tarasoff is now being cross-examined by Todd Blanche.

It comes after the prosecutors walked through multiple invoices from Michael Cohen and checks signed by Donald Trump.

From Senior U.S. Political Reporter Rob Crilly in court:

The 12 jurors and six alternates looked focused this morning as a Trump Organization witness described how they calculated payments for Michael Cohen, and ensured that he was paid each month through 2017.

But now they are hearing some of the same stuff from one step down the line - from Deborah Tarasoff, who oversaw accounts payable.

Again this is important testimony, describing how Trump would sign checks for Cohen.

But eyes in the jury are drooping, and the courtroom is noticeably warmer than it was last week.

Donald Trump did not answer reporter questions when returning from short break.

The ex-president did pump his right fist in the air.

Court is on a short afternoon break.

Tarasoff was testifying about invoices and checks signed by Trump.

A third check shown to the jury was dated June 19th 2017 and was for $35,000, but this one was paid from Donald Trump’s personal account.

This was the first time the jury has seen images of the actual checks that Trump signed.

His large signature, written in black Sharpie, was clearly visible.

This would have been signed while Trump was president.

The court is being shown checks paid to Trump's former personal lawyer Michael Cohen.

One of the checks is for $70,000, dated February 14, 2017 by the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust which at the time was being run by Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr.

Tarasoff confirms the signatures on the check were Eric Trump and Allen Weisselberg, the former chief financial officer of the Trump Organization.

The money was the first two parts of the reimbursement for the $130,000 he paid to Daniels, prosecutors claim.

From Senior U.S. Political Reporter Rob Crilly in court:

This is the 'chicken scratch' of Jeff McConney as he noted down how they were to pay Michael Cohen during a conversation with Trump Organization executive Allen Wiesselberg.

This is essentially the back of the envelope calculation that takes in a bonus of $60k (written down incorrectly as $50k), plus $180k, which was doubled to allow for tax, and then divided by 12 to give monthly payments of $35k.

These are the notes that set out the heart of the case against Trump.

Donald Trump smiled and there was laughter in court as Tarasoff said she knew it was Trump’s handwriting because he ‘signed in Sharpie in black.'

After Trump became president, Tarasoff testifies that nothing changed when it came to how checks were signed from DJT account.

She says checks were sent to the White House for Trump to sign.

The prosecutor questions no one else had authority even when Trump was in DC?

'That's right,' she says.

She was not sure what what happened after checks were sent to DC, but she would get them back signed by 'Mr. Trump.'

They would then be sent out.

Deborah Tarasoff says she received invoices and approval emails for Michael Cohen after he left the Trump Organization.

She recalls the approvals came from Jeff McConney, and she would cut a check for each invoice.

Deborah Tarasoff is walking prosecutors through the process of approving invoices and cutting checks.

She discussed who could approve invoices.

For invoices above $10,000 it had to be Donald Trump or his sons Eric or Don Jr.

She also is answering questions about signing checks.

Deborah Tarasoff has worked for the Trump Organization for 24 years.

She is being questioned by prosecutor Chris Conroy.

Tarasoff is being asked about other people who work for the Trump Organization.

She says she would receive approved bills, put them in the system and cut the checks.

Deborah Tarasoff will be next witness to testify, prosecutor says.

She was an accounts payable supervisor for the Trump Organization who issued checks.

The ex-president did not speak before returning to the courtroom from a lunch break.

As witness Jeff McConney walked out of court, Donald Trump looked directly him and did two fist pumps in the air.

The jury were still present at the time.

Jeff McConney's testimony in the Trump hush money case has wrapped up.

Court is on a lunch break.

Cross-examination of Jeff McConney has wrapped up.

Prosecutors had a quick re-direct.

Emil Bove is asking a series of questions that raise how much Jeff McConney knew about Cohen's work for Trump and payments to Cohen.

He also focused on the changes as Trump went from being a private businessman to President of the United States.

Emil Bove is asking a series of questions that raise how much Jeff McConney knew about Cohen's work for Trump and payments to Cohen.

He also focused on the changes as Trump went from being a private businessman to President of the United States.

'The gag order imposed by conflicted Judge Juan Merchan in the lawless Manhattan DA case is unconstitutional and un-American,' said Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung in a statement.

'President Trump has not violated this wrongful edict by a partisan operative,' he continued.

'The threat to throw in jail the 45th President of the United States and the leading candidate in the 2024 Presidential Election for exercising his First Amendment rights is a Third World Authoritarian tactic typical of Crooked Joe Biden and his comrades.'

The statement comes after Judge Merchan found Trump had violated the gag order a tenth time and fined him another $1,000 Monday morning.

Merchan warned Trump could face jail time if he continues to violate the gag order.

Trump's defense attorney asks McConney if President Trump ever asked him directly to do the actions he described earlier in his testimony.

‘He did not,’ McConney said.

McConney already testified about the series of payments made to Michael Cohen.

McConney also said Weisselberg never told him that Trump directed him to take the actions described in McConney's earlier testimony.

Bove also asked McConney if he ever talked to Cohen about the issue.

McConney says he did not.

'Not ever?' Bove asks.

‘Correct,’ McConney says.

Bove also asks if McConney knows whether Cohen did legal work for Trump in 2017.

‘I do not know,’ McConney responds.

Prosecutor wraps up questioning of Jeff McConney aftre going through Trump's Office of Government Ethics form.

Emil Bove is conducting cross-examination.

From Senior U.S. Political Reporter Rob Crilly in court:

The 12 members of the jury and eight alternates are listening intently to what is a very dry presentation of ledger entries, invoices and tax forms.

But this is key evidence and the importance is clearly not lost on them.

Their heads are swivelling from prosecutor Matthew Colangelo's questions to witness Jeff McConney's answers as if watching a tennis match, not a court case.

The 1099 forms being shown include two from 2017.

One shows $105,000 paid to Michael Cohen from the trust.

The other is for $315,000 paid out from Trump personal ccount in 2017.

McConney is going through a report that shows payments made to Michael Cohen.

It shows payments across 2017. The first three payments were paid through a trust totaling $105,000.

The rest totaling $315,000 was paid through checks out of Trump's personal bank account according to McConney.

The total amount paid to Cohen according to the report was $420,000 in 2017.

The report and McConney's testimony indicates that Trump would have signed nine checks for a total of $315,000 in the White House while he was president.

Prosecutors have spent the better part of the morning walking through payments to Cohen as they put together a money trail in the hush money case.

McConney is back on the stand as prosecutor pulls up another document.

It is a report from the accounts payable at the Trump Organization.

From Senior U.S. Political Reporter Rob Crilly in court:

Eric Trump is sitting in the front row of the courtroom behind his father.

He has been listening intently to details of how the family company is run.

At one point the court was shown an email from Weisselberg to McConney saying that it was OK  to pay  money to Michael Cohen as 'per agreement with Don and Eric.'

Eric nodded at that point.

As the son most closely involved in the Trump Org, he would have worked closely with this morning's witness McConney.

As McConney left for the morning recess he passed Eric, and the two greeted each other warmly.

The court is taking a morning recess.

It comes as Jeff McConney was going through a series of emails on invoices for Michael Cohen.

McConney explaining several emails that were exchanged regarding the Michael Cohen invoices.

McConney also explained to the court the process of sending checks down to Washigton to get a signature from then-President Donald Trump at the White House.

This had to happen due to the account being used to pay Cohen.

From Senior U.S. Political Reporter Rob Crilly in court:

Trump Organization employees cannot hide their disdain for Trump's former personal lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen.

Last week, Hope Hicks expressed her disbelief at Trump telling her that Cohen had arranged the hush money payment out of the goodness of his heart.

'I didn’t know him to be an especially charitable person or selfless person,' she said.

Now McConney has been asked what Cohen's role in the company was.

'He said he was a lawyer,' he answered pointedly.

The jury is shown a statement from Cohen’s bank account from First Republic Bank for essential Consultants LLC, the company he set up to pay Daniels.

The statement showed that the $130,000 had just been taken out and paid to Keith Davidson, Daniels’ lawyer.

Another exhibit is written notes from McConney while he had the conversation with Weisselberg about paying Cohen back.

On the note is written 'Wire monthly from DJT. State at $35,000 a month Jan 2017.'

A third exhibit shows McConney's email to Michael Cohen reminding him to 'get me the invoice you spoke to Allen about.’

McConney recalls a conversation with Allen Weisselberg in January 2017 in which he learned Michael Cohen needed to be 'reimbursed' money.

He described it as one continuous conversation with Weisselberg, who was CFO of the Trump Organization.

Prosecutors are going through a bank statement which Weisselberg have McConney to put in the files.

He recalls putting the file in a payroll book in his locked drawer in his office.

Prosecutor puts a statement and notes into evidence.

From Senior U.S. Political Reporter Rob Crilly in court:

After the tears of Hope Hicks' testimony and the gutter tour of tabloid king David Pecker's evidence, Jeff McConney makes for a much dryer witness.

He is giving us an account of how the Trump Organization is structured and the way its books are run, including descriptions of the software used and who was in the team he managed as the company's controller.

It may be prosaic, but this is the crucial next bit of the jigsaw.

The case against Trump is that 34 documents were falsified in order to hide hush money payments.

A detailed understanding of invoices, ledgers and checks is ultimately how the case will be proven (or not proven).

Trump smiled as McConney recounted a ‘teaching moment’ a year into his employment when Trump told him to ‘focus on my bills' or don’t spend money he didn’t need to.

McConney said that he walked into Trump’s office - it would have been around 1988 - and dropped off the weekly cash report on his desk.

Trump asked him to hang on until he got off the phone and told him that his ‘cash balances went down from last week.'

McConney said that Trump told him to ‘focus on my bills’ and that ‘just because somebody’s asking for money, negotiate with them, talk to them.'

Trump appeared to enjoy the anecdote and smiled. McConney called it a ‘teaching moment’ for him.

Prosecutors have argued that Trump’s frugality was one of the reasons his decision to pay his former lawyer Michael Cohen back $420,000 for the $130,000 hush money he paid to Stormy Daniels was so unusual

Jeff McConney is taking the prosecution through how the financial accounting operation worked at the Trump Organization.

McConney is explaining step by step the approval process for cutting checks and reimbursing expenses.

Donald Trump stared blankly ahead after Judge Merchan again threatened to throw him in jail for violating the gag order.

It appears the $1,000 fines are not serving as deterrent, Merchan told Trump.

Therefore, 'this court will have to consider a jail sanction,' he continued.

Trump displayed no visible reaction.

Jeff McConney is a former executive at the Trump Organization.

He is the first witness of the day.

McConney was first hired in 1987 and retired in February 2023.

McConney is in court in response to a subpoena and the Trump Organization is paying for his lawyer.

Judge Juan Merchan once again found Donald Trump in contempt for violating a gag order during his Stormy Daniels trial – slapping on a new fine and threatening to jail him if he determines violations continue.

Merchan blasted Trump for ‘continued and willful’ violations barring comments on witnesses and others he said might threaten the 'fair administration of justice.'

‘I cannot allow that to continue. As much as I do not want to impose a jail sanction ... I will if necessary and appropriate,' he said inside court at the start of the 12th day of Trump's trial.

The judge slapped Trump with a $1,000 fine for the violation, which comes in addition to additional findings following an earlier hearing that resulted in fines totalling $9,000.

‘It appears the $1,000 fines are not serving as a deterrent therefore going forward this court will have to consider a jail sanction,' he said.

The judge said Trump's repeated comments constitute a 'direct attack' on the process and would not be allowed to continue.

'Defendant is hereby put on notice that if appropriate and warranted, future violations of its lawful orders will be punishable by incarceration.'

Trump stared blankly ahead while receiving the judge's lecture.

But the billionaire avoided some additional fines Monday. The judge ruled that three earlier public statements raised by prosecutors didn't meet the threshold of beyond a reasonable doubt.

According to the judge, Trump's interview to Just the News No Noise on April 22, 2024 violated the order.

During the interview, he stated: 'You know [the judge is] rushing the trial like crazy. Nobody's ever seen a thing go like this. That jury was picked so fast - 95% democrats.'

'The area's mostly all democrat. You think of it as a - just a purely democrat area. It's a very unfair situation that I can tell you.'

Donald Trump spoke after arriving in court for another day of testimony in the hush money case.

He called the gag order unconstitutional and said witnesses are being called who have 'nothing to do with the case.'

The ex-president did not respond to shouted questions about the judge.

Trump is joined in court Monday by son Eric Trump as well as Boris Epshteyn and his lawyers.

Donald Trump aides Margo Martin and Natalie Harp are seen leaving Trump Tower as the ex-president heads downtown for another day in court.

Court wrapped on Friday with former Donald Trump aide Hope Hicks delivering riveting testimony in the hush money case.

Hicks worked for the Trump Organization before becoming press secretary on Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and then working as a top aide in the Trump administration.

During her at times emotional testimony, Hicks shared a behind the scenes look at the handling of some of the biggest moments for the ex-president’s 2016 campaign including how Trump responded to the release of the Access Hollywood tape as well as the Wall Street Journal reporting on the alleged Karen McDougal and Stormy Daniels affairs.

Hicks recalled at one point Trump did tell her about the payment to Stormy Daniels.

She also shared how Trump’s former fixer Michael Cohen was looped in during the 2016 campaign but testified how he would go rogue and was known to insert himself.

Donald Trump returns to a New York courtroom on Monday, where he will be forced to sit silently while others testify about his efforts during the 2016 presidential election to cover up news of an alleged tryst with a porn star.

Trump's criminal hush money trial, entering its 12th day, has featured testimony from a top aide and a former tabloid publisher about efforts during his first presidential bid to tamp down stories of unflattering sexual behavior.

New York prosecutors have charged Trump with falsifying business records to cover up a $130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels, who claims to have had a sexual encounter with him in 2006. Trump has pleaded not guilty and denies ever having sex with Daniels