Trump trial live updates: Ex-president says he would 'proudly' go to jail

Donald Trump left his criminal trial with a smile on Friday after a judge told the prosecution to control their star witness Michael Cohen.

The former president nodded as Judge Juan Merchan urged the Manhattan District Attorney's Office to direct the lawyer at the center of the case to stop discussing it.

The good news for the presumptive Republican presidential nominee came at the end of a grueling week in court where he sat through six hours of testimony from Stormy Daniels.

The porn star went into detail with her salacious and sometimes lurid claims about the night they allegedly had sex in a hotel room in 2006 - a story Trump has denied.

She finished her appearance on the stand on Thursday afternoon, with Friday a far more subdued affair with witnesses who gave less dramatic but still crucial evidence.

Barron Trump is declining Florida's offer to be a delegate to the Republican National Convention this summer, citing 'prior committments,' according to his mother's office.

Melania Trump's office made a statement to DailyMail.com on behalf of her son.

'While Barron is honored to have been chosen as a delegate by the Florida Republican Party, he regretfully declines to participate due to prior commitments,' the Office of Melania Trump said.

New York City's 'hottest' ticket in town is a seat in Trump's criminal hush money trial.

Over 100 tourists and New York dwellers line up daily in the hope of scoring a coveted seat during day-long proceedings.

In days past, the topics of sex, power, Hollywood elites and more have come up.

'It’s such an exciting cast of characters,' retired software engineer Anthony Bastian, 65, told the Wall Street Journal.

Another tourist who scored a seat during Stormy Daniels' testimony this week said it was a 'good sideshow' to the proceedings.

Donald Trump's defense lawyer's strategy was clear as she cross-examined adult movie actor and director Stormy Daniels on Thursday: Paint the witness as a money-grabbing huckster who made a career out of inventing sex scenes.

Lawyers call it a 'nuts and sluts' defense.

It was a tussle that Daniels—all shrugs and steely outrage—was up for. 'You have a lot of experience of making phony stories about sex appear to be real,' said Trump's lawyer Susan Necheles, referencing the 150 movies that Daniels has written and directed and comparing them with the night she said she had sex with the future president at a Nevada hotel.

'Wow,' said Daniels quietly. 'That's not how I would put it.

'The sex in the films is very much real ... just like what happened to me in that room.'

Testimony from Donald Trump’s longtime executive assistant Madeleine Westerhout was a reminder of how extensive his contact list was.

As his Director of Oval Office Operations, she would manage his phone calls and his schedule.

She also had intimate knowledge of the list of numbers at his disposal.

Read all about them here.

The former president headed back to Trump Tower after his criminal trial wrapped up early for the day.

Donald Trump claimed Judge Juan Merchan wants to put him in jail for violating the gag order.

The former president called Merchan a 'disgrace' and 'corrupt' as he left court.

He added: 'I'd be very proud to go to jail for our Constitution.'

The 77-year-old then insisted the case is about 'somebody paid a lawyer'. That 'somebody' being himself.

He insisted that Cohen is not a 'fixer' and he was simply paying an attorney.

'This is what the case is about. It's not about all the other stuff that you're seeing.'

'There is no crime,' Trump added as he claimed the trial was all a bid to do damage to 'crooked Joe Biden's political opponent'.

Donald Trump’s hush money trial is now set up for its most pivotal moment.

His former lawyer Michael Cohen is set to begin his testimony on Monday as the prosecution’s star witness.

Cohen is central to the case. The fixer says that the reimbursements to him were falsified at Trump’s direction.

Trump’s defense team has been frustrated that Cohen has continued to speak publicly about the case, while their client has been gagged.

In a dramatic end to an otherwise quiet court session on Friday, the judge told prosecutors to keep him quiet.

It was a win for Trump’s team, and produced a smile from the defendant.

The exchange was a small taste of what is set to be the most explosive testimony of the case.

Donald Trump went on a lengthy rant about Michael Cohen, the case and President Joe Biden as he left court on Friday.

The 77-year-old celebrated the judge ordering the prosecution to tell Cohen not to talk about the case ahead of his expected appearance as a witness on Monday.

‘There is no gag order on Michael Cohen but what the judge did was amazing actually.’ Trump said.

He then criticized Judge Juan Merchan and then complained that everyone was allowed to make remarks about him, while he couldn’t because of the gag order.

'Everybody can say whatever they want,' he said. 'But I'm not allowed to say anything about anybody.'

The former president then read through various press clippings on the case and then turned his attention to Biden.

He said his likely 2024 rival lies about everything ‘including his golf game’.

‘I would be very proud to go to jail for our Constitution,’ he added.

Judge Juan Merchan told the prosecution on Friday that Michael Cohen should not be talking about the case.

The former president’s disgraced fixer is set to testify on Monday as the star witness.

Trump’s defense lawyer Todd Blanche urged the court to put a gag on Cohen, who has been posting TikTok videos and appearing on podcasts.

‘Cohen continues to speak about this trial and President Trump. As recently as Wednesday he was on TikTok talking extensively,’ Blanche said.

‘He’s wearing a white t-shirt with a picture of President Trump behind bars.’

‘Now we have one week left of the trial, (we ask that) he be prohibited from speaking just as President Trump is.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass insisted that they have no control over what witnesses say.

But Merchan insisted that prosecutors pass on a message to Cohen.

‘I would direct the people to communicate to Mr Cohen that the judge is asking him to refrain from making any more statements about this case.’

The prosecution says it plans to call two more witnesses.

They could rest their case by the end of next week.

The prosecution's questioning of Jarmel-Schneider wrapped up with him walking through a records chart that showed the invoices, vouchers and checks in the case that coincide with the 34 charges.

Emil Bove is conducting cross examination.

Laughter rang out in the court as Bove asked: 'Is it tedious work?'

'Honestly, I kind of enjoyed it,' he responds to laughter throughout the courtroom.

‘I hear that. Respect,' Bove says shrugging.

It was a moment of humor during some testimony that left people in the court yawning and struggling to pay attention.

Stormy Daniels trolled Donald Trump and his legal team after her six-hour testimony in the hush money trial.

‘Real men respond to testimony by being sworn in and taking the stand in court. Oh…wait. Nevermind,’ the porn star said on Thursday night on X.

The adult film actress’ dig came after Trump’s defense lawyers asked for a mistrial based on her salacious testimony about the alleged tryst in a hotel room in 2006.

Judge Juan Merchan denied the request, and asked why Trump’s lawyers didn’t object to her claims they had sex without a condom.

The former president has denied having an affair with Daniels.

Trump appears to be hunched forward in his seat while they review phone records.

He's reading something else and was highlighting some lines at one point.

Jaden Jarmel-Schneider is a paralegal in the Manhattan DA’s office who reviews records.

Trump is sitting at the defense table reading a pile of what appear to be news articles about the case.

He's chewing something - popped something into his mouth.

The former president is clearly zoned out and not interested in this line of testimony.

As the paralegal reads through texts, some members of the jury are following along, but others appear to be sinking into their seats.

One yawns, another looks around the room. One man looks like he's struggling to stay awake.

Donald Trump's physical movements during testimony have been a point of focus during the trial.

The former president has been caught with his eyes closed on multiple occasions, sparking claims he is asleep.

Both today and yesterday, he has done it more frequently.

The presumptive nominee has denied napping during proceedings.

Georgia Longstreet is now reading more texts between Stormy Daniels' publicist Gina Rodriguez and National Enquirer editor Dylan Howard into record.

They were also brought up during Daniels' six-hour testimony.

Read more about them below.

Prosecutor Rebecca Mangold is asking Georgia Longstreet to read aloud Twitter posts from @RealDonaldTrump.

The posts are dated from April, May and August of 2018. In them, Trump first says his former lawyer Michael Cohen is not going to 'flip,'

In other ones, he attacks Cohen.

‘If anyone is looking for a good lawyer, I would strongly suggest you don’t retain the services of Michael Cohen!’ one reads.

In another thread, Trump also tweets about Stormy Daniels' NDA.

Trump appears to hunch over to read his old tweets off the screen before him as Longstreet reads.

Georgia Longstreet works for the Manhattan's district attorney's office as a paralegal.

She has been reviewing documents and social media posts related to the case.

Longstreet is being questioned by prosecutor Rebecca Mangold.

Donald Trump walked back into court where he looked around the room including in the direction of Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg.

Bragg has retaken his seat two rows back from prosecution table.

Donald Trump stood up and walked out of the courtroom for a break passing close to where Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg was standing.

He appeared to avoid making eye contact as he walked up the aisle.

Trump did acknowledge Fox News' Jeanine Piro, touching her shoulder as she sat near the aisle on his way out.

Tomalin was cross-examined quickly by defense attorney Emil Bove.

She then left the stand.

From Sarah Ewall-Wice, Senior U.S. Political Reporter in court:

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg entered the courtroom this morning.

He walked in carrying a brown folder and sat down a few rows back from the prosecution table.

He is watching Jennie Tomalin from Verizon testify about telephone records.

Bragg has visited the courtroom for the hush money trial before but has not sat in to observe most of the case.

Donald Trump continues to look forward as testimony continues.

Jennie is a senior analyst at Verizon.

She is testifying about records in the hush money case.

Prosecutors introduced records of twelve phones from 2015 to 2017. One set of records belonged to Allen Weisselberg, the former chief financial officer at the Trump Organization.

Donald Trump’s defense attorney Susan Necheles asked Madeleine Westerhout a series of questions during cross-examination that show his team is trying to distance the ex-president from some of the personal finance decisions made while he was in the White House.

At one point, Necheles asked ‘would you see him signing things without reviewing them?’

‘Yes,’ Westerhout said.

‘Would you see him signing checks without reviewing them?’

‘Yes,’ she said.

Necheles also suggested Trump was multitasking while signing checks at the White House – taking phone calls and meetings with people.

‘We was a person who multitasked?’ Necheles asked.

‘Yes,’ Westerhout confirmed.

Daniel Dixon works for AT&T where he is a lead compliance analyst.

He is being questioned by prosecutor Chris Conroy.

Madeleine Westerhout has left the witness stand.

Madeleine Westerhout testifies that she did have a conversation with Donald Trump after the story about Stormy Daniels came out.

She recalls that he was ‘very upset by it.’

Westerhout says that it was her understanding that he felt the story would be ‘very hurtful to his family.’

She says however that he did not specifically speak about his family in that conversation.

Susan Necheles is asking a series of questions about the transition during the start of Trump’s presidency.

Westerhout is testifying about how the president would receive mail which was a very slow process due to security. She also confirms that things would get lost.

Necheles asks 'Wasn’t that a problem about getting personal mail to Trump to the White House?'

‘Yes,’ Westerhout says.

She confirms they were trying to figure out way for Trump and Melania to get mail promptly.

Idea came up that mail would be sent to Keith Schiller, Westerhout confirms.

Schiller would bring them in and give them to her, and she would give them to Trump.

Donald Trump’s longtime executive assistant Madeleine Westerhout spoke warmly of her old boss on the stand on Thursday.

But her exit from the White House was more acrimonious, and the reminder sparked her to cry on the stand.

She was fired in 2019 after bragging to reporters that she had a better relationship with Trump than his own daughters Ivanka and Tiffany.

Reports suggested at the time that she didn’t like being in photos with Tiffany, because she was perceived as overweight.

Westerhout worked extremely closely with Trump as his Director of Oval Office Operations and knew intimate details about his family and schedule.

Her departure may have been mired in tension, but it appears she has since mended her relationship with Trump.

Madeleine Westerhout served as Donald Trump's executive assistant in the White House.

She is wearing a cream silk blouse and a black jacket in court.

Westerhout is being cross-examined by defense lawyer Susan Necheles.

From U.S. Senior Political Reporter Sarah Ewall-Wice in court:

Donald Trump is back in the courtroom after slamming his 'horrible gag order' to reporters staged outside.

He also touted his rally in Wildwood, New Jersey, Saturday.

When he reached the defense table inside the courtroom, he appeared to slam his papers down.

He's joined in court by Boris Epshteyn today.

There was puzzlement on Thursday - not least from Judge Juan Merchan - as to why Donald Trump's lawyers did not object to Stormy Daniels' salacious evidence that he did not wear a condom during their alleged sexual encounter.

The judge, referring to Trump lawyer Susan Necheles, said: 'Why on Earth she wouldn’t object to the mention of a condom I don’t understand.'

Andrew Weissman, a former federal prosecutor, puts foward the theory that it was 'calculated gamesmanship' by the defense not to object. He tells MSNBC:

I can’t say for sure, but every bone in my body tells me this is calculated on the defense part. This is not sort of 'Oh, we forgot to object'. Susan Necheles is really experienced. She doesn’t forget to object. So when you have gamesmanship, I mean, they want this in the case.

Wait until summation. They (the defense) are going to say in summation, 'They (the prosecution) wanted this to be as salacious as possible because they don’t have a case and they wanted to bring in all of this stuff.'

After a photographer took a photo from an area where they were not supposed to, the ban on photography in the courtroom remains in place.

Talks continue to see if photographers can make a return.

For the first few weeks of the trial, photographers were allowed in the courtroom at the start of the day to take photographs of Donald Trump at the defense table.

Trump is en route to the courthouse for Day 15 of his criminal hush money trial.

Trump's former attorney Michael Cohen is expected to testify himself on Monday, setting up a brilliant showdown in court.

He is likely to be on the stand for several days.

Cohen's recounting of events is central to the case, which hinges on the $130,000 hush money payment he paid porn star Stormy Daniels to stay quiet about her sexual encounter with Donald Trump ahead of the 2016 election.

Donald Trump's former executive assistant has revealed that Melania Trump was 'definitely the one in charge' in her marriage to Donald Trump.

In dramatic testimony to Trump's hush money trial Madeleine Westerhout said the former first couple had a 'special relationship' founded on 'mutual respect'.

When he was president Trump would call his wife from the Oval Office and ask her to look down from a window in the White House residence.

And when he was leaving on a helicopter he would call her to 'check in'.

Judge Juan Merchan gave a brutal dressing down of Donald Trump's defense lawyers in front of the former president Thursday as he denied their motion for a mistrial in the hush money case Thursday afternoon.

It was the second motion for a mistrial from the defense this week after scandalous testimony from porn star Stormy Daniels about her alleged sexual encounter with Trump.

In his call for a mistrial, lawyer Todd Blanche called Stormy Daniels' testimony ‘extraordinarily prejudicial' and noted that even the judge had agreed some of the testimony was 'unnecessary.'

'It almost defies belief that we’re here about a records case and the government is asking about an incident that happened in 2006,' Blanche argued referring to Daniels' testimony on Tuesday about rolling up a magazine and spanking Trump with it nearly 20 years ago.