Trump’s porn star hush money trial enters week four: Here’s what’s happened so far

For
three
weeks,

Donald
Trump
has
bounced
between
the
campaign
trail
and
Manhattan
Supreme
Court,
where
he
faces
34
felony
counts
for
falsifying
business
records,
in
order
to
conceal
hush
money
payments
to
a
porn
star
during
his
previous
White
House
run
in
2016.

Wednesdays
are
Trump’s
free
day
from
the
proceedings,
and
the
presumptive
Republican
presidential
nominee
used
his
most
recent
midweek
respite
to
galvanize
his
base
in
swing
states
Wisconsin
and
Michigan
with
a
very
clear
message:
He’s
got
a “crooked,” “corrupt,”
and “totally
conflicted”
judge
in
his “fake
trial”
in
New
York.

He
also
bragged
to
supporters
that
he’s
seen
a
bump
in
the
polls
thanks
to
the
raft
of
criminal
charges
against
him.

It
has
to
be
a
harrowing
pace
for
the
77-year-old,
though
he
has
denied
multiple
reports
that
he’s
fallen
asleep
repeatedly
in
court,
saying
that
he
is “simply”

closing
his “beautiful
blue
eyes”
and
listening “intensely.”

The
historic
hush
money
trial,
which
still
has
another
three
to
five
weeks
to
go,
marks
the
first-ever
criminal
trial
of
an
ex-U.S.
president.
It
is
also
the
first
of
four
separate
criminal
cases
against
him.

As
the
trial
enters
its
fourth
week,
here
are
the
highlights
thus
far.

Judge
Juan
Merchan
doesn’t
care
if
Trump
speaks
out
against
him
in
public,
like
he
did
to
crowds
in
Waukesha,
Wisconsin
and
Freeland,
Michigan
on
Wednesday.

Merchan
has
also
given
the
defendant
a
pretty
long
leash
with
respect
to
airing
grievances
with
the
press
and
on
the
campaign
trail
about
Manhattan
District
Attorney
Alvin
Bragg,
President
Joe
Biden,
and
other
political
foes
—
so
long
as
the
presumptive
presidential
nominee
doesn’t
touch
the
topic
of
jurors,
likely
witnesses
in
his
case,
and

staff
and
family
members
of
the
court
and
the
DA’s
office.

The
order
also
does
not,
despite

Trump’s
protestation
to
the
contrary,
bar
him
from
testifying
in
his
own
defense.

Thus
far,
prosecutors
say
Trump
has
breached
the
fairly
narrow
gag
order

fourteen
times.

On
Tuesday,
April
30,
the
judge
held
Trump
in
contempt
for
repeatedly
violating
the
gag
order,
warned
that
he
could
be
put
in
jail
if
he
again
willfully
violates
court
orders,

fined
Trump
the
maximum
punishment
of
$1,000
for
each
of
the
nine
violations,
and
ordered
him
to
take
down
the
posts
from
Truth
Social
and
his
campaign
website.

Prosecutor
Chris
Conroy
called
Trump’s
statements “corrosive”
to
the
proceedings,
but
said
the
government
was “not
yet
seeking
jail”
because
prosecutors “prefer
to
minimize
disruptions.”

The
judge
has
not
yet
ruled
on
whether
Trump
violated
the
gag
order
another
four
times.
Separately
though,
Merchan
has,
on
a
few
occasions,
admonished
the
former
president
for
intimidating
jurors
with
his
conduct
in
the
courtroom,
including
gesturing
and
side
comments.

The
prosecution’s
case
hinges
on
convincing
the
jury
that
Trump
tried
to
“corrupt
the
2016
election”
by
making
illegal
payments
—
transactions
which
he
subsequently
covered
up
by
faking
records,
in
yet
another
illegal
act.
The
defense
contends
that
Trump
was
not
involved
with
any
of
this
criminal
record-keeping
and
that
he
only
signed
the
checks.

The
specific
payment
trail
in
question
relates
to
money
that
Trump
apparently
sent
to
his
then-attorney,
Michael
Cohen,
to
reimburse
him
for
paying
off
porn
star
Stormy
Daniels
in
2016,
ahead
of
the
election.
At
the
time,
Daniels
wanted
to
go
public
with
her
story
of
having
sex
with
Trump
years
earlier
while
he
was
married.

To
make
its
case,
the
government
began
by
calling
to
the
stand
the
former
CEO
of
National
Enquirer
publisher
American
Media.

David
Pecker
was
integral
to
the

alleged “catch
and
kill”
scheme,
which
was
designed
to
shape
the
public
narrative
around
Trump
during
the
campaign
by
containing
damaging
information
about
him.

Pecker
testified
that
his
publication
would “embellish”
negative
stories
about
Trump’s
political
rivals
during
the
2016
election,
in
addition
to
publishing
positive
stories
about
Trump.

Pecker,
who
spoke
on
the
stand
about
his
unofficial
role
as
being
the “eyes
and
ears”
of
the
campaign,
named
Cohen
as
central
to
this
operation.

American
Media
paid
$150,000
to
ex-Playboy
model
Karen
McDougal,
another
woman
who
wanted
to
share
her
story
of
an
extramarital
affair
with
Trump.
Pecker,
who
said
that
he
purchased
the
story
in
order
to
bury
it,
said
that
Trump
never
reimbursed
the
company.

The
Daniels
exchange
was
different,
because
the
exchange
of
cash
touched
Cohen
and
Trump.

The
prosecution
called
in
Trump’s
longtime
personal
secretary
Rhona
Graff,
who
testified
that
Trump
had
the
contact
information
for
McDougal
and
Daniels
saved
to
his
phone.

Banker
Gary
Farro
described
how
he
worked
with
Cohen
to
get
$130,000
into
a
First
Republic
bank
account
—
money
which
was
ultimately
used
to
pay
Daniels
through
her
attorney
in
exchange
for
her
silence.

Keith
Davidson,
the
former
lawyer
for
porn
star
Stormy
Daniels
and
former
Playboy
model
Karen
McDougal,
took
the
stand
to
describe
the
negotiations
that
took
place
in
2016
for
the
rights
to
both
of
their
stories.

In
his
testimony,
Davidson
described
his
dealings
both
with
American
Media
and
with
Cohen.
Calls
recorded
between
Davidson
and
Cohen
were
also
played
for
the
jury.

And
then,
on
Friday,
Hope
Hicks
took
the
stand
to
talk
about
the
infamous “Access
Hollywood”
tape
that
threatened
Trump’s
presidential
run
a
few
weeks
before
election
Day.
Trump
is
heard
in
the
tape
bragging
about
sexual
misconduct
toward
women.

The
former
White
House
communications
aide,
whose
testimony
followed
that
of
either
other
witnesses,
said
she
was “very
concerned”
when
the
Washington
Post
reached
out
in
October
2016
to
seek
comment.

“Everyone
was
just
absorbing
the
shock
of
it,”
said
Hicks,
who
later
broke
down
in
tears.

She
added
that
the
initial
strategy
was
to “deny,
deny,
deny.”

Davidson,

who
brokered
the
$130,000
hush
money
payment
to
Daniels,
testified
that
the
tape
led
to
surge
of
interest
in
her
story
of
an
alleged
extramarital
affair
with
Trump.

“Before
[the] ‘Access
Hollywood’
tape,
there
was
very
little
interest
from
what
I
understand,”
Davidson
said
in
court.

As
the
trial
enters
week
four,
Trump
is
also
waiting
to
see
how
the
U.S.
Supreme
Court
case
on
presidential
immunity
pans
out.

The
judge
denied
Trump’s
request
to
miss
court
for
a
day
to
hear

oral
arguments
last
month
about
whether
the
former
president
is
immune
from
federal
prosecution
on
criminal
election
interference
charges.

—

CNBC’s
Kevin
Breuninger
and
Brian
Schwartz
contributed
to
this
report.