Trump trial live updates: Michael Cohen cross-examination to resume in hush money case after lawyers attack testimony

Here’s our latest livestream from Manhattan.

Alex Woodward is braving the rain for us to be at Manhattan Criminal Court once again this morning and sends this damp dispatch:

“A canopy of umbrellas and personal tents have turned the line outside a criminal courthouse in downtown Manhattan into a small village, waiting in the rain for what could be the final day of the prosecution’s case in Donald Trump’s criminal hush money trial.

“Michael Cohen, the former Trump loyalist who admitted to lying and bullying on his behalf for years, will likely finish up on the witness stand after spending eight hours over two days testifying against his former boss

“Defense attorney Todd Blanche opened cross-examination with a burst of barely disguised contempt for his client’s former lawyer.

“He asked Cohen if he remembered calling him a ‘crying little s***.’

“Cohen, dryly, replied: ‘Sounds like something I would say.’

“Before Blanche could finish his next question, about another of Cohen’s insults aimed at Trump’s attorneys, Justice Juan Merchan cut him off and called him to the bench out of earshot of the jurors and courtroom.

“‘Stop making this about yourself,’ he told Blanche.

“The hour that followed meandered from Cohen’s past praise for Trump and his more recent insults, an attempt to paint Cohen as a fickle opportunist and serial liar out to save his own skin. But it’s unclear whether Blanche landed any clear blows. Cohen had already told jurors that he was ashamed of his role as Trump’s enabler, paid the price with a federal conviction and prison sentence, and has since told the ‘truth’ about him. Even under Blanche’s questions, Cohen said a phrase that hung over the rest of afternoon: he was ‘deep in the cult of Donald Trump’.

“Blanche will pick up where he left off in the hopes of painting Cohen as a wholly unreliable witness to the allegations at the heart of the case.

“Cohen is the sole witness who can directly link Trump to approving hush money payments to Stormy Daniels, and then signing off on Cohen’s reimbursement plan that he repeatedly explained was fraudulent.

“Jurors will be excused at 4pm, and then defense attorneys will see whether they can bring up an expert witness when, or if, they present their case.

“It’s still not clear if Trump will testify. Blanche told the judge this week that Trump still hasn’t given him any indication that he will.”

As Trump’s New York hush money trial races through its fifth week, recent polling shows that, despite the best efforts of a parade of Republican opportunists decrying the trial as a sham, most Americans believe the former president did falsify records to cover up his alleged payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels.

A new Yahoo News/YouGov survey, released on Tuesday, shows that while most Americans – 52 per cent – believe Trump paid off Daniels, fewer than half, 40 per cent, believe the crime warranted an indictment and a trial.

Barrett Blade spoke frankly to CNN’s Erin Burnett this week about precisely what was at stake for his wife in offering testimony against the former president last week, praising her courage.

Melania Trump has often been portrayed as publicly hands-off, both in the political world and when it comes to her husband’s biggest scandals. But this might not be the case after all.

Media reports have long presented Melania, a former fashion model, as a reluctant participant in her husband’s administration and campaign. When some of his biggest scandals came to light, she would typically be in the background, rarely taking time to comment, if she did at all.

Now, it’s being revealed that her role in shaping his public responses to scandals was bigger than it may have been let on. That includes the Access Hollywood tape scandal that nearly ended Mr Trump’s political career.

Here’s a look at what Michael Cohen has had to reveal about her in court.

One after the other, in press conferences steps outside a Manhattan courthouse, Trump’s allies have repeated familiar attacks against the daughter of the judge presiding over the criminal case against the former president.

They fired off similar attacks about Michael Cohen, who was testifying in a courtroom 15 floors above them.

Prosecutors are moments away from closing their case, and the judge is eager for the trial to keep moving along without any further interruptions.

But an avalanche of recent attacks seemingly directed by Trump to his lackeys – which include the country’s highest-ranking Republican – could be grounds for severe sanctions against him.

Here’s Alex Woodward to explain.

The aforementioned Mitt Romney has told MSNBC in a new interview that Biden should have pardoned Trump after the Justice Department brought election interference charges against him and should have pressured New York prosecutors to drop the hush money case in the interests of national unity and reducing Trump’s exposure to the media spotlight.

“He should have fought like crazy to keep this prosecution from going forward,” Romney said onThe 11th Hour with Stephanie Ruhle.

“It was a win-win for Donald Trump.”

The retiring senator and 2012 GOP presidential candiate said pardoning Trump instead would have placed Biden in a position of power over the former president.

He also used the interview with Ruhle to ridicule the fawning Trump courtiers turning up at court in Manhattan to support him and to reiterate his disapproval of the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.

The president threw down the gauntlet to his Republican challenger yesterday, suggesting they debate in June and September and remarking: “I hear you’re free on Wednesdays.”

Trump readily agreed, responding: “Let’s get ready to Rumble!!!”

The first debate is set for CNN on 27 June and is already being derided as a spectacle, with Utah senator Mitt Romney (more on whom shortly) joking it will play out with the two senior citizens berating each other “like the two old guys on The Muppets”.

Former House speaker Nancy Pelosi, meanwhile, has sounded the alarm, saying she would never have advised Biden to debate Trump.

Here’s Andrew Feinberg’s report on the hastily-arranged showdown.

Donald Trump endured – and partially napped through – Michael Cohen’s second day on the stand at the former president’s hush money trial in Manhattan on Tuesday but will get another chance to pay attention today.

Here’s our recap on Day 17 from Kelly Rissman and Alex Woodward, when the defendant’s ex-attorney was confronted by defence lawyer Todd Blanche about his long-standing animosity to Trump, his history of colourful insults on social media and alleged profiteering from anti-Trump merchandise as part of an effort to discredit his testimony.

Here’s the latest from the Desk of Don, another absurd all-caps rant in which he just rallies back at Biden whatever the media is currently saying about himself:

You can tell he’s serious about the above and does not have his mind on other, less important issues because he’s also been posting about his latest golf course in Scotland: