Trump trial highlights: Lawyer for Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal takes the stand

As the Trump team strolled out, a single legal assistant struggled to exit under a pile of boxes and binders that everyone else left behind.

The district attorney's team left in a notably less glamorous fashion sharing the load, with even Steinglass, a two-decade plus veteran of the office, carrying his own bankers box and binder.

Trial proceedings are done for the day.

Court will be back in session Thursday, starting with a gag order hearing at 9:30 a.m. ET. The jury is set to return at 10 a.m.

One text presented from former National Enquirer editor-in-chief Dylan Howard to Davidson said, "Push for the cash. [David Pecker] and I just told him he has to pay the $150K."

Davidson said he thought that meant, “That I should try to get as much as I could, up to 150,000.”

Davidson said that the deal for Daniels changed from National Enquirer's parent company to Michael Cohen and his corporate entity.

Davidson could be a useful witness to prosecutors because he helps explain the motivation to bury Stormy Daniels' story, but the DA's office has struggled to get him to bring Trump directly into his protracted negotiations with Cohen for weeks leading up to the 2016 election.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass is having a hard time asking Keith Davidson a question that Judge Juan Merchan will allow about how and why he understood Trump would be paying for the deal.

Steinglass notes that at one point Davidson paused when he was asked who he understood would be responsible ultimately for paying Daniels. Davidson responded that he found the question confusing.

Steinglass then asked whether during his dealings with Michael Cohen, Davidson understood how the deal would be funded. Davidson responded that he “had an assumption,” and Trump attorney Emil Bove interjected an objection, which Judge Merchan honored.

More text messages between Keith Davidson and Dylan Howard presented during the trial this afternoon reflected Davidson's belief, he said, that if Stormy Daniels' story got out, "it would be a tornado."

The texts also corroborated Davidson's testimony that he walked away not only from Michael Cohen but also from representing Gina Rodriguez, Daniels' manager, and Daniels herself. Davidson said he expected "there would be tremendous media activity around this story."

The trial is back and Davidson is on the stand.

Former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page is in the courtroom, seated in the last row.

Page was the target of a secret national security surveillance warrant executed by the FBI during the Russia probe. He was never charged with a crime.

The trial has taken a break until 3:50 p.m.

The prosecution pushed Davison on whether he "ever believed that Michael Cohen was going to be the ultimate source of the funds" for the deal, to which Davidson responded, "Never. Never prior to funding."

Davidson went on to testify that he believed the money would be coming from "Donald Trump or some corporate affiliation thereof."  

Days after the trial began, an appeal's court today denied Trump's request that the trial be delayed. Trump sought a delay because Judge Merchan refused to recuse himself, because he couldn't invoke a presidential immunity defense and because the judge made his team file motions with a delay to allow for redactions.

By Oct. 17, 2016, Keith Davidson emailed Michael Cohen at his Trumporg.com address with the subject line: “PP v. DD: Important.”

In the email presented during the trial, Davidson said, “My client informs me that she intends to cancel the settlement agreement if no funds are received by the close of business today.”

Davidson testified that Cohen gave him a series of excuses about not paying in a phone conversation. "The conversations didn’t leave me with a comfort level” that the settlement would be funded, he said.

Some of the excuses included the Secret Service setting up firewalls in their email system, the computers being “all f----- up,” and Cohen’s inability to reach Trump who Cohen said was in “4 or 5 different states today” and that he was “doing the best” he could.

Eric Trump is looking up at the screen showing the email between Cohen and Davidson about the side letter agreement as Davidson reads from it.

Davidson goes on to testify that Cohen insisted that only he could keep a copy of the side letter agreement, which Davidson acknowledges was highly unusual.

Keith Davidson testified this afternoon that pseudonyms were used in the settlement to identify Stormy Daniels and Trump: Daniels was "Peggy Peterson" and Trump was "David Dennison." He said they used pseudonyms to ensure additional confidentiality, in case the contract was lost, misplaced or stolen.

Davidson said that he came up with the pseudonyms as stand-ins for the parties, and that he knew someone named David Dennison who was on his high school hockey team. “He’s very upset,” Davidson said, noting that his former teammate wasn't pleased about being associated with the agreement.

When asked by prosecutor Joshua Steinglass whose identities were meant to be protected, Davidson replied, "Stormy Daniels and Donald Trump."

Davidson testified that when the deal between Dylan Howard, the former National Enquirer editor-in-chief, and Gina Rodriguez, Stormy Daniels' manager, fell through, Davidson was pressured into negotiating with Cohen.

"The story is no one wanted to talk to Cohen," Davidson testified.

“Gina approached me. She said, ‘Hey, we have this deal and it’s going to be the easiest deal you’ve ever done in your entire life, and it’s already been negotiated. All you need to do is pay for it and talk to that a------,'” referring to Cohen.

Keith Davidson said when he took over negotiating the deal on Stormy Daniels' behalf — working with Michael Cohen after the National Enquirer backed out — that he "needed to pad the deal" by making the total larger.

"We needed to pad the deal. To compensate me now, because I was added to the deal. And Stormy and Gina weren’t going to take a discount for adding me," he testified.

Keith Davidson said that the "Access Hollywood" tape had "tremendous influence" on Stormy Daniels' story.

"I think before, before 'Access Hollywood' tape, there was very little interest from what I understand," he said.

After the tape resurfaced, Davidson said interest in Daniels' story "reached a crescendo."

"Trump is f-----," Davidson said in a text to Dylan Howard.

"Waive the white flag. It’s over people!" Howard said.

Keith Davidson said that Stormy Daniels was a client who had been referred to him by Gina Rodriguez, Daniels' talent manager.

Asked if he spoke to Daniels during various encounters, Davidson said, “I think I had a brief conversation with Stormy and Gina ... but most of my conversations I believe were with Gina.”

He said that he sent a cease-and-desist letter for Daniels. "There was a blog post or a story posted on the website that stated that Stormy Daniels and Donald Trump had some sort of physical romantic interaction," he testified.

Davidson said he spoke to Michael Cohen by phone and "before I could even get my name out, I was just met with a hostile barrage of insults."

"I don’t think he was accusing us of anything, he was just screaming," Davidson said.

According to Davidson, Cohen thought the story was leaked by Daniels and Davidson said he was calling because Daniels didn't want the story published. He said he was successful and had the story taken down.

Davidson testified that as part of his negotiations with ABC News in possibly having it break the story of McDougal’s alleged affair with Trump, ABC News dangled the opportunity for McDougal to appear on a future season of “Dancing With the Stars.”

“It was discussed a lot,” Davidson said of McDougal appearing on a future season of the long-running show. “There was an inference that best efforts would be made that would happen. But it was never guaranteed. Best efforts were discussed.”

Davidson testified that Rhonda Schwartz, a producer for Brian Ross, was calling regularly to try to secure the interview.

Davidson ended discussions with ABC News after signing a catch-and-kill agreement with American Media Inc., the publisher of National Enquirer.

ABC News did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The prosecution asked Davidson why he thought National Enquirer purchased the McDougal story if it didn't intend to print it.

Davidson responded that there were two goals: to help build McDougal up as a brand and to help Donald Trump by not exposing the affair.

He went on to say in his testimony that “there was an unspoken understanding” that there was a close affiliation between David Pecker and Trump.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass asked Keith Davidson about the final deal signed by the National Enquirer parent company and Karen McDougal, which Davidson said was effective Aug. 5, 2016.

Davidson said one of the paragraphs said that it grants her life rights to the subject manager regarding an affair she had with a married man.

“Was there a particular married man you understood this to apply?” Steinglass asked.

"Yes," Davidson said. "Donald Trump."

The prosecution is walking Davidson through a series of text messages where he appeared to be hammering out a deal for McDougal to be paid to keep quiet about her story.

One text that former National Enquirer editor-in-chief Dylan Howard sent to Davidson said, appearing to refer to Karen McDougal, "She’ll get more out of a deal with AMI than ABC and I’m happy to sign some sort of agreement that alleviates..."

Another from Davidson to Howard said, “Let’s try and wrap up Karen’s deal. She is getting repeated calls from Rhonda Schwartz.” She was a producer at ABC News.

Trump posted on Truth Social just minutes before returning to court Tuesday afternoon and less than an hour after other posts — which Judge Merchan had ordered to be deleted in accordance with his gag order — were taken down.

"This Judge has taken away my Constitutional Right to FREE SPEECH," Trump's new post read.

"I am the only Presidential Candidate in History to be GAGGED. This whole 'Trial' is RIGGED, and by taking away my FREEDOM OF SPEECH, THIS HIGHLY CONFLICTED JUDGE IS RIGGING THE PRESIDENTIAL OF 2024 ELECTION. ELECTION INTERFERENCE!!!" the post continued.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Club for Growth President Dave McIntosh, a former congressman, are both in the courtroom. Paxton is an avid Trump supporter. And McIntosh, after opposing Trump in the Republican primary, backed his campaign earlier this year.

The trial has resumed.

As of 1:24 p.m. ET, all of the Truth Social and campaign website posts that Judge Merchan ordered Trump to remove by 2:15 p.m. ET today have been taken down.

Merchan ruled this morning that the posts had violated Trump's gag order and fined the former president $9,000 — $1,000 for each offending post. The judge also threatened Trump with possible jail time if he continues to violate the order.

The court has taken a break for lunch. Davidson is expected to continue testifying once the trial resumes.

Davidson stressed that McDougal did not want to go public with her story, and he said that a competing deal with ABC would have forced her to come out and tell it.

Her goals included that she rejuvenate her career, make money and avoid becoming “the scarlet letter,” he said.

“Was AMI attractive because she would not actually have to tell her story?” Steinglass asked.

“That was one of her stated goals, and that would be in alignment with one of her very important stated goals," Davidson answered.

Keith Davidson's disposition on the witness stand is notable. His speech is monotone, without a lot of elaboration and seemingly avoiding colorful language.

For instance, he called the alleged dealings between his client, Karen McDougal, and Trump a "personal interaction."

Davidson is looking at his own text messages and asked to explain the context surrounding events even he described as a "bombshell" at the time, but today on the stand, his voice pattern never changes — even when the subject is objectively eyebrow-raising.

In one text exchange between Keith Davidson and Dylan Howard, Davidson said, “Don’t forget about Cohen. Time is of the essence. The girl is being cornered by the estrogen mafia."

Davidson testified, “That was a very unfortunate, regrettable text I sent. That phrase is not one that I used or came up with. That was a term by one of, I think, one of Karen’s associates that was at the first meeting. And there was several women who were leaning on Karen to sign a deal with ABC.”

The Trump campaign swiftly moved to fundraise off of the fine the former president received for violating Merchan’s gag order, sending an email this morning arguing that the fine is part of an effort to “silence” him.

“A Democrat judge JUST HELD ME IN CONTEMPT OF COURT!” an email from the Trump campaign this morning reads. “I was fined $9,000 for 9 gag order violations. THEY WANT TO SILENCE ME!

The email goes onto decry the gag order as an “undeniable election interference” effort and includes a link to contribute financially to his campaign.

Davidson said that by June 20, 2016, Dylan Howard texted him that he had landed and was en route to Davidson’s office, where they met with McDougal, Jay Giardina (her ex-brother-in-law), and a man named Johnny Crawford, a friend of McDougal's.

At that meeting, McDougal alleged she had had a romantic and sexual affair with Donald Trump for “several weeks to months” some years prior.

Davidson is detailing meetings and details we first learned about from David Pecker’s testimony, but with more details and from a different vantage point.

Keith Davidson testified that he had texted with National Enquirer reporter Dylan Howard, saying he had a "blockbuster Trump story," in June 2016.

Davidson testified that the story was about the interactions between Trump and Davidson's client, Karen McDougal.

Howard had responded to Davison, "Talk 1st thing, I will get you more than ANYONE for it. You know why..."

Davidson said he didn't know if he had a "clear understanding at the time" of Howard's text.

"But I knew that Dylan’s boss David Pecker and Mr. Trump were longtime friends and had a former business relationship," Davison continued.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass introduced text messages as evidence between Davidson and Dylan Howard the morning after Davidson told him that he had a "blockbuster Trump story."

"Did he cheat on Melania?" Howard asked Davidson. "Do you know if the affair was during his marriage to Melania."

"I really can't say yet, sorry," Davidson said.

"Okay keep me informed," Howard said.

Asked by Steinglass whether he discussed with McDougal that he was authorized to negotiate on her behalf with media companies, Davidson declined to detail his discussions with his client.

 “I can’t and won’t discuss what I discussed with Ms. McDougal,” Davidson said, drawing a firm line with respect to attorney-client communications.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass asked Keith Davidson a few questions about how he knows Karen McDougal. He said he met her about 25 years ago and she was dating his friend.

Asked if he represented McDougal in the summer of 2016, Davidson said, “I represented her in order to provide advice and counsel ... regarding a personal interaction she had ... with Donald Trump."

Trump appeared to have fallen asleep while listening to testimony — at times appearing to stir and then falling back to sleep.

Trump's eyes were closed for extended periods and his head at times jerked in a way consistent with sleeping.

With reporters mostly stationed in an overflow room and relying on screens showing Trump at a distance, it can be difficult to totally discern the nature of Trump’s shut-eye. His eyes are closed — a lot — but determining whether or not he is actually asleep is particularly tricky given the circumstances.

After being questioned about how the pair met, Keith Davidson testified that he met Michael Cohen after Trump and Stormy Daniels' relationship had been publicized in 2011.

“In approximately 2011, there was an article published in a blog about my client and Donald Trump, and I had occasion to talk to Michael Cohen," Davidson said.

Davidson confirmed that that client was Daniels.

Davidson said he is employed by a law firm that he owns, Davidson and Associates, and specializes in civil litigation such as injury and media cases.

He said that he was involved in media cases from 2003 to 2017, and that he regularly worked on nondisclosure agreements from 2015 to 2017 through which parties agreed to not discuss certain subjects.

Davidson said he got immunity through his grand jury testimony but did not seek it.

He acknowledged knowing a talent manager named Gina Rodriguez, who primarily manages reality TV stars, and has known her for more than a decade. 

Prosecutors have just called Keith Davidson to the stand. He is the former attorney for both Karen McDougal and Stormy Daniels.

Davidson is a key player in the scheme and alleged conspiracy, but he's managed to stay under the radar since we first heard his name in relation to Daniels and McDougal. He was a key source for Dylan Howard.

Today, for the first time, the jury is watching videos of the former president in his own words, but without much context as to why.

This is the only way for the prosecution to get some of this evidence in at trial, but the jury doesn’t know that yet. Hard to know what they make of this.

As Phillip Thompson takes the stand, he is now the second witness called solely for records authentication purposes.

The last guy — Robert X. Browning — came from Indiana, leading his employer, C-SPAN, to hire counsel. Now, it's clear Thompson's employer, Esquire Deposition Solutions, has also had to hire counsel and fly him out from Texas to serve as a witness in the trial.

All of this could have been avoided if Trump's legal team had been willing to acknowledge the C-SPAN videos and Carroll deposition transcript were authentic and enter into a simple agreement to that effect. Instead, we now see these two witnesses having to testify themselves to prove authenticity on records.

Prosecutors just called Phillip Thompson as their next witness to the stand. He's from Montgomery County, Texas, and is in his eighth year working at Esquire Deposition Solutions, which supplies court reporters and interpreters.

He's the regional director of field operations.

Esquire Deposition Solutions acquired TSG Reporting, which transcribed Trump’s deposition in the E. Jean Carroll trial.

The defense had no cross-examination of Browning.

After Browning detailed how C-SPAN works, prosecutors played to the jury a clip of a Trump rally in Greensboro, North Carolina, when he discussed allegations of sexual assault.

“The stories are total fiction,” Trump says in the clip.

First, David Pecker testified about how his tabloid defied all journalistic principles and paid for stories — a practice media ethicists say is far outside the norm and not how journalism works.

Now, Robert Browning, who oversees the archive process at C-SPAN, is testifying how television networks log videos.

It's not the most compelling stuff about making television. But it is what television staff are constantly doing, making sure that video feeds are working properly and that future archives are able to find them by keeping detailed transcripts.

Brown is testifying that C-SPAN has more than 278,000 videos in their archives alone.

Prosecutors just called Robert X. Browning as their next witness.

Browning is the executive director of the C-SPAN archives and has been in that role for 37 years. He is also a professor at Purdue University.

Merchan says there will be no court on Friday, May 24. That ups the pressure on the prosecution to either be done well before then — and to not allow deliberations to extend over the holiday weekend — or to ensure there is still testimony after what is now a four-day weekend.

Merchan took the bench before Trump and his lawyers were back in court, but after a brief wait, the court is back in session.

The Manhattan district attorney’s office just offered to withdraw from evidence a July 1, 2017, text, in which Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal’s lawyer told American Media’s chief content officer: “He owes AMI everything & he f----- u. Idiot.”

Who is the "he" in question? Not entirely clear — but, presumably, Trump.

Trump and the lawyers have left and the court is now taking a full morning break.

Prosecutors and Trump's defense team are now going over text messages from former National Enquirer editor-in-chief Dylan Howard again and whether they should redact one saying “there is shady s--- going on."

It was from Oct. 19, 2016, in the midst of negotiations over the Stormy Daniels deal and delays perceived by her publicist Gina Rodriguez. That's when she told Howard, "There is some shady s--- going on."

The jury is taking a brief morning recess, but the legal teams remain in the courtroom.

When jurors walk out for a break, they have to walk past the defense table. None of them look at Trump.

As Blanche's cross-examination of Farro goes into the weeds of the financial banking process, jurors appear to still be awake in the courtroom, but some are seen shifting in their seats with one having just rubbed his face and a couple seen yawning.

Gary Farro testified after questions from Trump lawyer Todd Blanche that he doesn't open accounts for shell companies and that he only opens LLCs.

He said shell companies have a business behind them and said there would be only one purpose for an LLC to buy a home, yacht or aircraft and the purpose would be to stay anonymous because it becomes public record.

“If the client had told me that this would be a shell corporation, the account would not have been opened," Farro said.

Blanche is trying to impugn Farro’s credibility by insinuating that Farro and his group had lax practices and could or should have known Cohen had long been involved in risky business.

Trump lawyer Todd Blanche asked Gary Farro if he's familiar with the term de-risking, which refers to the phenomenon of financial institutions terminating or restricting business relationships with clients or categories of clients to avoid, rather than manage, risk.

Farro said he's not familiar with that term. Blanche said the bank can decide it doesn't want to do business with a customer. He then asked Farro if he knows whether that analysis was done on Michael Cohen while he was at the bank. Farro said he doesn't know.

Farro described Cohen as a “challenging client because of his desire to get things done so quickly.”

Farro recalled that with Cohen there was an “urgent matter” about “90% of the time.”

Trump just closed his eyes for several minutes.

Sitting behind him, political aide Susie Wiles is straining to watch the witness, a juxtaposition to Trump sitting with his eyes closed.

Asked by Mangold whether any of the wire transfer paperwork indicated that money was being transferred on behalf of a political candidate, Farro said “no” and that additional questions would’ve been asked if that were the case.

Farro also denied that any of the wire transfer paperwork indicated that money was being transferred for payment to an adult film star.

On the paperwork requesting the transfer of $130,000 to Keith Davidson's account, Michael Cohen wrote that the purpose was “Retainer,” which was itself a lie.

Gary Farro said the bank asks for that information to ensure that the bank is not involving itself in anything it doesn’t want to be involved in. 

Using documents she painstakingly authenticated and admitted through Farro on Friday, prosecutor Rebecca Mangold is walking through key acts in furtherance of the conspiracy: Cohen’s rushed opening of, funding of, and deception of his bankers at First Republic.

But for Cohen’s misrepresentations about the purpose of his LLC and his request that the bankers expedite the opening of the account, the transfer of funds from Cohen’s home equity line of credit to the account, and ultimately, the wire transfer to Davidson, he might not have paid Stormy Daniels in time to ensure her silence before Election Day.

Throughout Farro’s testimony this morning, the jurors have been following along with the email chains with the computer monitors in front of them, with some seen taking notes.

Michael Cohen — who has been the target of much of Trump's criticism that was cited as gag order violations — praised the decision.

"The imposed fine is irrelevant. Judge Merchan’s decision elucidates that this behavior will not be tolerated and that no one is above the law," Cohen said in a statement.

Judge Merchan ordered Trump to remove the posts from Truth Social that violated the gag order by 2:15 p.m. ET.

It's notable that the judge decided to allow Trump to attend Barron's graduation on May 17, since Trump and his campaign had earlier been claiming that the judge had barred him from doing so.

During the first week of trial, Trump told reporters: "My son is graduating high school, and it looks like the judge will not let me go to the graduation."

His campaign also sent out a text that read: "THEY ARE FORCING ME TO SKIP MY SON’S GRADUATION. I’LL BE IN COURT."

That text was wrong. The judge had not yet made a decision.

Assistant District Attorney Rebecca Mangold asked Farro whether the bank’s process for opening the account would be different if Cohen had indicated he was paying an adult film star.

Farro replied, “Yes, we would certainly ask additional questions."

Asked whether there was anything indicating that the account was made for paying an adult film star, Farro denied that was the case and that more questions would’ve been asked if he had known.

Speaking to reporters outside of the courtroom, Trump touted his new exclusive interview with Time magazine, in which he discussed his agenda if he wins a second term in office, saying that the story is “at least 60% correct.”

The presumptive Republican presidential nominee also criticized the ongoing pro-Palestinian protests on college campuses nationwide, describing them as “Biden protests” in colleges that are “overrun.”

Trump argued that the 2017 Charlottesville “Unite the Right Rally,” which Biden has said is what led him to launch his presidential campaign, is “peanuts” compared to the protests happening at college campuses across the country.

Gary Farro, the banker that worked with Michael Cohen, is back on the stand.

Merchan, in his decision finding that Trump had violated his gag order, wrote that he understands a $1,000 fine is unlikely to make much of a difference for someone with wealth, but that he cannot levy a larger fine.

"Because this Court is not cloaked with such discretion, it must therefore consider whether in some instances, jail may be a necessary punishment," Merchan wrote.

“Defendant is hereby warned that the Court will not tolerate continued willful violations of its lawful orders and that if necessary and appropriate under the circumstances, it will impose an incarceratory punishment."

Merchan began proceedings Friday by addressing Trump's request at the beginning of the trial that he be able to attend his son Barron's high school graduation on May 17.

“I don’t think the May 17th date is a problem. So Mr. Trump can certainly attend that date. Attend his son’s graduation," Merchan said.

Judge Merchan has ruled that Trump is in criminal contempt for nine violations of the gag order. The punishment is $1,000 per violation. Merchan didn't elaborate on anything else.

Under the judge's ruling, Trump is fined $9,000.

Eric Trump has joined his father in the courtroom today, becoming the first of Trump's family members to be present at the trial.

Susie Wiles, a senior Trump campaign adviser, Dan Scavino, former White House deputy chief of staff for communications, and Jason Miller, longtime Trump adviser, are also in the courtroom today.

Merchan has taken the bench and the trial has resumed.

As the criminal hush money trial against former President Donald Trump enters its third week, NBC News’ Gary Grumbach previews who will be taking the stand and what to expect regarding the judge’s upcoming gag order decision.

The criminal trial of Donald Trump resumes in a Manhattan courtroom Tuesday with a focus on the hush money transaction that’s at the center of the allegations against the former president.

The first witness of the day will be Gary Farro, a banker who worked with then-Trump lawyer Michael Cohen when Cohen, Trump’s self-described “fixer,” paid adult film star Stormy Daniels $130,000 to keep quiet during the 2016 presidential campaign about her allegation that she had a sexual encounter with Trump a decade earlier. Trump denies her claim.

Farro, who in 2016 was an executive at First Republic Bank, testified Friday that Cohen reached out to him in mid-October of that year to set up a bank account for a company he was forming called Essential Consultants LLC.

Cohen described the company to the bank “as a real estate consulting company to collect fees for investment consulting work he does for real estate deals,” Farro told jurors. Prosecutors characterized it as a shell company that was set up to mask the source of the payment, which was made shortly before Election Day.

Read the full story here.

As the trial resumes today with Farro's testimony, we await a decision from Judge Juan Merchan on the prosecution’s request to hold Trump in contempt for 10 alleged violations of the gag order against him. There will be a hearing Thursday at 9:30 a.m. for the remaining four alleged violations and any others that might be added by the prosecution team.

One America News Network retracted an article Monday that said former President Donald Trump’s onetime attorney Michael Cohen had had an affair with adult film star Stormy Daniels.

The March 27 article from the conservative news outlet quoted a post on X from a user who falsely claimed to have obtained information in 2018 from Daniels’ then-attorney, Michael Avenatti. Citing Avenatti, the post claimed that Cohen and Daniels had been having an affair since 2006 and that Cohen “cooked up” the hush money scheme to extort the Trump Organization ahead of the 2016 election.

“To be clear, no evidence suggests that Mr. Cohen and Ms. Daniels were having an affair and no evidence suggests that Mr. Cohen ‘cooked up’ the scheme to extort the Trump Organization before the 2016 election,” OAN said in a statement Monday.

The network said it was taking the story down “from all sites,” as well as “all social media.”

The former president has left Trump Tower and is headed to the courthouse.

A small crowd of Trump supporters gather outside Manhattan criminal court this morning in a planned protest at the invitation of the New York Young Republican Club, waving flags and wearing trademark MAGA hats.

Gary Farro, who testified on Friday that he was assigned as Michael Cohen’s banker at First Republic Bank in 2015, is scheduled to take the stand again today after the trial resumes at 9:30 a.m. ET.

Farro has said he helped Cohen set up a bank account for the shell company that was used to pay Daniels. Farro also said he was assigned Cohen because of his “ability to handle individuals who might be a little ... challenging.”

It's not immediately clear who might take the stand if Farro's testimony concludes today.

Trump’s longtime executive assistant testified, along with a banker who helped Michael Cohen facilitate a payment to Stormy Daniels. Defense lawyers also completed their cross-examination of David Pecker, attempting to discredit the former publisher of the National Enquirer who testified about how he tried to bury negative stories about Donald Trump before the 2016 election. NBC News’ Laura Jarrett reports

There were no court proceedings yesterday, so Friday was the most recent day of trial testimony. That's when former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker took the stand for a fourth day and was questioned by a Trump attorney who sought to reshape the narrative painted by prosecutors about the norms of Pecker's publication, particularly the practice of buying stories.

His cross-examination was followed by testimony from longtime Trump assistant Rhona Graff, who testified that she believed she had created contact information pages for Karen McDougal and Stormy Daniels — displayed by the prosecution in court — that were saved in the Trump Organization’s computer system. An attorney for Trump suggested that Trump had Daniels' contact information because he had indicated she might be an interesting candidate for "The Celebrity Apprentice," a reality TV show.

The last witness to take the stand on Friday was Gary Farro, who was Michael Cohen’s banker and allegedly helped set up the bank account for the shell company that was used to pay Daniels. Farro was asked about bank documents and communications, including paperwork for an account Cohen opened for an LLC.