Trump Hush Money Trial Resumes with Banker Testimony and Witness Protection Measures

The third week of Donald Trump’s criminal trial over his alleged involvement in a hush money scheme will continue on Tuesday, with prosecutors remaining tight-lipped about their witness order due to Trump’s unpredictable public comments. Michael Cohen’s former banker Gary Farro is expected to take the stand again and provide further insight into the paper trail related to the home equity line of credit that Cohen used to pay Stormy Daniels during the 2016 election campaign. The jury has already seen documents relating to a shell company created by Cohen in Delaware, which was intended for use in paying American Media Inc (AMI) for Karen McDougal’s story but ultimately never transpired. Farro is expected to detail records that show Cohen changed course two weeks later and instead opened an account for Essential Consultants – the entity used by Trump during his presidential campaign to pay Daniels as part of a hush money scheme aimed at suppressing her allegations about their alleged affair. The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office has requested that Judge Juan Merchan fine Trump $1,000 for each of 14 breaches of court rules regarding public comments and social media posts against key trial witnesses Michael Cohen and Stormy Daniels among others since March 6 – this in order to shield witnesses from pre-trial commentary by the former president. The judge has yet to rule on whether Trump will be held in contempt for violating a gagging order that bars him from discussing proceedings publicly, but prosecutors have warned Merchan they may ask him to jail Trump if he continues making public comments about witnesses or other trial participants as this could affect their right to a fair trial. The judge has also scheduled another hearing on Thursday regarding four further alleged breaches of the gagging order by Trump since March 6, which prosecutors claim violate court rules against pre-trial commentary relating to proceedings in this case. In other testimony during last week’s trial proceedings, former tabloid publisher David Pecker described a media landscape where AMI did Donald Trump’s bidding ahead of the 2016 election with Cohen as his liaison while Trump’s longtime assistant Rhona Graff also testified that she remembered seeing Daniels at Trump’s office once several years prior to the campaign, during which time she thought Daniels may have been seeking a potential role in ‘Celebrity Apprentice.