A banker, an assistant, a tabloid boss: Key takeaways from Trump’s day in court

The jury in Donald Trump’s hush money trial heard more testimony on Friday from American Media Inc publisher David Pecker, who dodged attempts by the defence team to try to impeach his credibility.

Mr Trump’s former assistant at the Trump Organization also took the stand, mentioning seeing adult film star Stormy Daniels in the lobby of Trump Tower one day, close to the former president’s office.

Jurors also heard from a banker, who laid the groundwork for the creation of the shell company that ultimately sent payments to Ms Daniels — a critical piece of the case.

Mr Trump is charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records related to the so-called hush money payments given to the porn star before the 2016 election in exchange for her silence over an alleged affair.

Mr Trump has pleaded not guilty and has denied sleeping with Ms Daniels.

She claims the affair took place in 2006, one year after the criminal defendant married his now-wife Melania. In a twist of irony, on Friday, Mr Trump moaned about missing out on celebrating his wife’s birthday due to this criminal proceeding.

Here are the key takeaways from Mr Trump’s Friday in criminal court:

Early in the day on Friday, the two sides briefly sparred over whether or not Mr Trump deserves to go by the title of “president” during his trial.

The moment came about as Mr Trump’s defence attorney Emil Bove repeatedly referred to the defendant as “President Trump” when speaking about events prior to him taking office.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass tried to object saying: “He wasn’t president in June 2016.”

In opening statements on Monday, defence attorney Todd Blanche had told the jury that his legal team planned on referring to their client as “President Trump” because it’s a “title he has earned.”

Jurors heard about Cohen’s bid to use paparazzi to try to bolster his power play with Mr Trump.

In the summer of 2016, Cohen asked Mr Pecker for a “little help” to arrange paparazzi to cover a meeting between him and Mark Cuban, he testified. Cohen was apparently trying to work for the billionaire.

Publishing those photos would “put pressure on Trump to treat Cohen differently,” Trump attorney Emil Bove asserted.