5 questions looming over Trump’s hush money trial

Testimony is well underway in former President Trump’s first criminal case, but several major questions are still hanging over the trial as it appears to be nearing its halfway point.

As the prosecution moves closer to the end of its case, several high-profile witnesses have not yet taken the stand, and Trump is repeatedly insisting that, when the time comes, he will testify in his defense.

Trump is charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records over a repayment scheme to his ex-fixer, Michael Cohen, after he paid porn actor Stormy Daniels $130,000 just before the 2016 election to stay quiet about an alleged affair with Trump, which he denies.

The former president pleaded not guilty and insists the records were truthful.

Here are five questions still hanging over Trump’s hush money trial.

What else will Stormy Daniels reveal?

In her testimony Tuesday, Daniels detailed the one-off sexual encounter she claims she had with Trump, starting with their 2006 meet at a celebrity golf tournament. She spilled it all, from the purported “power imbalance” between them to the lack of protection used when they allegedly slept together.

But her testimony isn’t over yet.

Trump attorney Susan Necheles began her at-times testy cross-examination of Daniels on Tuesday afternoon, attempting to undermine the adult film actress’s credibility and poke holes in her version of the story.

Necheles will continue her questioning Thursday. Though she has suggested Daniels was trying to make money and changed her story, Necheles has not directly contested Daniels’s claims that she slept with Trump.

Whenever Daniels is done, it remains unclear if the jury will hear from the other woman paid off to stay quiet about an alleged affair with Trump, which he also denies — ex-Playboy model Karen McDougal is also on the witness list, though the likelihood of her appearing in the courtroom is declining by the day.

When does Michael Cohen testify?

The district attorney’s case in chief is expected to climax with testimony from Cohen, Trump’s one-time personal attorney who made the payment to Daniels and brokered hush money deals with two other people.

But the question of when Trump’s fixer-turned-foe will take the stand is still unknown.

Cohen’s day in court could come as soon as this week, with Daniels’s testimony setting the stage for him to speak about efforts to silence her story.

Cohen is expected to describe his efforts to create a shell company through which Daniels’s $130,000 payment could be funneled, and his role in the other deals — allegedly all at the behest of Trump.

The one-time Trump Organization attorney had a long professional relationship with Trump before turning on his ex-boss after he became president. Cohen himself has been convicted in a federal case that involved charges related to the hush money payments, including tax evasion.

Does Trump mount a defense?

Prosecutors estimate they will finish presenting their case in roughly two weeks. The remainder of Daniels’s cross-examination and Cohen’s testimony is expected to dominate.

Then, Trump will be able to mount any defense case in front of the jury. He is not obligated to do so, and each juror has committed that they will not hold it against the former president if he does not.

Trump has repeatedly insisted he will take the stand. After expressing regret for not testifying in a trial last year, the former president did so in his two most recent civil trials, which took place in courthouses down the street from the current one.

It would mark a rare step for a criminal defendant, and many legal observers doubt Trump will follow through. The judge has ruled that prosecutors would be able to cross-examine him about some of his recent lawsuits.

Trump does have other witnesses he could call, such as a former commissioner at the Federal Election Commission who may testify as an expert. Prosecutors have indicated in court filings that they would then call a rebuttal expert.

The length of those portions of the case will dictate when the jury begins its deliberations, which could be underway in less than a month.

Can prosecutors establish a direct link to Trump?

Prosecutors have repeatedly tried to persuade jurors that Trump had personal knowledge of the hush money arrangements and the reimbursements to his fixer, attempting to show he was an accomplice.

The defense has argued the allegedly falsified business records at issue in the case are truthful, but has also looked to distance the former president from their creation.

That strategy was especially prevalent Monday, when the jury for the first time saw the 34 records that correspond to each of Trump’s charges.

Jeffrey McConney, the Trump Organization’s ex-controller, and Deborah Tarasoff, who works in the company’s accounting department, testified about how they processed the documents: a series of invoices, general ledger entries and checks.

But both said they weren’t getting direction from Trump. Instead, McConney indicated the order to classify the expenses as a legal retainer came from then-Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg.

Will the judge send Trump to jail over his gag order?

Judge Juan Merchan ruled Monday that Trump violated his gag order in the case a 10th time, ordering him to pay another $1,000 while warning that fines weren’t effective.

Merchan has lamented that state law prevents him from imposing a greater financial penalty against Trump, who says he’s worth billions. If Trump violates his order again, the judge warned that he may impose jail time.

“The magnitude of such a decision is not lost on me. … But at the end of the day, I have a job to do,” Merchan addressed the former president in the courtroom.

The gag order limits Trump’s ability to attack witnesses, jurors, court staff and their families, as well as the families of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg (D) and the judge. Trump can still criticize Bragg and the judge themselves.

The former president has asserted the gag order violates his First Amendment rights, stressing a need to respond to political attacks as the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.

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