Fraudulent checks, mob-like threats and TikToks: Takeaways from Michael Cohen’s second day of testimony at Trump trial

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.

Cohen appeared composed as the prosecution directly addressed his credibility, asking him about pleading guilty in 2018 to lying to Congress, lying on behalf of his former boss, and most crucially, a series of checks and invoices that contained “false” descriptions that outline the fraud at the center of the case.

Jurors saw the $35,000-per-month payments, which were signed by Mr Trump and labeled as routine legal fees to his then-attorney Michael Cohen.

But those payments were actually Mr Trump’s “reimbursement” for Cohen’s $130,000 hush money payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels, according to Cohen.

In the afternoon, Mr Trump’s attorneys attacked Cohen’s shifting opinions for his former boss, from his “obsession” to his desire to see him convicted.

Here are the key takeaways from Mr Trump’s 17th day in Manhattan criminal court:

Prosecutors started off the day by running through Cohen’s monthly invoices from 2017, which he wrote for “services rendered” (for work he says he didn’t do) that were “pursuant to a retainer” (that didn’t exist).

Those invoices and checks are the allegedly fraudulent business documents at the heart of the charges against the former president.

Cohen had previously testified that he paid adult film star Stormy Daniels $130,000 on behalf of his then-boss as part of an agreement that she would stay quiet about having sex with Mr Trump in 2006.

Mr Trump has denied even meeting Ms Daniels beyond a photograph they posed for at a celebrity golf tournament.

“Did you continue to send them monthly?” asked Assistant District Attorney Susan Hoffinger.