Defense rests without Donald Trump testifying in criminal hush-money trial

Trump had previously railed about being silenced and falsely claimed he was not allowed to testify, but ultimately elected of his own volition not to take the stand in his own defense.

After the defense rested Merchan, told jurors to return on Tuesday 28 May for closing arguments. Merchan said he would also announce his instructions to jurors the next day and expected that they would then start deliberating.

Trump entered the courtroom just before 9.30am. The former president, who is all but guaranteed to be the Republican presidential nominee, is charged with falsifying business records related to paying the adult film star Stormy Daniels $130,000 for her silence about an alleged sexual liaison.

Cohen said he worried that Costello would tell Giuliani about their conversations, and that the former New York City mayor would then disclose this information to Trump. Costello claimed that during their first meeting, Cohen said he did not know about Trump doing anything illegal; the raid came in the wake of Cohen admitting that he had paid Daniels.

Members of the press were asked to leave for several minutes. Under the US constitution, New York state, and common law, there is a presumption of access, meaning court proceedings are supposed to be open to the press and public except in extremely rare circumstances. Merchan did not permit a media attorney to address the court about the access issue.