Trump trial live updates: Judge finds Trump violated gag order again and threatens jail time, while jury sees paper trail in hush money case

Trump complained to reporters Monday that his trial was eating into his time on the campaign trail, after prosecutors estimated they need about two more weeks to present their side of the case.

Outside the courtroom, Trump also laid into the gag order against him as well as Judge Merchan for threatening the former president with jail time. The former president suggested he would continue to speak out.

“Frankly, our Constitution is much more important than jail," Trump told reporters. "It’s not even close. I’ll do that sacrifice any day."

The prosecution said it needs about two more weeks for its side of the trial, according to NBC News, which would bring the trial up to the week before Memorial Day. Even if the defense decides to put on its side of the case that week, the court is not planning to be in session on May 22 or 24. The defense's case would be followed by closing arguments, then left up to the jury to render a verdict. This means the trial could feasibly stretch until after Memorial Day, according to NBC News.

Before the trial wrapped for the day, Trump's defense attorney Todd Blanche did a brief cross-examination of Deborah Tarasoff, an accounts payable supervisor in the accounting department of the Trump Organization. According to the New York Times, Blanche established that Tarasoff got permission from her boss, Jeffrey McConney, to cut the checks that Trump signed and never from Trump himself. She was also never present for conversations between Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg and Trump.

Monday's testimony from two witnesses — Jeffrey McConney, a former Trump Organization accountant, and Deborah Tarasoff, an accounts payable supervisor — described a small-scale accounting operation, where Trump would personally sign any checks, regardless of the amount, that were coming from his personal account.

The evidence that was presented in court Monday (May 6) has already been posted to the New York court's website. While the documents show that reimbursement payments were made to Michael Cohen, Trump's former fixer who allegedly made hush money payments to Stormy Daniels, there is no clear and direct link that Trump himself directed anyone to fraudulently report the payments.

The court is now taking a short afternoon break.

Deborah Tarasoff, an accounts payable supervisor in the accounting department of the Trump Organization, testified that after 2015, any invoice above $10,000 had to be approved by Trump or one of his sons Don Jr. or Eric Trump. This is notable because each reimbursement payment made to Michael Cohen was for $35,000 or more.

According to CNN, Tarasoff would receive an approved invoice, put it in the system and would cut a check. For anything coming from Trump's personal account, Trump would sign the check himself, regardless of the amount, Tarasoff testified.

"If he didn't want to sign it, he didn't sign it," Tarasoff said, according to CNN, adding that he would write "VOID" on the check and send it back if it wasn't approved.

When asked how she knew it was Trump who signed it, she said it was because he used a black Sharpie marker.

This matters because the prosecution needs to prove that Trump knew about the hush money payments made to adult film star Stormy Daniels, who alleged she had an affair with Trump.

Earlier Monday, Judge Juan Merchan informed Trump that he had been found in contempt of court for violating the gag order that prevents him from attacking witnesses or talking about the jury. Trump was ordered to pay a fine of $1,000.

Here is a copy of Merchan's ruling.

After a 75-minute break for lunch, Donald Trump's hush money trial resumed with the prosecution calling its next witness: Deborah Tarasoff, an accounts payable supervisor in the accounting department of the Trump Organization.

Before court broke for lunch on Monday, Trump's defense team objected when prosecutors sought to enter new evidence into the trial. But Judge Juan Merchan ruled against them, allowing the evidence to be entered, according to CNN. That included the following:

• A series of emails in February 2017 sent from Jeffrey McConney requesting that Michael Cohen submit invoices to the Trump Organization for an expense reimbursement.

• Invoices and documents tied to each monthly reimbursement payment to Michael Cohen. CNN notes each payment to Cohen is connected to a separate criminal count in the charges against Trump.

• Legal expenses under the general ledger of Trump's revocable trust for the 2018 full calendar year.

• Financial disclosure document (OGE 278-e form for 2017).

Jeffrey McConney concluded his testimony, and the court is taking a lunch break until 2:15 p.m. ET.

Trump's lawyers finish their questioning of former Trump Organization accountant Jeffrey McConney.

During cross-examination, Trump attorney Emil Bove asked Jeffrey McConney, a former Trump Organization accountant, whether he ever talked to Trump about the company's accounting software.

"No," McConney reportedly replied.

The line of questioning suggests that the defense wants the jury to see that Trump did not personally falsify business records. But, as the New York Times pointed out, the prosecution does not need to prove that; it needs to prove only that he "orchestrated their falsification."

The defense concluded its cross examination of McConney, and the prosecution is now following up with a few questions for the former Trump Organization accountant.

Jeffrey McConney, the former Trump Organization accountant, testified that the former president used money in his revocable trust to reimburse Michael Cohen for the hush money payment he made to silence adult film actress Stormy Daniels.

What is a revocable trust? According to the New York City Bar's Legal Referral Service, it is a trust that includes language allowing you to draw money from it while you're still alive.

McConney said that the first checks used to reimburse Cohen were cut from Trump's revocable trust. Later, they were taken from his personal bank account.

📸 Big picture: Trump is charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records. The jury is being shown many of the documents that prosecutors say show those crimes.

Emil Bove, Trump's defense attorney, has begun cross-examination of Jeffrey McConney, a former Trump Organization accountant.

A courtroom sketch depicting Monday's testimony in Trump's hush money trial shows the prosecution's witness, Jeffrey McConney, a Trump Organization accountant, being questioned about documents relating to reimbursements made to Michael Cohen, Trump's "fixer" and former lawyer who made the alleged hush money payments to Stormy Daniels's attorney.

Cameras are not allowed inside the courtroom during the trial.

Trump has complained at length that the hush money trial, which he is legally required to attend, is preventing him from campaigning. But he is free to campaign on days he's not in court:

• Last week, during Wednesday's day off, Trump held rallies in Wisconsin and Michigan.

• On Saturday, Trump hosted wealthy donors at a private GOP retreat at Mar-a-Lago.

• On Sunday, he attended a Formula 1 race in Miami.

The former president is scheduled to hold his next campaign rally on Saturday in Wildwood, N.J., at the Jersey Shore.

Court is back from its midmorning break. The prosecution's witness Jeff McConney, the Trump Organization accountant, has returned to the stand. Prosecutor Matthew Colangelo has resumed his questioning.

As the jury takes a mid-morning break, here's a brief summary of the testimony from Jeffrey McConney, the Trump Organization accountant who said he arranged the reimbursement payment to Michael Cohen, Trump's so-called fixer, who made the hush money payments to Stormy Daniels's lawyer, according to CNN, New York Times, and other reporters inside the courtroom

• McConney learned from Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg that Cohen was owed money.

• The prosecution showed several exhibits in the courtroom, displaying hand-written notes from McConney and Weisselberg that detailed their plan to reimburse Cohen the $130,000 as well as additional money to cover taxes and a bonus.

• McConney advised Cohen to submit invoices for the reimbursement payments.

• He was not able to approve invoices — only Trump, and executives Weisselberg and Matthew Calamari were authorized to do that.

• The invoice for Cohen's reimbursement payment wasn't sent to the Trump Organization's legal department for approval, which strayed from typical practice in the organization.

• Weisselberg got approval from Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. to pay the first invoices to Cohen from a trust account.

• Then in March 2017, reimbursement to Cohen started coming out of Trump's personal bank account.

Jeffrey McConney, the Trump Organization accountant, is expected to continue direct testimony when the trial resumes.

As we hear testimony from Jeffrey McConney, the Trump Organization accountant who arranged to reimburse Michael Cohen for the $130,000 hush money payment to Stormy Daniels, anticipation is building for Cohen himself to be called to the witness the stand.

Both Daniels and Cohen are on the list of potential witnesses submitted by the prosecution ahead of the trial, and both are expected to appear. But that's ultimately up to the prosecutors presenting the case.

Yahoo News Senior Editor David Knowles explains how prosecutors have laid the groundwork for Cohen’s testimony.

Under direct questioning from prosecutor Matthew Colangelo, Jeffrey McConney, a former Trump Organization executive, testified about the inner workings of the company’s accounting department — often in granular detail.

Among other things, McConney told the court that:

• Trump used a Capitol One checking account.

• McConney hand-delivered the organization's cash position reports to Trump once a week.

• Trump reportedly told McConney to "negotiate my bills."

📸 Big picture: The prosecution wants to show that Trump was deeply involved in his day-to-day finances, and therefore deeply involved in the hush money payments at the center of this case.

Prosecutors have called Jeffrey McConney, a former Trump Organization controller, to testify on the witness stand. He worked directly under the organization's former chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg.

The prosecution says McConney helped arrange the reimbursement payment for the $130,000 hush money payment to Stormy Daniels, who claims she had an affair with Trump.

According to the CNN, McConney testified, "[Trump] ran the organization. He was the brains behind it," McConney siad. He said he was in charge of the accounting department and oversaw the approval of company expenses, but those were really handled by accounts payable.

McConney said he hasn't spoken to the former president since he retired last February, but he said the Trump Organization is paying his legal fees.

He has previously testified twice at two previous Trump trials: during the 2022 Trump Organization tax fraud trial and last fall during Trump's civil fraud trial.

Before testimony resumed Monday, Judge Juan Merchan informed Trump that he's holding him in contempt of court for a 10th time for violating the gag order.

Merchan warned that further violations could result in jail time.

"The last thing that I want to do is to put you in jail," Merchan reportedly said. “You are the former president of the United States and possibly the next president as well.

"The magnitude of this decision is not lost on me, but at the end of the day I have a job to do," the judge added. "So as much as I don't want to impose a jail sanction ... I want you to understand that I will if necessary and appropriate."

Speaking to reporters after arriving at the Manhattan Criminal Courthouse for the fourth week of his hush money trial, former President Donald Trump railed against the case and the gag order imposed on him, falsely claiming Judge Juan Merchan has "taken away my constitutional right to speak."

Trump then moved on to commenting on news of the day, including the cancellation of Columbia University's commencement ceremony amid ongoing protests over the war in Gaza.

"Columbia just canceled their commencement," the former president said. "That shouldn't happen."

• Former President Donald Trump's hush money trial in Manhattan criminal court is set to resume at 9:30 a.m. ET.
  

• The prosecution has not revealed who it plans to call today, but Michael Cohen and Stormy Daniels remain on its witness list.
  

• Last week Trump was fined $9,000 by Judge Juan Merchan for violating a gag order aimed at preventing him from attacking witnesses and court staff.
  

• Merchan heard arguments last week over four additional alleged violations , and could issue a ruling at any time.