Pro-Trump witness testifies in hush money case

A legal ally of Donald Trump has testified to a New York court that is considering whether to approve charges against the former president over a hush-money payment to a porn actress.

Robert Costello said outside court he had given evidence refuting allegations that Mr Trump directed the pay-off.

Stormy Daniels was paid to keep quiet about an alleged affair with Mr Trump.

If prosecutors charge Mr Trump, it would be the first criminal case ever brought against a former US president.

The grand jury, which has been set up by a Manhattan prosecutor to determine whether there is enough evidence to indict Mr Trump, met on Monday in the court. US grand jury proceedings are cloaked in secrecy.

The Stormy Daniels case centres on how Mr Trump reimbursed his former lawyer, Michael Cohen, after he paid Ms Daniels $130,000 ahead of the 2016 presidential election.

The record for the payment reimbursing Cohen says it was for “legal fees”. Mr Trump has denied having sex with Ms Daniels.

Prosecutors could argue this amounts to Mr Trump falsifying business records, a misdemeanour in New York. Legal analysts say any charge could potentially be upgraded to a felony, a more serious case.

Cohen – who himself once boasted that he would “take a bullet” for Mr Trump, before the two had a falling out – arranged the hush-money payment to Ms Daniels. Cohen served time in prison after being convicted in 2018 of campaign finance violations, partly in relation to the pay-off.

Mr Costello was put forward on Monday by Mr Trump’s legal team to discredit previous testimony by Cohen, a key witness in the current investigation.

According to a CNN reporter outside court, Mr Costello said: “The heart of it is that Michael Cohen told us that he was approached by Stormy Daniels’ lawyer and Stormy Daniels had negative information that she wanted to put in a lawsuit against Trump.

“So Michael Cohen decided on his own, on his own, to see if he could take care of this.”

Mr Costello told reporters he would share with the media all the materials he said he had already provided on the matter to the district attorney’s office.

Mr Costello, a veteran New York lawyer, has also represented Trump allies such as Steve Bannon and Rudy Giuliani.

Cohen’s attorney said he had been available for two hours on Monday, in case prosecutors needed him to rebut Mr Costello’s testimony, but was ultimately “not needed”.

“The facts and documents speak for themselves,” said Cohen’s lawyer, Lanny Davis.

On Saturday, Mr Trump said on social media that he expected to be arrested on Tuesday and called for supporters to protest. On Monday evening, Trump lawyer Susan Necheles said the legal team had heard nothing from prosecutors.

The NYPD has ordered officers of all ranks, including plainclothes detectives, to wear their full uniforms on Tuesday and be ready to be mobilised, a police source told CBS News, the BBC’s US partner.

In Washington DC a senior congressional source said the Capitol Police planned to make an emergency declaration on Tuesday to respond to any civil disturbance in the event of a possible indictment of Mr Trump.

There was a notable police presence outside the Manhattan Criminal Courthouse on Monday, where Mr Trump would probably be arraigned in the case of an indictment.

A handful of anti-Trump protesters gathered outside court and held up signs that read “shame” and “no-one is above the law”.

Laurie Arbeiter was among them.

“We teach our children not to lie. Trump lies all the time,” she told the BBC. She was interrupted by a supporter of the ex-president who called out: “Trump is the best president ever. Trump 2024!”

Mr Trump has vowed to continue his campaign to become the Republican nominee in the 2024 presidential election if he is indicted.

Some members of the Republican party have spoken out in Mr Trump’s defence.

In a letter sent to the Manhattan district attorney and released publicly on Monday, Republican House members accused Alvin Bragg, who set up the grand jury, of “a politically motivated prosecutorial decision”.