It has been another crucial day at Donald Trump's hush
money trial.
CN NS Julia Benbrook joins us now.
And Julia, today we heard testimony that could impact how
Americans vote later on this year.
Well, Cynthia, today's testimony from Donald Trump's former lawyer Michael
Cohen marked a critical moment in this hush money trial.
Cohen is a star witness who detailed the decision to
pay adult film star Stormy Daniels hush money shortly before
the 2016 election and the reimbursement plan to him.
Former President Donald Trump is charged with 34 counts of
falsifying business records.
New York prosecutors allege Trump did that to cover up
his reimbursement to his former lawyer,
Michael Cohen, back in 2016.
The prosecutors need Cohen to express to the jury that
what they he was doing when he created these entries
was covering up the fact that they had paid hush
money for this story and then tie it into the
campaign.
This stems from a $130,000 payment Cohen made to adult
film star Stormy Daniels to keep her from going public
about an alleged affair with Trump.
The former president has denied the affair and pleaded not
guilty to the charges.
Cohen testified that Trump told him to work with the
National Enquirer editor to get control of Daniel's story and
prevent it from hurting his campaign as prosecutors watched jurors
through Trump's alleged involvement in the scheme.
If Trump were convicted, it's unclear if it would impact
his standing with voters.
I should be a lot of different places right now
campaigning,
and I'm sitting here. Despite Trump's ongoing legal issues,
a new set of state surveys finds Trump holds an
advantage over President Joe Biden among registered voters in four
key states.
The same surveys show the two candidates locked in close
races in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
Now, Julia, every Wednesday the trial goes dark.
How does Donald Trump use that time?
Well, we heard him that story,
complaining that he would rather be out campaigning,
and he regularly talks about this as he enters or
exits the courthouse.
He does have Wednesdays and weekends off though,
and he is chosen, we've found,
to spend most of his 12 quart free days out
of voters view at his properties in New York,
New Jersey and in Florida.
Now this week is going to be a little bit
different.
They're normally in court. Four days a week.
This week, it'll only be 3.
The judge has approved him spending Friday at his youngest
son Barons graduation in Florida.
This is something that the Trump team asked for before
the trial even started,
and late last month, the judge decided that things were
going quickly enough that he felt comfortable taking that day
off.
All right, Julia. Thank you very much.
That is CNN's Julia Benbrook from Washington.