Defense asks judge to dismiss hush money trial as Michael Cohen concludes testimony

Key things to know: 

• Donald Trump’s hush money trial begins its 19th day on Monday with cross-examination of Michael Cohen set to resume. 
• Cohen took the stand last week and placed Trump directly at the center of the alleged scheme to stifle negative stories to fend off damage to his 2016 White House bid. 
• Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.

NEW YORK – Donald Trump’s hush money trial entered its final stretch with the prosecution resting its case late Monday afternoon following the conclusion of star witness Michael Cohen ‘s testimony.

Cohen concluded his testimony after nearly four full days on the witness stand. He looked in the former president’s direction as he walked out of the courtroom before a court officer directed him down the aisle.

In his testimony, Cohen placed Trump directly at the center of the alleged scheme to stifle negative stories to fend off damage to his White House bid, the Associated Press reported. Among other things, Cohen told jurors that Trump promised to reimburse him for the money he fronted and was constantly updated about efforts to silence women who alleged sexual encounters with him. Trump denies the women’s claims.

The judge in Trump’s money trial on Monday said he would issue a decision on the defense’s motion to dismiss the case at a later day.

Here’s a full recap of Monday’s testimony. 

5 p.m. ET: Court is adjourning for the day

Robert Costello will return to the witness stand on Tuesday.

4:50 p.m. ET: Why the defense called Robert Costello to the stand

After the fireworks over Robert Costello’s testimony, Bove tried to get at one of the main reasons he said he called the attorney to the stand: to rebut any suggestion from prosecutors that Costello was part of an effort to arm-twist Cohen to stay loyal to Trump.

“Mr. Costello, did you ever put any pressure on Michael to do anything?” Bove asked.

“No,” Costello testified. He said he considered Cohen a client and had only his interests, not Trump’s, in mind during their interactions.

4:45 p.m. ET: The defense has finished their direct questioning of Robert Costello

Donald Trump appeared alert and engaged, his attention focused on the witness box, during Costello’s testimony. When his attorneys finished their questions, he wrote a note on a piece of paper in front of him.

4:30 p.m. ET: With jurors and Robert Costello excused, Trump’s defense is asking the court to dismiss the case

The defense is asking Judge Juan M. Merchan for an order dismissing the case immediately. Trump lawyer Todd Blanche argued: “There’s absolutely no evidence that the filings were false. The business records were not false. There’s no disputing that Mr. Cohen provided legal services for President Trump in 2017.”

Blanche argued that prosecutors have failed to prove their case and there’s no evidence of falsified business records or an intent to defraud.

Blanche underscored that Trump was in the White House while Cohen was being repaid, far removed from the Trump Organization offices where Cohen’s invoices and checks were being processed. Trump signed the checks in the White House, but he was doing so because Cohen was performing legitimate legal services for him as his personal attorney, Blanche argued.

4:15 p.m. ET: ‘You think he’s going to fool 12 New Yorkers?’

Trump attorney Todd Blanche beseeched the judge to “not let this case go to the jury relying on Mr. Cohen’s testimony,” arguing Cohen had not only lied repeatedly under oath in the past, but again while testifying in this trial.

But Judge Merchan appeared unmoved by the argument, asking the defense attorney whether he believed that “as a matter of law, this person’s so not worthy of belief that it shouldn’t even be considered by the jury?”

Blanche said that he did.”You said his lies are irrefutable,” the judge replied. “But you think he’s going to fool 12 New Yorkers into believing this lie?”

4 p.m. ET: Robert Costello says Cohen told him Trump ‘knew nothing’ about payment to Stormy Daniels

Robert Costello testified that Cohen lamented to him, “I don’t understand why they’re trying to put me in jail” over nondisclosure agreements, and disclosed that he’d arranged one with Daniels.

But, Costello said, Cohen told him Trump “knew nothing” about the hush money paid to the porn actor.

“Michael Cohen said numerous times that President Trump knew nothing about those payments, that he did this on his own, and he repeated that numerous times,” Costello testified.

3:45 p.m. ET: Rober Costello says Michael Cohen asked about ‘escape route’ for legal woes following raid

Robert Costello testified that in a meeting shortly after federal authorities searched Cohen’s home, office and hotel room in April 2018, a “manic” Cohen asked about an “escape route” from his legal problems.

“He kept on pacing back and forth, left and right,” Costello said. “He said my life is shattered, my family’s life is shattered. I don’t know what’s going to happen.”

Costello said he told Cohen the matter could be resolved quickly “if he had truthful information about Donald Trump and he cooperated.”

“I swear to God, Bob, I don’t have anything on Donald Trump,” Cohen replied, according to Costello.

3:30 p.m. ET: Who is Robert Costello?

Robert Costello, a former federal prosecutor in New York, is relevant to the case because of his role as a Cohen antagonist and critic in the years since a professional relationship splintered in spectacular fashion.

He had offered to represent Cohen soon after the lawyer’s hotel room, office and home were raided and as he faced a decision about whether to remain defiant in the face of a perilous criminal investigation or to cooperate with investigators in hopes of securing more lenient treatment.

During Cohen’s testimony last week, prosecutors presented correspondence showing that Costello boasted about his closeness at the time with Trump ally Rudy Giuliani — a relationship he suggested could be beneficial to Cohen — and reassured him that he was “loved” inside the White House. In presenting those messages to the jury, prosecutors hoped to prove that Costello’s outreach was designed to keep Cohen in the Trump fold and to discourage him from flipping on Trump and cooperating.

But Cohen ultimately went with a lawyer and did exactly that, pleading guilty to federal crimes and implicating Trump. Costello in the years since has repeatedly maligned Cohen’s credibility and was even a witness before last year’s grand jury that indicted Trump, offering testimony designed to undermine his account.

3:15 p.m. ET: Jury returns and Robert Costello called to the witness stand

Before Robert Costello took the stand, Judge Merchan ruled he would allow the defense to question him about two allegedly inconsistent statements in Cohen’s testimony and to “offer some rebuttal” to his testimony. But, the judge said, he’s not going to allow this to become a “trial within a trial” as to whether there was a pressure campaign and how it affected Cohen.

The judge said he will give Trump attorney Emil Bove “some latitude to explore the pressure campaign so you can explore some inconsistencies.”

3 p.m. ET: The defense calls its first witness

It’s a paralegal who works in Trump attorney Todd Blanche’s law office. The paralegal, Daniel Sitko, said he was tasked with creating a summary chart of phone calls between Cohen’s phones and attorney Robert Costello.

2:35 p.m. ET: Michael Cohen has finished testifying and the prosecution rests

Michael Cohen’s testimony concludes. 

2:30 p.m. ET: Prosecution has finished re-direct questioning of Michael Cohen

“My entire life has been turned upside down as a direct result,” Michael Cohen said when asked how speaking out about Trump has affected him. “I lost my law license, my businesses, my financial security, which I was fortunately enough early to have been able to obtain. My family’s happiness, which is paramount… just to name a few.”

2 p.m. ET: Michael Cohen testified he had ‘no doubt’ Trump signed off on Stormy Daniels payment

Back on the witness stand just before the break, Michael Cohen testifies that he has “no doubt” Trump gave him a final sign-off to make the payments to Daniels. In total, he said he spoke with Trump more than 20 times about the matter in October 2016. Some conversations were brief, while others were longer, he said, adding that they happened both by phone and in person.

Prosecutors appear to be eliciting testimony from Cohen aimed at diminishing the importance of a single phone call, which defense attorneys contend was not about the Daniels payments, but about a teenager prank caller who’d been harassing Cohen.

1:30 p.m. ET: Trump’s lawyers drop objection to C-SPAN image

After initially objecting, Donald Trump’s lawyers have agreed to let prosecutors show the jury a still image taken from a C-SPAN video of Trump and his bodyguard Keith Schiller together at a campaign event at 7:57 p.m. on Oct. 24, 2016.

Trump lawyer Todd Blanche said he agreed to what’s known as a stipulation, allowing prosecutors to introduce the image without the need for extra steps, such as summoning a C-SPAN representative back to the witness stand to authenticate the image.

The defense made the compromise after prosecutors said they would seek to have the C-SPAN representative testify Tuesday morning, likely after the prosecution rests its case and the defense starts calling witnesses.

Blanche conferred with prosecutor Joshua Steinglass and reached the deal during a short break in the trial after conferring with Trump and other members of his defense team about how to proceed.

The jury returned to the courtroom and prosecutor Susan Hoffinger showed jurors the C-SPAN image of Trump and Schiller.

1:15 p.m. ET: Judge says prosecution can’t use C-SPAN screenshot

Before the jury returned from the lunch break, Judge Juan M. Merchan ruled prosecutors can’t show the jury still images pulled from a C-SPAN video of Trump and his bodyguard Keith Schiller together at a campaign event at 7:57 p.m. on Oct. 24, 2016 — about five minutes before Cohen called Schiller’s cellphone, according to the Associated Press. 

The judge said the photo amounts to hearsay without being authenticated by a representative of the TV network. Assistant District Attorney Joshua Steinglass said prosecutors are arranging to have the executive director of the C-SPAN archives, Robert Browning, return to the witness stand. Browning testified earlier in the trial to authenticate videos of Trump campaign speeches in 2016.

Steinglass had said they wanted to show the image to blunt any suggestion by the defense that Trump and Schiller might not have been together at the time in question.

Cohen previously testified that he needed to speak with Trump “to discuss the Stormy Daniels matter and the resolution of it” and he knew Schiller would be with him. Cohen wired $130,000 to Daniels’ lawyer two days after the call in question.

Citing text message and telephone records, Blanche pressed Cohen last week on the subject matter of the call, eliciting testimony that the witness was also dealing with harassing phone calls from a person who’d identified himself as a 14-year-old boy.

12:44 p.m. ET: Michael Cohen says he stole after his holiday bonus was cut

Michael Cohen’s admitted theft from the Trump Organization came after, he says, his annual holiday bonus was slashed to $50,000 from the $150,000 he usually received.

Cohen testified that Trump owed technology firm Red Finch $50,000 for its work artificially boosting his standing in a CNBC online poll about famous businessmen.

Cohen said he’d paid the company’s owner $20,000 in cash “to placate him for the time being” after Trump had gone months without paying the bill.

Cohen said he later sought reimbursement for the full amount at the same time he was seeking payment for the money he paid Daniels. He said he kept the difference instead of paying Red Finch as a way of making up for his reduced bonus.

“I was angered because of the reduction in the bonus and so I just felt like it was self-help,” Cohen said.

12:40 p.m. ET: Juicing a poll

Michael Cohen testified that he shelled out money to a tech firm to help boost Trump’s performance in an online CNBC poll about the most famous businessmen of the last half century, according to the Associated Press. 

At the beginning, Trump was polling near the bottom “and it upset him,” Cohen said. So Cohen reached out to Red Finch, who said they could create an algorithm that would get Trump’s name “to rise and rise significantly” in the poll by acquiring IP addresses to cast phony votes.

He said Trump initially wanted to finish first, but the two decided that would be suspicious. Instead they decided to settle for 9. But Trump refused to pay the firm after CNBC decided to nix a second round of the poll featuring the top 10 names. Trump, Cohen testified, didn’t feel he’d gotten his money’s worth.

When he was later reimbursed by Allen Weisselberg to pay back Red Finch, Cohen kept the proceeds for himself – an act of deception that, Cohen admitted earlier in the day, amounted to stealing from the Trump Organization.

But describing his actions to the prosecutor, Cohen defended the move. “I felt it was almost like self help,” he said.

12:35 p.m. ET: Prosecution begins 2nd round of questions for Michael Cohen

As prosecutor Susan Hoffinger began asking Cohen her second round of questions, she took aim at a point Trump’s defense made during their questioning: that Cohen helped Trump and his family with some legal matters in 2017, when Cohen received $420,000 from the then-president. The sum included reimbursement for the $130,000 Cohen had paid Stormy Daniels, according to testimony and evidence at the trial.

Prosecutors say the $420,000 in payments was deceptively logged as legal expenses to disguise the Daniels deal. Trump’s defense says Cohen was indeed paid for legal work, so there was no cover-up.

Cohen testified that he never billed for the work he did for Trump and his family in 2017. When Hoffinger asked whether the $420,000 was related at all to those 2017 legal endeavors, Cohen answered, “No, ma’am.”

12:30 p.m. ET: Michael Cohen’s cross-examination ended with him reiterating he discussed the Stormy Daniels deal with Trump

“Notwithstanding everything you’ve said over the years, you have specific recollection of having conversations with then-candidate Donald J. Trump about the Stormy Daniels matter?” defense attorney Blanche asked Cohen.

“Yes, sir,” Cohen answered.

“No doubt in your mind?”

No doubt, Cohen answered, and Blanche said he had no more questions.

12:15 p.m. ET: Has Michael Cohen built his name recognition on Trump’s back?

Asked about his recent claim that he might run for Congress because he has “the best name recognition out there,” Michael Cohen insisted he hasn’t built his profile on Donald Trump’s back.

“My name recognition is because of the journey that I’ve been on. Is it affiliated to Mr. Trump? Yes. Not because of Mr. Trump,” he testified.

“Well, the journey that you’ve been on,” Blanche noted, “has included near-daily attacks on President Trump.”

“My journey is to tell my story, yes, sir,” Cohen said, eventually acknowledging his frequent criticisms of Trump.

12 p.m. ET: Michael Cohen’s next act? Maybe the small screen

Pushed before the morning break to describe his lucrative Trump-related side businesses, Michael Cohen told defense attorney Todd Blanche “there is a television show” in the works, the Associated Press reported. 

Tentatively titled “The Fixer,” the show is based on Cohen’s own life and career. A producer on his podcast is currently shopping the show to studios, but it hasn’t been picked up yet, Cohen testified.

11:45 a.m. ET: Michael Cohen was asked about his career as a Trump critic

The ex-lawyer said he’s made about $4.4 million from his books and podcasts since 2020, the year he was released from prison to home confinement. Michael Cohen was freed from home confinement in 2021.

Cohen also noted that he makes some income from a real estate rental property. Before pleading guilty in 2018 to campaign finance violations and other charges, Cohen made about $4 million in 18 months, he testified. That money came largely from corporate consulting deals, plus the $420,000 he got from Trump to reimburse the Daniels payout and a technology expense, cover taxes and provide a bonus.

11:15 a.m. ET: Michael Cohen asked about public denials on Stormy Daniels payment

Defense attorney Todd Blanche grilled Michael Cohen about his initial public denials that Trump knew about the Daniels payoff.

After The Wall Street Journal reported in January 2018 that Cohen had arranged the payout to the porn actor more than a year earlier, Cohen told journalists, friends and others that Trump had been in the dark about the arrangement.

So until April 2018, “you had told anybody who asked that President Trump knew nothing about the payment at the time?” Blanche asked.

“That’s what I said, yes,” Cohen acknowledged.

In April 2018, federal authorities searched Cohen’s home, office and other locations tied to him. Four months later, Cohen pleaded guilty to campaign-finance violations and other charges and told a court Trump had directed him to arrange the Daniels payment.

11:05 a.m. ET: Michael Cohen talks about consulting money he made after Trump won the White House

Michael Cohen testified he made $4 million from six clients, including AT&T, which was attempting to acquire Time Warner at the time, the Associated Press reported. 

Cohen said he was paid $50,000 a month by the company and had around 20 contacts with its representatives – a sum equal to about $30,000 a contact.

Another client was Columbus Nova, an investment management that paid him $80,000 a month. Novartis, a pharmaceutical company, paid him $100,000 a month for a year.

Cohen was among a long list of former Trump aides and confidantes who raked in large sums of money as consultants after Trump won the White House as companies and countries scrambled to understand and influence the new reality star-turned-president.

10:53 a.m. ET: Michael Cohen asked on legal help he gave Trump unrelated to Stormy Daniels

Trump lawyer Todd Blanche asked Michael Cohen about some legal matters he helped Trump handle — including by finding outside lawyers — in early 2017, when he began getting $35,000-a-month payments that reimbursed him for the Daniels payout and covered some other things, the Associate Press reported. 

It’s a point the defense wants to hammer home in order to counter prosecutors’ argument that the monthly payments were deceptively logged as legal expenses in order to disguise the Daniels deal. The defense, and Trump himself, have argued that the checks to Cohen were properly categorized because he was indeed working as a lawyer for Trump.

10:30 a.m. ET: Michael Cohen admits he stole money from the Trump Organization

Michael Cohen admitted he stole from Donald Trump’s company when he pocketed tens of thousands of dollars that was earmarked as a reimbursement for money he said he’d shelled out to a technology firm.

The Trump Organization reimbursed Cohen for the technology costs under the same arrangement as his repayment for the $130,000 hush money payment he made to porn actor Stormy Daniels.

Cohen had claimed he’d shelled out $50,000 to the tech firm, Red Finch, but on the witness stand Monday, he testified that he gave a company executive just $20,000 in cash — which he’d stored in a brown paper bag — and never forked over the other $30,000 Red Finch was owed.

The Trump Organization repaid Cohen $50,000 and then doubled that payment in a practice known as “grossing up” to cover taxes he’d incur by declaring the money as income rather than a tax-free reimbursement.

“So you stole from the Trump Organization,” Trump lawyer Todd Blanche asked.

“Yes, sir,” Cohen admitted.

Blanche noted that despite Cohen’s guilty pleas in 2018 to federal charges including a campaign finance violation for the hush money payment and unrelated tax evasion and bank fraud crimes, he’d never been charged with stealing from Trump’s company.

“Have you paid back the Trump Organization the money you stole from them?”

“No, sir,” Cohen responded.

Trump, who had been slouched back in his seat with his eyes closed for much of the testimony, looked directly at the witness stand as Cohen made the admission about stealing.

Eric Trump, Trump’s son, who is in court, posted on X: “This just got interesting: Michael Cohen is now admitting to stealing money from our company.”

10:20 a.m. ET: Defense asks Michael Cohen about key phone calls with Donald Trump

After walking Michael Cohen through a list of personal business dealings and Trump-related responsibilities he was juggling in the lead-up to the late October 2016 payment to Daniels, Blanche pointedly asked Cohen about what the witness has said were two key phone calls in which he apprised Trump of the impending payout, the Associated Press reported. 

“You do have a specific recollection that, on those two phone calls, you just talked about the Stormy Daniels deal — that’s it?” Blanche asked.

Yes, Cohen said, because it was personally important to him. He was about to shell out $130,000 from his own account to keep Daniels from selling her story publicly.

“My recollection is that I was speaking to him about Stormy Daniels because that is what he tasked me to take care of and that’s what I had been working on,” Cohen added.

The charges against Trump — falsifying business records — center on the way he ultimately reimbursed Cohen for the Daniels payment. Trump has pleaded not guilty.

10:05 a.m. ET: More on what Michael Cohen was doing leading up to the payment to Stormy Daniels

Under cross-examination, Michael Cohen testified that he was extremely busy in the weeks before he paid Stormy Daniels — and not just with trying to silence the porn actor.

Cohen testified last week that there was a significant urgency to resolving the Daniels situation after the October 2016 leak of the infamous “Access Hollywood” tape in which Trump was heard boasting about grabbing women without permission. That tape became public just weeks before election day.

Cohen testified Monday that his attention was divided at the time by several other matters, including a real estate transaction involving an investment property he owned with his brother, a restructuring of his taxi medallion investments, securing an endorsement for Trump from one of Dr. Martin Luther King’s relatives, unrelated litigation and an issue involving photographs and a potential extortion attempt of one of Trump’s children.

9:45 a.m. ET: Michael Cohen returns to stand

Michael Cohen has returned to the courtroom for his fourth day of testimony in Donald Trump’s hush money trial. He nodded at a court officer but didn’t look at the former president or the defense table as he made his way to the witness stand, according to the AP.

Trump turned his head and looked in Cohen’s direction as he was taking the witness stand.

Defense attorney Todd Blanche then resumed his questioning of Cohen by asking how many reporters he’s spoken to since Thursday when he was last on the witness stand.

After a brief pause, Cohen replied: “I didn’t speak to reporters about what happened last week.”

Pressed again by Blanche, Cohen clarified that he had spoken to reporters, just not about the details of last week’s testimony.

“I’ve spoken to reporters who called to say hello, to see how I’m doing, check in, but I didn’t talk about this case,” he said.

9:10 a.m. ET: Closing arguments could be the Tuesday after Memorial Day

Judge Juan M. Merchan said he expects closing arguments will take place the Tuesday after Memorial Day.

Merchan on Monday cited scheduling issues in giving the May 28 date.

After the scheduling update, the discussion turned to prosecutors’ objections to a planned defense exhibit. This kind of legal wrangling isn’t uncommon before a day’s testimony. 

The jury was not yet in court.

8:45 a.m. ET: Trump speaks before an early start to court 

Trump began his remarks to reporters outside the courtroom by noting that Judge Juan M. Merchan had decided to start Monday’s proceedings early.

The former president then read out quotes from pundits who have criticized the case, as he often does, and hit on other familiar talking points, including critiquing the judge and the temperature of the courtroom.

Trump did not respond to questions about whether his lawyers have advised him not to testify or whether he’s afraid of doing so.

8:15 a.m. ET: What needs to be proved for a Trump conviction?

To convict Donald Trump of felony falsifying business records, prosecutors must convince jurors beyond a reasonable doubt that he not only falsified or caused business records to be entered falsely – but that he did so with intent to commit or conceal another crime.

Any verdict must be unanimous.

Prosecutors allege that Trump logged fixer-turned-foe Michael Cohen’s repayment as legal expenses to conceal multiple other crimes, including breaches of campaign finance law and a violation of a state election law alleging a conspiracy to promote or prevent an election.

Trump’s hush money case

The indictment against Trump centers on payoffs allegedly made to two women, porn star Stormy Daniels and Playboy model Karen McDougal.

Trump’s former lawyer and “fixer,” Michael Cohen, paid Daniels $130,000 and arranged for the publisher of the National Enquirer supermarket tabloid to pay McDougal $150,000.

Trump’s company, the Trump Organization, then reimbursed Cohen and paid him bonuses and extra payments – all of which, prosecutors say, were falsely logged as legal expenses in company records. Over several months, Cohen said the company paid him $420,000.

Payments were also allegedly made to a Trump Tower doorman who claimed to have a story about a child he alleged Trump had out of wedlock.

The indictment, brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, made Trump the first ex-president ever to face criminal charges.

Trump has denied the accusations.

Who are the jurors?

After being forced to release a seated juror, the judge ordered the media not to report on where potential jurors have worked – even when stated in open court – and to be careful about revealing information about those who would sit in judgment of the former president. Here’s what we can report.

Juror 1 and foreperson: A man who lives in New York City and has no children. Loves the outdoors and gets his news from The New York Times, Daily Mail, Fox News and MSNBC. 

When asked by Trump defense attorney Todd Blanche if he was aware Trump is charged in other cases and jurisdictions, and how that affects him, the man said, “I don’t have an opinion.” 

Juror 2: A man who said he follows Trump’s former lawyer, Cohen, on “X,” formerly known as Twitter. He also revealed he follows other right-wing accounts including Trump’s former adviser, Kellyanne Conway. 

He has said he would unfollow Cohen as he may be a witness in the trial. 

Juror 3: A middle-aged man who lives in Manhattan. He grew up in Oregon. He gets his news from The New York Times and Google. 

Juror 4: A man who lived in New York City for 15 years. He is originally from California. He is married with three children and a wife who is a teacher. He has served on a jury before – both on a grand jury and a jury in a criminal trial. 

The juror said he gets his news from “a smattering” of sources and does not use social media. 

Juror 5: A young woman who is a New York native. 

She gets most of her news from Google and Tiktok. 

Juror 6: A young woman who lives in Manhattan and likes to dance. 

Juror 7: A man who is married with two children. 

He gets most of his news from The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, the New York Post and The Washington Post. The man has said he is aware there are other lawsuits but said, “I’m not sure that I know anyone’s character.” 

Juror 8: No information has been released about this juror. 

Juror 9: A woman who lives in Manhattan. She is not married and has no children. 

She has never served on a jury before and does not watch the news. However, she said she does have email subscriptions to CNN and The New York Times. She follows social media accounts and listens to podcasts. She also enjoys watching reality TV. 

Juror 10: A man who lives in Manhattan. He is not married and has no children. He does have a roommate who works in accounting. He rarely follows the news but he does listen to podcasts on behavioral psychology. 

Juror 11: No information has been released about this juror. 

Juror 12: No information has been released about this juror. 

How long will the trial last? 

The trial is expected to last anywhere from six to eight weeks. Trump is expected to attend court each day.

How can I watch the Trump trial?

The trial is not being televised. Instead, news reporters and producers will have the ability to sit inside the courtroom and deliver information to the public.

How many court cases is Trump involved in?

As of this report, Trump is currently involved in four criminal cases, which includes the hush money case. 

A second case out of Fulton County, Georgia, has charged Trump, as well as 18 others, with participating in a scheme to illegally attempt to overturn the former president’s loss to President Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election. 

Trump is also involved in a third criminal case in Washington, D.C., which charged him with allegedly conspiring to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in the run-up to the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol. 

And his fourth case involves classified documents that Trump illegally retained at his Mar-a-Lago estate after he left the White House. 

RELATED: A guide to Trump’s court cases

The Associated Press, FOX News, FOX 5 NY and Catherine Stoddard contributed to this report.