Michael Cohen's former attorney Robert Costello returned to the witness stand on Tuesday morning to testify for the defense in the New York criminal trial against Donald Trump, according to live updates from the courthouse.

On Monday, Costello was called as the defense's second witness. The lawyer clashed with Judge Juan Merchan after expressing frustration over the judge's decision to sustain multiple objections from the prosecution during his testimony, Blaze News reported.

Merchan briefly cleared the courtroom after Costello rolled his eyes, audibly sighed, and remarked, "Ridiculous."

"You don't give me a side eye and you don't roll your eyes. ... When there's a witness on the stand, if you don't like my ruling, you don't say 'jeez.' You don't say 'strike it,'" Merchan told Costello.

'Judge Merchan has so restricted my testimony that the defense has decided not to call me.'

During Costello's direct examination by Trump's attorneys on Monday, he testified that Cohen told him that the former president had nothing to do with the $130,000 settlement payment to porn actress Stormy Daniels. Costello claimed Cohen made the payment on his own to regain favor with Trump and increase his chances of securing a position at the White House.

According to Costello, Cohen told him approximately 10 to 12 times during a meeting in April 2018, "I swear to God, Bob, I don't have anything on Donald Trump."

During Costello's cross-examination on Tuesday, the prosecution tried to paint Costello as having "animosity" toward Cohen. Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger asked Costello whether he had attempted to push Cohen to retain him as his lawyer because he could provide a backchannel through Rudy Giuliani to President Trump. Costello denied the claim.

Hoffinger then showed Costello an email he had sent to Cohen allegedly referring to the backchannel.

"The email speaks for itself, right sir?" Hoffinger asked.

"No, not quite. There are circumstances about that email, which I would be delighted to tell you," Costello responded.

"That's alright, let's move on to the next one," Hoffinger stated.

The prosecution also accused Costello of attempting to "intimidate" Cohen by providing testimony last week before a House committee.

"That's ridiculous, no," Costello remarked.

After Costello concluded his testimony on Tuesday, Merchan instructed the jury regarding timing.

"I've considered all the permutation ... at the end of the day, I think the best thing that we can do is to adjourn now until next Tuesday. At that time you will hear summations from the attorneys. Probably Wednesday I'll ask you to come in ... hear jury charge and then I would expect that you will begin your deliberations hopefully at some point on Wednesday," Merchan concluded.

Anything else?

On Monday, the defense requested that former Federal Election Commissioner Brad Smith testify to similar topics addressed by the prosecution's expert witness. Merchan decided to limit the defense's request, arguing that it would lead to a "battle of the experts" that would "only confuse and not assist the jury."

Smith published a thread on X in response to the judge's decision to reject portions of his testimony in the trial.

"Judge Merchan has so restricted my testimony that the defense has decided not to call me. Now, it's elementary that the judge instructs the jury on the law, so I understand his reluctance," Smith wrote. "But the Federal Election Campaign Act is very complex. Even Antonin Scalia — a pretty smart guy, even [if] you hate him — once said 'this [campaign finance] law is so intricate that I can't figure it out.'"

"Part of the state's case is that they wrongly reported what they knew to be a campaign expenditure in order to hide the payment until after the election," Smith continued. "Cohen even testified they just wanted to get past the election."

"We were going to go over the reporting schedules, showing that even if they thought it was a campaign expenditure to be reported, an expenditure made on October 27 (when $ sent to Daniels atty) would not, under law, be reported until Dec. 8, a full 30 days after election," he explained.

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Michael Cohen's former lawyer, Robert Costello, testified for the defense on Monday in the New York criminal case against former President Donald Trump, according to live updates from the courthouse.

Trump's lawyer, Todd Blanche, called the defense team's first witness, Daniel Sitko, a paralegal at Blanche's law firm.

Sitko explained that he created a summary chart of the calls between Cohen and Costello, who briefly acted as Cohen's attorney in 2018. Cohen has argued that he never had a formal agreement with Costello to represent him.

'You don't give me a side eye and you don't roll your eyes.'

Last week, Costello told lawmakers during a Weaponization of the Federal Government hearing that Cohen had repeatedly lied while testifying on the stand in the New York criminal trial against Trump, Blaze News previously reported. Costello smeared Cohen's reputation, calling him an "inveterate liar."

According to Costello, Cohen told him he paid the $130,000 settlement agreement to porn actress Stormy Daniels by himself and without consulting Trump. Costello argued that Cohen was desperate to regain favor with Trump and receive a position at the White House.

While testifying Monday, Sitko explained that despite Cohen's claims, he never formally hired Costello. The two exchanged 75 calls in April, May, and June 2018. One of the phone calls lasted 96 minutes, he stated.

Costello testified for the defense on Monday afternoon. He told jurors about his first meeting with Cohen on April 17, 2018. Costello noted that one of his partners, Jeffrey Citron, also attended the meeting.

According to Costello, Cohen was "absolutely manic" throughout the two-hour meeting at the Regency Hotel in Manhattan. At the time of the meeting, the Federal Bureau of Investigation had recently raided Cohen's hotel and office.

"He kept on pacing back and forth, left and right," Costello testified.

He told jurors that Cohen had repeatedly said to him that Trump was not involved in the settlement agreement with Daniels.

According to Costello, Cohen said, "'I really want you to explain to me what my options are: What's my escape route?' That's the phrase he used."

Cohen reportedly told Costello, "I swear to God, Bob, I don't have anything on Donald Trump." Costello said he repeated the sentence 10 to 12 times during the April meeting.

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

While on the stand, Costello became frustrated when Judge Juan Merchan sustained multiple objections from the prosecution in response to his testimony. Costello rolled his eyes, audibly sighed, and remarked, "Ridiculous."

Merchan told Costello, "You don't give me a side eye and you don't roll your eyes. ... When there's a witness on the stand, if you don't like my ruling, you don't say 'jeez.' You don't say 'strike it.'"

At one point, Costello gave Merchan a long glare, prompting the judge to tell people to temporarily "clear the courtroom." After a few minutes, the defense was able to proceed with its direct examination of its second witness.

During cross-examination, Costello explained that Cohen had told him he had considered suicide "because he couldn't handle the pressure of the ongoing criminal case coming his way."

Anything else?

Emil Bove, Trump's attorney, stated that he does not expect to call any additional witnesses after Costello.

Blanche requested that the judge dismiss the charges against Trump, arguing that the prosecution failed to prove its case.

"There's no evidence that there's any idea or any intent to mislead or to hide or to falsify the business records," Blanche told the judge. "There's no evidence, zero, that anyone was thinking about a campaign finance charge in 2016 when this payment was made to Ms. Daniels."

Blanche also contended that there was no evidence that any of the "purported co-conspirators had any criminal intent at the time they were engaging in this conduct." He requested that Merchan find Cohen "not credible as a matter of law."

"We didn't just catch him in a lie, your honor, he came in here with a history of lying," Blanche argued. "He testified and he lied under oath in this courtroom. … The consequences of that lie, if accepted, by the jury is a conviction."

"There is no way the court should let this case go to the jury relying on Mr. Cohen's testimony," Blanche declared.

Merchan stated that he would respond to the defense's dismissal argument at a later time.

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