Showdown with Trump’s fixer could start Monday

Donald Trump arrived at the courtroom for his hush-money criminal trial yesterday, with apparent frustration, after sitting through two days of testimony from the adult film actor Stormy Daniels, who provided a detailed account of an alleged sexual liaison with him 20 years ago.

The drama of their confrontation may soon be overshadowed, however, by another showdown. Michael Cohen, Trump’s consigliere-turnedkey prosecution witness, may appear at the court in New York on Monday.

Yesterday morning, the seemingly irked Trump carried a thin stack of papers in his hand and, dropped them on the defence table. The expresident’s demeanour in the hallway suggested his mood had soured since Daniels provided embarrassing details about their alleged sexual encounter.

Outside Judge Juan Merchan’s courtroom, Trump ignored reporters’ queries about whether he would take up Daniels on her challenge to him to testify in his own defence. And he complained about a gag order that prohibits him from commenting about witnesses.

Yesterday morning the defence attorney, Susan Necheles, crossexamined Madeleine Westerhout, Trump’s former executive assistant and director of Oval Office operations in the White House. She asked Westerhout whether she recalled being at the White House when news about Trump and Daniels’ alleged fling came to light.

“Did you have a conversation with President Trump about that?” “Uh, yes I did,” she said. Necheles asked: “What was your impression of his reaction to the news?”

“That he was very upset by it,” Westerhout said. Asked why Trump was upset, Westerhout said: “In my understanding he knew it would be hurtful to his family.”

The relationship between Trump and Daniels is central to origins of the case because Trump’s then lawyer and personal fixer, Cohen, paid her $130,000 (£103,000) to keep quiet about their alleged sexual encounter during the 2016 election campaign.

Trump is charged with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in connection with the payments and had pleaded not guilty.