Trump's hush money trial: Tales of extramarital sex and tabloid dysfunction

It was the trial of a lifetime.

Before former President Donald Trump, never had an American president been tried on criminal charges.

Trump on Thursday became the first former leader of the free world to become a felon when a jury — 12 Manhattan residents — found him guilty on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in what the jury found was an effort by Trump to conceal from the voting public ahead of the 2016 presidential election that he had a sexual encounter with an adult film actress.

Trump is set to be sentenced July 11 and could receive a punishment that includes probation, community service and up to 4 years in prison.

The seven-week-long trial, extraordinary because the defendant had once occupied the Oval Office, was littered with tales of extramarital sex and tabloid dysfunction.

Here are the key moments:

The prosecution's first witness

Former tabloid king David Pecker, a soft-spoken 72-year-old who still considers himself a friend of Trump, was the first witness called by prosecutors.

Pecker — the ex-publisher of American Media Inc., which published the supermarket tabloid National Enquirer — testified under a non-prosecution agreement and took the jury inside what prosecutors called a "criminal conspiracy" between himself, Trump and his attorney to "catch and kill" negative stories about Trump as he campaigned for president.

"It was just an agreement between friends," Pecker said, noting it was not put in writing.

That agreement — born at a meeting at Trump Tower about two months after Trump, then a reality TV star and bombastic New York City businessman, famously descended the golden escalator at his eponymous tower and announced his candidacy for president — caught the attention of the jury.

During deliberations, the jury foreman sent a note to the presiding judge requesting readbacks of the testimony of both Pecker and Trump's then-attorney, Michael Cohen, regarding the meeting.

As part of the conspiracy, Pecker testified, the National Enquirer also published a slew of nasty, false or half-true stories about Trump's opponents in the presidential race, including Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, whom Trump ultimately defeated in the general election.

Long Island native played key role

Cohen, who grew up in Lawrence, may have been the last witness called to testify by the prosecution, but he was the star of the 20-witness lineup. His almost singular proximity to Trump as his former personal attorney and so-called fixer provided the jury with firsthand knowledge of Trump's thoughts and actions.

When The Washington Post published the infamous "Access Hollywood" video featuring Trump bragging about grabbing women by their genitals — an "October surprise" for the ages — Cohen told the jury that Trump was panicked.

“This is a disaster,” Cohen testified Trump said in an October 2016 phone call. “This is a total disaster. Women will hate me. Guys will think it’s cool, but women will hate me. This is a total disaster for the campaign.”

So when Pecker's team got wind that the adult film star Trump allegedly had sex with years earlier came looking for a payday as he ran for president, Trump, who was described by various witnesses as tightfisted with his money, was ready to pay up, Cohen said.

"Just take care of it," Cohen testified Trump told him.

Trump's lead attorney, Todd Blanche, attempted to paint Cohen, a convicted perjurer, as a pathological liar hellbent on seeing Trump convicted as revenge for Cohen's own legal troubles. Plus, Blanche alleged, Cohen also was sour because Trump didn't offer his once-loyal soldier a position in his presidential administration, a move that gutted Cohen.

Cohen, famously bombastic with a strong Long Island accent, kept his composure on the stand despite constant digging by Blanche.

An adult film actress takes the stand

Adult film star Stormy Daniels testified over the course of several days about her awkward sexual encounter with Trump in 2006 at a celebrity golf tournament in Lake Tahoe, Nevada.

Trump denied they had sex. Daniels, who in 2018 made an appearance at a Melville strip club, told a detailed tale of meeting Trump on the links and then being approached by his bodyguard with an invitation to dinner with Trump. But when she arrived at Trump's hotel suite, he was clad in silk pajamas, and the two had friendly banter about her career in adult films and his work in reality TV.

When she emerged from his bathroom — she admitted snooping in his toiletries and laughed about the fact that he used down-market brands such as Old Spice and PertPlus — Trump was on the bed with a come hither look on his face, Daniels testified.

The sex was brief and she stared at the ceiling as she laid in the missionary position with her bra on, she said. Trump called her "honey bunch" and told her the sex was "great" before she departed his room without ever having dinner.

The intimate details got under Trump's skin.

"I understand that your client is upset at this point, but he is cursing audibly, and he is shaking his head visually and that's contemptuous," the judge warned the defense attorneys during a bench conference. "It has the potential to intimidate the witness and the jury can see that."

Nassau's Robert Costello spars with the judge

While the burden is on the prosecution in any criminal case — the defense can literally do nothing — Trump's team did put on a defense, albeit a brief one. Trump's defense team called two witnesses, one of whom was Nassau County-based attorney Robert Costello, a veteran prosecutor and defense attorney who has represented clients ranging from former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani to former Yankees owner George Steinbrenner.

But Costello shockingly clashed with the judge, Supreme Court Justice Juan M. Merchan, muttering "ridiculous" and "jeez" in response to the judge's rulings. The judge dismissed the jury and cleared the courtroom to admonish Costello, an extraordinary step as courtrooms are open to the public. The judge warned Trump outside the presence of the jury that he would remove Costello from the witness stand and strike his testimony from the record if his conduct continued.

Costello denied Cohen’s earlier testimony that he pressured the former fixer to hire him as a defense lawyer to act as a back channel to then-president Trump after the FBI raided his home and office.

“Intimidate Michael Cohen? Ridiculous. No,” Costello testified.

Trial's other historic first

In another historic moment, Trump was the first former president to be held in criminal contempt when Merchan ruled Trump violated the limited gag order in the case that prohibited Trump from speaking publicly about witnesses, the jury or court staff. Merchan fined Trump $9,000 and warned him he could face jail time if he continued. Merchan held Trump in contempt a second time, but the violations occurred before the judge warned him with jail time.

Trump, however, was free to speak publicly about Merchan and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg, who both were not covered by the gag order. Trump, multiple times a day, derided Merchan as "corrupt" and called the proceeding "rigged."

Trump also had another frequent complaint: that the courtroom was consistently cold, a fact confirmed by journalists in the room.

"I'm going to sit in a freezing cold ice box for eight hours, nine hours or so,” Trump complained to the media.

By Nicole Fuller

nicole.fuller@newsday.com@NicoleFuller

Nicole Fuller is Newsday's senior criminal justice reporter. She began working at Newsday in 2012 and previously covered local government.