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Former President Trump’s criminal trial is expected to resume Monday with Michael Cohen on the stand for the third day of cross-examination by defense attorneys. 

Cohen, who previously served as Trump’s lawyer and described himself as the former president’s “fixer,” is set to take the stand again at 9:30 a.m. Monday in Lower Manhattan. 

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Cohen, who is said to be Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s “star witness,” first took the stand last week, answering questions from New York prosecutors as they seek to make their case against the former president and presumptive Republican presidential nominee. 

Prosecutors must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Trump falsified business records 34 times to conceal a $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels, a pornographic performer, in the lead-up to the 2016 election to silence her about an alleged affair with Trump in 2006.

Trump has pleaded not guilty to all charges and maintains his innocence. 

“I didn’t violate any law,” Trump said after court on Thursday. “This is a scam.” 

Trump’s defense attorney, Todd Blanche, began his cross-examination of Cohen on Tuesday, which continued through the day Thursday. Court did not meet Friday so the former president could attend his youngest son Barron Trump’s high school graduation in Palm Beach, Florida.

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Court does not meet on Wednesdays. 

So far, Cohen has testified that he personally made the $130,000 payment to Daniels using a home equity line of credit in an effort to conceal the payment from his wife. Cohen said he did this because Trump told him to “handle it” and prevent a negative story from coming out ahead of the election. 

Cohen testified that he was “reimbursed $420,000” for the $130,000 he paid to Daniels. Cohen said former Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg suggested he “gross up” the payments and claimed that Trump knew the details of that reimbursement. 

The prosecution presented Cohen with 11 checks totaling $420,000. Cohen confirmed that they were all received and deposited. The checks had a description of a “retainer,” which Cohen said was false. 

Trump defense attorney Todd Blanche was able to get Cohen to testify about the non-disclosure agreement signed by Daniels in October 2016. 

Cohen confirmed that the contract, which Trump never signed, was lawful, and he admitted that non-disclosure agreements are not unusual. The contract was signed using pseudonyms.

Cohen also testified that he sent statements to reporters declaring that Trump was not a party to the Daniels payment. 

Blanche also has highlighted Cohen’s history of lying under oath dating back to 2017, including to Congress about a Trump Tower Moscow project and federal investigators from Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s office.

Under oath last October, Cohen said he lied under oath more than once in front of Judge William H. Pauley, who sentenced Cohen to three years in prison in 2018 after he pleaded guilty to charges that included campaign finance fraud and lying to Congress.

Cohen agreed again Thursday that he did indeed lie under oath to Pauley. 

Blanche’s questioning also led Cohen to admit that he believes he shouldn’t have been charged with some federal crimes in 2018, including tax evasion, related to his investments in New York City taxi medallions.

“You felt that you did not engage in tax fraud, but you had to plead guilty to protect your wife and family?” Blanche asked.

“Correct,” Cohen responded.

Blanche also said Cohen lied about speaking to Trump on Oct. 24, 2016. Cohen claimed he spoke to then-candidate Trump about the Daniels payment. 

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Blanche again accused Cohen of lying and insists he never spoke with Trump that day.

Cohen responded, “I always ran everything by the boss immediately.”

“That was a lie, you did not talk to President Trump,” Blanche said.

“I’m not certain that’s accurate,” Cohen responded. 

Cohen maintains, based on the records that he was able to review, that he spoke with Trump’s former bodyguard Keith Schiller – but also believes he spoke with Trump about the Daniels deal.

“We’re not asking what you believe,” Blanche responded.

Cohen also admitted that he “took some credit” for Bragg’s indictment of Trump last year, which led to the historic and unprecedented criminal trial of a former U.S. president. 

Blanche played a clip in court of Cohen saying during a 2020 podcast interview, “I absolutely hope he ends up in prison…”

Asked by Blanche whether he believes he played a role in Trump’s indictment from New York prosecutors, Cohen responded, “I took some credit.”

Cohen also testified that he wanted to be considered for a top role in the Trump administration, like attorney general or chief of staff, for “ego purposes.” 

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Blanche said the defense expects to wrap up cross-examination on Monday. Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger said she will have less than an hour on redirect questioning of Cohen. 

The defense anticipates reaching a decision on other witnesses soon, and said it’s reasonable that they could “get on and off” the stand on Monday.

It is unclear, at this point, if Trump will testify in his own defense. 

When President Biden said that Americans can “buy any kind of car they want,” he failed to factor in new emissions standards his administration is putting in place that will reduce consumer choice, industry experts say.

During a speech delivered on Tuesday outside the Rose Garden, Biden focused on protecting U.S. jobs from unfair foreign trade practices and promised to not allow China to control the market for internal combustion engines or electric vehicles (EVs).

“I want to make this clear, notwithstanding what the other guy is saying – can buy any kind of car they want… but we’re never going to allow China to unfairly control the market for these cars, period,” he said, as “the other guy” appeared to be a reference to former President Trump, who made waves for predicting an auto industry “bloodbath” if Democrats continue their EV push.

Geoff Moody is senior vice president of American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM), a trade association representing companies like Chevron, ExxonMobil, Koch and others. He said that Biden’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulation “is functionally a ban on sales of most new gas cars by 2032.”

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“The policy is going to both limit the availability of new gas cars and push the cost of remaining gasoline-powered vehicles out of reach for most Americans,” he said, adding that EPA compliance scenarios he has viewed project new internal-combustion-engine car sales to fall drastically from 84% at present to below 30% in 2032.

“The whole point of the rule is to push American drivers toward electric vehicles by limiting their other options,” Moody said.

American Petroleum Institute executive Will Hupman echoed some of that sentiment, predicting that it could effectively eliminate most new gas-powered vehicles in the future. 

In April, Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan. launched an effort to stymie the new restrictions via the Congressional Review Act, which allows Congress to make an expedited attempt to invalidate new agency rules. 

Marshall told Fox News Digital on Thursday the president’s comment sounded like a “political-showboating” response to such objections.

“Now that he’s facing backlash, Biden is trying to walk back his irresponsible EV mandates that drive American jobs and our auto-manufacturing overseas,” Marshall said. “He hopes he can buy some political goodwill from the unions by flip-flopping on these tariffs while simultaneously stabbing them in the back with unrealistic goals of an all-electric transportation system.”

Meanwhile, Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, who co-sponsored a similar effort, told Fox News Digital the president is either “being dishonest or he is unaware that his administration has been hijacked by far-left extremists trying to regulate combustion engines out of existence by finalizing regulations that amount to an EV mandate.”

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Sullivan, whose state has pushed back often against many Biden-era environmental rules, added that if Biden remains serious about a transition to electric vehicles, then he should reverse an administration move that restricted access to the Last Frontier’s Ambler Mining District, where rare earth minerals required for EV batteries can be extracted.

“The United States desperately needs [those minerals] not only if the president wants companies to build more EVs, but for important defense projects,” Sullivan said, arguing against continuing to import them instead.

While Biden’s EPA’s emissions standards do not constitute a blanket prohibition on internal combustion engines, automobile and fossil fuel trade organizations claim that to them, they may as well have.

Delving into the specifics of the new regulations, the AFPM wrote in a fact sheet that the average car tailpipe emission would have to be 85 grams per mile, which it described as unrealistic. It claimed that under a carbon credit-based system within the new rules, not every buyer who wants a new gas-powered car can get one if a dealer has not sold enough EVs.

When asked about Biden’s comments and consumer choice concerns in regard to the new mandates, a spokesperson for General Motors said it is continuing to grow its electric vehicle fleet while retaining a broad suite of gas-powered options for customers.

The spokesperson also called it “challenging.”

“The flatter curve approach will allow for the continued development of the EV market and the necessary support like infrastructure and supply chain. We are still awaiting final rules from the Department of Transportation on CAFE regulation[s] to fully understand how [they] will impact our portfolio of products.”

The EPA pushed back on the criticisms and characterizations of its new standards, telling Fox News Digital the new rules actually expand consumer choice and pass on cost savings to drivers in the area of $62 billion worth of reduced yearly fuel and maintenance costs.

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“By encouraging continued development of more efficient vehicles, EPA’s standards are also projected to save Americans on average about $6,000 over the lifetime of a new model year 2032 light-duty vehicle, compared to a vehicle meeting the 2026 standards, by accelerating adoption of technologies that reduce fuel and maintenance costs as well as pollution,” an EPA spokesperson said. They denied the new regulations constitute a mandatory transition from internal combustion to electric power.

A White House spokesperson echoed much of the EPA’s sentiment, telling Fox News Digital that 
Biden is “investing in a future that is made in America by American workers as we position the United States to lead the clean energy future.” They credited the Inflation Reduction Act with making electric cars more affordable and claimed more American drivers are purchasing EV cars every day.

Several congressional Democrats who publicly voiced support for Biden’s new regulations did not return requests for comment on the president’s recent remarks.

The U.S. Senate will once again vote on a bipartisan border security bill this week after previous efforts collapsed when Republicans withdrew their support, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said in a letter to colleagues Sunday. 

In the letter, Schumer said the Border Act had received endorsements from the likes of the National Border Patrol Council and that congressional Republicans and Democrats alike were “prepared to join arms and act to secure our nation’s border.” 

Schumer took shots at his Republican colleagues, who he accused of acquiescing to former President Trump after he “demanded [that] congressional Republicans kill the legislation.”

He said Democrats’ commitment to act “never waned.”

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“That is why the Senate is prepared to take up the bipartisan Border Act as a standalone measure this coming week,” Schumer said. “We are hopeful this bipartisan proposal will bring serious-minded Republicans back to the table to advance this bipartisan solution for our border.” 

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The Border Act would reform U.S. asylum laws, hire thousands of border agents and seek to curtail fentanyl smuggling, among other measures, the Democrat leader said.

The previous legislation, which was tied to U.S. foreign aid for Ukraine and Israel, stalled in the Senate after Trump told Republicans not to support it. The bill to be voted on this week would stand alone, Schumer said.

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Record numbers of migrants have been caught crossing the U.S.-Mexico border since President Biden took office in 2021, and border security has become one of the leading issues in the presidential campaign.

Trump is seeking to return to office by challenging Biden in the Nov. 5 election.

Reuters contributed to this report.