(NEW YORK) -- Former President Donald Trump is on trial in New York City, where he is facing felony charges related to a 2016 hush money payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels. It marks the first time in history that a former U.S. president has been tried on criminal charges.

Trump last April pleaded not guilty to a 34-count indictment charging him with falsifying business records in connection with a hush money payment his then-attorney Michael Cohen made to Daniels in order to boost his electoral prospects in the 2016 presidential election.

Here's how the news is developing:

Apr 30, 12:36 PM
McDougal's attorney outlines agreement he had with her

Keith Davidson testified that he represented Karen McDougal in the summer of 2016 when the former Playboy model entered into a non-disclosure agreement with AMI, the parent company of the National Enquirer.

Jurors were then showed the retainer agreement between Davidson and McDougal, which details McDougal’s “life rights related to interactions with Donald Trump and/or negotiating assignment of exclusive press opportunities regarding same.”

Davidson testified that he provided “legal services” to help the former Playmate negotiate with media outlets for the rights to her story about “a personal interaction she had -- allegedly had -- with Donald Trump."

“At the time ... media outlets, both traditional and tabloid, would often enter into an exclusive arrangement where someone would provide exclusive content to that outlet in exchange for money,” Davidson said.

Davidson told Steinglass that he did not go behind McDougal's back when he arranged the agreement with AMI for the rights to her story

Apr 30, 12:29 PM
Prosecution calls former attorney for McDougal and Daniels

Prosecutors called to the stand Keith Davidson, who worked as an attorney for both Karen McDougal and Stormy Daniels when the hush money payments to both women were arranged.

Trump, at the defense table, turned his head to see Davidson as he entered the courtroom.

Davidson, who was granted immunity to testify, said that that he has set up nondisclosure agreements for some of his clients, including some with tabloids.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass asked Davidson about his relationship with former National Enquirer editor Dylan Howard. Earlier, former Enquirer publisher David Pecker testified that Davidson was one of Howard's sources.

"I knew him in my professional dealings," Davidson said. "We were professional acquaintances and friends."

Davidson said he first met Michael Cohen in 2011 after a blog was posted about Stormy Daniels -- who was Davidson's client -- and Donald Trump.

"Michael Cohen is the former attorney for Donald Trump," Davidson recounted.

Apr 30, 12:19 PM
Jury hears transcript of Trump addressing 'Access Hollywood' tape

Prosecutors called their next witness, Philip Thompson, who works for a national court reporting company, to testify about a deposition Trump gave that was taken as part of former Elle magazine columnist E. Jean Carroll's defamation cases against Trump.

Jurors were shown several videos, starting with Trump’s October 2022 deposition in that case.

In the first video, Trump briefly explains what Truth Social is and confirms his handle on the social media platform.

"It is a platform that has been opened by me as an alternative to Twitter," Trump said.

They were next shown an Oct. 19, 2022, deposition taken at Mar-a-Lago, in which Trump confirms he married his wife Melania in 2005.

Thompson then read from the transcript of a deposition where Trump is asked about the "Access Hollywood" video in which he boasts about grabbing women.

Thompson then stepped off the witness stand.

Apr 30, 12:02 PM
'We don't win' if people think stories are true, Trump said in 2016

As part of a series of video, jurors were shown a video of an October 2016 Trump rally in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania

"They are trying to poison the mind of the American voter. Every woman lied when they came forward to hurt my campaign," Trump said in the video.

Lastly, jurors sew a brief video of a press conference by President-elect Trump praising Michael Cohen.

Trump, in one of the videos, appears to acknowledge how damaging the stories could have been to his election prospects.

"If 5% of the people think its true, and maybe 10% of the people, we don't win," Trump says in the speech.

In the courtroom, Trump's demeanor completely changed immediately after the videos were played for the jury. He perked up and frantically whispered with his attorney Todd Blanche, looking displeased.

Browning, the C-SPAN executive, concluded his testimony, and defense lawyers opted not to cross-examine him.

Apr 30, 11:41 AM
Judge will allow some questioning about intimidation effort

Judge Juan Merchan has ruled from the bench that prosecutors will be permitted to introduce evidence about Trump's alleged "intimidation effort" for a limited purpose.

Prosecutors can use the evidence to offset the defense claim that witnesses are financially benefiting from the trial and explain why some witnesses have changed their story; however, the evidence cannot be used to demonstrate Trump's "consciousness of guilt," as the prosecution had sought.

Merchan also said jurors will have May 24 -- the Friday before Memorial Day -- off, because a juror has to catch a flight at 11 a.m. ET.

Prosecutors then called as their next witness Robert Browning, who has worked as the executive director of the C-SPAN's archives for 30 years.

Apr 30, 11:33 AM
'Let’s try to keep the break short,' judge tells defense

Jurors have re-entered the courtroom following the mid-morning break.

Trump returned to the courtroom speaking with his defense attorney Todd Blanche as he entered.

Judge Juan Merchan lightly scolded Blanche about running late.

"Let's try to keep the break short," Merchan told Blanche, reminding him that jurors are waiting. "Let's do better."

Apr 30, 11:21 AM
Prosecutors want to ask Trump about gag order violations

In a conference with with judge and other attorneys during the mid-morning break, prosecutor Matthew Colangelo told Judge Merchan that prosecutors would like to cross-examine Donald Trump, if he opts to testify, about his nine violations of the case's limited gag order that the judge handed down this morning.

"The people will seek to cross-examine him on those findings," Colangelo said.

Colangelo also argued that prosecutors should be able to introduce evidence about what he called Trump's "pressure campaign" and "intimidation effort" for witnesses like Michael Cohen.

Colangelo argued that defense attorneys "opened the door" to the evidence during their opening statement by arguing that some of the witnesses like Cohen and Stormy Daniels benefited personally from their involvement in the case. He mentioned that prosecutors have approximately half-a-dozen exhibits to demonstrate Trump's effort attacking witnesses.

Colangelo said the evidence would help show Trump's "consciousness of guilt" and explain why some witnesses made contradictory statements about the case.

Apr 30, 10:58 AM
Farro says opening Cohen's LLC account raised no red flags

While Michael Cohen's former banker, Gary Farro, testified that Cohen took steps to quickly open the account for Essential Consultants, the shell company Cohen used to pay Stormy Daniels, Farro said the process did not prompt any red flags based on the information Cohen provided.

"Not based on the answers I was given ... on the questions I asked," Farro said when asked about potential red flags.

Farro added that accounts in the real estate world were often opened quickly.

"It's not unusual, it's not every time. It's not unusual," Farro said.

Farro testified that he was not involved with the decision to end First Republic Bank's relationship with Cohen, adding that if a client provides false information, First Republic Bank would sever their relationship.

"The decision was not mine," Farro said during a brief re-cross examination.

Apr 30, 10:50 AM
Farro explains how Cohen's LLC account was opened

Gary Farro, under cross-examination, said that First Republic Bank did not open the account for Essential Consultants LLC for Michael Cohen to operate a shell company.

"I don't open up shell corporations," Farro, who was Cohen's banker, said of the LLC that was used for Cohen to send payment to Stormy Daniels in 2016. "Shell corporations that have no business behind them would give me pause."

While First Republic allows some accounts to be opened with limited transactions -- such as an account for an LLC to own a property or aircraft -- the account created by Cohen had the listed business purpose of "investment consulting" work, according to evidence.

Farro added that the information that Cohen provided -- such as not listing himself as someone's agent -- allowed the account to be opened quicker.

"Not only would it raise more questions, but it would require more paperwork," Farro said.

Apr 30, 10:38 AM
Farro says Cohen was removed as his client in 2017

Under cross-examination by defense attorney Todd Blanche, Michael Cohen's former banker testified about his first interactions with Cohen.

Gary Farro said his boss introduced him to Michael Cohen in Cohen's office in Trump Tower.

"He was a challenging client because of his desire to get things done so quickly," Farro said. "Ninety percent of the time, it was an urgent matter."

Farro said that his supervisors removed Cohen as his client in 2017, as the details about the transactions in question "went public."

"They didn't want me to have communication with the client any longer," Farro said.

Apr 30, 10:31 AM
Banker says Daniels payment could have prompted review

Prosecutor Becky Mangold concluded her direct examination of banker Gary Farro by asking if First Republic Bank would have still permitted the wire transfer to Stormy Daniels if Michael Cohen disclosed the money was going to an adult film actress.

"There would definitely have been enhanced due diligence on that," Farro said, adding that the due diligence would have delayed the payment.

"We might consider that a reputational risk," Farro added.

After prosecutors completed their direct examination of Gary Farro, defense attorney Todd Blanche began his cross-examination.

Apr 30, 10:21 AM
Banker details Michael Cohen's $130K payment to Stormy Daniels

Michael Cohen's former banker, Gary Farro, returned to the stand, where he was asked by prosecutor Becky Mangold about Cohen's frantic effort to create a bank account for a new company he created called Essential Consultants LLC on October 26, 2016.

Referring to Stormy Daniels, Farro told jurors that Cohen did not disclose the account would be used to send money to an adult film actress, adding that his bank, First Republic, avoided financing the adult-entertainment sector.

Farro said that Cohen added $131,000 to an account for Essential Consultants LLC using a home equity line of credit.

Apr 30, 10:04 AM
Judge warns Trump could be jailed for further violations

In the paper order explaining his ruling holding Trump in contempt for his violations of the case's limited gag order, Judge Merchan warned Trump that he could be locked up if he continues to willfully violate the order.

"Defendant is hereby warned that the Court will not tolerate continued willful violations of its lawful orders and that if necessary and appropriate under the circumstances, it will impose an incarceratory punishment," Merchan wrote in his order.

Merchan wrote that Trump has until 2:15 p.m. ET today to remove posts violating the order from his social media account and campaign website. Trump has until close of business on Friday to submit the $9,000 penalty Merchan levied against him.

Apr 30, 10:00 AM
Judge orders Trump to pay gag order fine by Friday

After Judge Merchan fined Trump a total of $9,000 for nine violations of the case's limited gag order, Trump was ordered to pay the fine by the close of business this Friday.

Merchan also ordered Trump to remove the posts from his Truth Social account and campaign website by 2:15 p.m. today.

Before resuming Gary Farro's direct examination, Judge Merchan also informed the parties that Trump will be able to attend his son Barron's high school graduation in May, as Trump had requested.

"I don't think the May 17 date is the problem, so Mr. Trump can certainly attend that day, attend his son's graduation," Merchan said.

Apr 30, 9:49 AM
Judge fines Trump $9,000 for violating limited gag order

Judge Juan Merchan has ruled that Donald Trump repeatedly violated the limited gag order imposed by the court.

The judge found that prosecutors "met their burden" to show several contempt motions.

Trump will be fined $1,000 for each of the nine violations, Merchan said, and will be ordered to pay a total of $9,000.

Apr 30, 9:31 AM
Trump enters courtroom with son Eric

Former President Trump has entered the courtroom with his son Eric Trump.

Eric Trump frequently attended last year's New York civil fraud trial, but today marks his first time attending his father's criminal hush money trial.

Trump's campaign staff and advisers have attended the criminal trial over the last two weeks, but Eric Trump is the only Trump family member to attend the proceedings.

Susie Wiles, Trump's top campaign adviser who is helping lead his presidential campaign, is also in the courtroom with him, marking the first time she has been spotted in court.

Apr 30, 9:26 AM
Prosecutors have arrived

Prosecutors from the Manhattan district attorney's office have entered the courtroom.

Prosecutors Joshua Steinglass, Becky Mangold, and Matthew Colangelo are seated at counsel table.

Former President Trump and his counsel are on their way in.

Apr 30, 8:15 AM
Michael Cohen's banker testified Friday about Cohen's LLCs

On his first day on the stand Friday, banker Gary Farro told jurors that he was assigned to work with Michael Cohen in 2015 after one of Farro's colleagues left First Republic Bank, and that in October 2016 Cohen frantically attempted to open an account for a new business called Resolution Consultants LLC.

Prosecutors allege that Cohen intended to use that account to transfer $125,000 to National Enquirer parent AMI for the rights to Playboy playmate Karen McDougal's story about an alleged affair with Trump, but the deal fell through after publisher David Pecker consulted with his attorneys.

"I am not going forward. It is a bad idea, and I want you to rip up the agreement," Pecker recounted telling Cohen. "He was very, very, angry. Very upset. Screaming, basically, at me."

Ultimately, Farro said the account for Resolution Consultants LLC was never funded or opened by Cohen; prosecutors allege the account was abandoned along with the deal to reimburse AMI for the McDougal story. Then, said Farro, Cohen sought him out in October 2016 to open a new account for a company called Essential Consultants LLC, which Farro said Cohen described as a real estate consulting company "to collect fees for investment consulting work [Cohen] does for real estate deals."

According to prosecutors, the day after the account was created, Cohen used it to wire $130,000 to Stormy Daniels in exchange for her silence ahead of the 2016 election.

Apr 30, 7:35 AM
Michael Cohen's banker to return to the stand

After a week of testimony from longtime National Enquirer publisher David Pecker, former President Donald Trump's criminal hush money trial is scheduled to resume this morning with the direct examination of Gary Farro, the one-time banker for former Trump attorney Michael Cohen.

Farro, a former managing director at First Republic Bank, began his testimony on Friday by outlining some of the documents used to allegedly create the shell companies formed by Cohen that are related to two hush-money payments at the center of the case.

Prosecutors have called Farro to authenticate records they hope will prove that Trump falsified business records to hide the reimbursement of Cohen's hush money payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels.

"Read the documents, the emails, the text messages, the bank statements, the handwritten notes, all of it," prosecutor Matthew Colangelo asked jurors last week. "It inescapably leads to only one conclusion: Donald Trump is guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree."

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(NEW YORK) -- Protests have broken out at colleges and universities across the country in connection with the war in Gaza.

Many pro-Palestinian protesters are calling for their colleges to divest of funds from Israeli military operations, while some Jewish students on the campuses have called the protests antisemitic and said they are scared for their safety.

The student protests -- some of which have turned into around-the-clock encampments -- have erupted throughout the nation following arrests and student removals at Columbia University in New York City. Students at schools including Yale University, New York University, Harvard University, University of Texas at Austin, University of Southern California and more have launched protests.

Here's how the news is developing:

Apr 30, 12:27 PM
82 protesters arrested at Virginia Tech

Virginia Tech said it has cleared an encampment on campus and arrested 82 protesters for trespassing, after refusing to comply with university policies.

"Virginia Tech strongly supports free speech, even when the content of that speech may be disagreeable to some. However, those rights do not extend beyond the point where they interfere with the rights of others, violate our policies, the Code of Virginia, or federal laws and/or create a threat to safety for others," Virginia Tech President Tim Sands said in a statement.

Meanwhile, Virginia Tech Muslim Student Association said in a letter the 91 students faculty and staff were arrested for peacefully protesting.

"As we reach the end of the semester, 7 months after Oct. 7, we are finding our voices still unheard. We are waiting for your support of us and Palestine," the Virginia Tech MSA said in a statement.

-ABC News' Nadine El-Bawab and Kerem Inal

Apr 30, 12:00 PM
Cal Poly Humboldt clears occupied buildings, arrests 25 protesters

California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt said it has cleared two campus buildings that had been occupied by protesters for over a week and arrested 25 people.

"Those arrested faced a range of different charges depending on individual circumstances including unlawful assembly, vandalism, conspiracy, assault of police officers, and others. In addition, students could face discipline for conduct violations while any University employees arrested could face disciplinary action," Cal Poly said in a statement.

The university called the occupation of the two buildings "criminal activity" and said there were "serious concerns it would spread even further on campus."

"This morning’s enforcement action was determined to be necessary to restore order and to address the lawlessness and dangerous conditions that had developed. What was occurring was not free expression or a protest," the university said in a statement.

The campus will remain closed until May 10.

Apr 30, 11:41 AM
Northwestern reaches deal with students, faculty to end encampment, reveal investments

Northwestern University announced it has reached a deal with pro-Palestinian protesters, ending an encampment of students and faculty, but allowing peaceful demonstrations to continue through June 1.

The university said it would "answer questions from any internal stakeholder about holdings, held currently or within the last quarter, to the best of its knowledge and to the extent legally possible" -- meeting a key call from divestment protesters and students around the country who are seeking more transparency over universities' investments.

Northwestern will also reestablish an Advisory Committee on Investment Responsibility in the fall, which will include representatives from students, faculty and staff.

The university also pledged more inclusivity, funding two Palestinian faculty members and the full cost of attendance for five Palestinian undergraduate students annually, as well as a commitment to raising funds to sustain the program beyond this commitment.

Under the agreement, Northwestern says tents will be removed immediately but one aid tent will be allowed to remain. Protesters will need to suspend the use of "non-approved" amplified sound." Protesters who refuse to follow the agreement will be suspended and non-affiliated individuals must leave campus.

Apr 30, 11:12 AM
UConn removes encampment, makes arrests after protesters refuse to leave

The University of Connecticut cleared an encampment of pro-Palestinian protesters early Tuesday after they refused orders to disperse. UConn has not yet revealed the number of arrests and charges.

UConn said that protests were permitted but setting up tents violated university guidelines.

"The group was warned multiple times over a period of days that while they were free to be in the space and exercise their free speech rights, the guidelines needed to be followed and the tents needed to be taken down. This was ignored," UConn said in a statement.

"UConn Police directed them four times on Tuesday morning to remove the tents and disperse, and they again repeatedly ignored the directives. Officers then entered the site to remove the tents and tarps, and to arrest those who refused compliance," UConn said in a statement.

-ABC News' Mark Osborne

Apr 30, 10:07 AM
Reporter arrested while covering protest on Cal Poly campus

Adelmi Ruiz, a reporter for Redding, California, ABC affiliate KRCR, was arrested at Cal Poly Humboldt while filming police approaching an encampment of pro-Palestinian protesters.

A livestream showed Ruiz filming police in riot gear approaching protesters, who could be heard chanting, when an officer asks her to come over and tells her they need her out of the way.

An officer then tells Ruiz to put her phone away and put her hands behind her back because he is going to put her in flex cuffs — plastic handcuffs used by police for protesters. Ruiz identifies herself as a reporter multiple times but is still arrested.

"You had an opportunity to leave. You were told multiple times to leave otherwise you were gonna be arrested," the officer says, according to a livestream which continued after Ruiz placed her phone in her pocket.

She responded that she was on assignment covering the protest.

"Find a different job if this causes you to break the law," the officer says.

As she is escorted away, Ruiz can be heard asking for help.

Apr 30, 9:42 AM
17 protesters arrested at University of Utah, encampment cleared

The University of Utah has removed an encampment of pro-Palestinian protesters and arrested 17 people after the university said protesters do not have a right to set up encampments on campus property and threatened to disperse them.

About a dozen tents, stashes of water, food and toilet paper were removed from the encampment.

The university had issued warnings to students, staff and faculty members telling them to remove their encampments, or face consequences, including arrests.

The university had threatened criminal trespass and disorderly conduct charges, termination for faculty and staff and discipline for students ranging from probation to suspension against those who refused to leave the encampment.

Apr 30, 4:06 AM
Columbia protesters occupy campus hall

Pro-Palestinian protesters at Columbia University occupied a hall on campus early Tuesday, hours after school officials ordered the dispersal of a protest encampment.

Videos viewed by ABC News appeared to show protesters creating a barricade with metal chairs outside Hamilton Hall after midnight.

Several were seen in the videos unrolling protest posters from one of the building's balconies.

It was unclear how many demonstrators had occupied the hall, which is on Amsterdam Avenue. The Columbia Spectator, a campus newspaper, reported the people who were inside were working to block the building's exits with tables, chairs and zip-ties.

Apr 29, 11:35 PM
University of Texas at Austin says it took action to 'preserve a safe, conducive learning environment' for students

After police and protesters clashed on the campus of the University of Texas at Austin following a dispersal order, leading to some arrests on Monday, the school issued a statement, saying it "took swift action to preserve a safe, conducive learning environment for our 53,000 students as they prepare for final exams."

"UT Austin requested backup assistance from the Texas Department of Public Safety to protect the safety of the campus community and enforce our Institutional Rules, such as the rule that prohibits encampments on campus. Because of the encampments and other violations of the University’s Institutional Rules related to protests, protestors were told repeatedly to disperse. When they refused to disperse, some arrests were made for trespassing. Others were arrested for disorderly conduct," the university's statement read.

UTA said protests since the start of the Israel-Hamas war have happened "largely without incident."

"The University strongly supports the free speech and assembly rights of our community and we want students and others on campus to know that protests on campus are fully permissible, provided that they do not violate Institutional Rules or threaten the safety of our campus community," the statement concluded.

Apr 29, 10:51 PM
'Multiple arrests' at Virginia Commonwealth University: Officials

"Multiple arrests" were made at Virginia Commonwealth University Monday night, following tense conflict between police and pro-Palestinian protesters on the Richmond campus, officials said.

Addressing the arrests, the university said in a statement that final exams start this week and the school "must provide students the opportunity to safely and successfully complete the semester."

"The gathering violated several university policies. VCU respectfully and repeatedly provided opportunities for those individuals involved -- many of whom were not students -- to collect their belongings and leave," the university's statement continued. "Those who did not leave were subject to arrest for trespassing. While supporting an environment that fosters protected speech and expressive activity, VCU must maintain an atmosphere free of disruption to the university’s mission."

Apr 29, 5:27 PM
Columbia begins suspending students who refuse to leave encampment

A representative from Columbia University said the school has begun suspending students who have defied the 2 p.m. deadline to leave the encampment.

Ben Chang, the vice president of the office of public affairs, did not say how many people would be suspended but said those students would not be able to attend classes or graduate.

The school's campus is still closed to anyone who doesn't have a student ID.

-ABC News' Darren Reynolds

Apr 29, 4:23 PM
Protesters clash with police at UT-Austin

Police and protesters clashed on the campus of the University of Texas at Austin on Monday afternoon after authorities issued a dispersal order.

The UT Austin Police Department asked protesters to leave the South Mall area at about 1 p.m. local time.

Protesters could be heard chanting, "There is no riot here, why are you in riot gear?" Soon after, police moved in to clear the area by force.

The university said in a statement, "After protesters ignored repeated directives from both the administration and law enforcement officers to comply with Institutional Rules and remove tents assembled on the University’s South Lawn, then physically engaged with and verbally assaulted Dean of Students staff who attempted to confiscate them, UT and partner law enforcement agencies dismantled an encampment and arrested several protesters."

It continued, "Baseball size rocks were found strategically placed within the encampment. The majority of protesters are believed to be unaffiliated with the university."

More than 50 people were arrested at a pro-Palestinian protest on the campus last week, however, charges were later dropped.

Apr 29, 3:31 PM
Protesters clash with police at UT-Austin

Police and protesters clashed on the campus of the University of Texas at Austin on Monday afternoon after authorities issued a dispersal order.

The UT Austin Police Department asked protesters to leave the South Mall area at about 1 p.m. local time.

Protesters could be heard chanting, "There is no riot here, why are you in riot gear?" Soon after, police moved in to clear the area by force.

More than 50 people were arrested at a pro-Palestinian protest on the campus last week, however, charges were later dropped.

Apr 29, 3:05 PM
Columbia protesters defy 2 p.m. deadline to disperse

Protesters camped out at Columbia University are defying the school's order to pack up and leave by 2 p.m.

Sueda Polat, a representative from the protesters' negotiating team, told reporters that the university did not engage in good-faith negotiations and failed to meet their demands to divest from Israel.

"It is against the will of the students to disperse," she said. "We do not abide by university pressures. We act on the will of the students."

Police were outside of the campus as the deadline approached but they did not immediately enter after it passed.

"Students are aware of the risk of law enforcement. ... They know how to come together in that risk," Polat said.

Apr 29, 1:57 PM
Cal Poly Humboldt campus leaders offer escorts to concerned students

Cal Poly Humboldt said it will close off campus to non-school members through May 10 as protesters have occupied two buildings.

Campus leaders also said it will now offer escorts off campus to anyone who feels their safety is threatened.

The school urged the protesters who have been occupying Siemens Hall and Nelson Hall East since last week to leave immediately.

"Leaving voluntarily will be considered as a possible mitigating factor in University conduct processes and may reduce the severity of sanctions imposed. This does not, however, eliminate responsibility for any potential conduct or criminal charges."

-ABC News' Bonnie McLean

Apr 29, 12:24 PM
UGA arrests protesters after 'crossing a line,' blocking sidewalks

The University of Georgia-Athens said protesters who set up an encampment on campus "crossed a line" Monday morning and several were arrested.

Approximately "25 protesters began erecting tents and a barricade, blocking sidewalks and building entrances and using amplified sound," school spokesman Greg Trevor said in a statement.

The protesters met with university police and student affairs members to discuss the violation and were given multiple warnings to remove the barriers, but they refused, according to Trevor.

"At 8:30 a.m., UGA Police were left with no choice but to arrest those who refused to comply," he said.

The school did not specify how many people were arrested.

"While we must provide ample opportunity for protected expressive activities, we also have the right and duty to regulate the time, place and manner in which they occur," Trevor said.

-ABC News' Ahmad Hemingway

Apr 29, 11:11 AM
Columbia tells protesters to leave encampment by 2 p.m.

Columbia University has distributed a letter to members of the encampment on campus telling them to gather their belongings and leave the area by 2 p.m., saying if they identify themselves and sign a form "to abide by all University policies through June 30, 2025, or the date of the conferral of your degree, whichever is earlier, you will be eligible to complete the semester in good standing."

The school said it has "already identified many students in the encampment" and "if you do not identify yourself upon leaving and sign the form now, you will not be eligible to sign and complete the semester in good standing." The school warned it could take action up to suspension or expulsion if they do not leave the encampment.

The school reiterated that negotiations with protesters had broken down and said the protests are a "disruption" to those taking final exams and preparing for graduation.

"As you are probably aware, the dialogue between the University and student leaders of the encampment is, regrettably, at an impasse," the letter states. "The current unauthorized encampment and disruption on Columbia University’s campus is creating an unwelcoming environment for members of our community. External actors have also contributed to this environment, especially around our gates, causing safety concerns – including for our neighbors."

Apr 29, 9:09 AM
Columbia cannot come to agreement with protesters, president says

Protesters at Columbia University, who sparked many of the protests across the nation earlier this month, are now being asked to voluntarily disperse after the school's president said it was not able to come to an agreement through negotiations.

Since Wednesday, "a small group of academic leaders has been in constructive dialogue with student organizers to find a path that would result in the dismantling of the encampment and adherence to University policies going forward. Regretfully, we were not able to come to an agreement," Columbia President Minouche Shafik said in a statement Monday morning.

One of the top demands of the protesters, for Columbia to divest from Israel, was flatly denied by the university, according to the statement.

The school asked protesters, who number in the hundreds, to voluntarily disperse, but offered no explanation for what would happen if they did not. The school said it did not "want to deprive thousands of students and their families and friends of a graduation celebration." The school's graduation ceremony is set to be held May 15.

"We urge those in the encampment to voluntarily disperse," Shafik wrote. "We are consulting with a broader group in our community to explore alternative internal options to end this crisis as soon as possible. We will continue to update the community with new developments."

Apr 29, 8:54 AM
Dozens of arrests made at Virginia Tech

Police cleared out an encampment at Virginia Tech late Sunday after protesters had set up tents on the lawn of the campus' Graduate Life Center.

"Those who gathered were advised by university officials to remove their possessions and to disperse voluntarily; those who failed to comply were then approached by Virginia Tech Police and were again asked to leave and advised that anyone who failed to comply would be charged with trespassing, in accordance with Virginia law," the school said in a statement.

The university added, "At approximately 10:15 p.m., police approached protesters to ask them to disperse within five minutes. Those who remained were subject to arrest."

Dozens of protesters were taken into custody, according to Lynchburg, Virginia, ABC affiliate WSET.

Apr 28, 8:52 PM
UCLA increases security measures after physical altercations during protest

UCLA announced it is instituting additional security measures amid protests on campus over the Israel-Hamas war in a statement on Sunday.

"UCLA has a long history of peaceful protest and we are heartbroken to report that today, some physical altercations broke out among demonstrators on Royce Quad," Mary Osako, vice chancellor of UCLA Strategic Communications said.

"We have since instituted additional security measures and increased the numbers of our safety team members on site," Osako said.

"As an institution of higher education, we stand firmly for the idea that even when we disagree, we must still engage respectfully and recognize one another’s humanity," Osako continued.

Addressing the physical altercations during the protests, Osako said, "We are dismayed that certain individuals instead chose to jeopardize the physical safety of the community."

Last week, the University of California rejected calls to divest from companies that do business with Israel.

Apr 28, 10:07 AM
White House: 'We don't want to see anybody hurt in the process'

The White House said Sunday that President Joe Biden respects the right of demonstrators to make their voices heard -- peacefully -- and "we don't want to see anybody hurt in the process."

"The president knows that there are very strong feelings about the war in Gaza. He understands that, he respects that, and as he has said many times, we certainly respect the right of peaceful protest. People should have the ability to air their views and to share their perspectives publicly, but it has to be peaceful," White House national security spokesman John Kirby told ABC News' This Week anchor George Stephanopoulos on Sunday.

Kirby did warn that some language heard during the demonstrations crossed a line with the administration.

"We absolutely condemn the antisemitism language that we've heard of late, and we certainly condemn all the hate speech and the threats of violence out there. These protests, we understand they're important, but they do need to be peaceful," he said.

"We'll leave it to local authorities to determine how these protests are managed," Kirby told Stephanopoulos, "but we want them to be peaceful protests and obviously we don't want to see anybody hurt in the process of peacefully protesting."

Apr 28, 12:07 AM
USC temporarily closes main campus due to 'disruption,' LAPD issues alert

The University of Southern California closed its main campus Saturday evening "due to a disturbance," the university said on X.

Los Angeles Police Department issued a citywide tactical alert due to a protest on USC's campus, urging people to avoid the area.

A tactical alert allows LAPD to keep officers on past their shifts and to move officers between divisions if they need extra staffing in one area of the city.

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(CHARLOTTE, N.C.) -- Authorities recovered an AR-15 rifle and .40-caliber handgun from the scene where four law enforcement officers were fatally shot while attempting to serve warrants at a residence in Charlotte, North Carolina, police said.

Additional magazines and ammunition for both firearms were also recovered from the scene, where there are believed to have been more than 100 projectiles and casings, according to Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Johnny Jennings.

"I can't tell you how much I'm grateful for these officers and their heroic act," Jennings said during a press briefing on Tuesday. "To me that's truly heroic -- when you hear the gunshots and the rapid fire and they're running directly into it because they know that there are people that need help."

The law enforcement officials were shot and killed as they attempted to serve two warrants in Charlotte on Monday, city officials said. Four other officers were shot and suffered non-life-threatening injuries.

A man, later identified by authorities as Terry Clark Hughes Jr., 39, allegedly began firing at about 1:30 p.m. Monday, striking multiple officers, police said. The U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force had been serving active felony warrants for possession of a firearm by a felon and felony flee to elude.

Police are investigating whether other shooters were involved, Jennings said Tuesday. A teenager and a woman who were in the home at the time are cooperating in the investigation, he said.

"We feel like we have everyone involved that was at the house that we need to speak with," Jennings said.

Twelve Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officers fired their service weapon during the incident and have been placed on administrative leave, per protocol, amid an investigation into the shooting, the chief said.

The four law enforcement personnel killed in the incident were identified as Deputy U.S. Marshal Thomas Weeks Jr., 48; North Carolina Department of Adult Correction veterans Sam Poloche and Alden Elliott; and CMPD officer Joshua Eyer.

Mayor Vi Lyles asked for everyone in Charlotte to join her in "uplifting the grieving families."

"We are deeply saddened by the tragic loss of Joshua Michael Eyer, who was a loved member of our city family who dedicated his life to serving our community," she said.

George Dunlap, chairman of the county commissioners board, issued a statement calling the shooting a "senseless and preventable" tragedy.

The community feels "the shock and the pain" of Monday's shooting, added Dena Diorio, Mecklenburg's county manager.

"We stand ready to support our law enforcement colleagues and their families in any way we can as we all work through this heartbreaking situation," she said on social media.

As the procession of police cruisers drove past the hospital's emergency room late on Monday, crowds of hospital staffers in scrubs stood outside watching.

"Praying and sending light & support to the families trying to make sense of this disaster," Dr. Raynard Washington, the county's health director, said on social media. "We should all be tired of our guns in the wrong hands problem. Here's to hope."

ABC News' Julia Reinstein, Luke Barr and Jolie Lash contributed to this report.

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(NEW YORK) -- Donald Trump's criminal hush money trial in New York centers on dozens of business records, testimony from witnesses who prosecutors acknowledge might have "baggage," and a maze of emails and text messages that prosecutors hope to weave into a sturdy case against the former president.

But during their opening statements last week, prosecutors simplified their case down to just seven words for the jury.

"It was election fraud -- pure and simple," prosecutor Matthew Colangelo said.

Over the first four days of testimony in the trial, prosecutors have begun to lay the groundwork of their case as they try to show Trump attempted to illegally influence the 2016 election and falsified business records to hide the true purpose of payments to his then-lawyer Michael Cohen in 2017.

"This case is about a criminal conspiracy and a cover-up, an illegal conspiracy to undermine the integrity of a presidential election, and then the steps that Donald Trump took to conceal that illegal election fraud," Colangelo said.

Defense lawyers told the jury that the prosecutors got their story wrong, recasting the allegations as Trump trying to protect his family against false allegations as he was trying to win an election.

"President Trump fought back, like he always does, and like he's entitled to do, to protect his family, his reputation and his brand, and that is not a crime," defense lawyer Todd Blanche said.

Jurors have so far heard from three witnesses -- the former publisher of the National Enquirer, Trump's longtime executive assistant, and Michael Cohen's banker -- and testimony in the case is scheduled to resume on Tuesday.

Trump takes a hardline defense

Trump attorney Todd Blanche laid out a hardline defense in his opening statement, arguing that Trump never committed any crimes and characterizing Stormy Daniels' allegations of an affair with Trump as a "false claim of a sexual encounter."

"The story that you just heard, you will learn, is not true," Blanche told jurors. "None of this is a crime."

Blanche appeared to admit that Trump and the National Enquirer worked together to avoid bad press ahead of the 2016 election, but he argued the agreement was fully legal and routine for politicians.

"There is nothing wrong with trying to influence an election. It's called democracy," Blanche said. The prosecution, he said, "put something sinister on this idea, as if it was a crime. You'll learn it's not."

When addressing the allegations that Trump falsified business records in 2017, Blanche argued that Trump was too busy "running the country" to be concerned with invoices requested by Cohen and processed by Trump Organization accountants.

Notably absent from Blanche's opening was any suggestion that the criminal case amounted to election inference ahead of the 2024 election. In filings over the last year, defense lawyers had rigorously argued that the case was politically motivated by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, but Judge Juan Merchan precluded defense attorneys from making that argument to the jury.

Blanche also described Trump as a family man in his opening statement, not only to humanize Trump but to suggest his motivation to kill negative stories was to "protect his family."

"He's not just our former President. He's not just Donald Trump that you've seen on TV and read about and seen photos of," Blanche said. "He's also a man. He's a husband. He's a father. And he's a person, just like you and just like me."

The campaign's 'eyes and ears'

In deciding on their first witness -- a choice that often sets the tone for the trial -- prosecutors turned to former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker.

Prosecutors alleged that Pecker engaged in a conspiracy with Trump and Cohen to influence the 2016 election -- including flagging negative stories about Trump's alleged interactions with women, running negative stories about Trump's rivals, and pushing positive stories about Trump himself -- that began with a meeting at Trump Tower in August 2015.

"They asked me what can I do and what my magazines could do to help the campaign," Pecker testified about the meeting where he said he agreed to be the "eyes and ears" of Trump's presidential campaign.

"If I hear anything negative about yourself or if I hear anything about women selling stories ... I would notify Michael Cohen and then he would be able to have them killed in another magazine or have them not be published or somebody would have to purchase them," Pecker said about his agreement with Trump and Cohen.

Pecker testified that his company, American Media Inc., paid a former Trump Tower doorman $30,000 for a false story that Trump had an illegitimate child, and former Playboy model Karen McDougal $150,000 for the exclusive rights to her story of a months-long affair with Trump, which he has denied.

According to Pecker, the motivation to catch the stories was mainly to honor his agreement with Trump.

"We didn't want the story to embarrass Mr. Trump or embarrass or hurt the campaign," Pecker said when asked about the McDougal story.

Defense lawyers attempted to characterize the National Enquirer's actions on Trump's behalf as business decisions that are routine for politicians and celebrities. Pecker also testified that some of the stories he ran for Trump -- including articles attacking his opponents -- were "mutually beneficial" because they helped the National Enquirer sell more copies.

While Pecker said that AMI coordinated hundreds of thousands of nondisclosure agreements, he testified that the Trump arrangement was unique.

"How many of those other NDAs had ... you, the CEO of AMI, coordinated with a presidential candidate for the benefit of the campaign?" prosecutor Joshua Steinglass asked.

"It's the only one," Pecker said.

Pecker also offered his take on Trump's business approach that appeared to contradict the hand-offs approach that defense attorneys suggested in their opening statement, in which they argued that Trump was not intimately involved in paying the fraudulent invoices at the center of the case.

"I would describe him as almost as a micromanager from what I saw," Pecker said.

Contact entries in the computer system

Trump's longtime executive assistant Rhona Graff took the stand on Friday as the second prosecution witness. She testified pursuant to a subpoena and said her lawyers were paid by the Trump Organization.

Graff -- who served as Trump's gatekeeper as he ascended from real estate mogul to reality television star to president -- testified that she created contact entries for both McDougal and Daniels in the Trump Organization's computer system for Trump. McDougal's contact entities included multiple addresses, a phone number, and email. Daniel's contact was listed as "Stormy" and had one cell phone number.

Graff also testified that she had a "vague recollection" of seeing Daniels in Trump Tower on the same floor as the former president's office. She suggested that Trump was considering casting Daniels on the Celebrity Apprentice at the time.

In her book, Daniels recounted a meeting in Trump Tower in 2007 when Trump was flirting with the idea of casting her in his television series.

"He met us, so excited to show us all the memorabilia in his office, which seemed cluttered," Daniels wrote in her book.

During cross-examination, Graff served functionally as a character witness for the former president, describing Trump as a kind boss who respected her intelligence.

"Sometimes, if it was a long day in the office ... he poked his head in and would say, 'Go home to your family," Graff said. "It was very thoughtful of him."

Graff, who for decades sat just feet from Trump's office, testified that becoming a television star changed the public perception of Trump.

"I think it elevated him to a whole other platform, from being primarily known as a businessman to being an entertainer -- almost at that point -- rock star status," Graff said.

Cohen's shell company

Friday's testimony concluded with a banker who was involved in the formation of the shell company that Cohen allegedly used to pay Daniels $130,000 just days ahead of the 2016 election.

Former First Republic managing director Gary Farro said that he first began working with Cohen in 2015 after one of his colleagues left the bank.

"I can only tell you what I was told -- that I was selected because of my knowledge and my ability to handle, um, individuals that may be a little challenging," Farro said about taking over Cohen's accounts. "Frankly, I didn't find him that difficult."

Farro testified that on Oct. 26, 2016, he received an urgent call from Cohen, who wanted to create an account for a new real estate consulting company "to collect fees for investment consulting work he does for real estate deals."

According to prosecutors, the day after the account was formed, Cohen wired Daniel's lawyer $130,000 from the account in exchange for her silence about her alleged affair with Trump.

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(CHARLOTTE, N.C.) -- Four members of law enforcement were shot and killed and four were wounded while they attempted to serve two warrants in Charlotte, North Carolina, police said Monday.

Around 1:30 p.m. local time, the U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force was serving active felony warrants for possession of a firearm by a felon and felony flee to elude on a male suspect at a residence on the 5000 block of Galway Drive in the city's North Tryon Division.

The man, later identified by authorities as Terry Clark Hughes, Jr, 39, allegedly began firing, striking multiple officers, police said.

The officers on the scene requested immediate backup. The suspect allegedly continued to fire as more officers arrived.

Hughes allegedly exited the residence with a firearm. Seeing Hughes as an “imminent deadly threat” officers fired on the suspect, who was later pronounced dead at the scene, according to officials.

Eight officers were hit with gunfire and transported to local hospitals.

Two females who were at the residence were taken to the Law Enforcement Center for interviews with detectives.

Three members of the task force were pronounced deceased at the hospital, officials said Monday night. Todd Ishee, North Carolina’s Secretary of Adult Corrections, confirmed in a statement that two of the task force members were 14-year Department of Adult Corrections veterans Sam Poloche and Alden Elliott. The third was not immediately identified.

“They loved their work, and were passionate about their roles in protecting our communities,” Ishee said in a statement.

Poloche is survived by a wife and two children, and Alden is survived by his wife and one child.

Charlotte-Mecklenberg Police Officer Joshua Eyer was critically injured and later succumbed to his injuries, authorities said. He was a six-year veteran of the force and is survived by a wife and 3-year-old child.

Four other law enforcement officials were injured in the shooting. Their names have not been released.

"The bravery of our officers that responded to the scene, knowing that they're going into gunfire is what I've been saying for many years, is in the face of danger. our people step up," Jennings said.

In a statement on social media, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said he was in touch with police about the shooting and has offered up state resources to help.

An emotional Mayor of Charlotte, Vi Lyles, said she heard from the White House, members of Congress and state officials offering their support.

"Your father, your husband, your friend, your neighbor ... and today they're not going home," she said. "You know three people lost their lives today."

Jennings said that in his 30-plus years in the department, he couldn't remember a day like this.

"To me, it's the most tragic one that I've been involved in," he said.

President Joe Biden said in a statement Monday night that the four officers who died "are heroes who made the ultimate sacrifice, rushing into harm’s way to protect us. We mourn for them and their loved ones. And we pray for the recoveries of the courageous officers who were wounded."

Earlier, Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement, "The Justice Department is heartbroken by the deaths of three of our own law enforcement colleagues, and we extend our deepest condolences to their loved ones as they grieve this unfathomable loss."

In a statement Monday night, Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said: "The tragic events in Charlotte today are a reminder of the dangers facing law enforcement across the country. Our thoughts are with the loved ones of all the federal, state and local officers who lost their lives or were injured."

An investigation is ongoing.

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(NEW YORK) -- A lieutenant with the Conroe Police Department was critically injured when a tornado tore through his home in Trinity County, Texas, the department said.

James Waller, a 22-year veteran of the force, was critically injured and remained hospitalized on Monday, law enforcement said.

"His recovery will be lengthy and require multiple surgeries," the department said in a media advisory.

Waller's wife was also injured and "remained by his side," officials said.

A "short-lived" tornado swept through the Rock Creek Subdivision in Trinity on Sunday evening, the National Weather Service branch in Houston, Texas, said on social media.

The EF-1 tornado, with peak winds estimated at about 100 mph, touched down at about 7:35 p.m. and was on the ground for only a minute or two, NWS officials said.

"The tornado destroyed a home in the subdivision, and two of its occupants sustained injures," NWS said. "Widespread tree damage and damage to vehicles was also observed along an approximate 500 yard long and 200 yard wide path."

At least 83 tornadoes were reported across five states last week and weekend, officials said. A baby was among the five people who were killed by the tornadoes, Oklahoma emergency officials said.

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(NEW YORK) -- A 2-year-old boy was killed and another child was injured when a strong gust of wind sent a bounce house they were playing in flying into the neighboring lot, according to police.

Authorities from the Pinal County Sheriff officials say they were called at approximately 5 p.m. on Saturday to a residence on W. Rosemead Drive and N. Bel Air Road outside of Casa Grande, Arizona, according to the police statement detailing the incident.

“That afternoon, several children were playing in a bounce house when a strong gust of wind sent it airborne into the neighboring lot,” Pinal County Sheriff’s Office said. “A two-year-old child was transported to the hospital where he passed away. A second child received non-life threatening injuries and was also transported to the hospital for care.”

The boy, who currently remains unnamed, was transported to a local hospital where he died while the other child was found to have non-life-threatening injuries.

“We would like to extend our heartfelt thoughts and prayers to the grieving family,” police said.

Police say that the incident appears to be a “tragic accident” but an investigation into what caused it is currently ongoing.

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(NEW YORK) -- A 40-year-old man who allegedly kicked a bison in the leg while under the influence of alcohol at Yellowstone National Park, was injured by the animal and arrested, officials say.

Clarence Yoder, a 40-year-old man from Idaho Falls, Idaho, approached a bison in Yellowstone National Park on the afternoon of April 21, and was injured by the animal on the West Entrance Road near the Seven Mile Bridge, located 7 miles east of the park’s West Entrance, according to a statement from the National Park Service.

“Rangers responded to the area after receiving a report of an individual who harassed a herd of bison and kicked a bison in the leg,” officials said in a statement detailing the altercation. “They located the suspect's vehicle near the West Entrance and stopped it in the town of West Yellowstone, Montana.”

Yoder was arrested and charged with being under the influence of alcohol to a degree that may endanger oneself, disorderly conduct as to create or maintain a hazardous condition, approaching wildlife, and disturbing wildlife.

The driver of the vehicle Yoder traveled in, 37-year-old McKenna Bass, of Idaho Falls, Idaho, was also arrested and cited for driving under the influence, interference for failure to yield to emergency light activation and disturbing wildlife.

Yoder and Bass appeared in court on April 22 and pleaded not guilty to the charges, authorities said. Each violation can result in fines up to $5,000 and six months in jail.

Yoder, who sustained minor injuries from the encounter with the bison, was taken to a nearby medical facility following the incident where he was medically evaluated, treated and released from medical care and was subsequently taken the Gallatin County Detention Center.

“It’s your responsibility to respect safety regulations and view wildlife from a safe distance,” said the National Park Service. “Wildlife in Yellowstone National Park are wild and can be dangerous when approached. When an animal is near a campsite, trail, boardwalk, parking lot or in a developed area, give it space. Stay more than 25 yards (23 m) away from all large animals – bison, elk, bighorn sheep, deer, moose, and coyotes – and at least 100 yards (91 m) away from bears and wolves. If need be, turn around and go the other way to avoid interacting with a wild animal in close proximity.”

This is the first reported incident of a visitor being injured by a bison in 2024. The last reported incident occurred on July 17, 2023. There was one reported incident in 2023 and three in 2022, park officials said.

The incident currently remains under investigation and no further details about the altercation are expected imminently.

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(SAN DIEGO) -- A pair of giant pandas are set to travel from China to the San Diego Zoo this summer, marking the first time the Southern California wildlife facility will house giant pandas since 2019.

On Monday, the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance announced that care team leaders recently traveled to meet the two giant pandas, Yun Chuan and Xin Bao, ahead of their journey to San Diego.

"It was an honor to see Yun Chuan and Xin Bao in person and meet our conservation partners caring for them at the Wolong and Bifengxia Panda Bases," Dr. Megan Owen, vice president of conservation science at San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, said in a press release.

Yun Chuan, a nearly five-year-old male panda, who is described as being "mild-mannered, gentle and lovable," has a deep connection with the San Diego Zoo, according to the alliance.

His mother, Zhen Zhen, was born at the San Diego Zoo in 2007 and lived at the facility for 23 years.

"Yun Chuan's lineage has deep connections to the San Diego Zoo and we're excited by the prospect of caring for them," Owen said in the release.

Xin Bao is a nearly four-year-old female giant panda who was born at the Wolong Shenshuping Panda Base, according to the release, which notes she is a "gentle and witty introvert with a sweet round face and big ears."

The exact date of the pandas' arrival at the San Diego Zoo has not been announced, but the alliance is looking forward to a prospective arrival this summer, according to the release.

The San Diego Zoo has a longstanding partnership with leading conservation institutions in China to transport, care for and research giant pandas that spans nearly three decades.

Dubbed "panda diplomacy," the China Wildlife and Conservation Association has transported pandas to U.S. facilities since 1972, according to the release.

The main focus of research includes giant panda reproductive behavior and physiology, nutritional requirements and habitat needs, according to the alliance.

Giant pandas are the rarest member of the bear family and among the world's most threatened animals, according to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).

Globally, there are only 1,864 giant pandas that remain in the wild, according to WWF, which notes the bears mainly reside in forests high in the mountains of southwest China, where their diets subsist almost entirely on bamboo.

Giant pandas must consume 26 to 84 pounds of bamboo every day, making bamboo conservation in San Diego essential to care for the animals.

"Our partnership over the decades has served as a powerful example of how, when we work together, we can achieve what was once thought to be impossible," Owen said in the release.

"We have a shared goal of creating a sustainable future for giant pandas," she said.

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(NEW YORK) -- The family of Ralph Yarl, a Black teenager who was shot and injured last year when he knocked on the wrong door, filed a civil lawsuit in Missouri on Monday against the accused shooter, Andrew Lester.

The complaint, which was filed on behalf of Yarl's mother, Cleo Nagbe, names Lester and the Highland Acres Lakeside Heights Homeowners Association in the Kansas City neighborhood where the shooting took place and argues that their “carelessness” and “negligence” led Yarl to “suffer and sustain permanent injuries.”

“[Ralph] is an anomaly to me honestly, because there is no hatred in his heart. There's no anger or bitterness,” Yarl family attorney Lee Merritt told ABC News in an interview. “He has a strong sense of justice and he wants us to move forward with pursuing justice for him.”

When asked about the lawsuit, Lester’s attorney, Steven Salmon, told ABC News he could not comment because he was not aware of the suit and had not seen a copy of the complaint. The civil suit comes ahead of Lester’s criminal trial, which is set to begin on Oct. 7.

ABC News reached out to the homeowner’s association, but requests for comment were not immediately returned.

The 85-year-old was charged with one count of felony assault in the first degree in connection to the April 13, 2023 shooting and one count of armed criminal action, also a felony. Lester pleaded not guilty and was released on $200,000 bond.

Yarl was shot in the head and in the right arm by Lester, according to police, after the teenager mistakenly arrived at the wrong address to pick up his twin brothers from a friend’s house. Lester maintained he believed someone was trying to break into his house.

“Ralph is slowly coming to terms with what happened,” Yarl’s mother, Cleo Nagbe, told ABC News in an exclusive interview set to air Monday. “In the beginning, his way of dealing with it was minimizing … but trauma catches up with you. So the trauma has fallen away to catch up with him.”

Merritt said that while the civil suit is “not alleging that it was because of racial animus" that Lester allegedly shot Yarl, but "a young Black boy living in Kansas City, Missouri should be able to knock on the wrong door should be able to move freely about his community without fear that he will be criminalized and that he will be violently assaulted.”

The suit accuses Lester of “carelessly and negligently” failing to communicate or “give audible warning” to Yarl prior to the shooting, failing to inquire about the reason Yarl was there and failing to render aid to the teen.

Yarl, who is set to turn 18 next month, suffered a Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) after the shooting, Nagbe said, and his “recovery has been really long” and is “still ongoing."

She added that since his injury, her son has struggled with his school work in a way that he didn’t before.

“That's why I feel bad for him,” she said. “But he doesn't see that there has been a shift in his mental capacity. It's not that he's less smarter, it’s just that when the brain wants to heal, the brain wants to heal. It focuses everything on that healing.”

According to the complaint, Yarl “suffered and sustained permanent injuries, endured pain and suffering of a temporary and permanent nature, experienced disability and losses of normal life activities, was obligated to spend large sums of money for medical care and attention and suffered other losses and damages.”

The lawsuit alleges that Highland Acres “carelessly and negligently” failed to communicate regulations or educate its residents about the dangers of discharging firearms on the grounds and that the association “failed to render aid” to Ralph Yarl after he was shot.

Through the civil suit, the family is seeking financial compensation “in excess of this Court’s jurisdictional limit,” as well as the cost of legal fees, the complaint states.

According to a probable cause statement obtained by ABC News, Lester told police that he "believed someone was attempting to break into the house" and grabbed a gun before going to the door because he was scared.

Lester, who is white, claimed that he saw a "Black male approximately 6 feet tall" pulling on the door handle and "shot twice within a few seconds of opening the door." He said that the Black male ran away and he immediately called 911.

Yarl, who is a senior in high school, is college bound and is planning to study engineering, Nagbe said. He is also passionate about music and plays the bass clarinet, which led him to be selected to the 2024 Missouri All-State Band.

Nagbe said that while “people want to make [the shooting] his identity, her son “does not want to be identified as the April 13 kid.”

“He wants to be seen for his accomplishments, for what he accomplishes in music, what he goes to school for and what he designs and what he builds and not what happened to him on April 13,” she said.

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(SANTA COUNTY, Ariz.) -- State prosecutors said Monday they will not seek to retry 75-year-old George Alan Kelly, the Arizona rancher accused of fatally shooting an unarmed migrant on his property near the U.S.-Mexico border.

“Because of the unique circumstances and challenges surrounding this case, the Santa County Attorney’s office has decided not to seek a retrial,” said Deputy County Attorney Kimberly Hunley at a status hearing.

As prosecutors made their announcement, Kelly could be seen hanging his head and appeared to be overcome with emotion.

Another hearing will be set to consider the defense’s request to dismiss the case with prejudice.

Last Monday, a judge declared a mistrial in the case after jurors were unable to reach consensus about whether to charge Kelly with second-degree murder and aggravated assault. He had pleaded not guilty.

Kelly was accused of shooting his AK-47 from a far distance at a group of migrants who were headed back across the border into Mexico. Prosecutors said Gabriel Cuen-Buitimea, 48, a migrant who lived just across the border in Nogales, Mexico, and was looking for work, was fatally struck. Law enforcement officials were never able to recover the bullet, and Kelly’s lawyers tried to make the point that another person may have shot him. No other weapon was discovered in the area.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

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(SALEM, Ore.) -- The winners of the $1.326 billion Powerball ticket were officially revealed by the Oregon Lottery on Monday.

During a press conference at the Oregon Lottery Headquarters in Salem, Oregon, husband and wife Cheng and Duanpen Saephan and their friend Laiza Chao were announced as the winners of the massive lottery drawn earlier this month.

Cheng Saephan, an immigrant from Laos living in Portland, explained how life-changing the lottery win is amid his eight-year cancer battle.

"I'm happy for my family, they will have a good life," Saephan said during the press conference. "I'm battling cancer so thinking how am I going to spend all the money," he said, adding that he can now find a "good doctor" and that he and his wife plan to buy a home with their lump-sum winnings.

Saephan immigrated to America in 1994 and used to work in aerospace.

He and his wife and their friend, Laiza Chao, bought 20 Powerball tickets in hopes of winning the jackpot.

"I call Laiza as she's driving to work, I told her you don't have to go to work now; we won the lottery; we won the jackpot!" Saephan recalled during the press conference.

The staggering $1.326 billion Powerball ticket was the fourth-largest Powerball jackpot in history and the eighth-largest among U.S. jackpot games, according to the Oregon Lottery.

On April 6, a lucky ticket matching all six Powerball numbers was sold at the Plaid Pantry convenience store in Portland, Oregon, the state's lottery announced at the time.

The numbers drawn for the jackpot were 22, 27, 44, 52 and 69, with a Powerball of 9, the lottery said.

"This is our first winner on this scale, so this is very exciting for us," Melanie Mesaros, spokesperson for the Oregon Lottery told ABC News on April 7.

The lottery winners have the opportunity to accept a lump cash sum of $621 million or receive annual payouts of the $1.3 billion, also pre-tax -- starting with one immediate payment followed by 29 annual payments that increase by 5% each year, the lottery said.

The jackpot is subject to federal taxes and state taxes in Oregon.

The Plaid Pantry location in northeast Portland will also receive a $100,000 bonus for selling the winning ticket, according to the lottery.

"Plaid Pantry is thrilled to learn that one of our 104 Oregon stores sold the $1.3 billion dollar Powerball ticket," Plaid Pantry President and CEO Jonathan Polonsky said in a statement to the Oregon Lottery. "This store is one of our newest and most loved stores. Proceeds from the Oregon Lottery fund many programs that benefit everyone in the state, and we've been a proud partner with the Oregon Lottery since the very beginning."

The individuals with the winning $1.326 billion ticket came forward on April 8 and underwent a vetting process before their identity was announced.

"This is an unprecedented jackpot win for Oregon Lottery," Oregon Lottery Director Mike Wells said in a press release on April 8. "We're taking every precaution to verify the winner before awarding the prize money, which will take time."

The Powerball jackpot previously ballooned to an estimated $1.3 billion ahead of the April 6 drawing after a record-tying streak with no jackpot winner.

The Powerball hasn't been won since Jan. 1, when a ticket sold in Michigan claimed a $842.4 million jackpot.

In 2022, the largest U.S. lottery jackpot, worth $2.04 billion, was won in California.

Powerball is a multi-state jackpot operated by 44 states, plus the District of Columbia, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico, according to Oregon Lottery.

Powerball tickets are $2 per play and the odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 292.2 million, according to Powerball.
 

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(WASHINGTON) -- Ralph Puckett Jr., Colonel, United States Army, Retired. A name of honor and now for history.

Medal of Honor recipient Puckett's cremated remains lay in honor Monday afternoon at the center of the Capitol rotunda -- one of the nation's highest honors. Puckett died April 8 at the age of 97 in Columbus, Georgia.

To lie in state or honor at the U.S. Capitol is a privilege reserved for the country's most-distinguished citizens and leaders, including United States presidents and some of the country's most-decorated veterans of war. Only seven citizens -- Rosa Parks and Billy Graham and four U.S. Capitol police officers -- have ever lay in honor.

Puckett drew enemy fire and exposed himself multiple times to danger to allow his fellow Army Rangers to find and destroy enemy positions during a multi-wave attack, which earned him the Medal of Honor.

"The courage and self-sacrifice that earned that honor will be this great man's eternal legacy," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said during Monday's ceremony.

President Joe Biden awarded Puckett the Medal of Honor on May 21, 2021, upgrading one of his Distinguished Service Crosses, for Puckett showing "extraordinary heroism and selflessness" in the Korean War more than 70 years ago, explaining that the award finally gave Puckett's "act of valor the full recognition they have always deserved."

Moon Jae-in, president of the Republic of Korea, joined the celebration in the East Room -- becoming the first foreign leader to attend a Medal of Honor ceremony.

"Colonel Puckett is a true hero of the Korean War. With extraordinary valor and leadership, he completed missions until the very end, defending Hill 205 and fighting many more battles requiring equal valiance," Moon said. "Without the sacrifice of veterans, including Colonel Puckett and the Eighth Army Ranger Company, freedom and democracy we enjoy today couldn't have blossomed in Korea."

Speaker Mike Johnson expressed hope that the next generation of service members and warfighters "learn" from Puckett's example and "aspire the same great virtues of valor and honor and courage."

"These heroes were forged by fire. They were built through great adversity. They were ordinary men. Most of them had to do extraordinary things because they were driven by a profound sense of duty and self-sacrifice and faith that their cause was just," Johnson said. "That our values in our country were worth defending, and that God would honor the inestimable value of their personal commitments. The soldiers of the Korean War did the right thing, even at great cost to themselves, and theirs is an example we should all admire and aspire to."

According to a military citation read at the ceremony, Puckett was awarded the Medal of Honor "for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty" serving as the commander 8th U.S. Army Ranger Company during November 25-26,1950, in Korea.

As Puckett's unit commenced a daylight offensive, the Korean enemy directed mortar, machine gun and small-arms fire against the advancing U.S. force, the citation read. Puckett mounted a tank, "exposing himself to the deadly enemy fire" before leaping from the tank, shouting "words of encouragement" to his men before leading the Rangers in the attack.

As enemy fire "threatened the success of the attack by pinning down" one U.S. platoon, Puckett "intentionally ran across an open area three times to draw enemy fire, thereby allowing the Rangers to locate and destroy the enemy positions and to seize Hill 205," the citation noted.

A counterattack lasted hours, and though Puckett was wounded by grenade fragments early in the fight, he refused evacuation and continually directed artillery support that decimated attacking enemy formations.

During a sixth attack, two enemy mortar rounds landed in his foxhole, inflicting "grievous wounds" and limiting his mobility. Puckett issued a command to leave him behind and evacuate the area. But two Rangers refused the order and retrieved him from the foxhole -- moving him out from under enemy fire to the bottom of the hill, where Puckett then "called for devastating artillery fire on the top of the enemy-controlled hill."

"First Lieutenant Puckett's extraordinary heroism and selflessness above and beyond the call of duty were in keeping with the highest traditions of military service and reflect great credit upon himself, his unit, and the United States Army," the citation concluded.

Puckett later returned to service and deployed to combat in Vietnam, where he was again honored for his gallantry. Among his other awards are five Purple Hearts, two Silver Stars, three Legion of Merit awards, two Bronze Star medals and a second Distinguished Service Cross for his actions in Vietnam.

The flags at the U.S. Capitol flew at half-staff on Monday in tribute to Puckett.

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(WASHINGTON) -- Attorneys representing President Joe Biden's son Hunter Biden are threatening to sue Fox News for violating "revenge porn" laws and publishing since-discredited bribery allegations as part of a scheme to "paint him in a false light," according to a letter obtained by ABC News.

The letter, which Hunter Biden's counsel transmitted to attorneys at Fox News last week, includes a request for the conservative news outlet to "preserve all documents potentially relevant to the allegations in this letter" -- a common precursor to litigation.

"We anticipate that litigation against FOX ... is imminent," the letter says.

To pen the letter to Fox, Hunter Biden enlisted the law firm Geragos & Geragos, whose principal, Mark Geragos, has represented A-listers like Michael Jackson, singer Chris Brown, and actress Winona Ryder.

Geragos also has experience representing family members of presidents: He negotiated a plea deal in 2001 for Roger Clinton Jr., the brother of former President Bill Clinton, for driving under the influence.

After years of quietly weathering a federal criminal investigation and deluge of negative press, Hunter Biden embarked on an aggressive legal counteroffensive last year against several individuals who played some role in obtaining and disseminating the contents of a laptop purportedly belonging to him.

Among those are John Paul Mac Isaac, the computer repairman who initially obtained the laptop; Rudy Giuliani, who denied Hunter Biden's claim that he manipulated and disseminated data from the laptop; and Garrett Ziegler, a onetime Trump White House aide who published the contents of the laptop -- including several graphic images -- to the internet.

According to accounts given by Mac Isaac and his attorney, on April 12, 2019, Hunter Biden arrived at Mac Isaac's computer repair shop with three damaged devices and asked if the data could be recovered. Days later, Mac Isaac said, he asked Hunter Biden to return to the shop to retrieve the devices and pay an $85 service fee. Mac Isaac has said he never heard back from Hunter Biden, and the invoice was never paid.

After 90 days, according to Mac Isaac and his attorney, the abandoned laptop became Mac Isaac's property, pursuant to the work order agreement Hunter Biden allegedly signed when he first visited Mac Isaac's shop.

Mac Isaac subsequently turned the laptop and external hard drive over to the FBI in December 2019, and later sought to share information from the devices with then-President Donald Trump's personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, who made the contents of the devices available to other Trump allies and some news outlets in the weeks prior to the 2020 presidential election.

In a statement to ABC News, Hunter Biden's legal team said, "For the last five years, Fox News has relentlessly attacked Hunter Biden and made him a caricature in order to boost ratings and for its financial gain. The recent indictment of FBI informant Smirnov has exposed the conspiracy of disinformation that has been fueled by Fox, enabled by their paid agents and monetized by the Fox enterprise. We plan on holding them accountable."

Attorneys for Hunter Biden demanded that Fox News "expeditiously remove and disable access" to the images. They sent the letter on April 23 and requested that Fox's legal team "have taken steps outlined in this letter" by Friday, April 26.

A person familiar with the matter said that as of Monday, Fox News had not responded. A spokesperson for Fox News did not respond to a request for comment from ABC News.

If Hunter Biden moves forward with a lawsuit against Fox News, it would constitute his first action against a major media firm.

In their letter to Fox News, attorneys for Hunter Biden cited statistics that they say demonstrate how ubiquitous the outlet's coverage of the president's son had become in recent years.

Some of Fox News' star anchors, including Maria Bartiromo and Sean Hannity, ran hundreds of segments about a now-discredited claim that Joe and Hunter Biden accepted millions of dollars in bribes from a Ukrainian oligarch, according to statistics gathered by media watchdog Media Matters.

Alexander Smirnov, the source of the allegation, has since pleaded not guilty to charges that he fabricated the story to harm the president politically.

But according their letter, attorneys for Hunter Biden charge that "rather than walk back the story and correct the record, FOX double-downed on the debunked bribery allegation and used Smirnov's indictment to suggest an even deeper conspiracy."

Attorneys for Hunter Biden also demanded that Fox News remove a miniseries called "The Trial of Hunter Biden" from its streaming services.

The miniseries, described by Fox Nation as a mock trial that seeks to show "how a possible Hunter Biden trial might look," includes several sexually graphic images of Hunter Biden, which are reproduced in the letter.

The miniseries "unlawfully published and continues to publish intimate images of Mr. Biden depicting him in the nude as well as engaged in sex acts in violation of the majority of states' laws against the nonconsensual disclosure of sexually explicit images and videos, sometimes referred to as 'revenge porn' laws," Hunter Biden's attorneys wrote.

The images cited in the letter date back to a time when Hunter Biden was in the throes of drug and alcohol addiction. In his 2021 memoir, "Beautiful Things," Hunter Biden described frequent drug-infused binges that often involved sexual interactions with women.

When special counsel David Weiss brought tax-related charges against Biden last year, his indictment included an accounting of how Hunter Biden spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on women instead of paying his taxes. Hunter Biden has pleaded not guilty to those charges.

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(NEW YORK) -- After former President Donald Trump spent the day in a courtroom in downtown Manhattan last Tuesday, one of the star witnesses in the criminal hush money case against him went live on social media to talk about the trial as thousands listened.

"Trump 2024?" said Michael Cohen, Trump's former attorney and "fixer" who is now a central figure in the criminal case. "More like Trump 20-24 years."

As he awaits his turn to take the witness stand, Cohen has discussed Trump, the ongoing trial, and the testimony already underway during nightly livestreams on TikTok which appear to be earning him financial benefit through viewers' donations, according to hours of his streams viewed by ABC News.

And while the undertaking doesn't appear to run afoul of any court order, experts say it hurts the already-blemished credibility of an essential witness in the case.

"I'd be furious," said ABC News contributor and former Georgia prosecutor Chris Timmons. "As a prosecutor, the last thing you want your witness to do is to be talking about the case in a forum other than the courtroom."

Jeremy Saland, a defense attorney who formerly worked in the Manhattan district attorney's office that is now bringing the case, told ABC News that Cohen's actions are only likely to benefit Trump's defense.

"I have no doubt that Team Trump is scrutinizing and listening and watching whatever they can, and they are rightfully going to weaponize it in a court of law to tear down his credibility," Saland said.

"If I'm the prosecution, I'm on the phone right now saying, 'Stop what you are doing -- right now,'" Saland added. "I can't make you, but you need to stop for your own sake because it's going to get worse for you in that courtroom. And you are compromising the case."

Asked about the livestreams, Cohen on Monday told ABC News, "I am not the defendant in this criminal matter and am not the subject of Judge Merchan's gag order. Donald is."

"Nevertheless," he said, "I elected, out of respect to the court and the prosecutors, to cease commenting on Trump and this matter; which I have done."

'See you in a month'

Trump is on trial after pleaded not guilty to a 34-count indictment charging him with falsifying business records to hide the reimbursement of a hush money payment that Cohen made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels in order to boost his electoral prospects in the 2016 presidential election.

In a statement to ABC News on Monday, Cohen said he would cease commenting on Trump and "this matter."

"I am not the defendant in this criminal matter and am not the subject of Judge Merchan's gag order. Donald is," Cohen told ABC News. "Nevertheless, I elected, out of respect to the court and the prosecutors, to cease commenting on Trump and this matter; which I have done."

The statement echoed what Cohen -- who has been criticizing Trump for years -- publicly announced last Wednesday on social media, when he said that he would "cease posting anything" about the former president on X until after he takes the stand in the ongoing trial.

"See you in a month (or more)," Cohen wrote on X, formally known as Twitter.

It was a move that prosecutors were pleased with, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter.

But just a few hours later, Cohen fired up his TikTok account, went live with thousands of viewers, and briefly talked about Trump and the trial with Rosie O'Donnell.

"I'm washing my hands of him until I end up seeing him face to face, and I am a witness on the stand to provide truthful testimony," Cohen said at one point after O'Donnell said she hoped "we will as a nation stand up to [Trump] and the indictments will follow through and he will be held accountable for all of the horrors that he has done."

The district attorney's office declined to comment.

While his livestream on Thursday night was considerably less focused on Trump or the trial, Cohen has frequently hosted hours-long TikTok livestreams where he discusses the trial and the former president, and engages with thousands of viewers who ask him questions and sometimes make monetary donations.

Early on, the prosecutors bringing the case against Trump acknowledged that their witnesses have, as they put it, "some baggage," and they attempted during jury selection to weed out those who may have a problem with that.

"Will you keep an open mind?" Steinglass asked the prospective jurors, warning them they would hear from individuals who may previously have lied or been convicted of a crime. Many said they would.

Donald Trump's attorneys have sought to eviscerate Cohen's credibility as a central aspect of their defense, describing him to the jury as a criminal who is "obsessed" with "getting" Trump -- and is financially motivated by Trump's downfall. Trump attorney Todd Blanche specifically told the jury about Cohen's out-of-court statements, saying that on the eve of Trump's trial Cohen said he had a "mental excitement" about it.

"His entire financial livelihood depends on President Trump's destruction," Blanche said in his opening statement. "You cannot make a serious decision about President Trump by relying on the words of Michael Cohen."

'I'll just tell the truth'

Cohen's streams often seem like a fever dream -- with Trump's one-time fixer fluctuating between personal attacks on his former boss and making heart shapes with his hands after a user sends him a gift.

This week he also detailed how he saw the trial playing out in light of testimony from former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker, who testified that, in the runup to the 2016 election, he caught and killed negative stories about Trump as part of an agreement between him, Trump and Cohen.

"From everything that I heard from people today, well, David Pecker is basically is corroborating what I have been saying for six years," said Cohen, who said that he's been following the coverage by watching CNN and MSNBC. "And if I give my testimony and it corroborates his, well there you go, the circle starts closing. Then you got Hope Hicks, you got Keith Davidson, you have Stormy, you have Karen McDougal ... all the way across the board, right? And that's what will happen."

At one point on Tuesday night, in the middle of Cohen discussing his upcoming possible testimony, a TikTok user gifted Cohen a "Knight Helmet," which cost 199 TikTok coins. The gift placed a cartoon helmet on Cohen's head, prompting him to stop briefly mid-sentence before continuing,

"Ultimately what will happen is it will be my day ... I'll go there with my helmet, my spear, and I'll sit my ass in that witness stand and I'll just tell the truth," Cohen said.

A core feature of TikTok's platform allows users like Cohen to monetize their livestreams by allowing viewers to donate "gifts" as they watch. After the stream ends, the gifts donated by viewers can be turned into "diamonds" to "obtain a reward payment from us, such as money or virtual items," according to the platform's website.

Information about revenue is only available to the TikTok account holder, so it's unclear how much money Cohen is making on his streams. A representative for TikTok told ABC News that "the amount a creator can earn by going LIVE can vary greatly, and viewers have a range of virtual gifts to choose from."

According to the social media company's website, "The more often you go LIVE and engage with your audience, the more opportunities to collect diamonds and make money. By collecting diamonds, you may be able to obtain a reward payment in money or in virtual items from TikTok."

Cohen did not specify how much he has made on the streams when asked by ABC News.

Timmons, the former prosecutor, said the financial benefit of Cohen's social media presence is particularly problematic.

"It's one thing to be providing out-of-court statements -- that's bad," Timmons said. "Getting paid for them can be disastrous."

"Anytime there's money involved with a witness it's a bad thing, because the jury is going to think this person is saying these things in court because they have a financial motive, not a motive of the truth," said Timmons.

On Tuesday night's stream, Cohen also discussed the pending gag-order ruling against the former president, just hours after the judge held a hearing on the issue.

"With the gag order -- the other day Donald once again, he comes out, comes out of the courtroom and goes right into that little cage, which is where he belongs, in a f------ cage like an animal," said Cohen.

On Tuesday morning, lawyers for the Manhattan district attorney argued for the judge overseeing the hush money case to hold the former president in contempt for repeatedly violating the limited gag order in the case, based in part on attacks he's made against Cohen.

Prosecutors highlighted seven instances this month in which Trump made a social media post mentioning likely witnesses Cohen or Daniels; two instances when his campaign website reposted information about Cohen; and one instance where Trump suggested that "undercover liberal activists" are trying to infiltrate the case's jury.

'There will be no boredom'

It's unclear what prompted Cohen to publicly announce on Wednesday that he would no longer talk about Trump on social media, but Trump's former fixer appeared to notice that his viewership dropped as a result.

On Tuesday night, as Cohen railed against Trump and discussed the latest developments in the trial, his viewership hovered between 2,000 and 3,000. But on Wednesday, after he said he would no longer discuss the trial, his livestream count dropped below 800.

"Wow, it's a low one -- I wonder why?" Cohen said Wednesday night. "Is Wednesday, like, a big TV night or something?"

By the weekend, he was back to discussing the trial, going live on TikTok again on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday night.

On Friday's stream, Cohen reiterated what he called his "pledge to myself" not to discuss Trump or the ongoing trial -- but moments later, he slammed Trump for bringing Boris Epshteyn, one of Trump's advisers, to the trial. Epshteyn is not officially involved in the hush money case.

"For example, [Trump] brought Boris Epshteyn," Cohen said. "Why? Who the f--- knows. Boris has never tried a case in his life. So, now all the sudden what is he, a legal adviser? Yeah that's definitely what you want."

Cohen then praised Trump's trial attorneys Susan Necheles and Todd Blanche for having "excellent reparations" as lawyers before questioning why Blanche decide to take on the case.

He then sparred with a viewer who commented that the "jury looked bored" during the trial, before hyping up his own potential upcoming testimony.

"Why would you say that the jury is bored? Were you there?" Cohen said. "One thing I can assure you, when I hit that stand, there will be no boredom. That I can promise you."

"So, don't worry so much about this jury. They are going to do the right thing based off the evidence, based off the judge gives the jury instructions, plain and simple," Cohen said, before adding after a brief pause, "No different than any other case."

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