STORY: Donald Trump's ex-fixer Michael Cohen told jurors on Monday that his former boss personally signed off on the payment to porn star Stormy Daniels to bury her story about an alleged 2006 sexual encounter.
Cohen - who worked as an executive and lawyer for Trump's company for nearly a decade - testified that Trump told him the situation would be a "disaster for the campaign."
Trump's defense has suggested the payment to Daniels was meant to protect his family from embarrassment.
But Cohen testified that Trump wasn't thinking about his wife Melania at the time and instead it was "all about the campaign."
At the defense table, Trump shook his head.
At the center of the case is Cohen's $130,000 payment to Daniels ahead of the 2016 election.
Prosecutors have said Trump paid Cohen back after the election and hid the reimbursement by recording it falsely as a legal retainer fee.
Trump is being charged with falsifying business records tied to the transaction.
He has pleaded not guilty and denies ever having sex with Daniels.
TRUMP: "This trial is rigged. It's dishonest. It's a disgrace to New York. It's a disgrace to the country. I should be out campaigning now instead of sitting in a very cold courthouse."
The 2024 Republican candidate, who is running against Democratic President Joe Biden in November, says the trial is a politically motivated attempt to interfere with his campaign.
The Manhattan trial is widely seen as less consequential than three other criminal prosecutions Trump faces.
Prosecutors have said they could rest their case this week.
