Trump will face Michael Cohen in court as prosecution nears the end of its case

Stormy Daniels is finished testifying, but another popular target of former President Donald Trump is scheduled to take the witness stand in his criminal trial on Monday — his former lawyer Michael Cohen, multiple sources have told NBC News.

Both Daniels, an adult film actress, and Cohen, Trump's onetime fixer, are outspoken critics of the Republican presidential nominee and key witnesses in Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's falsifying business records case. The former president has labeled them both "sleaze bags."

The move to call Cohen comes as a prosecutor said at the end of court Friday that they could rest their case as soon as next week. Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass told the judge that the DA’s office has only two witnesses remaining. Cohen's testimony is expected to last multiple days.

Trump attorney Todd Blanche asked Judge Juan Merchan to bar Cohen from commenting publicly on the case since he’s about to take the stand. He noted that Cohen appeared on TikTok earlier this week wearing a T-shirt showing Trump behind bars wearing an orange jumpsuit. Blanche had previously complained about Cohen posting on social media and doing interviews criticizing Trump during the trial. Cohen had slowed his frequent commentary after Merchan said he may exclude him from the gag order barring Trump from attacking witnesses in the case because of his commentary.

Steinglass said the DA’s office had previously asked Cohen to stop speaking. The judge directed the DA to tell Cohen that the judge was asking him to stop.

Trump fumed about the lack of a gag order for Cohen after the day's proceedings wrapped. “Everybody can say whatever they want” but “I can’t say anything, “ he told a group of reporters in a courthouse hallway. “It’s a disgrace.”

Daniels testified on Tuesday and Thursday, sparring with Trump attorney Susan Necheles during cross-examination about her claim that she had a sexual encounter with Trump in 2006. Then-Trump lawyer Cohen paid Daniels $130,000 to keep quiet about the allegation during the 2016 presidential election. Trump later reimbursed Cohen in payments prosecutors charge were covered up with falsified business records. Trump has pleaded not guilty and denied Daniels’ claim.

Earlier in the day, jurors heard continued testimony from Madeleine Westerhout, who was Trump's executive assistant in the White House between 2017 and 2019.

Follow live updates on the Trump hush money trial

Westerhout had testified on Thursday about how thrilled she was to be working for Trump and broke down in tears when prosecutors asked her about her departure from the White House in August 2019. She said that working for Trump was “amazing” and that he was “a very good boss” who had a close and loving relationship with his wife, Melania Trump.

The portrayal was at odds with testimony from Daniels, who said Trump had told her not to worry about his wife while he was making passes at her in his hotel room after they met at a celebrity golf tournament in Lake Tahoe, Nevada, in 2006.

Westerhout also testified Thursday that Trump was attentive when she delivered him personal checks to sign and that on occasion he would call his company’s chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, if he had questions about any of them — information prosecutors are likely to use to argue Trump was well aware of what he was paying Cohen for.

On Friday, Trump attorney Susan Necheles got Westerhout to say that Trump wasn’t always paying attention when he was signing checks — and he would sometimes be on the phone or in meetings while he did. “He was a person who multitasked, right?” Necheles asked. “Yes,” Westerhout replied.

Necheles also pressed her on details about Trump's reaction when the payment to Daniels became public in 2018.

"He was very upset by it,” Westerhout said. “My understanding is that he knew it would be hurtful to his family. … The whole situation was very unpleasant.”

Westerhout said one of her duties was to act as an intermediary between Trump and the Trump Organization on issues that needed his or the company’s attention, like his travel schedule, mail or phone calls.

She asked Trump's assistant at the company, Rhona Graff, in 2017 for a list of Trump’s contacts, which Graff sent to her, according to an email shown to the jury. The list included information for Cohen and David Pecker, the former National Enquirer publisher who testified he worked with Trump and Cohen to suppress scandalous stories about Trump during his 2016 campaign.

Westerhout was followed to the stand by Daniel Dixon, an analyst for AT&T who was brought in to authenticate "call detail records" relating to Cohen's cell phone.

Jennie Tomalin, an analyst from Verizon, was also called to authenticate phone records from Keith Davidson, Daniels' former lawyer, and former Trump Organization chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg.

She was followed by Georgia Longstreet, a paralegal for the DA's office, who was brought in to testify about some of then-President Trump's social media postings that prosecutors say were an effort to influence Cohen and other people he was concerned could cause him legal problems.

One of the posts praised Cohen as "a fine person with a wonderful family" before he began cooperating with federal investigators. After he pleaded guilty to charges that included ones related to the Daniels payment, Trump tweeted, “If anyone is looking for a good lawyer, I would strongly suggest that you don’t retain the services of Michael Cohen!”

Longstreet also read aloud texts between then-National Enquirer editor-in-chief Dylan Howard and Gina Rodriguez, who was Daniels' manager. The 2016 texts included Howard telling her he thought Pecker would pay for her story. Pecker said he did not do so because he'd already spent $180,000 to kill two other salacious Trump stories, and he feared doing business with a porn star could harm his paper. But, he said, he did encourage Cohen to pay the money.

Trump attorney Todd Blanche moved for a mistrial at the end of court Thursday, arguing Daniels' testimony — including her claim that Trump didn't use a condom when they had sex — was unfair and prejudicial. He called the condom allegation "a dog whistle for rape."

State Judge Juan Merchan agreed that Daniels shouldn't have been asked about the condom but noted that there was no objection to that line of questioning, which he said befuddled him.

"I don't understand," he said.

He denied Blanche's mistrial demand, as well as a request that he loosen the gag order barring Trump from attacking witnesses to allow him to respond to Daniels' testimony.

Prosecutors have previously said they are hopeful they'll be able to wrap up their case by May 21.

It's unclear whether Trump will testify in his own defense. He is under no obligation to do so.