In a startling precursor to what could be the most explosive testimony in Donald J. Trump’s criminal trial, the judge on Friday told prosecutors that he was personally asking that a key witness halt his statements about the former president.
The witness, Michael D. Cohen, was a personal lawyer for Mr. Trump, who in 2016 paid $130,000 in hush money to a porn star to silence her account of extramarital sex with him. Mr. Cohen is expected to begin testifying next week, and has been outspoken in his taunting of Mr. Trump, including by posting a TikTok video in which he wore a shirt with a picture of the former president behind bars.
On Friday, moments after prosecutors acknowledged that they have little control over their star witness, the judge, Juan M. Merchan, asked them to tell Mr. Cohen to refrain from making any more statements about the case.
And he made it clear that was from the highest authority in the court: him.
“That comes from the bench,” Justice Merchan said.
Mr. Cohen declined to comment.
Justice Merchan’s statement might as well have been a billboard previewing next week’s main event. Mr. Cohen is crucial to the case: He says that records of his reimbursements for the hush-money payment were falsified in 2017 at the then-president’s direction.
