Live updates: Donald Trump’s hush money trial

Trump attorney Emil Bove is now asking Robert Costello about the “backchannel” email.

Bove asks, “Who first used the word backchannel?”

Costello says, “Rudy Giuliani, in response to my telling him we couldn’t make this public because that’s what Michael Cohen said to me.”

Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger a bit earlier asked Costello if he was pushing Michael Cohen to retain him because he could provide a backchannel to Trump, which Costello denied.

Costello says they’d let Trump’s inner circle know through the backchannel that Costello would represent Cohen, but Cohen expressed concern, saying, “We don’t want to go public with this, it would cause a press uproar.”

Bove confirms with Costello that the first mention about a backchannel was sent in an email the day after Costello told his son he’d be representing Cohen, showing him the statement Cohen was set to release.