Two Trump Organization employees kicked off the third week of testimony in former President Trump’s hush money trial on Monday, shifting the focus to the actual documents that make up his charges.
In the morning, ex-Trump Organization Controller Jeffrey McConney took the stand. He walked jurors through the repayment scheme to Trump’s fixer, Michael Cohen, underlying the charges, but McConney did not directly implicate the former president.
Deborah Tarasoff, who works in the company’s accounts payable department, began testifying following the lunch break. Tarasoff confirmed that Trump himself signed some of the checks for Cohen.
It’s a notable shift from the first two weeks of testimony, when the jury heard from key players involved in the hush money arrangements that preceded the repayments. Those witnesses included ex-National Enquirer publisher David Pecker, attorney Keith Davidson and Hope Hicks, once a close political confidant of the former president.
Porn actress Stormy Daniels, who took a $130,000 payment to keep quiet about an alleged affair with Trump, which he denies, has yet to take the stand. Neither has Cohen.
Follow below for a recap from New York.
As he exited the courtroom for the day, Trump suggested he’d be willing to go to jail for violating his gag order repeatedly.
“This judge has given me a gag order and said you’ll go to jail if you violate it,” Trump said. “And frankly, you know what, our Constitution is much more important than jail. It’s not even close. I’ll do that sacrifice any day.”
— Brett Samuels
The Trump hush money trial has adjourned for the day.
It will pick back up Tuesday morning in New York.
— Zach Schonfeld
The judge asked for an update on scheduling.
Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass said the district attorney’s office has “about two more weeks” left but called it a “very rough estimate.”
“I’d say two weeks from tomorrow, maybe,” Steinglass said, noting that the court is only meeting three days next week.
If Trump does not mount any defense after prosecutors finish with their witnesses, jurors cannot hold it against Trump. But the former president has claimed he will take the stand in his defense.
— Zach Schonfeld
After the jury exited, prosecutor Joshua Steinglass indicated that the DA’s office wants to bring back to the stand Georgia Longstreet, who testified last week.
Longstreet is a paralegal in the district attorney’s office assigned to monitor Trump’s social media and the profiles of others involved in the case. Steinglass said she would return later this week to introduce three new exhibits into evidence.
Trump attorney Todd Blanche objected, saying the defense is prejudiced because it has already cross-examined the witness. But the judge said he’d allow her to come back as long as Trump’s team gets 24 hours notice.
— Zach Schonfeld
Trump attorney Todd Blanche cross-examined Tarasoff for less than 10 minutes, continuing the defense’s strategy of distancing the former president from the process that got his then-fixer, Michael Cohen, paid.
Tarasoff confirmed she did not interact with the former president a lot and she had no reason to believe Trump was hiding anything.
The judge then dismissed the jury, nearly a half-hour earlier than usual, meaning the next witness will not take the stand until tomorrow.
— Zach Schonfeld
Prosecutor Chris Conroy completed his questioning after Tarasoff finished walking through each check.
Trump attorney Todd Blanche is now questioning the witness.
— Zach Schonfeld
The proceedings have resumed following the break.
On her way back to the stand, Tarasoff passed by Eric Trump and, with a smile, appeared to pat him on the knees.
— Ella Lee
The court is taking its afternoon break. Tarasoff is still walking through the monthly checks, one by one.
Jurors are being shown the third and final category of the 34 allegedly falsified records that make up Trump’s charges.
After seeing Michael Cohen’s invoices and the general ledger entries earlier in the day, Tarasoff is now confirming each of the $35,000 monthly checks made out to Cohen.
The jury looks tired, with a few rubbing their eyes and one covering a yawn. But most are still looking at the monitors in front of them as each check is displayed.
— Ella Lee and Zach Schonfeld
Tarasoff noted that Trump was — and still is — the only signatory on his personal account, confirming earlier testimony that he personally signed repayment checks to Michael Cohen as a result.
Tarasoff testified that she prepared and gave the checks to another Trump Organization employee, who shipped them to Washington, D.C., via FedEx.
Though Tarasoff indicated she was unsure of some of the specifics of where it went in D.C., she told jurors that she eventually got the checks back signed by “Mr. Trump.”
She also stressed that Trump was known to sign things in Sharpie, rather than a standard pen.
— Zach Schonfeld
Tarasoff told prosecutors that ex-Trump Organization Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg had authority to approve invoices under $10,000, but any payments over that amount would need approval from the former president or his two eldest sons.
The comment bolsters the prosecution’s attempt to convince jurors that Trump himself was personally involved in the repayment scheme to Michael Cohen that led to the indictment, as Cohen’s monthly invoices were for $35,000 each.
Jeffrey McConney, Tarasoff’s former boss who took the stand earlier in the day, testified he had not received any direction from Trump. Instead, Weisselberg gave approval to process the invoices, McConney said.
— Zach Schonfeld
The proceedings have resumed following the lunch break.
Prosecutors said they will next call Deborah Tarasoff, who works in the Trump Organization’s accounts payable department.
Her testimony is expected to build off Jeffrey McConney, the ex-controller who took the stand earlier in the day.
Though Tarasoff is not identified by name in Trump’s indictment, she is referenced in it. Prosecutors say Tarasoff processed Michael Cohen’s purportedly bogus invoices based on McConney’s instructions to classify them as a legal retainer fee.
— Zach Schonfeld
Ten witnesses have taken the stand so far. Here they are, in order:
- David Pecker, ex-publisher of the National Enquirer who agreed to block negative stories about Trump from being published
- Rhona Graff, Trump’s longtime assistant
- Gary Farro, Michael Cohen’s ex-banker who helped him as he created an account to pay hush money
- Robert Browning, C-SPAN archives executive director who verified the authenticity of various videos of Trump’s speeches
- Phillip Thompson, regional director at Esquire Deposition Solutions who verified the authenticity of a Trump deposition transcript in a recent civil case
- Keith Davidson, attorney who previously represented two women paid hush money in 2016
- Doug Daus, Manhattan DA senior forensic analyst who analyzed Michael Cohen’s cellphones
- Georgia Longstreet, Manhattan DA paralegal who reviewed Trump’s social media posts
- Hope Hicks, Trump’s 2016 campaign press secretary
- Jeffrey McConney, ex-Trump Organization controller who helped process the allegedly falsified records
— Zach Schonfeld
Michael Cohen, Trump’s ex-fixer, received $420,000 in monthly installments after paying porn actress Stormy Daniels hush money just before the 2016 presidential election.
Trump’s 34 charges comprise the invoices, general ledger entries and checks allegedly generated as Cohen’s payments were processed.
Here’s a breakdown of what prosecutors say the payments, which were recorded as a legal retainer, included:
$130,000: Reimbursement for Stormy Daniels hush money payment
$50,000: Payment to IT firm that was boosting Trump’s poll ratings
$180,000: “Grossed up” for “tax purposes”
$60,000: Cohen’s bonus
— Zach Schonfeld
McConney has been excused from the stand after roughly three hours of testimony.
The proceedings will resume this afternoon after a lunch break. The next witness to take the stand is unknown until they are announced when court resumes.
— Zach Schonfeld