Donald Trump Hush Money Trial: Witnesses Say He Personally Signed Reimbursement Checks to Michael Cohen
The Donald Trump hush money trial continued in New York as a devastating new witness testimony revealed that Trump really knew about his lawyer, Michael Cohen's deal to pay off porn star Stormy Daniels. This came right after Trump was fined another $1,000 for violating his gag order once again. Judge Juan Merchan also threatened to throw Trump to jail again after his repeated gag order violations.
Jurors were presented key evidence about how exactly Michael Cohen was repaid by Trump's trust and personal accounts in 2017 after the former Trump lawyer paid Stormy Daniels the hush money. This happened as two longtime Trump Organization employees testified regarding these repayments, which are central to the prosecution's arguments that Daniels was paid to keep quiet about her affair on Trump's orders.
Former Trump Organization controller Jeffrey McConney testified that he was the one who processed the $35,000 invoices to Cohen that were falsely listed as legal fees. Cohen paid Stormy Daniels $130,000 in a massive hush money payment, and these invoices were Trump's ways of repaying him while also hiding the fact that he paid a porn star over a hundred thousand dollars to keep quiet about their affair.
McConney also confirmed before the jury that he received the invoice via email and forwarded it to Trump Organization accounts payable employee Deborah Tarasoff to cut the check.
"Please pay from the Trust. Post to legal expenses. Put 'retainer for the months of January and February 2017' in the description," wrote the Trump Organization controller in his email to Tarasoff, who soon testified after him.
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Witness Confirms Donald Trump's Signature was on Checks That Reimbursed Michael Cohen
As for Tarasoff's testimony, she told the jury that she checks from Trump's personal account and sent them to Washington, DC, where Trump could sign them at the White House. This was when the jury was presented with the invoices, the company ledgers and vouchers, and the checks themselves. They were already paid for the first three months by the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust. The final nine months were paid from the then-president's personal account.
The Guardian reported that Tarasoff was also asked whose signature was on those checks presented before the jury, and she confirmed it belonged to Donald Trump.
Michael Cohen was reimbursed for a total of $420,000, according to McConney, who also confirmed that Cohen was paid a $60,000 bonus in those installments.
Donald Trump Fined Again and Warned of Jail Time Again
As for his gag order violations. Trump was fined even more money this time, with an additional $1,000 fine being levied against the former president. As Trump is expected to break the gag order even more, Judge Merchan warned him he could throw the ex-POTUS to jail.
"It appears that the $1,000 fines are not serving as a deterrent. Therefore going forward, this court will have to consider a jail sanction," Merchan told jurors. He added that Trump's statements "threaten to interfere with the fair administration of justice and constitute a direct attack on the rule of law. I cannot allow that to continue."
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Written by: Rick Martin
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