14 hours ago
President Trump also criticized the judge over his gag order. Reporters have been asking President Trump about testimonies in the trial all day, and he has not engaged.
“I tell you people, you ask me a question, a simple question, I’d like to give it but I can’t talk about it, because this judge has given me a gag order and said you’ll go to jail if you violate it,” he 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,” he said.
14 hours ago
President Trump told the press prosecutors estimate another two or three weeks of trial.
“So we just found out, the government said they want two to three more weeks,” he said. “They want to keep me off the trail for two to three more weeks. Now, anybody in there would realize there’s no case, they don’t have a case.”
“This is just a political witch hunt, it’s election interference, and this is really, truly election interference,” he said, claiming that the case was only brought after he announced his campaign, for political reasons.
15 hours ago
Defense attorneys argued that they are not getting enough time to review exhibits. Prosecutors argued this complaint is unfounded as they are disclosing the witness lists one day in advance, saying it is because President Trump continued to violate the gag order and they are worried about juror intimidation.
Prosecutors want to call Georgia Longstreet, who reviewed social media posts for the district attorney’s office, back to the witness stand.
“I don’t think there’s any remote prejudice that the defense will suffer,” Justice Merchan said.
15 hours ago
Mr. Blanche cross-examined Ms. Tarasoff, asking about the 2016 to 2017 period she testified about. She affirmed that she had little contact with President Trump.
“I believe you testified about President Trump himself. You did not interact with him a lot over the years, correct? Your bosses, it sounds like they varied a bit, but Mr. McConney, Mr. Weisselberg?” Mr. Blanche asked.
“Yes,” Ms. Tarasoff said.
15 hours ago
Prosecutors walked Ms. Tarasoff through each of the checks signed for Mr. Cohen, establishing that the money came from President Trump’s own account.
16 hours ago
Prosecuting attorney Christopher Conroy asked Ms. Tarasoff who could approve invoices.
“Allen Weisselberg, Jeffrey McConney, obviously Mr. Trump, anybody in the legal department,” Ms. Tarasoff said.
Mr. Conroy asked if the dollar amount had to do with who could approve an invoice.
16 hours ago
After a lunch break, defense attorney Todd Blanche objected to the admission of some checks into evidence.
“The invoices that causes [Trump Organization] to pay is being offered for the truth of the assertion. That’s our objection. Our understanding is that the People are going to offer #42 through this witness, who we believe is a Trump Organization employee. These are, unless we’re wrong, Capitol One bank records, and we very much object to that,” Mr. Blanche said.
Prosecutors are planning to call Deb Tarasoff, an accounts payable supervisor.
18 hours ago
Mr. McConney confirmed that Mr. Weisselberg had told him Mr. Cohen was seeking some sort of reimbursement, but Mr. Weisselberg did not tell Mr. McConney what the reimbursement was for.
Testifying about the specific figure Mr. Weisselberg had agreed to pay Mr. Cohen, Mr. McConney admitted he did not know what Mr. Weisselberg meant by “gross up to” a certain figure.
He confirmed that when Mr. Cohen was an employee his payments would come out of the payroll, but in 2017 that was no longer the case.
18 hours ago
Mr. McConney affirmed that he had no reason to believe that President Trump was aware of how the general ledger was categorizing Mr. Cohen’s invoices.
“You did not talk to President Trump about the events you just described?” defense attorney Emil Bove asked.
“I did not,” Mr. McConney said.
19 hours ago
Mr. McConney is going through the financial disclosure forms President Trump filed when he declared his candidacy in 2015, including a conflict of interest form. The disclosure form requires listing the value of assets, retirement payments, liabilities, gifts, among other things.
“I took care of a few forms, or pieces of the form, and somebody else took care of the rest of the form,” Mr. McConney said. He helped file the form in January 2017.
20 hours ago
Mr. McConney confirmed that in order to pay Mr. Cohen, Mr. Cohen would need to send an invoice. He sent such an email reminder to Mr. Cohen on Feb. 6, 2017, and another reminder a week later.
Mr. Cohen wrote back, “Jeff, please remind me of the monthly amount.” Mr. McConney wrote back, “$35,000.”
In a Feb. 14, 2017, email, Mr. Cohen wrote, “Dear Allen, Pursuant to the retainer agreement, kindly remit payment for services rendered for the months of January and February 2017.”
20 hours ago
Prosecutors have alleged that Mr. Cohen was paid $420,000 as reimbursement for a $130,000 “hush money” payment he allegedly made at the behest of President Trump.
The figures in Mr. Weisselberg’s handwriting were shown as evidence in the courtroom. Notes from a meeting between Mr. Weisselberg and Mr. McConney resulted in notes being attached to Mr. Cohen’s $130,000 wire statement that included “add additional bonus $60,000.”
“Did you have an understanding that the payment was to include an additional bonus?” prosecuting attorney Joshua Steinglass asked.
20 hours ago
Mr. McConney confirmed he knew Michael Cohen was a lawyer who worked at Trump Organization “for a number of years.”
“We had conversations by the coffee machine,” he said.
Mr. McConney said that sometime in January 2017, he had a conversation with Mr. Weisselberg about money owed to mr. Cohen.
21 hours ago
Mr. McConney said President Trump had the ability to approve invoices before he took office, and other than him Ivanka Trump and Allen Weisselberg were the general approvers of invoices. The trust was run by Eric Trump, Donald Trump Jr., and Mr. Weisselberg.
Checks less than $10,000 could be signed by any of the three trustees, and checks over $10,000 had to be signed by two, Mr. McConney said.
21 hours ago
Prosecutors called former Trump Organization comptroller Jeffrey McConney to the witness stand. Defense attorneys sought to object to several exhibits being admitted before testimony, but the judge decided to let the defense object individually as jurors had already arrived.
Mr. McConney was named a codefendant in a civil fraud case against President Trump, brought by the New York Attorney General, and had testified last fall in that trial, breaking down in tears on the witness stand at one point. He retired from his position in February 2023.
He described his role at Trump Organization, where he was hired in 1987.
21 hours ago
Justice Merchan began by addressing the gag order violation allegations.
“Mr. Trump, as you know the prosecution has filed three separate motions asking this court to fine you in contempt,” Justice Merchan said.
He said he has found President Trump violated his gag order a tenth time.
21 hours ago
President Trump told reporters the gag order was “unconstitutional” and that the judge should have recused himself for a conflict of interest before heading into the courtroom to face Justice Merchan, who is set to rule on additional gag order violation allegations.
A reporter asked about Michael Cohen, a key witness, and President Trump said he was “not supposed to be talking about it.”
President Trump said the prosecution was calling witnesses and showing evidence “that have nothing to do with the case.”
Former President Donald Trump is on trial in New York for 34 counts of falsifying business records in what prosecutors with the Manhattan District Attorney’s office allege was a scheme to cover up negative press during the 2016 election cycle.
The trial last week featured several key testimonies and pieces of evidence.
Keith Davidson, the attorney who represented Stephanie Clifford (Stormy Daniels) and brokered the $130,000 deal paid by Michael Cohen, pushed back on prosecutors’ claim that the payment was “hush money,” arguing it was consideration in a legal settlement paid by Mr. Cohen alone.
Original News Source Link – Epoch Times
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