Monday Evening Wrap-Up - Trump Manhattan Trial - Day 12

Monday marked the 12th day of trial for former President Donald Trump in the Manhattan criminal case brought by Alvin Bragg. We brought you some of the key moments, including Judge Juan Merchan's ruling on an added gag order violation, finding the former president in contempt, fining him another $1,000 for it, and warning him that incarceration could be in the offing if he continues to violate the order.

Additionally, witness Jeffrey McConney, former controller for the Trump Organization, gave the seemingly surprising testimony that Trump did not personally order the payments made to his former attorney, Michael Cohen. Those payments lie at the heart of the prosecution's charges.

Trump Trial Smasher: DA's Witness Testifies Trump Did Not Direct Payments to Michael Cohen

The prosecution called two witnesses on Monday: the aforementioned McConney and Trump Organization accounts payable employee Deborah Tarassoff.

Former Trump Org. controller Jeffrey McConney testified to the $35,000 invoices he processed to Cohen as a reimbursement for the $130,000 hush money payment. Month-by-month, McConney confirmed that he received an email that contained Cohen’s invoice for $35,000, which the Trump Org. claimed were “legal expenses.”
He also confirmed he sent the invoice to Trump Org. 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,” McConney wrote to Tarasoff in a February 2017 email.
Tarasoff later testified that she cut checks from Trump’s personal account and sent them to Washington, DC, to be signed by Trump at the White House.
Jurors saw the invoices, the company ledgers and vouchers, and the checks themselves, which were paid for the first three months by the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust and then out of Trump’s personal account for the final nine months.
With each payment, prosecutors noted that the money was paid out of the Trump Org.’s “51505” account – meaning legal expenses – even though Cohen was being paid back for the hush money payment.

McConney is now retired but was hired by the Trump Organization in 1987. He testified pursuant to subpoena. The Organization is paying for his lawyer. He described Trump as his boss and the brains behind the Organization. He laid out the policies and procedures involved in issuing payments.

Prosecutor: One many signatures were required on checks?
McConney: Below $10,000 only one signature. Over $10,000, two signatures.
Prosecutor: If a lawyer receives payment, is it taxable?
McConney? If an outside attorney, I assume so. [Sips from water bottle]
— Inner City Press (@innercitypress) May 6, 2024

McConney also, as noted above, confirmed that he rarely spoke directly with Trump and that Trump did not ask him to make the entries in question.

Trump's lawyer Bove: Here is Michael Cohen's signature block - does it say "fixer"?
McConney: It does not.
Bove: Michael Cohen was basically a vendor to President Trump, right?
McConney. Yes.
Bove: He said he had an outside firm?
McConney: Yes.
— Inner City Press (@innercitypress) May 6, 2024

Tarasoff still works in accounting for the Trump Organization. She also testified regarding the procedures for issuing payments via check.

Prosecutor: Would he ever refuse to sign a check?
Tarasoff: He would write Void on it.
Prosecutor: How would you know it was him?
Tarasoff: He would use a Sharpie, I'd recognize it.
Prosecutor: I'm handing you a thumb drive.
Trump's lawyer Blance: We object
— Inner City Press (@innercitypress) May 6, 2024

The court broke for the day following Tarasoff's testimony. The prosecution advised the court that they anticipate having about two more weeks' worth of evidence. (Lawyers are notoriously bad at providing such guesstimates but, assuming they're in that ballpark, that would put the prosecution resting around the third week of May, with the defense likely having a week or two of evidence to present. That would put the case in the hands of the jury in late May or early June. So we still have a way to go with this trial.)

The trial will resume Tuesday morning.