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Jurors in Donald Trump’s hush money trial have heard for the first time how and why Michael Cohen’s reimbursement payment to Stormy Daniels was entered as a legal expense.
Former Trump Organization controller Jeffrey McConney testified on Monday (Tuesday AEDT) about conversations he had with the company’s longtime finance chief Alan Weiselberg in January 2017 about reimbursing Cohen for $US196,000 ($130,000) he paid the lawyer Keith Davidson, Daniels attorney at the time.
McConney said handwritten notes from Weiselberg outlined how much to reimburse Cohen.
All expenses had to be entered into the general ledger with a category code, and “we were paying a lawyer,” McConey explained. So it was coded as such.
Ahead of the testimony, Trump was sanctioned a second time for violating a gag order barring him from speaking publicly about witnesses, jurors and others related to the trial.
Judge Juan M. Murchan fined him $1,500 and warned that further violations in the future could lead to jail time.
The case is on its 12th day.
Overall, prosecutors are increasingly tapping into those in Trump’s orbit, setting the stage for a deeper dive into what they say was a scheme to influence the 2016 presidential election by buying and burying negative stories about the then-candidate.
Cohen is the prosecution’s star witness and went to prison for the hush-money scheme.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business documents.
The case is the first criminal trial against a former US president and the first of four impeachments against Trump to go to a jury.
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