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Trump trial: Stormy Daniels tells (almost) all about alleged sexual encounter with Trump

PHOTO: Stormy Daniels is questioned by prosecutor Susan Hoffinger before Justice Juan Merchan during former President Donald Trump's criminal trial in Manhattan state court in New York City, May 7, 2024 in this courtroom sketch.
3:29
Jane Rosenberg via Reuters
Judge rejects Trump team request for mistrial after Stormy Daniels testimony
By Aaron Katersky, Peter Charalambous, Olivia Rubin, Lucien Bruggeman, Julia Reinstein
Last Updated: May 6, 2024, 7:25 PM

Former President Donald Trump is on trial in New York City, where he is facing felony charges related to a 2016 hush money payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels. It marks the first time in history that a former U.S. president has been tried on criminal charges.

MORE: Here are 8 pieces of evidence presented so far in Trump's hush money trial

Trump last April pleaded not guilty to a 34-count indictment charging him with falsifying business records in connection with a hush money payment his then-attorney Michael Cohen made to Daniels in order to boost his electoral prospects in the 2016 presidential election.

Top headlines:

  • Defense suggests Daniels is making up her story
  • Judge denies motion for mistrial after Stormy Daniels testimony
  • Daniels describes alleged sexual encounter with Trump
  • Jury sees paper trail detailing Cohen repayment plan
  • Judge again holds Trump in contempt, threatens jail time
Here's how the news is developing.

Pinned
Apr 22, 2024 9:51 AM

What to know about the hush money case

READ MORE: Here's what you need to know about the historic case.


Pinned
May 06, 2024 4:15 PM

As McConney testifies, his longtime boss sits in jail

Over the course of Jeffrey McConney's testimony, the former Trump Organization controller has repeatedly invoked the name of his longtime boss, Allen Weisselberg, when describing the conduct and the paper trail underpinning prosecutors' theory of the case.

He and Weisselberg ate lunch every day, McConney testified, and their offices sat beside each other in Trump Tower. At one point during his testimony, McConney said he recognized Weisselberg's penmanship on a key exhibit because "I've read his handwriting for about 35 years."

PHOTO: Former President Donald Trump appears in court during his trial at Manhattan Criminal Court on May 6, 2024 in New York City.
Steven Hirsch-Pool/Getty Images
Former President Donald Trump appears in court during his trial at Manhattan Criminal Court on May 6, 2024 in New York City.
Steven Hirsch-Pool/Getty Images

But as McConney testifies, Weisselberg sits in jail -- one month into a five-month sentence after pleading guilty to two felony counts of perjury for lying under oath during his testimony in former President Trump's civil fraud trial and during the investigation that preceded it.

Weisselberg is not expected to testify at this trial.


May 06, 2024 7:25 PM

Tarasoff says 'legal expenses' label came from invoice

Trump Organization accounts payable supervisor Deborah Tarasoff walked the jurors through the process for processing the invoices and checks for Michael Cohen in 2017.

The process generally began with an email from controller Jeffrey McConney, who approved the expenses.

"Please pay. Post to same g/l as last month," McConney said in his email from March 2017.

"Please pay," McConney emailed Tarasoff in April.

Jurors then saw the invoice processed on the Trump Organization's general ledger, labeled as "legal expenses."

PHOTO: Former President Donald Trump attends his trial at Manhattan Criminal Court in New York City, on May 6, 2024.
Julia Nikhinson/POOL/AFP via Getty Images
Former President Donald Trump attends his trial at Manhattan Criminal Court in New York City, on May 6, 2024.
Julia Nikhinson/POOL/AFP via Getty Images

"Where did that come from?" prosecutor Christopher Conroy asked.

"I put that in. It came from the invoice," Tarasoff said.

For checks from the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust, two people -- from among either Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump, and Allen Weisselberg -- signed the check. For the checks from Donald Trump's personal account, Donald Trump had to sign the check himself.

Some of the jurors appeared to be attentive during this testimony, watching Tarasoff explain the exhibits displayed on the screen in front of them. Others sat passively, some with their arms crossed, as the testimony continued.


May 06, 2024 7:06 PM

Tarasoff says Cohen's checks were sent to White House to be signed

Trump Organization accounts payable supervisor Deborah Tarasoff told jurors that she processed Michael Cohen's invoices in the same manner she would process any other invoice.

"The same way everything was processed," Tarasoff said, noting that she began processing the invoices once she got an approval email.

"Do you remember who you would get those emails from?" Conroy asked. .

"Jeffrey McConney," Tarasoff said.

The only change in the protocol, according to Tarasoff, was that the checks from Trump's personal account would need to be signed by Trump in Washington, D.C., so another employee would mail the check to the White House by Federal Express, Tarasoff said.

"We would send them to the White House for him to sign," Tarasoff said.

"Even when he was in DC, no one else had authority to sign the checks?" Conroy asked.

"That's right," Tarasoff said.


May 06, 2024 6:59 PM

Trump rejected checks he didn't want to sign, Tarasoff says

Prosecutors appear to be trying to used Trump Organization accounts payable supervisor Deborah Tarasoff to portray Donald Trump as more than a passive player in the alleged scheme to hide Michael Cohen's repayments from authorities.

The defense has suggested Trump is a multi-tasker who would blindly sign stacks of checks while doing untold numbers of other things. But Tarasoff said Trump would sometimes reject checks.

"If he didn't want to sign it he didn't sign it," Tarasoff said.

"Did you ever see a time when he didn't sign a check?" prosecutor Chris Conroy asked.

"He would write void on it and send it back," Tarasoff responded, noting Trump's distinctive signature using a black Sharpie. "That's what he uses," she said, drawing on her 24 years of experience at the Trump Organization.



May 06, 2024 6:56 PM

Tarasoff says CFO generally ran decisions by Trump

As the accounts payable supervisor at the Trump Organization, Deborah Tarasoff described her responsibilities in this way: "I get approved bills, I enter them in the system, and I cut the checks."

That type of response -- using as few words as she can -- seems in line with her other commentary from the stand. Tarasoff has a terse sensibility.

"Do you have any sense of how many entities make up the Trump Organization?" prosecutor Christopher Conroy asked her.

"There's a bunch," she said.

Asked to describe the general ledger, she said: "That's where everything goes into and they keep track of things."

Conroy established early in his questioning that she did not necessarily have regular exposure to Donald Trump, but was an important cog in the machine of the Trump Organization -- particularly as it pertains to the allegations in this trial.

"Did you just follow instructions?" Conroy asked.

"Yes," she said.

Tarasoff told jurors that any expenses over $10,000 would need to get direct approval from either Donald Trump, Donald Trump Jr. or Eric. Trump.

Tarasoff added that at the time of the events in question, Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg generally ran decisions by Trump directly.


May 06, 2024 4:15 PM

As McConney testifies, his longtime boss sits in jail

Over the course of Jeffrey McConney's testimony, the former Trump Organization controller has repeatedly invoked the name of his longtime boss, Allen Weisselberg, when describing the conduct and the paper trail underpinning prosecutors' theory of the case.

He and Weisselberg ate lunch every day, McConney testified, and their offices sat beside each other in Trump Tower. At one point during his testimony, McConney said he recognized Weisselberg's penmanship on a key exhibit because "I've read his handwriting for about 35 years."

PHOTO: Former President Donald Trump appears in court during his trial at Manhattan Criminal Court on May 6, 2024 in New York City.
Steven Hirsch-Pool/Getty Images
Former President Donald Trump appears in court during his trial at Manhattan Criminal Court on May 6, 2024 in New York City.
Steven Hirsch-Pool/Getty Images

But as McConney testifies, Weisselberg sits in jail -- one month into a five-month sentence after pleading guilty to two felony counts of perjury for lying under oath during his testimony in former President Trump's civil fraud trial and during the investigation that preceded it.

Weisselberg is not expected to testify at this trial.


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