More Witnesses Cast Doubt on Trump’s Hush Money Denials
NEW YORK — New prosecution witnesses at former President Donald Trump’s New York criminal trial Friday further undercut the former president’s denials about paying hush money to a former porn star and then falsifying records to cover up their sexual affair.
One of the new witnesses was Rhona Graff, Trump’s long-time executive assistant, who sat outside Trump’s office in Trump Tower for years until her departure in 2021. She managed his schedule and phone calls.
His list of contacts included former adult film actress Stormy Daniels and former Playboy playmate Karen McDougal, she said in her testimony.
Prosecutors say Trump paid Daniels $130,000 and McDougal $150,000 in exchange for their promises not to tell anyone about sexual affairs he had with them. Trump denies the allegations.
Sexual relations are not the issue in the criminal charges against Trump. Prosecutors say he illegally tried to hide the payments in business records he reported to the government and in tax forms.
The first former president to face a criminal trial is charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records. He pleaded not guilty to all charges.
He allegedly listed the payments to Daniels as fees for “legal services” after his attorney, Michael Cohen, delivered checks to her.
During Graff’s nearly hour-long testimony, she said she had a “vague recollection” of seeing Daniels at Trump Tower “waiting in the reception area of the 26th floor.”
She said Trump told her Daniels was being considered as a contestant on “Celebrity Apprentice,” a television show Trump hosted.
“I vaguely recall hearing him say that she was one of the people that may be a good contestant on the show,” Graff said.
Further evidence of the payments came from Gary Farro, the former senior managing director of the now defunct First Republic Bank.
He testified that Cohen set up an account for what appeared to be a dummy corporation called Essential Consultants LLC to funnel secretive payments to Daniels. Cohen established the account under his own home equity line of credit, Farro said.
Farro said that he knew Cohen worked for Trump and added, “Every time Michael Cohen spoke to me he gave a sense of urgency.”
Two weeks after Trump won the 2016 presidential election, bank records show Cohen wired the $130,000 to the attorney for Daniels. In exchange, she has said she signed a nondisclosure agreement about their 2006 one-time affair.
The banker and executive assistant spoke at the close of testimony from former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker.
Pecker told about what he called a “catch-and-kill” strategy in which he would buy the story rights from persons who might have information that could embarrass Trump but “kill,” or never run, the stories.
He acknowledged being a long-time friend of Trump who had agreed to use the National Enquirer tabloid to promote a good image for him as he ran for president. He also ran unfavorable stories about his opponents, such as Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.
He also testified that he arranged the $150,000 in hush money for McDougal.
Trump’s attorney spent much of the cross-examination of Pecker trying to show he was not a believable witness.
At one point, Pecker admitted the media conglomerate he ran, American Media Inc., may have engaged in campaign finance violations. A defense attorney also presented an FBI agent’s investigatory notes showing Pecker might have told differing stories about Trump at different times.
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