Former President Trump did not personally direct a Trump Organization executive to set up reimbursement payments to former Trump attorney Michael Cohen, according to witness testimony Monday in the NY v. Trump case.
“Michael Cohen was a lawyer?” defense attorney Emil Bove asked former Trump Organization controller Jeffrey McConney on Monday at the start of the fourth week of the trial.
“Sure, yes,” McConney responded.
“And payments to lawyers by the Trump Organization are legal expenses, right?” asked Bove.
“Yes,” said McConney.
LIVE UPDATES: EX-TRUMP ORG CONTROLLER TAKES STAND AS PROSECUTORS BUILD TO MICHAEL COHEN TESTIMONY
Jeffrey McConney, who served as the Trump Organization’s controller for more than two decades, took the stand Monday and was grilled by both prosecutors and Trump’s defense team. (Michael Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty Images/File)
“President Trump did not ask you to do any of the things you just described … correct?” Bove asked.
“He did not,” McConney replied.
NY V TRUMP TO RESUME MONDAY AFTER EVENTFUL 3RD WEEK OF TESTIMONY, THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS OF GAG ORDER FINES
Trump is in Manhattan for the fourth week of a trial in which he faces 34 counts of falsifying business records. The NY v. Trump case focuses on Trump’s former attorney, Cohen, paying former pornographic actor Stormy Daniels $130,000 to allegedly quiet her claims of an alleged extramarital affair she had with the then-real estate tycoon in 2006. Trump has denied having an affair with Daniels.
This courtroom sketch shows attorney Emil Bove and former President Trump during Trump’s criminal trial in New York City on April 26, 2024. (Reuters/Jane Rosenberg)
Prosecutors allege that the Trump Organization reimbursed Cohen and fraudulently logged the payments as legal expenses. Prosecutors are working to prove that Trump falsified records with the intent to commit or conceal a second crime, which is a felony.
McConney, who served as the Trump Organization’s controller for more than two…
