Payments in focus as prosecutors make their case in Trump hush money
trial
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 [May 07, 2024]
By Jack Queen, Luc Cohen and Andy Sullivan
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Prosecutors in Donald Trump's criminal trial are
expected to call more witnesses on Tuesday as they build out their
argument that he was responsible for illegally covering up a hush money
payment to a porn star in the run-up to the 2016 election.
Prosecutors have shown the former president's signature was on payments
at the heart of the case. Over the next two weeks they aim to
demonstrate that Trump, running again for president, was responsible
then for an illegal cover-up.
On Monday, jurors saw the 34 business records that prosecutors say were
falsified by Trump to obscure his reimbursement of then-lawyer Michael
Cohen, who made a $130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels to keep
quiet about a 2006 sexual encounter she says she had with Trump.
The first former U.S. president to undergo a criminal trial, Trump has
pleaded not guilty and denies that he ever had sex with Daniels, whose
real name is Stephanie Clifford.
A former Trump employee testified he had been told by Trump's top
financial officer that the reimbursements to Cohen were for expenses
incurred during the campaign. That could undercut an argument made by
Trump's lawyers that the payments were for legal work.
However, neither that employee nor another who testified on Monday was
able to say whether Trump himself directed the paper trail to be
falsified to hide the payments to Cohen - a hole that prosecutors will
try to fill with additional testimony.
Jurors have yet to hear from Cohen or Daniels, whose real name is
Stephanie Clifford.
They also have yet to hear from Karen McDougal, a former Playboy model
who was paid $150,000 during the campaign by the National Enquirer for
her story of an alleged affair with Trump in 2006 and 2007.
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Former US President Donald Trump speaks to reporters next to his
attorney Todd Blanche, as he leaves New York State Supreme Court in
New York, New York, USA, 06 May 2024. Trump is on trial for 34
felony counts of falsifying business records related to payments
made to adult film star Stormy Daniels during his 2016 presidential
campaign. Peter Foley/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
The tabloid's former publisher, David Pecker, has testified that the
paper never ran McDougal's account, due to a "catch and kill"
agreement with Trump to bury stories that could have damaged his
2016 presidential bid.
Pecker was targeted in a "swatting" incident, meant to trigger a
potentially dangerous response by law enforcement, the same day he
took the witness stand, according to police records seen by Reuters.
Trump says the trial is a politically motivated attempt to undercut
his campaign to win back the White House from Democratic President
Joe Biden in the coming Nov. 5 election.
Justice Juan Merchan has fined Trump a total of $10,000 and warned
Trump he could be jailed for violating a gag order that bars him
from making public statements about jurors, witnesses and the family
members of either the prosecutors or the judge himself if meant to
interfere with the case.
The case is widely seen as less consequential than three other
criminal prosecutions Trump faces, but it is the only one certain to
go to trial before the election.
The other cases charge Trump with trying to overturn his 2020
presidential defeat and mishandling classified documents after
leaving office. Trump has pleaded not guilty to all three.
(Reporting by Jack Queen and Luc Cohen in New York and Andy Sullivan
in Washington; Editing by Howard Goller)
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