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Trump trial live: Judge warns the former president risks jail over gag order violations - BBC News Trump trial live: Judge warns the former president risks jail over gag order violations - BBC News
(32 minutes later)
Kayla EpsteinKayla Epstein
Reporting from courtReporting from court
There were no bombshell moments on the stand, but the evidence prosecutors introduced today was crucial. Prosecutors allege Trump broke the law by falsely recording reimbursements to Michael Cohen as legal expenses, and that he did so to cover up or commit a second crime.
Each of the 34 felony charges against Trump corresponds to an invoice, ledger entry, or cheque tied to reimbursing Michael Cohen for the hush money payment to Stormy Daniels. Trump’s defence attorneys strategy today - and in much of the case - has been to distance Trump from the payments and undercut the witness’ testimony.
Today, we saw all those documents. While under cross-examination, former Trump Organization controller Jeffrey McConney testified that Trump never directed him to oversee Cohen's reimbursements.
Prosecutors introduced this evidence by questioning Trump Organization ex-controller Jeffrey McConney, and an accounting employee named Deborah Tarasoff. Trump employee Deborah Tarasoff, meanwhile, told the defence team that she just followed direction - which also typically never came from Trump directly. She admitted that she had a limited view of the payments.
We heard that once Cohen’s repayments started coming from Trump’s personal account in spring 2017, the cheques would be sent to the White House for him to personally sign. The defence knows that they have to establish Trump's distance from Cohen's reimbursement to win this case, and they're making prosecutors work to establish their claims about the former president.
And we saw his unmissable, jagged signature, etched in Sharpie ink, on several of those payments.
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