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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 Epstein Adult film star Stormy Daniels alleges that she had sex with Donald Trump in 2006 - something he denies - and that she was paid money to stay quiet about it in the lead-up to the 2016 election, which Trump won.
Reporting from court But this case isn't about Daniels or even the act of paying hush-money, really. The trial centres on a reimbursement Trump made to his former personal lawyer and "fixer", Michael Cohen.
As the court breaks for lunch, here is some of what we learned during McConney's cross-examination. Cohen claims he was directed to pay Daniels $130,000 (£104,000) in exchange for her silence about her alleged affair with Trump. Prosecutors have described this as an attempt to "unlawfully influence" the 2016 election.
The questioning by Trump's lawyer Emil Bove lasted less than an hour - compared to the prosecution's questions, which ran for more than two. Hush money payments are not illegal. But the Manhattan District Attorney's Office alleges that Trump committed a crime by improperly recording the money with which he reimbursed Cohen as legal expenses.
His primary strategy was to put distance between Trump himself and all the emails, invoices and bank statements the prosecution asked former controller McConney about. He also sought to undermine McConney's testimony. In total, he is accused of 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree.
It’s important because, to prove the felony, prosecutors must convince the jury that Trump knew about the allegedly falsified records, and falsified them to conceal or commit a second crime. Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee for the 2024 election, is legally required to be in court.
Some of Bove's points: He has pleaded not guilty to all the charges, arguing the allegations he faces are not criminal.
Trump never directly asked McConney to oversee reimbursements to Cohen
Cohen sent invoices from a personal letterhead from his own law firm – not as an employee of the Trump Organization
McConney could have known firsthand about Cohen’s arrangement with the company
Trump's businesses and finances created a massive web, with more than 500 different entites such as golf courses and entitties put in trust when he became president. Each entitiy had its own general ledger
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