... McConney, the prosecution's 10th witness, began by discussing the company's ledger and accounting practices " both of which are at issue. Trump is accused of falsifying business records by classifying the money to repay Cohen for a hush money payment to Daniels as legal expenses. ...
Asked by prosecutor Matthew Colangelo, "Are you aware of another instance where an expense reimbursement was doubled to account for taxes?" he answered, "No." ...
McConney said he later asked Cohen for invoices so he could begin paying him. Cohen sent him an email that said, "Pursuant to the retainer agreement, kindly remit payment for services rendered for the months of January and February, 2017," each for $35,000.
Asked whether he ever saw a retainer agreement, McConney said, "I did not." In an email shown in court, Weisselberg told McConney on Feb. 14, 2017, that the payments were approved as "per agreement with Don and Eric," the Trump sons who took over day-to-day management of the company after their father took office.
The next month and afterward, the checks were paid from Trump's personal account instead of his trust, so the check had to be signed by Trump at the White House and then sent back to the company, which "was a whole new process for us," McConney said.
Trump's 2016 debt to Cohen wasn't mentioned in his 2017 federal financial disclosure form, McConney, who prepared the disclosure form, acknowledged. It was added the following year, after news of the payment had become public.
"In the interest of transparency," the filing said, in 2016 "expenses were incurred by one of Donald J. Trump's attorneys, Michael Cohen. Mr. Cohen sought reimbursement of those expenses and Mr. Trump fully reimbursed Mr. Cohen in 2017," said the 2018 disclosure, which was signed by Trump. ...
