NEW YORK — The first week of testimony in Donald Trump’s secret trial set the stage for jurors: Manhattan prosecutors retracted what they say was an illegal scheme to influence the 2016 presidential campaign by burying negative stories. Now prosecutors are working to provide details about how they believe Trump and his allies accomplished it.
Court resumes Tuesday with Gary Farro, a banker who helped Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen open accounts, including one that Cohen used to buy the silence of pornographic artist Stormy Daniels. She alleged a sexual encounter with Trump in 2006, which he denies.
For his part, the former president and presumptive Republican candidate has been campaigning outside of business hours, but is required to appear in court during the session, four days a week.
So far, jurors have heard from two other witnesses. Trump’s former longtime executive assistant, Rhona Graff, said she remembers once seeing Daniels in Trump’s Trump Tower office suite and guessing the entertainer was a potential contestant for one of the brand’s shows. Trump’s Apprentice. Former National Enquirer editor David Pecker explained how he agreed to serve as the Trump campaign’s “eyes and ears,” helping to quell rumors and unflattering claims about Trump and women.
Through detailed testimony about email exchanges, business transactions and bank accounts, prosecutors are forming the basis of their argument that Trump is guilty of 34 criminal counts of falsifying business records in connection with the hush money payments. The prosecution is leading to crucial testimony from Cohen himself, who went to federal prison after pleading guilty to campaign finance violations and other crimes. Trump has denied any wrongdoing and pleaded not guilty.
It’s unclear when Cohen will testify; the trial is expected to last another month or so. And every moment Trump is in court, as the first of his four criminal trials unfolds, he grows more and more frustrated as the November election gets closer and closer.
“Our country is going to hell and we sit here day after day, which is their plan, because they think they can get an election,” Trump declared last week in the courthouse hallway.
Also this week, Judge Juan M. Merchan could rule on prosecutors’ request to fine Trump for what they consider to be violations of a gag order that prohibits him from making public statements about witnesses, jurors and some other people connected to the case. The judge also set a hearing for Thursday on another batch of alleged gag order violations.
Prosecutors used Trump’s longtime friend Pecker to detail a “catch and kill” deal in which he collected sordid stories about the candidate so that the National Enquirer or Trump associates could buy and bury the claims. Pecker described how he paid $180,000 to gather and hear stories from a doorman and former Playboy model, Karen McDougal. He was not involved in paying Daniels, he said. He testified for parts of four days.
Trump says all the stories were false. His lawyers used the questioning to suggest that Trump was actually engaged in an effort to protect his name and his family — not to influence the outcome of the presidential election.
Farro took the stand for the first time on Friday. While a senior managing director at First Republic Bank, he was assigned to work with Trump’s lawyer for about three years, in part because of his “ability to deal with individuals who can be a little challenging,” Farro said, adding that he didn’t. I find Cohen difficult.
Farro detailed for jurors the process of helping Cohen create accounts for two limited liability companies — corporate speak for a business account that protects the person behind the account against liability, debt and other issues. Farro testified that Cohen indicated that the companies, Resolution Consultants LLC and Essential Consultants LLC, would be involved in real estate consulting.
Prosecutors showed jurors emails in which Cohen describes the opening of the Resolution Consultants account as an “important matter.”
Cohen acknowledged when he pleaded guilty to federal charges in 2018 that he had been formed to send money to American Media, Inc., the Enquirer publisher. The objective was revenge for the purchase of McDougal’s story. But the deal never came to fruition.
Farro said that because the account was never funded, it was never technically opened. Instead, Cohen decided to open the Essential Consultants account, which he later used to pay Daniels $130,000.
When asked if Cohen seemed eager to open the bank accounts, Farro testified, “Every time Michael Cohen spoke to me, he gave a sense of urgency.”
Farro told the 12-person panel that the bank’s policy prohibited doing business with entities linked to “adult entertainment,” including pornography and strip clubs. Trump’s lawyers have not yet had the opportunity to cross-examine Farro.
___ Long reported from Washington.
