Trump wouldn't have paid Michael Cohen 'unless he was in on scam': legal expert on MSNBC
Legal analysts spent the 12th day of Donald Trump's criminal trial in Manhattan discussing testimony from a controller from the Trump Organization about hush money payments.
Trump is accused of falsifying business records to cover up an alleged sexual relationship with adult film star Stormy Daniels.
Controller Jeffrey McConney told the court that things were "in flux and chaos" during 2017 as Trump left the Trump Org. for the White House. He said, "Things changed from the way things were done for decades."
The issue he was asked about was if he'd known about former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen's work to negotiate a hush money settlement with Daniels — and whether Trump knew about it.
READ ALSO: Michael Cohen claims Trump took Stormy Daniels hush-money payment as a tax deduction
McConney testified that he was never told what the reimbursement was for.
Dave Aronberg, the state attorney for Palm Beach County, Florida, pointed out on MSNBC that Trump's name is on the trust from which the money came, and his signature is on the checks.
"If he's such a cheapskate, you think he's going to be signing checks for unspecified legal services above and beyond the actual legal services?" Aronberg asked. "Remember, it's not $130,000 here. He was a micro-manager who wanted to negotiate everything downward, yet this was negotiated upward. That is the logic the prosecutors are trying to close by saying, see, jurors, you can now draw this conclusion."
Aronberg said that the payment was listed as "legal fees," which is a fairly broad term.
"It's not listed as hush money payments," he joked. "That is the scam here, right? This wasn't for his legal services. Even though legal fees can be seen as broad, this had nothing to do with Michael Cohen doing anything legal except for negotiating a hush money payment to benefit Trump's campaign."
Another question is whether Trump knew that the records were going to be falsified.
"Of course he did," Aronberg said. "He's a micro-manager ... a cheapskate. So he would not have overpaid Michael Cohen for these unspecified payments unless he was in on the scam."
See the discussion below or at the link here.