Donald Trump Trial Docs 'Close to Being Smoking Guns'—Ex-Special Counsel
Donald Trump speaking outside Manhattan Criminal Court in New York City, on May 6, 2024. Evidence presented against the former president on Monday were “close to being smoking guns” according to one legal expert.
Two documents presented at Donald Trump’s hush money trial on Monday were “close to being smoking guns,” demonstrating the former president’s guilt, according to law professor Ryan Goodman, formerly the special counsel to the general counsel of the Department of Defense.
Goodman made the comments during a CNN interview after the court heard testimony from former Trump Organization controller Jeff McConney and accounts payable supervisor Deborah Tarasoff.
Trump is facing 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in relation to claims he orchestrated the payment of $130,000 in hush money to former adult film actor Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 presidential election to cover up an alleged affair. The former president and presumptive 2024 Republican presidential candidate has pleaded not guilty to all charges and denies having an affair with Daniels.
On Monday, prosecutors showed the court two documents: one an internal payment record from Weisselberg, then the Trump Organization’s chief finance officer, concerning a payment to Daniels’s lawyer along with handwritten notes. The second were handwritten notes from McConney, which prosecutors claim demonstrate the money was intended as payment for Daniels.
During the CNN interview Goodman, who teaches at the New York University School of Law, said: “They’re really incredible documents that Mr McConney testified about. I’d even say they’re close to being smoking guns—that significant.
“The first document is Allen Weisselberg, the CFO at the time, in his own handwriting contemporaneously recording the internal payments. Remember the entire argument by the prosecutors that this was a cover-up. They recorded it publicly and in their business records as legal fees but this is the handwritten note that shows it’s nothing about legal fees.
“In fact, the handwritten notes say, ‘This is to gross him up’—you do not gross up legal fees. The exact amount is $130,000 times two to cover taxes, plus $50,000 for [the] online polling company. And it’s not that Allen Weisselberg wrote this on a scratch piece of paper.”
Newsweek reached out to Trump’s attorney, Todd Blanche, and representatives of his 2024 presidential campaign via email at 8 a.m. ET. This article will be updated if they decide to comment.
Goodman added the note had been written on “a bank record of Michael Cohen’s” showing a wire transfer to “Stormy Daniels lawyer.” Referring to Weisselberg he added: “So he’s actually doing the handwritten notes on the hush money payment, it’s just extraordinary.”
Cohen, Trump’s former attorney and fixer, made the payment to Daniels ahead of the 2016 election. In 2018, Cohen pleaded guilty to eight charges including campaign finance violations and bank fraud related to his involvement in the 2016 presidential campaign. He was sentenced to three years in prison and, since being released, has become a vocal critic of his former boss.
Goodman continued: “Then, the second document is McConney’s handwritten notes, as the controller of the company, and his handwritten notes say as well that this is a gross-up. Two times the amount for taxes, you don’t do that for legal fees, and he also says the money will come from monthly payments from DJT (Donald J. Trump).”
Referring to testimony from Tarasoff, Goodman added: “Then the other witness we hear from today is asked the question ‘who had the signing authority for this DJT account’ in 2016 and 17 and her answer is ‘only Mr. Trump.'”
Monday also saw Judge Merchan, who is presiding over the case, fine Trump an additional $1,000 for violating a gag order imposed as part of his trial. The judge warned he would consider sending Trump to prison if the infractions continue.
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