Accounting passion. This activity inspires less newspaper headlines than sexual and political scandals. However, it constitutes the backbone of the ongoing trial in New York, where Donald Trump is the only defendant. It is through him that the prosecution must prove the crime of falsification of documents, intended to hide the payment of 130,000 dollars (120,000 euros) to the X actress Stormy Daniels, to buy her silence on her sexual relationship of a night with the former American president. Monday, May 6, the twelve jurors were invited to a long and arduous remedial course on the financial management of the Trump Organization, both pyramidal and family.
The two witnesses of the day were employees of the group, which also pays for their legal representation. Jeffrey McConney, former management controller, was questioned at length about the monthly reimbursements made in 2017 to Michael Cohen, who had been the lawyer for candidate Donald Trump. It was Michael Cohen – the most anticipated witness in this trial, who had become, as the days went by, an inexhaustible subject of sarcasm – who advanced the money to Stormy Daniels, a few days before the November 2016 presidential election. A major last-minute scandal had to be avoided at all costs.
Then in January, after Donald Trump took office, a monthly reimbursement was organized: twelve payments of $35,000, or $420,000 in total, for the year 2017. The sum also included the taxes to be paid and a bonus. Jeffrey McConney had validated this circuit on the orders of the financial director of the Trump Organization, Allen Weisselberg. Unfortunately, the latter is serving a five-month prison sentence and he could not appear.
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In a dull and economical voice, Deborah Tarasoff, one of the heads of accounting at the Trump Organization, gave her purely factual testimony. A little impressed lady in her seventies, she confirmed the nature and origin of the documents presented by the prosecution, in particular the checks signed by Donald Trump.
Only the latter had a signature on the checks issued from his personal account. After he moved into the White House, the documents had to be sent to him for signature by FedEx. At the accounting level, Deborah Tarasoff was asked to record these costs as “legal advice expenses”. This is the heart of the demonstration, for the prosecution.
An immobile, silent Donald Trump, suddenly small
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