Deborah Tarasoff, who testified in Donald J. Trump’s criminal trial on Monday, is an accounting department employee at the Trump Organization who played a significant role in the reimbursement of a hush-money payment at the center of the trial. In about two hours of testimony Monday afternoon, Ms. Tarasoff described being asked in February 2017 by senior Trump Organization employees to send $35,000 checks to Michael D. Cohen, Mr. Trump’s longtime lawyer and fixer. Some checks were issued from Mr. Trump’s personal bank account, which were sent via FedEx to him in the White House for his signature and returned with it in black Sharpie. Prosecutors say those checks were to repay Mr. Cohen for the $130,000 he gave a porn star, Stormy Daniels, in the final days of the 2016 campaign to keep her from going public with her claim that she had sex with Mr. Trump a decade earlier.

Source: New York Times May 07, 2024 05:07 UTC