aggiehawg said:

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I cannot emphasize enough how sleazy Keith Davidson is. He was suspended from practicing but stiil seeing clients and advising them.

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Ag with kids said:

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aggiehawg said:

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I cannot emphasize enough how sleazy Keith Davidson is. He was suspended from practicing but stiil seeing clients and advising them.

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Were they allowed to bring that up in court in this case?

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I think he gets 4-8 years.

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aggiehawg said:

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Ag with kids said:

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aggiehawg said:

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I cannot emphasize enough how sleazy Keith Davidson is. He was suspended from practicing but stiil seeing clients and advising them.

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Were they allowed to bring that up in court in this case?

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Yes, on cross.

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fc2112 said:

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So Trump found in contempt again.

Honest question -;does Trump WANT to be incarcerated? And does anyone have any idea how that would work?

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Jeffrey McConney has avoided looking at Trump as he takes the stand. He let out a sigh as he took his seat in the witness box.

McConney previously testified in this same witness box before Judge Juan Merchan during the Trump Organization tax fraud trial in 2022. He also testified in the fall at Trump's civil fraud trial.

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Jeffrey McConney says he began working for the Trump Organization in 1987 and retired in February 2023.
McConney confirms he's here under subpoena and the Trump Organization is paying for his attorney.
Trump's body is turned to face McConney. He's leaning back in his chair and appears to be watching McConney.
"Are you still working for the Trump organization?" Colangelo asked. "I'm retired happily," McConney said.

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HE's NEVER EVER GOING TO BE LOCKED UP OVER CONTEMPT!! OR ANYTHING ELSE

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effery McConney is explaining how the Trump Organization's general ledger process worked.
McConney said the accounting department also maintained the general ledger for Trump's personal accounts.
The code was DJT, he says.
It also maintained the books and records for Trump's bank accounts.

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"In the 2017 time period did Mr. Trump use a Capital One checking account as his main operating account?" Prosecutor Matthew Colangelo asks.

"I believe so, yes," Jeffery McConney replies.

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Prosecutor Matthew Colangelo is now walking Jeffrey McConney through who had the authority to approve invoices and cut checks at the Trump Organization.
Before 2017, Donald Trump had signature authority to cut checks. After Trump was inaugurated, Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump and Allen Weisselberg had signature authority for checks on the trust account.
After 2017, anything over $10,000 had to be signed by two of the signatories.

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Merchan: "Going forward, this court will have to consider a jail sentence. The last thing I want to do is put you in jail.”https://t.co/yFlBycbY4g

— Aaron Blake (@AaronBlake) May 6, 2024

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Prosecutor Matthew Colangelo is asking Jeffrey McConney about Michael Cohen.
"Are you familiar with someone named Michael Cohen?" Colangelo asks.
Colangelo follows up and asks what position Cohen had at Trump Org. "He said he was a lawyer," McConney says.
"Did he work in the legal department?" Colangelo asks. McConney paused and shrugged. "I guess so," he says, drawing laughs from courtroom.

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Prosecutor Matthew Colangelo is asking about a conversation Jeffery McConney had with Allen Weisselberg.
"Al said, 'we have to get some money to Michael, reimburse Michael,'" McConney testifies. "I started taking notes on what Allen said."
Cohen was complaining about his bonus so that was factored in at the time, McConney says on the stand. "We added everything up, and came up with the amount we would have to pay him."

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fc2112 said:

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So Trump found in contempt again.

Honest question -;does Trump WANT to be incarcerated? And does anyone have any idea how that would work?

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nortex97 said:

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Merchan: "Going forward, this court will have to consider a jail sentence. The last thing I want to do is put you in jail.”https://t.co/yFlBycbY4g

— Aaron Blake (@AaronBlake) May 6, 2024

Sounds like the appellate court is gonna have to get involved sooner than later with this clown show trial.

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The bank statement shows the calculation of $180,000 grossed up, with an additional $60,000 bonus added together and divided by 12 months. It's in Allen Weisselberg's handwriting.
The total amount Weisselberg wrote on the document was $420,000 the $180,000, grossed up to $360,000, along with a $60,000 bonus.
Here's more on what's included in that total:

• $50,000 to "Red Finch": The total includes the $50,000 owed to Michael Cohen for Red Finch, a line item that is for tech services, McConney testifies.
• $130,000 reimbursement: The $180,000 total is to reimburse Cohen for the $130,000 sent to Keith Davidson and the $50,000.
• $60,000 bonus: The $60,000 bonus to Cohen was "what Allen told me," McConney says. "Michael was complaining" that his previous bonus wasn't large enough, and so this was to make up for what he thought he was owed, he says.

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Jeffrey McConney said the $35,000 was to be wired to Michael Cohen monthly beginning February 1, 2017.
The wire was to be sent from Donald Trump's personal account, McConney testified.
McConney explained the corresponding handwritten note says "wired monthly from DJT."

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Jeffrey McConney's notes included "wire monthly from DJT," which McConney confirms meant it would be sent out of the former president's personal account.
The notes indicate that Cohen would need to send an invoice to get paid.
"If Michael wanted to get paid, he needed to send us an invoice," McConney testifies.

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Witness Jeffrey McConney said it was a typical practice for employees to submit an invoice for an expense reimbursement.
The witness is now being shown an email he sent to Cohen in February 2017 reminding Trump's then personal attorney to send an invoice.
The email read:

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Subject line: $$
Mike,
Just a reminder to get me the invoices you spoke to Allen about.
Thanks,
Jeff

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Trump's attorney objected to the document.

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The objection is noted and has been overruled. Judge Juan Merchan is accepting the exhibits into evidence.
Prosecutor Matthew Colangelo is now walking Jeffrey McConney through a series of emails, including Michael Cohen telling McConney "thank you for the reminder" to send invoices. McConney responded asking for an invoice so they could send him a check.
Cohen then asked for a reminder of the amount. McConney responded with $35,000, and Cohen sent in the body of the email with an invoice dated February 14, 2017.
McConney says this was sufficient as an invoice. "As long as it got approved, yes," McConney says.

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In a February 14, 2017, email that's being shown, Michael Cohen writes, "Dear Allen, pursuant to a retainer agreement kindly remit payment...."
Jeffery McConney testifies that he never saw a retainer agreement. He says he emailed Allen Weisselberg asking him to approve the invoice.
"Ok to pay as per agreement with Don and Eric," Weisselberg wrote back to McConney.

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nortex97 said:

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I admire your respect for his intellect, but disagree.

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The jury is now shown Michael Cohen's invoice for March 2017.

"After submitting and getting approval on this invoice request for payment...did Mr. Cohen submit other invoices?" Colangelo asks. "Yes," Jeffrey McConney says, adding that he submitted an invoice every month in 2017.

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Prosecutor Matthew Colangelo is asking Jeffery McConney if he sent an invoice to the legal department following Allen Weisselberg's email saying it was "Ok to pay" Michael Cohen's invoice.
McConney says he did not.
McConney says he sent an email to Deb Tarasoff, the accounts payable supervisor in the accounting department, a few minutes later.
McConney says he forwarded the email chain to Tarasoff and instructed her, "Please pay from the trust. Post to legal expenses put retainer for the months January and February 2017 in the description."

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Gyles Marrett said:

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nortex97 said:

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Merchan: "Going forward, this court will have to consider a jail sentence. The last thing I want to do is put you in jail.”https://t.co/yFlBycbY4g

— Aaron Blake (@AaronBlake) May 6, 2024

Sounds like the appellate court is gonna have to get involved sooner than later with this clown show trial.

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Zero Percent Chance Merchan puts him in jail. Unless he's completely and idiot, he's aware that the one thing he could do that would rally even more support for Trump would be to jail him. He's a biased lib but he's likely not that stupid to do that.

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The prosecution continued to walk through the invoices to Cohen and where the money came from.
The first check for January and February came from the Donald J Trust Revocable Trust. The check from March came from Trump's personal account.
In an email directly to Allen Weisselberg, Michael Cohen wrote on March 16, 2017.

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"Pursuant to the retainer agreement kindly remit payment for services rendered for the month of March 2017.
March 2017 $35000"

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Then the payments were made from Trump's personal account rather than the trust account.
"Did there come a time when you switched from using the trust account to using the DJT account to pay for the invoices to Mr. Cohen?" Matthew Colangelo asked.

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"Yes." McConney answered. In order to get the signatures required they had to send the checks down to Washington so Trump could sign them, McConney said. "Whole new process for us," McConney testified.

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The July invoice from Michael Cohen did not include an amount but it was known to be $35,000, Jeffery McConney says.
"Pursuant to the retainer agreement, kindly remit payment for services rendered for the month of July 2017," the email from Cohen to Allen Weisselberg reads.
Prosecutor Matthew Colangelo asks McConney if there was an understanding of the amount that needed to be paid, even if it wasn't explicit in the email. McConney says yes.
"What was that understanding?" Colangelo asks.
"$35,000," McConney says.
"What was that understanding based on?" Colangelo asks.
It was "based on the prior notes," he took in Weisselberg's office, McConney says.

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aggiehawg said:

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The jury is now shown Michael Cohen's invoice for March 2017.

"After submitting and getting approval on this invoice request for payment...did Mr. Cohen submit other invoices?" Colangelo asks. "Yes," Jeffrey McConney says, adding that he submitted an invoice every month in 2017.

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Prosecutor Matthew Colangelo is asking Jeffery McConney if he sent an invoice to the legal department following Allen Weisselberg's email saying it was "Ok to pay" Michael Cohen's invoice.
McConney says he did not.
McConney says he sent an email to Deb Tarasoff, the accounts payable supervisor in the accounting department, a few minutes later.
McConney says he forwarded the email chain to Tarasoff and instructed her, "Please pay from the trust. Post to legal expenses put retainer for the months January and February 2017 in the description."

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Prosecutor Matthew Colangelo is walking Jeffery McConney through a report with a spreadsheet of the payments to Michael Cohen.
It shows Trump's trust and then his personal account paid Cohen in 2017.
The first three payments were paid from the revocable trust for $105,000. The final nine payments were paid by Trump's personal account and totaled $315,000, according to the report.

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Prosecutors moved to enter into evidence a document related to the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust.
The document detailed general ledger is limited to "legal expenses" and is for the full calendar year of 2018. The ledger does not have any legal expenses paid to Michael Cohen in 2018.
The judge overruled an objection from Trump's defense team to that exhibit.
The document has been entered into evidence.

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Trump attorney Emil Bove has begun cross-examination of witness Jeffrey McConney.

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Biden’s top DOJ hitman, Matthew Colangelo, was PAID thousands of dollars by the DNC.

Now he is prosecuting President Trump in a coordinated trial to save Biden's failing campaign.

I am demanding Garland & Bragg turn over ALL records related to Colangelo!https://t.co/n3cU5gnJd7

— Lance Gooden (@Lancegooden) May 6, 2024

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Jeffery McConney is testifying that he didn't speak to Trump very often.
"When you did speak to him, you didn't talk about accounting software?" Trump attorney Emil Bove asks.
"No," McConney says.

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Attorney Emil Bove explained that Jeffrey McConney testified to a series of emails involving Michael Cohen and asked whether he ever spoke to Cohen about any of these issues.

"No, talk to Michael, no," McConney said.

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Trump attorney Emil Bove is showing the emails from Michael Cohen in 2017 and points out Cohen's signature block, which states he's the "Personal attorney to President Donald J Trump."
"It doesn't say fixer, does it?" Bove asks Jeffrey McConney.
"No," McConney confirms.
McConney also confirms Cohen sent the invoices using a personal Gmail account not a Trump Organization email address, meaning he was essentially acting as a vendor to the Trump Organization.

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Trump attorney Emil Bove pointed to the invoice email where Michael Cohen asked Allen Weisselberg to call him to discuss an open foundation matter.
Bove asked whether that suggested that there was an "open matter Michael Cohen was handling?"
"Yes," McConney said.
McConney said "I do not know" when Bove asked him if Cohen was doing legal work for Trump as a personal attorney around 2017.
When Bove asked him if he knew Cohen did work for Trump related to Summer Zervos, McConney said "no idea."

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Jeffrey McConney testified that at times Donald Trump's cash position was in the hundreds of millions of dollars.
Trump attorney Emil Bove asked if in 2017 it was "$60 million in unrestricted cash?"
McConney replied, "at least."

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The accounting system used by the Trump Organization was "antiquated" by 2017, Trump attorney Emil Bove says in his line of questioning, noting that it had been designed in the 1990s.
Jeffrey McConney says he agrees, chuckling on the stand as he confirms it was "antiquated."
McConney also confirms that the dropdown categories used in the system were rigid and that anytime payments were made to an attorney, the legal expenses category was used.

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Jeffrey McConney confirmed that Allen Weisselberg, the former CFO of the Trump Organization, did not say anything about what Michael Cohen was seeking reimbursement for in 2017.
McConney said grossing up the payment to $180,000 didn't make sense because "an expense reimbursement is not taxable."
"You don't know, do you, how if at all Mr. Cohen treated these payments on his taxes?" Bove asked.
No, McConney said.

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