According to legal analyst Lisa Rubin, Donald Trump's former executive assistant Madeleine Westerhout is the "most important witness in this phase" of the former president's criminal hush money trial.
Trump, the presumptive 2024 Republican presidential nominee, became the first former president in U.S. history to stand trial in a criminal case last month. Following an investigation by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's office, Trump was indicted in March 2023 on charges of falsifying business records relating to hush money paid to adult film star Stormy Daniels during his 2016 presidential campaign. Daniels had alleged she had an affair with Trump in 2006, which he has denied. The former president has pleaded not guilty to all charges and said the case against him is politically motivated.
The trial continues for a fourth week with witness testimony as prosecutors have already called nine witnesses to testify in the case. Meanwhile, Cohen is expected to be one of the key witnesses in Trump's trial as prosecutors allege that the former president reimbursed Cohen via a series of checks for "hush money" payments made to Daniels.
On Monday, Rubin, an MSNBC legal correspondent, took to X, formerly Twitter, to discuss the next few potential witnesses in the case, pointing to Westerhout as the "most important witness in this phase" of the trial.
Westerhout, who served as Trump's executive assistant from the start of his administration until 2019, has been subpoenaed to testify in the case.
"But perhaps the most important witness in this phase of the case? Madeleine Westerhout, Trump's former executive assistant in the Oval Office, who apparently ensured that Trump signed the checks to Cohen and sent them back to the Trump Org. with the help of one Rhona Graff," Rubin wrote on X.
Newsweek has reached out to Trump's spokesperson via email for comment.
Rubin continued to explain on MSNBC's Morning Joe show on Monday that Westerhout might be able to help prove crucial elements in the prosecution's case involving the checks, noting former Trump executive assistant Rhona Graff's previous testimony.
"Who are we likely to see here in this phase? We also might hear from Madeline Westerhout, Trump's executive assistant in the White House. What does she have to do with all this? She's the person at the White House who had to place the nine checks that Donald Trump signed in front of him," Rubin said.
Prosecutors previously called Graff, who worked for Trump for 34 years, from October 1987 to April 2021, as their second witness amid the first week of witness testimony in late April. Graff's testimony was primarily used to verify documents in the case such as verifying several calendar events for the prosecution.
"We've already seen, through Rhona Graff's testimony, one email in particular where Rhona and she were discussing, 'How do we send these things back and forth? I'm sending checks for him to sign.' Madeline Westerhout can be a critical witness to know Donald Trump had knowledge and participation in this portion of the crime which, as I said, is really the heart of what the Manhattan D.A.'s office has to prove," Rubin added.
While it is unclear when Westerhout will testify, the prosecution has called its first witness of the week on Monday, former Trump Organization controller Jeffrey McConney.
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Natalie Venegas is a Weekend Reporter at Newsweek based in New York. Her focus is reporting on education, social justice ... Read more
