Donald Trump approached Rhona Graff, his former personal assistant and a witness in his hush money payment trial, on Friday, shocking some people in the courtroom.
The jury heard testimony from Graff, who worked for Trump for 34 years, from October 1987 to April 2021, on Friday afternoon. During her testimony, Graff described Trump as a "thoughtful" boss, according to Newsweek's Katherine Fung, who has been reporting on the trial from inside the courtroom.
After Graff's testimony, Trump tried to shake her hand, according to Fung. Prosecutors asked for a sidebar conversation with the judge before the next witness. The interaction left people in the courtroom confused, according to Fung, who couldn't see Graff's reaction.
Graff provided her testimony under a subpoena and was primarily used to verify documents in the case. She said the Trump Organization was paying for her attorneys. She testified that she and Trump spoke about business "99.9 percent of the time" but he would sometimes ask her questions about her family.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has charged Trump with falsifying business records related to a hush money payment made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels during his 2016 presidential campaign. Prosecutors allege the payment was intended to prevent Daniels from speaking publicly about an affair she says she had with Trump.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to all charges in the 34-count indictment and has denied having an affair with Daniels. He has also said the case is election interference because he is running for president.
This isn't the first interaction that Trump has had with a witness in the trial. David Pecker, the former publisher of the National Enquirer, was the first witness called. As his testimony ended on Friday, he smiled at Trump.
Pecker's testimony centered around the "catch and kill" practice used by the tabloid used to suppress stories. Pecker testified that he had conversations with Trump about a story about an affair with Karen McDougal, a former Playboy model. Trump initially said he didn't pay for stories because they usually came out anyway, but Michael Cohen, his attorney, later told Pecker to facilitate the purchasing of the story so it would never be published.
Cohen, who pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations related to the McDougal and Daniels hush money payments, was portrayed in Pecker's testimony as a key figure in executing the agreements intended to protect Trump's campaign from potential scandals.
Trump has been an outspoken critic of the trial, calling it a political witch hunt and complaining that it's kept him from celebrating his wife's birthday. His comments on Truth Social prompted Bragg to ask that he be held in contempt for violating a gag order. Prosecutors want Trump to be fined $1,000 for each violation of the order and have presented 14 potential violations.
Judge Juan Merchan has scheduled a hearing on the gag order violations for May 2.
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Andrew Stanton is a Newsweek weekend reporter based in Maine. His role is reporting on U.S. politics and social issues. ... Read more
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