Donald Trump's Lawyers Caught Off Guard by Alvin Bragg's Witness

Donald Trump's legal team tried to argue they were not ready for the testimony of a potential key witness at the former president's hush money trial, according to reports.

Former FBI general counsel Andrew Weissmann described how Trump's lawyers suggested to Judge Juan Merchan that they were not "prepared" for former Trump Organization controller Jeffrey McConney, called by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's office to answer questions during the falsifying business records trial.

But Merchan rejected the request and allowed McConney to continue being questioned during Monday's proceedings. McConney described how Trump's company reimbursed lawyer Michael Cohen a $130,000 sum he paid to Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 Election to keep secret her alleged affair with the former president.

Prosecutors argue this amounted to a crime as it was listed in official records as legal fees. Trump denies charges alleging he falsified records and denies a rumored affair with Daniels.

"File under truly lame excuse: Trump counsel says they are not prepared for Jeff McConney—he is the Trump Org longtime controller and testified at the Trump Org trial—and discovery was provided about him long ago," Weissmann posted on X, formally Twitter. "Judge Merchan denies request to adjourn taking his testimony."

George Conway, a lawyer and frequent critic of the former president, posted in reply to Weissmann: "If they weren't representing a lying, untrustworthy criminal scumbag who tries to intimidate witnesses, they would have known who the next witness was going to be. Them's the breaks."

Trump's legal team have been contacted for comment via email.

During his testimony, McConney recalled conversations he had with the Trump Organization's chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg, telling him to pay Cohen in monthly installments beginning in February 2017.

McConney made two payments to Cohen via a shell company the attorney had created, and the remainder of the payments came from checks signed by Trump from his personal account.

The total money paid to Cohen amounted to $420,000 when separate fees and bonuses were added. McConney stated that Weisselberg said the additional payments were to cover the taxes on the original $130,000 figure to Cohen.

Prosecutors allege increasing the amount paid to Cohen was a part of an overall plot to hide the hush money payments.

McConney also testified that Trump never personally directed him to log Cohen's payments as legal expenses, and Weisselberg never said that's how they would be listed in company records.

Another former Trump employee, Deborah Tarasoff, who worked in the accounting department at the Trump Organization, also discussed the check-signing procedures at Trump's company, and how once he was in The White House, the former president personally signed multiple checks to Cohen.

Elsewhere during Monday's proceedings, Trump was fined for the 10th time for violating his gag order, and Merchan once again warned that the former president risks being jailed if he continues to be found in contempt.

"The last thing I want to do is put you in jail," Merchan told Trump. "You are the former president of the United States and possibly the next president, as well.

"There are many reasons why incarceration is truly a last resort for me. To take that step would be disruptive to these proceedings, which I imagine you want to end as quickly as possible."

Jerry H. Goldfeder, an election and campaign finance lawyer, described how there were "important things" which occurred during Trump's trial on Monday.

"First, two Trump employees authenticated the fabricated business records that were at the heart of the cover up of the Stormy Daniels hush-money payment," Goldfeder told Newsweek. "After the 10,000-foot narrative of the last two weeks about the catch-and-kill plan to hide Trump's conduct from the voters, the jury got to see the checks and invoices in black and white.

"The second significant event is when the Judge told Trump directly that further violations of the Court's gag order to protect witnesses and jurors could land him in jail. I wonder if that will stop Trump or goad him on."