Trump Has 'Weird Confessional Tell' When Doing Something Wrong: Attorney

Donald Trump has a "weird confessional tell" that shows he is embarking on wrongdoing, according to a legal expert.

Tristan Snell, a lawyer and former assistant attorney general for New York, claimed that Trump personally signing checks is a sign he is doing something "wrong."

Snell made the remarks in the wake of testimony in Trump's hush money trial, in which two current and former Trump Organization employees testified on Monday about how Trump's former lawyer Michael Cohen was reimbursed for the $130,000 he paid adult film star Stormy Daniels Daniels. The court heard how Trump personally signed multiple checks to pay back the attorney throughout 2017, some of which were shown to the jury.

Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in relation to hush money he arranged for Cohen to pay adult film star Daniels to keep an alleged affair she had with Trump a secret in the run-up to the 2016 election. The money was listed in Trump's company records as "legal fees," which prosecutors suggest was part of an unlawful attempt to influence the outcome of the 2016 presidential race.

While sharing photos of Trump's signatures on X, formerly Twitter, Snell wrote: "Donald Trump seems to have a weird confessional tell—he signs checks personally, precisely when he knows he's doing something wrong.

"He personally signed the checks to Michael Cohen. Just like he personally signed the checks he wrote to himself in the Trump University scam."

As well as being a lawyer, Snell also wrote the book: Taking Down Trump: 12 Rules for Prosecuting Donald Trump by Someone Who Did It Successfully. The book details how New York prosecutors were able to get the former president to settle multiple lawsuits for $25 million over claims Trump University defrauded students.

The courses listed at Trump University claimed to offer students Trump's tips on real estate success and entrepreneurship, which plaintiffs said amounted to false advertising. Some students paid out as much as $35,000 for lessons from experts apparently hand-picked by Trump.

In November 2016, days after Trump won that year's election, the Republican settled multiple lawsuits against him for $25 million, which Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said at the time was a "major victory for the over 6,000 victims of his fraudulent university."

Trump's office has been contacted for comment.

During Monday's proceedings, former Trump Organization controller Jeffrey McConney described the process in which Cohen was reimbursed for the $130,000 hush money he paid Daniels ahead of the 2016 election.

Another former Trump employee, Deborah Tarasoff, who worked in the accounting department at the Trump Organization, also discussed how she ensured the former president personally signed multiple checks to Cohen while he was in his first year on office.

Tarasoff said she was unaware what the checks Trump signed were for. McConney also testified that Trump never personally directed him to log Cohen's payments as legal expenses.

The trial in New York will continue on Tuesday.