Politics

Longtime Trump Assistant Testifies in Hush Money Trial

APR 28 2024·Updated APR 29 2024

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The Facts

Rhona Graff, a longtime assistant to former Pres. Donald Trump, took the witness stand on Friday in her former boss' New York hush money trial, detailing his relationship with adult film actress Stormy Daniels.
guardian
She testified to vaguely recalling seeing the porn star in the reception area at New York's Trump Tower before the 2016 presidential elections. When asked if Daniels was there to discuss being cast for The Apprentice, Graff said she "assumed" so.
FOX News
Graff also said that the former president was susceptible to "multi-tasking" and would occasionally sign checks while on the phone — a claim that Trump's attorneys may use in his defense, as only nine of the 34 allegedly falsified records bear his signature.
Business Insider
Graff, reportedly "the gatekeeper at Trump Tower for a quarter century," was the second witness to be called by the prosecution in the trial after the former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker concluded his four days of testimony.
Politico
Pecker had provided evidence about the deal to "catch and kill" Stormy's story about an alleged one-night stand with Trump in 2007 as his bid for office gained momentum, describing similar operations for Arnold Schwarzenegger and Tiger Woods.
New York Post
The final witness on Friday was Gary Farro, former senior managing director at the First Republic Bank, who testified about working with Michael Cohen — Trump's alleged onetime fixer who reportedly transferred $130K to Daniels' lawyer. The trial has been adjourned until Tuesday.
ABC News

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The Spin

Anti-Trump narrative

Even though Pecker and Graff had some good things to say about Trump, the former detailed the hush money scheme carried out to help him conceal negative coverage ahead of the 2016 presidential elections, and the latter confirmed to have seen Stormy Daniels at the Trump Tower. One can only wonder what witnesses hostile to the former president will testify when they take the stand.

CNN

Pro-Trump narrative

As the hush money criminal case against the former president progresses, it only gets more and more absurd, further exposing its politically-motivated nature. If the act of catching and killing negative stories becomes a felony in itself, then every former president alive and a plethora of politicians would end up in jail.