A bank statement displayed in court showed Cohen paying $130,000 to Davidson, Daniels’ attorney, on Oct. 27, 2016, from an account Cohen opened for that purpose.
Weisselberg’s handwritten notes regarding Cohen’s reimbursement were stapled to the bank statement in the company’s files, McConney said.
Those notes outline a plan to pay Cohen a base reimbursement of $180,000 – covering the payment to Davidson and an unrelated technology bill. This total was then doubled or “grossed up” to cover the state, municipal and federal taxes Weisselberg estimated Cohen would pay on the payments.
Weisselberg then added a $60,000 bonus, for a total of $420,000, according to the notes. This money was to be paid in 12 monthly installments of $35,000 each.
In this courtroom sketch, former Trump Organization employee Jeffrey McConney testifies about payments made to Michael Cohen. Monday May 6, 2024, in New York. (Elizabeth Williams via AP)
McConney’s own notes were also presented to the court. After calculations that Cohen would receive $35,000 per month for 12 months, McConney wrote: “a monthly transfer from DJT.”
When asked what that meant, McConney replied, “It came from the president’s personal bank account.”
McConney said he doesn’t know of any other time the company has added an employee reimbursement to cover the cost of taxes. Reimbursements to employees, if qualified as such, are not taxable.
Trump is accused of falsifying business records by characterizing the money paid to Cohen in his company records as legal fees. Prosecutors say that by paying him income and giving him extra to pay his taxes, Trump executives were able to hide the refund.
