New York prosecutors who brought the criminal hush money trial against Donald Trump said Monday that they expect to bring additional witnesses to the stand for at least two more weeks, as the former president openly chided the judge’s latest threats of jail time.
Trump concluded his day in court by suggesting he is fully willing to go to jail to keep railing against his case despite the gag order against him, which he considers an affront to his First Amendment rights. The gag order prevents him from making comments about witnesses, the jury, and family members of prosecutors and Judge Juan Merchan, who is presiding over the case.
“I have to watch every word I tell you people … because this judge has given me a gag order and said you’ll go to jail if you violate it,” Trump said after the trial was adjourned on Monday. Hours earlier, Judge Juan Merchan found Trump again in contempt for violating the gag order and fined him $1,000, though he stressed jail time could be the next punishment after suggesting the fines weren’t a sufficient deterrent for Trump.
But according to Trump’s comments at the end of the day, he believes that “our Constitution is much more important than jail.”
“It’s not even close. I’ll do that sacrifice any day,” Trump added.
Just before Trump made his comments in the hallways outside the courtroom, Assistant District Attorney Joshua Steinglass told Merchan that the prosecution is proceeding ahead of schedule and that he estimates that they will not need to call any additional witnesses two weeks from Tuesday.
Once the prosecution is finished, Trump’s lawyers can then call their own witnesses, including the former president himself. That process could take another two weeks but could be shorter if the defense has fewer witnesses to bring compared to the prosecution.
Trump said previously that the gag order would prevent him from taking the stand. But while Trump acknowledged to reporters Friday morning that the gag order doesn’t affect his ability to testify if he chooses to do so, the judge made clear it would not hinder him from testifying.
“The order restricting extrajudicial statements does not prevent you from testifying in any way,” Merchan said in court Friday. “It does not prohibit you from taking the stand and it does not limit or minimize what you can say.”
Trump has already paid a $9,000 fine he was assessed for previously breaking the gag order nine separate times but has vowed to challenge Merchan’s finding.
Prosecutors on Monday called on two witnesses who worked in accounting in the Trump Organization: Jeffrey McConney, a former company controller, and Deborah Tarasoff, an accounts payable supervisor.
McConney guided the jury through the paper trail that revealed how executives organized and paid back former Trump attorney Michael Cohen for the money he sent to Stormy Daniels’s attorney. That payment is at the core of the case because prosecutors say Trump falsified business records by listing the payments as retainer fees.
Tarasoff’s role was to describe how checks were paid at the Trump Organization and when Trump’s approval was needed for the payments.
While cross-examining McConney, Trump’s defense attorney Emil Bove challenged the prosecutors’ narrative by eliciting testimony from McConney about how Trump and former Trump Organization Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg never told him to log the payments to Cohen as legal expenses.
“President Trump did not ask you to do any of the things you just described?” Bove asked.
“He did not,” McConney replied.
“And as far as you know, President Trump did not ask anyone to do those things?” Bove added. “In none of the conversations that you had with Weisselberg, did he suggest that President Trump had told him to do these things?”
“Allen never told me that,” McConney said.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
While it’s not immediately clear who the prosecution plans to question next, the next witness could be questioned from Tuesday into Thursday, as the trial is typically held every business day except for Wednesdays.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsification of business records, a Class E felony brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, a Democrat. The former president has denied having any sexual encounters with Daniels.
