Trump’s longtime assistant testifies to ‘vague’ memory of seeing Stormy Daniels at Trump Tower
A former longtime assistant to Donald Trump at his Trump Organization testified that she has a “vague recollection” of seeing adult film star Stormy Daniels at Trump Tower before his 2016 presidential campaign.
Rhona Graff, who worked at the Trump Organization for more than 30 years, testified on Friday in a Manhattan courtroom across from her former boss – who is currently on trial charged with falsifying 34 business records to cover up payments to Ms Daniels as part of a scheme to bury details of their alleged affair.
In her testimony, Ms Graff revealed new details about Ms Daniels’ apparent ties to the former president, including that he appeared to be considering the adult film star as a contestant on The Celebrity Apprentice.
Ms Graff told the court that she once saw Ms Daniels in the lobby of the 26th floor of Trump Tower, where Mr Trump’s office is located.
She assumed that Ms Daniels may have been at the office to discuss a role with The Celebrity Apprentice, Mr Trump’s former hit reality TV competition series on NBC, she said.
The network severed ties with Mr Trump in 2015 after his presidential campaign launch and his deragatory comments about immigrants.
Ms Graff recalled that Mr Trump believed Ms Daniels would be a “good contestant” on the show.
“I can’t remember a specific incident when I heard it. It was part of the office chatter,” she said.
Ms Graff testified relatively briefly on Friday, largely about her experience setting up Mr Trump’s appointment calendar and his list of contacts.
The court was shown an entry for contact information for Karen McDougal, a former Playboy model who was paid $150,000 for the rights to her story of an alleged affair with Mr Trump.
That scheme – arranged by former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker allegedly at the direction of Mr Trump’s then-attorney Michael Cohen – is central to the so-called “catch and kill” scheme at the heart of the case against Mr Trump.
The former president allegedly “orchestrated” the plot to use the tabloid to buy up politically compromising stories to boost his 2016 election chances.
One contact shown to the court during Ms Graff’s testimony included an entry for Ms Daniels.
The entry only included a phone number and the name “Stormy”.
Under brief cross examination from Mr Trump’s defence attorney Susan Necheles, Ms Graff agreed that the only reason she was subpoenaed for her testimony was because she worked at the Trump Organization.
“You don’t want to be here, do you?” Ms Necheles asked.
“Correct,” she replied.
She also confirmed that the Trump Organization was paying legal fees for employees called to testify in the case, that those payments are not conditioned on her testimony, and that no one from the company has intructed her to testify.
Ms Graff, the trial’s second witness, was on the stand for roughly half an hour.
Former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker, whose remarkable testimony tied the former president to a months-long scheme to unlawfully influence the 2016 election, testified for roughly four days.
Her testimony was followed by Gary Farro, a banker assigned to Cohen at First Republic Bank, who testified that Cohen always spoke with “a sense of urgency” – including during a period when he urgently asked for his help setting up an LLC shell company while negotiating a hush money payment to Ms Daniels in 2016.
Mr Farro told the court that he created Resolution Consultants LLC, but the account was never opened because no deposit was ever made, he said.
Two weeks later, Cohen tasked him with opening another account, according to Mr Farro and emails shown to the court.
That account, Essential Consultants LLC, was used to wire Ms Daniels the $130,000 payment at the heart of the president’s criminal case.
The paperwork to create the LLC stated that it would be used “to collect fees for investment consulting for real estate transactions.”
Mr Farro will resume his testimony on Tuesday.
