As the third week of testimony in Donald Trump’s criminal trial in Manhattan begins, prosecutors are launching into the financial nitty gritty of the catch-and-kill scheme that quashed salacious stories about the then-presidential candidate as the 2016 election approached.

One key issue is whether the $420,000 that Trump paid to his former fixer and attorney Michael Cohen was to pay Cohen back for paying off adult film star Stormy Daniels to the tune of $130,000.

On Monday, former Trump Organization controller Jeff McConney testified that he was told Trump was reimbursing Cohen for an unknown reason. McConney said former Trump chief financial officer Allan Weisselberg told him the payments should be “grossed up” to help cover Cohen’s state, federal and city taxes, NBC News reported.

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In Trump counsel Todd Blanche’s opening statements, he acknowledged Daniels signed an NDA in October 2016 in exchange for $130,000.

But, he told jurors: “you’re going to learn this was not a payback. The $35,000 a month was not a payback to Mr. Cohen for the money that he gave to Ms. Daniels.”

That statement conflicts with Trump's filings in a 2020 California case, where filings submitted by his lawyers said defendant Trump “admitted that Defendant reimbursed EC for EC’s $130,000 payment to Plaintiff, which was in consideration for Plaintiff’s promises not to disclose confidential information pertaining to” Trump’s then-alias David Dennison.

Still, former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani said those statements alone cannot be used against Trump in the trial.

“Unless they were verified pleadings, or like a declaration, they are not something that can be used against Trump,” Rahmani said. “Just because his lawyers are making inconsistent arguments is not something that can be used against Trump.”

In August 2018, Trump himself said Cohen’s payments to women did not........

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