During the trial, Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass meticulously examined vouchers and check stubs that revealed payments made to Michael Cohen within the Trump Organization system. These documents were generated by Accounts Payable employee Deborah Tarasoff, who, according to Steinglass, was simply following instructions and not involved in any wrongdoing.
However, Steinglass pointed out that despite Tarasoff's actions, the payments were recorded as retainers, which he deemed as falsified business records. He emphasized that the payments were not made to a lawyer as indicated but were actually used to funnel money to a porn star through Cohen.
Addressing the jurors, Steinglass acknowledged the tedious nature of going through each month of checks but assured them that he would only present one set of checks paid by the trust and one signed by Donald Trump.
