Graff says she worked for Trump for 34 years, managing his calendar and contacts

Day 8 of Trump New York hush money trial

By CNN's Kara Scannell, Lauren Del Valle and Jeremy Herb in the courthouse

Updated 6:31 p.m. ET, April 26, 2024
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2:51 p.m. ET, April 26, 2024

Graff says she worked for Trump for 34 years, managing his calendar and contacts

Rhona Graff, Trump's former longtime assistant, is testifying pursuant to a subpoena.

The assistant district attorney started her questions for Graff by asking her about her time with the Trump organization.

Graff said she worked for Trump for 34 years at the Trump Organization, sitting outside his office on the 26th floor of Trump Tower. She was largely in control of his calendar and in charge of maintaining Trump's contacts at the organization, she testifies.

2:47 p.m. ET, April 26, 2024

Graff is being questioned by prosecutor Susan Hoffinger

Assistant District Attorney Susan Hoffinger is handling the direct examination of Rhona Graff.

2:55 p.m. ET, April 26, 2024

Prosecutors call witness Rhona Graff, Trump's longtime assistant, to the stand

Prosecutors have called witness Rhona Graff to the stand.

Graff is Trump's former longtime assistant. She was also a senior vice president at the Trump organization.

As she entered the courtroom, Trump looked over at her. She did not appear to glance at his table on her walk to the witness stand.

2:49 p.m. ET, April 26, 2024

David Pecker has ended his testimony

From CNN's Elizabeth Hartfield

The first witness for the prosecution, David Pecker, is off the stand.

Pecker testified for a little over 10 hours across four days.

2:43 p.m. ET, April 26, 2024

Pecker says "of course" Trump cares about his family

Bove concludes by asking Pecker whether he believes Donald Trump cares about people? "I do," Pecker says.

Pecker testified previously that Trump cares about his family.

Asked by Steinglass if he believes that, Pecker said, "Of course I do."

2:41 p.m. ET, April 26, 2024

Pecker is asked whether McDougal met the definition of a celebrity. He says she didn't

Bove asks Pecker whether McDougal met the definition of a celebrity. "Did she meet the celebrity category at the time? No," Pecker responds.

Bove asks Pecker whether there was a "real value" to her brand, as a former Playboy playmate and the first woman on the cover of a men's fitness magazine.

"I wouldn’t say there was a value to her brand to a media company. To herself there would be," Pecker says.
2:35 p.m. ET, April 26, 2024

Bove is now back at the lectern

Steinglass just wrapped up his questioning. Emil Bove is back at the lectern and is starting his line of questioning.

2:35 p.m. ET, April 26, 2024

Steinglass reads more records from Pecker's testimony to a federal grand jury in 2018

Steinglass read more records from Pecker's testimony to a federal grand jury in 2018 in which the publisher also relayed the story of that January 2017 meeting at Trump Tower.

Per the transcript, Pecker told the grand jury at the time that during that conversation with Trump, Trump said that "Karen is a good girl," a reference to Karen McDougal.

Pecker also confirmed that in his 2018 grand jury testimony, he testified that Trump told him the McDougal and doorman stories could have been damaging.

Pecker said that Trump thought they "would be very damaging to his campaign and his election."

2:30 p.m. ET, April 26, 2024

Prosecutor now shifts questioning to Pecker's 2018 FBI interview

Steinglass is now shifting to Pecker's 2018 FBI interview, where Pecker earlier disputed the FBI notes saying that Trump didn't thank him during a January 2017 meeting.

He asked Pecker about a subsequent interview with the FBI one week after the meeting Bove highlighted.

Steinglass is quoting from notes from that meeting that say, "At that time Trump told Pecker in sum and susbstance that he, Trump, wanted to thank him, Pecker, for handling the Karen and doorman stories because they would have been very damaging to him."

The notes from that interview confirm that Pecker told the FBI that when he visited Trump at Trump Tower in January 2017, Trump thanked Pecker for handling the doorman and McDougal stories.

Steinglass asked Pecker if he told the FBI that Trump thanked him.

"Yes I did," Pecker testified.