For many years, few individuals had entry to Donald J. Trump like Rhona Graff. Now, Ms. Graff, his former private assistant on the Trump Group, has turn out to be the second individual to testify in opposition to Mr. Trump in his prison trial in Decrease Manhattan.
At Trump Tower, Ms. Graff served as Mr. Trump’s gatekeeper. The Queens native had an workplace proper outdoors his door, putting her inside earshot of Mr. Trump’s requests to get somebody on the cellphone. And when somebody wished to achieve Mr. Trump, they first needed to undergo Ms. Graff, typically requiring a secret code to be put by means of.
“All people is aware of as a way to get by means of to him,” she as soon as mentioned, “they should undergo me.”
Ms. Graff heard a few job opening in 1987 on the Trump Group and cold-called to get the place. The job appeared to boost her profile. Six years later, Ms. Graff’s wedding ceremony announcement was written up in The New York Occasions. She married Lucius Joseph Riccio, the town’s commissioner of transportation, in a marriage officiated by Mayor David N. Dinkins.
The roles wherein she served for Mr. Trump prolonged far past being his assistant, as mirrored in her title: senior vice chairman. She acted as Mr. Trump’s media liaison, scheduler, typically spokeswoman, fund-raising planner, co-star on his realty present “The Apprentice” and as a Miss Teen USA choose.
Ms. Graff continued her service throughout his 2016 presidential marketing campaign and after Mr. Trump moved into the White Home.