Donald Trump’s business records will be used in court

Donald Trump’s trial in New York will be a “paper case” based on business records between the former president and his former lawyer Michael Cohen, legal experts say.

Legal analyst Joyce Vance, a former federal prosecutor and frequent critic of the former president, made the remarks as she previewed Trump’s historic corporate record falsification trial, which begins Monday with jury selection.

President Trump is accused of arranging for Cohen to pay adult film star Stormy Daniels to keep her alleged affair with Trump a secret ahead of the 2016 election. Pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. . The money is listed as “legal expenses” in Trump’s company records, and prosecutors have suggested it was part of an illegal attempt to influence the outcome of the 2016 presidential election.

Trump, who is considered to be the 2024 Republican presidential candidate, has admitted to repaying the $130,000 hush money he paid to Cohen, but denies having any relationship with Daniels.

Vance wrote on his Civil Discourse blog that prosecutors said the money Trump paid Cohen (later listed as “legal fees” to prevent the affair allegations from being reported) was not intended to protect Cohen. He pointed out that he needed to convince the jury. She got married, but it was to help her 2016 election hopes.

Mr. Vance also said that Mr. Cohen, perhaps the most important witness in the case, is a “confessed felon and liar” when appearing in a New York courtroom to testify against Mr. Trump. He also said that he would have to rely heavily on Mr.

“How do we know that the hush money payments were about the campaign and not President Trump’s desire to protect his wife, who was at home with their young child while he was with Stormy Daniels? Reason? “There are many reasons, but one of the main reasons is that it stems from the prosecution’s statement of facts,” Vance wrote.

“Mr. Trump instructed Mr. Cohen to delay the payment to Stormy Daniels for as long as possible. Mr. Trump told Mr. Cohen, “If we can delay the payment until after the election, we can avoid the payment altogether.” Because at that point, it doesn’t matter whether the story is true or not.”That’s how Melania Trump felt.”

newsweek Trump’s legal team was contacted for comment via email.

As for Mr. Cohen, he pleaded guilty in 2018 to federal tax crimes, lying to Congress, and campaign finance violations related to hush money payments to Mr. Daniels and Mr. Johnson. playboy Model Karen McDougall, Vance said, “It’s not easy to bring forward witnesses like this, but… [prosecution’s] The best strategy is to remind the jury that the jury did not choose the witnesses, the defendant did. ”

“Here, Cohen is telling his story, which has been more or less consistent since he first agreed to cooperate. Prosecutors no doubt hope he doesn’t appear in public much, but he This is clearly not a witness under their control,” Vance wrote.

“Ultimately, he will have to corroborate his testimony with other witnesses and documents. But the question is, why did Donald Trump use Michael Cohen when everything was going according to plan?” After all, this is a paper.”In this case, much of the evidence comes from business records and other physical evidence uncovered during the execution of a search warrant against Cohen. “It’s going to take shape,” Vance added.

“This case is an early step in the story of President Trump cheating in the election and breaking the law to win, and in that sense it’s the best place to begin the prosecution.”

Vance also suggested that Trump understands the seriousness of the charges against him, as several attempts by Trump to delay or throw out the case in court have been defeated. .

“For such a trivial matter, he would be eager to clear his name rather than let the case drag out for more than a year,” Vance wrote.

In a post on Truth Social on Monday morning, President Trump denounced the New York legal proceedings as a “witch hunt” aimed at preventing him from winning the 2024 election.

“As virtually every legal scholar has forcefully stated, Mr. Biden’s Manhattan witch hunt is, among other things, barred by the statute of limitations. This ‘trial’ should be brought to a close by a highly inconsistent presiding judge.” Trump wrote.

“The radical left Democratic Party has already rigged the 2024 presidential election by filing or helping to file these bogus lawsuits against me, and as a result I am sitting in court. , we’re forced to spend campaign money on campaigning. We’re going to beat crooked Joe Biden, the worst election meddling president in American history, on the field!”