PHILADELPHIA.–Former President Donald Trump’s hush money trial in Judge Juan Merchan’s courtroom ground to a halt today with District Atty. Alvin Bragg asking that the jury get the case for deliberation after Memorial Day. Trump’s defense Atty. Todd Blanche wants an expert witness in election law to give the jury specific criteria related to Bragg’s charges that Trump violated election law by paying off Stormy Daniels, the women accusing Trump of having a one-night stand in 2006, 10 years before he ran for president. Jurors don’t currently have any way to determine whether Trump violated campaign laws by paying Daniels $130,000 to enforce a non-disclosure agreement. Stormy testified under oath that she sought money for her story to protect he reputation, not for the money. Stormy’s story makes zero sense to any juror knowing she alleges a one-time tryst with the former president.
Jurors are forced, based on criminal procedure, to hear compartmentalized pieced of information, alleging a one-night stand with Trump and then, 10 years later before the 2016 presidential election, paying her $130,000 for her story with a non-disclosure agreement, keeping her from talking about it before the 2016 presidential election. Bragg charged Trump with violating campaign finance laws prohibiting any candidate from preventing the public from knowing tangible facts that could impact the outcome of the election. But a non-disclosure agreement is not about an election for any other event but only about enforcing an agreement to not disclose information about the matter in question. Bragg claims Trump deliberately kept the public from knowing about his alleged affair with Stormy Daniels. Trump denies that he had any sexual encounter with the adult film actress.
Prosecutors have tried to skew the facts presented to jurors especially when it comes to what’s legal and what’s not when it comes to non-disclosure agreements. Jurors were led to believe listening to testimony by former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker that buying a story to never publish it was illegal. But there’s nothing illegal about what’s known in the tabloid business as “catch-and-kill,” buying a story for the purpose of never publishing it. Yet if you listen to prosecutors direct examination of David Pecker, it showed jurors that the “catch-and-kill practice was illegal, something not true at all. Bragg charges Trump with felony bookkeeping records related to how the Trump Organization recorded the $130,000 payment as legal fees, not a payout directly. Trump was not directly involved in paying off Stormy, only giving the task to his former attorney.
Bragg contends in his charges against Trump that the $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels was charged as a legal expense to his former attorney Michael Cohen. Bragg’s entire case is built off allegations of illegal bookkeeping, usually charged as misdemeanors but for some reason Bragg charged Trump with all felonies. But the jury must assess whether in paying Cohen as a legal expense, Trump did anything wrong, when the matter of obtaining and paying for a non-disclosure agreement was a legal service to the Trump organization. Bragg’s prosecutors insist that the $130,000 payment was purely to silence stormy rather that part of Cohen’s legal service to obtain an non-disclosure agreement. Trump has denied any affair with Stormy Daniels, with Stormy telling various sources she denied having any relationship with Trump, posing an inconsistency for jurors.
When it comes to rendering a verdict against Trump, the jury must conclude that Trump broke campaign election laws prohibiting any attempt to silence the public from knowing material facts before the election. Trump’s defense team has gone to great lengths to let the jury know that whatever payment to Stormy Daniels for a non-disclosure agreement, it was purely a legal matter handled by Cohen as part of his legal duties. How Bragg charged Trump with violating campaign finance laws is anyone’s guess. Cohen was certainly paid by Trump as his “fixer” to handle any and all legal matters, including a non-disclosure agreement. Jurors were led to believe by Bragg’s prosecutors that a non-disclosure agreement was something illegal but clearly it was not, any more than a tabloid paying for a story AKA “catch-and-kill” to stop a story from going public.
Delaying final arguments until after Memorial Day pushes the verdict back by at least a week but gives both sides more time to wrap up their cases. Bragg thinks he’s proved his case against Trump beyond a reasonable doubt but clearly many doubts in jurors’ minds remain about the whole case. Bragg wants jurors to not question prosecutors claims that Trump was directly involved in illegally recording $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels as a legal expense. But when it came to Trump having his “fixer” Atty. Michale Cohen take care of all legal matters, it reasonable to record the payment as legal expenses. Even if technically Stormy’s payment was not a legal payment per se, Bragg should have charged Trump with misdemeanor bookkeeping charges, not felonies. When the jury gets the case next week Bragg may find himself disappointed at the outcome.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analzying spin in national and global news. He’d editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
