LOS ANGELES.–Closing arguments began today in Judge Juan Merchant’s Manhattan courtroom, deciding the fate of 77-year-old former President Donald Trump facing 34 felonies for illegally concealing a $130,000 payment to porn actress Stormy Daniels. Trump denied having a one-night stand with the 45-year-old porn star in 2006, not stopping Daniels from extorting $130,000 from Trump in 2016, right before the 2016 presidential election. Merchan’s court hasn’t litigated whether or not Trump had a tryst with Stormy Daniels, only assumes facts not in evidence. Whatever the case Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg made about Trump’s culpability for bookkeeping errors, it doesn’t mean Trump tried to defraud the government by recording the charge as a legal expense. Bragg’s case assumes that the Trump organization deliberately defrauded New York City government.
Showing desperation with slipping polls, Biden’s campaign manager Jen O’Malley Dillon deployed Oscar-winning actor, Trump-hater Robert de Niro to the courthouse to grandstand before closing arguments. What could be more inappropriate than using Trump’s courtroom to lobby for 81-year-old President Joe Biden’s reelection. “He doesn’t belong in my city,” De Niro said on the steps of Merchan’s courthouse, acting like a mafia boss he often played in his movie career. De Niro stood with former U.S. Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn and former D.C. Metropolitan Police Officer Michael Fannone, both of whom survived the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riots. What the Capitol riots have to do with Trump’s hush money case is anyone’s guess. But turning the last phase of Trump’s trial into a political event for the White House is completely outrageous.
Using Trump-hater Robert de Niro to attack Trump in campaign ads is bad enough but to send him to interfere with an ongoing criminal trial goes beyond the pale. As Trump’s Attorney Todd Blanche launches into closing arguments, jurors are not sequestered, seeing all the publicity stunts going on at the courthouse. O’Malley Dillon’s decision to grandstand at Trump’s hush money trial shows the desperation felt by the White House five months before the election. Blanche will no doubt remind jurors that Bragg’s star witness, former Trump Attorney Michael Cohen, is a disbarred, disgraced convicted felon, feeding the jury untrustworthy information about the hush money trial. All the legal experts on CNN and MSNBC have no problem relying on felons like former Stormy Daniels Atty. Michael Avenatti, now doing time in federal prison for ripping off his clients and other crimes.
Bragg alleges that in his 34-count felony indictment that Trump deliberately altered his business records for a $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels as a legal expense. Bragg’s prosecutors went to great lengths to call Cohen Trump’s “fixer,” meaning that all legal matters ran through him. So, if Cohen recommended paying off Stormy Daniels, Trump viewed it as a legal expense to resolve a nuisance legal case. What else other that a legal expense would Trump consider any payment to Stormy Daniels? Bragg’s case is building off wild conjecture that Trump tried to defraud New York City or State government. Bragg’s prosecutors tried to sell the jury that Trump wanted to avoid negative fallout before the 2016 presidential election, making it an election law violation. But the jury has no facts to dispute that Trump just wanted to stop an extortion plot.
Bragg’s prosecutors led by Joshua Steinglass plan to take four hours to sell jurors on their case that Trump deliberately tried to deceive the government on his $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels. In most criminal cases, getting a hung jury happens in about 6% of cases but not in Trump’s particular case. Using convicted felon and perjurer Michael Cohen has all but wrecked Bragg’s case, arguing that jurors should believe their star witness admitting to stealing money from the Trump Organization. Jurors won’t be able to ignore what’s been exposed about Cohen, about his lies to Congress and multiple felonies in 2019 having nothing to do with Trump, only his own criminal behavior. How are jurors supposed to believe Cohen with his track record? Judging by sending De Niro and former Capitol Hill police to the courthouse indicates that a hung jury has grown likely.
All the White House shenanigans at Trump’s courthouse today indicates that they think Trump could be acquitted with a likely hung jury. Whatever the documents indicate about the $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels in 2016, Bragg did not make the case that Trump deliberately tried to hide the payment in legal expenses. With Cohen Trump’s legal “fixer” at the time, it’s obvious that he was handling all legal matters, especially a nuisance extortion case by a woman making outrageous claims against him. Jurors don’t know whether Trump knew Stormy Daniels or had a one-night stand, all they know is that Cohen handled a nuisance legal matter for Trump before the 2016 presidential election. Jurors know for sure that Cohen is a convicted felon and perjurer, giving them all the facts to acquit Trump. Expecting a guilty verdict is not likely.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma
