The pair 'best equipped' for hush money trial testimony 'present tough choices' for Trump: analyst

22 February 2024

Just 31 days ahead of Donald Trump's trial for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's case against him over falsifying business records to cover up hush money payments made to adult actress Stormy Daniels — legal analyst Lisa Rubin submits there's one problem facing Trump's team.

Rubin writes "by the time testimony is underway," there might be "an eerie sense of déjà vu" for onlookers. "Because with much of Trump’s pre-presidential activities and his early White House behavior, the two people best equipped to say what Trump knew and intended with his allegedly criminal conduct are once again his former lawyer turned sworn enemy, Michael Cohen, and the Trump Organization’s former chief financial officer turned favorite fall guy, Allen Weisselberg."

However, Rubin notes while Judge Arthur Engoron deemed Cohen "a comfortable, credible witness" in Trump's civil fraud trial — despite Team Trump's protest — the judge "characterized Weisselberg, who was both witness and defendant" during the civil fraud trial "as evasive and strangely forgetful — and his testimony as 'highly unreliable,' due to a $2 million severance agreement with the Trump Organization signed on the eve of his sentencing in yet another Trump fraud case."

The legal analyst emphasizes, "The one-two punch of Cohen’s successful testimony in the civil fraud trial and Weisselberg’s mounting misfortunes present some tough choices for Team Trump."

With Weisselberg found liable on all seven claims in the AG’s civil fraud case," and being "in plea negotiations with the DA’s office over his alleged perjury during that trial," Rubin raises a few questions: "Could they really call Weisselberg as a witness after two convictions and a massive liability finding, all of which stem from his association with the former president? But if they don’t call him, would Cohen’s testimony about his conversations with Trump and/or Weisselberg stand unrebutted, even if subject to a withering cross-examination? Or could it potentially be countered only by America’s most undisciplined, unpredictable witness, Trump himself?"

Regardless, Rubin notes "both assessments bode well for the Manhattan DA. Because as much as Trump’s lawyers tried to inflate Cohen’s role in the civil fraud trial, his testimony will be far more central in Bragg’s upcoming criminal prosecution."

Rubin's full op-ed is available at this link.

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