'Keep confessing': Trump appears to corroborate allegations against him in impromptu remarks

16 April 2024

Former President Donald Trump may have just accidentally admitted to the allegations against him in his Manhattan criminal trial during off-the-cuff remarks delivered outside the courtroom.

On day two of jury selection in the first-ever criminal trial of a former president of the United States in Manhattan, Trump continued to make his argument that he was the victim of a politically motivated investigation by a Democratic district attorney and what he called a "Trump-hating judge," referring to Judge Juan Merchan, who is overseeing proceedings. While he intended to maintain his innocence while addressing reporters after walking out of Merchan's courtroom, he may have gotten himself in deeper trouble.

"I was paying a lawyer and marked it down as a legal expense. Some accountant, I didn’t know, marked it down as a legal expense. That’s exactly what it was, and you get indicted over that?" Trump said. "I should be in Pennsylvania and Florida, in many other states. North Carolina, Georgia, campaigning."

"So check it out. Legal expense. It’s called legal expense," he added.

The former president's comments raised several eyebrows on social media, with several observing that it sounded similar to a confession. Attorney Bradley P. Moss quote-tweeted the video and wrote, "keep confessing, thank you." Military veteran and progressive podcast host Fred Wellman posted, "I'm not a lawyer but did he just corroborate the basic facts of the accusation?"

Trump's impromptu remarks appear to be a tacit admission to the precise allegations against him described in the indictment. The former president is facing 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in order to allegedly cover up hush money payments to women claiming to have slept with Trump in order to keep them silent before the 2016 election.

The two women — adult film star Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal — say they were each paid a six-figure sum in exchange for agreeing to not go public with their stories before Election Day. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg characterized those payments as illegal campaign contributions since the payments were allegedly made in the furtherance of Trump's political ambitions.

When Trump referred to "paying a lawyer" and having "some accountant" mark it down as a "legal expense," that appears to be a direct reference to his former personal attorney, Michael Cohen, paying Daniels and McDougal with Trump reimbursing him and the payment to Cohen being labeled as a retainer for legal services. Cohen — who served a three-year federal prison sentence for his role in the scheme and other crimes — has said there was no legal retainer and that he was explicitly paid back for fronting the hush money.

Cohen is expected to be one of the prosecution's star witnesses, and has been subpoenaed to walk the jury through the entire scheme. Bragg is also expected to call Daniels and McDougal to the stand, along with Trump's former senior advisor Hope Hicks.

The trial is expected to take anywhere from six to eight weeks, and could potentially be the only one of Trump's four trials to conclude with a verdict prior to November. If Trump wins the White House this fall, he will be unable to have his appointed attorney general dismiss the case — as he may do with any potential federal convictions — or pardon himself. And while Georgia Governor Brian Kemp (R) could possibly pardon Trump if he's convicted in his Fulton County election interference trial, it's unlikely that New York Governor Kathy Hochul (D) would grant him a pardon in the Empire State.

Watch the video of Trump's comments below, or by clicking this link.

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