Ex-federal prosecutor lays out 4 key things to keep in mind about Trump’s hush money trial
2024 GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump has succeeded in delaying his trials in special counsel Jack Smith's two criminal prosecutions, and Fulton County, Georgia District Attorney Fani Willis' election interference/RICO case in Georgia has been complicated by the Nathan Wade controversy. Many of the legal analysts featured on MSNBC and CNN are doubtful that any of those three cases will go to trial before the presidential election in November.
But Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg Jr.'s hush money case, not borrowing any complications, is scheduled to go to trial in mid-April.
In an article published by the conservative website The Bulwark on March 22, law professor and former federal prosecutor Kimberly Wehle lays out "four points to keep in mind" about Bragg's case.
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According to Wehle, those points are: (1) "The case is legally and factually complex, making it harder for a jury to embrace a narrative that justifies a conviction," (2) "As in the January 6th case, the charges against Trump in Manhattan are legally novel and untested," (3) "The current kerfuffle over 100,000 documents DOJ recently gave to Trump won't result in dismissal of the indictment, either," and (4) "The $464 million civil fraud judgment against Trump is unlikely to make its way into evidence in the Bragg case — unless his lawyers allow him to testify or make arguments about his 'good' character."
Bragg alleges that Trump falsified business records when hush money payments were made to adult film star Stormy Daniels during the 2016 presidential election in order to cover up an extramarital affair with her.
Daniels and Michael Cohen, Trump's former personal attorney and fixer, are among Bragg's witnesses in the case.
"Monday, (March 25), the New York judge overseeing the criminal hush money case against Donald Trump, Justice Juan M. Merchan, will hold a hearing to determine whether to further delay the trial," Wehle explains. "Monday was supposed to mark the start of the trial itself, but Merchan pushed it back it last week until at least mid-April. The indictment in this case, brought a year ago by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, was the first of the four criminal cases lodged against Trump since he left office, and probably the weakest. But Bragg's case may be the only one of the four that could actually go to trial before the November election."
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Kimberly Wehle's full article for The Bulwark is available at this link.
