by Mish Shedlock, Mish Talk:
The opening statements confirm what we knew already. It’s a zoo.
The Hush-Money Trial
The Wall Street Journal reports Trump’s Lawyer in Hush-Money Trial: ‘There’s Nothing Wrong With Trying to Influence an Election’
Prosecutor Matthew Colangelo told jurors that in August 2015, Trump, then a presidential candidate, met with tabloid publisher David Pecker and Michael Cohen, his lawyer and fixer, at Trump Tower. The three men hatched a plan to silence people who had bad things to say about Trump’s behavior by buying their stories, the prosecutor said.
TRUTH LIVES on at https://sgtreport.tv/
“It was election fraud, plain and simple,” Colangelo said, as the jurors watched intently.
I am struggling to see how paying someone to cover up an illicit affair would ever be considered “election” fraud, but that is the opening accusation.
Trump lawyer Todd Blanche later told the panel that Colangelo had told a nice story that wasn’t true. “I have a spoiler alert,” Blanche said. “There’s nothing wrong with trying to influence an election. It’s called democracy.”
I am not sure I would have phrased it that way, but yes, candidates try to influence elections by design. Biden’s illegal student aid forgiveness plans are a perfect example.
After Trump won the election, Colangelo said, Cohen and Trump took steps to cover up the payment, figuring “reimbursement for porn star” wasn’t a good look in their records.
“They agreed to cook the books,” Colangelo said. He said they agreed Trump would reimburse Cohen in installments for the payment, and disguise the payments as a legal retainer.
Trump’s lawyer, Blanche, told jurors that prosecutors couldn’t prove their case because they couldn’t show the former president had criminal intent. Trump sought to protect his brand and family, Blanche said. “That is not a crime,” Blanche told jurors.
Blanche said two likely prosecution witnesses, Cohen and Daniels, were both unreliable and flawed. Cohen had pleaded guilty to lying under oath, and therefore couldn’t be trusted, and has written books and podcasts about his work with the former president, the defense lawyer said.
“His entire financial livelihood depends on President Trump’s destruction,” Blanche said.
Trial by Media
There is nothing new in any of this, not a thing. This has all been hashed and rehashed in the media many times.
Here’s the zoo clincher.
The office of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, a Democrat who brought the case, has made the unusual move of bringing falsified record offenses without charging Trump with other crimes. If Trump were convicted, he would face no mandatory prison term.
Trump is accused of falsifying records to commit some crime, but the prosecutor never charged any other crime.
