The Trump Indictment For Beginners
Image: New York Times
Former President Donald J. Trump is being charged for alleged subterfuge around a payment made to adult film star Stormy Daniels in exchange for a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) over an alleged sexual escapade the two had while Trump’s current wife Melania was pregnant with their son Barron. Trump feared that such information, if made public, would damage his presidential campaign; however, Stormy and the NDA are not really central to the Trump Indictment.
Trump Indictment
At the time, Trump’s lawyer, Michael Cohen, funded $130,000 to Daniels for the NDA. Trump paid Cohen back a total of $480,000 for doing so. Trump claimed he didn’t know about the reimbursement payment, but Cohen presented the actual checks from Trump with Trump’s signature as evidence to the Department of Justice (DOJ). Two of the checks were signed while Trump was in the White House.
Cohen claims that the checks for the $480,000 were written up as ‘legal expenses’ by Trump to disguise their true nature. Falsifying business records is a misdemeanor in New York state.
Misdemeanor charges should mean little to a billionaire and ex-President like Trump. The problem?
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg apparently has evidence suggesting that during the process of falsifying the payment records, Trump used campaign donations (not his own money) to pay for all or part of the $480,000 to Cohen. Falsifying payment records to conceal a second crime (in this case misappropriating donations) automatically becomes a felony in New York.
Its worth noting that this case was turned down twice by the Manhattan DAs office while Trump was still President, with two prosecutors assigned to the case resigning due to it being rejected, despite what they claimed was more than enough evidence to continue. One even wrote a book about it.
What Changed?
Presumably, the reason the DAs office didn’t want to procced was due to Cohen (an already proven liar both while working for Trump and afterwards) was incredibly unreliable as a primary witness. However, the same day last month that Bragg announced the case was ‘finally gaining traction’ and talk of an indictment resurfaced, Allen Weisselberg, (Trumps previous CFO who is currently in prison for tax fraud and who was allegedly the one who set up the payments between Trump and Cohen), decided to fire his Trump appointed lawyers and gain independent legal representation. The timing of both simultaneously would suggest that Weisselberg has now turned state witness, and it’s he and not Cohen who will be the star at the trial. Again, the last part is pure speculation, but the timing seems incredibly suspect.
