Trump witness Brad Smith, who was virtually silenced by Judge Juan Marchan in former President Donald Trump’s business records trial, reveals what he would have told the jury had he been able to testify, saying: “Let me clarify some things.” It would have been,” he said. the de facto workings of the law and how it functions in practice.
Talk to Byron York washington examinerSmith, who was barred by Marchand from testifying about campaign finance laws at the heart of the business records case, did not go into detail, but said he would have tried to break campaign finance laws as they stand. did. It’s very complicated.
York said Smith planned to “explain how the law has been interpreted in ways that may not be obvious.”
As an example, Smith cited the phrase “for the purpose of influencing the election” that he heard in his analysis of the case. “If you read the statute, it says that anything that is intended to influence an election is a contribution or expenditure,” Smith explained. “But that’s not really what the law is about. Aside from the definition, there’s this vague concept of personal use, which is another part of the law that says you can’t divert campaign funds to personal use. It has a variety of specific prohibitions, like you can’t buy a country club membership, you can’t generally pay your own salary and living expenses, you can’t go on vacations, and so on. It also has a broader general prohibition that you can’t divert. [campaign funds] Any obligations that would exist even if I wasn’t running for office.”
What does that mean? “I wanted to point out that exception to the jury and talk a little bit about what that means,” Smith said. I wanted to talk about how “also, the purpose of influencing an election” is an objective test, rather than a subjective test like “what was my intent?” Therefore, hiring election staff is for the purpose of influencing elections. Renting campaign office space, buying advertising, conducting polls, printing bumper stickers, traveling to campaign rallies, renting a venue for a campaign rally, etc. are all part of the process of running for office. It exists because it exists. However, under the private use rules, many things that candidates do when running for office are not considered campaign expenses. Examples include weight loss programs, gym memberships, better clothes, and teeth whitening. You may do some of those things to get elected, you may not do them otherwise, but they exist solely because you are running for office. It is not an obligation to do so. Many people are doing those things. ”
He added that he believes “this was not a false alarm because it was clearly not campaign spending and did not need to be reported.”
“Mr. Smith avoided getting into specifics, saying he was just trying to “explain some of the actual workings of the law,” and how it works in practice.
On Tuesday, Trump’s defense attorneys finished questioning Robert Costello, a former adviser to Michael Cohen, and concluded their statements in the business records trial. Closing arguments are scheduled for Tuesday, May 28, 2024.
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Margo Martin from Storyful
Donald Trump Jr. told reporters Tuesday he blasted the “terrible precedent” set in the judicial system in various cases against his father.
“There’s no crime. The only problem is that witnesses who are experts in these things aren’t actually allowed to testify to that because there’s a rigged system,” Don Jr. explained.
“If that can happen to Donald Trump… if they have the platform, hundreds of millions of followers, the ability to fight, they will do it to anyone, and they will weaponize this system against their political opponents. , they are a very dangerous and slippery slope that is starting to fall apart. This madness is intolerable,” President Trump’s eldest son added.
.@DonaldJTrumpJr: This sets a disastrous precedent for the American justice system.
If Donald Trump, with his platform, hundreds of millions of followers, and ability to fight, can do this, they will do it to anyone.
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) May 21, 2024
