Once a defendant goes to trial, the charges against him or her are usually revealed. Not so with former President Donald Trump and his “hush money” scandal.
Prosecutors in Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office appeared to provide new transparency to the public as well as Mr. Trump’s legal team on Tuesday, a year after they indicted the former president. The curtain was pulled back to reveal the crime that motivated the incident. Violation of state election law. Former federal prosecutors told the Daily Caller News Foundation that Mr. Bragg’s lack of clarity was unfair to the defense, leaving it unprepared to argue against charges it did not commit. He said it was different from anything he had seen before.
Former federal prosecutor Jonathan Fahey told the DCNF, “I can’t remember a single trial where the defense didn’t know what the government was trying to prove,” calling Bragg’s approach an “ambush trial.” ” (Related: Prosecutors Finally Reveal Key Details of Alvin Bragg’s ‘Crimes’ Alleged in Trump Indictment)
braggs indictment Last April, President Trump was charged with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in connection with a $130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels to prevent her from speaking out about an affair before the election. He was indicted. He sought to charge an eight-year-old misdemeanor crime as a felony, which he claimed was done to commit or cover up another crime, possibly a federal campaign finance violation. But he never specified.
That was until Tuesday, when it was revealed that defense attorneys objected to prosecutor Joshua Steinglass’ questioning, arguing that President Trump violated New York Election Law Section 17-152.of laws and regulations It would be a misdemeanor for two or more people to “conspire” to influence an election by using “illegal means.”
In opening statements Monday, Matthew Colangelo, a senior district attorney and former top official in Biden’s Justice Department, said the records that Trump allegedly falsified in connection with the payments to Daniels have implications for the president. It was claimed to be part of a broader “conspiracy” to The 2016 election involved Trump, former lawyer Michael Cohen and former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker.
Prosecutors are trying to prove through the testimony of witnesses that the conspiracy charge is clearly rooted in election law, which is not named in the indictment.
NEW YORK, NY – APRIL 23: Former US President Donald Trump returns to court after a recess in his criminal trial on charges of concealing hush money payments in Manhattan Criminal Court in New York City on April 23, 2024. (Photo courtesy of Yuki Iwamura-Pool/Getty Images)
Former federal prosecutor Andrew Czerkasky called the theory proposed by Bragg under the law “bizarre.”
“The statute of limitations for misdemeanors, like the statute of limitations for the underlying crime, has become time-barred, raising significant legal questions regarding the validity of this approach,” he told DCNF.
“One of the biggest problems with this case is that the prosecution is essentially withholding this theory until the trial begins,” Cherkasky continued. “The defense has long argued this case, but the judge refused early on to request identification of the felony escalator. This amounts to another form of ‘trial by fire,’ and the U.S. criminal justice system… is not the way it should function.
John Malcolm, deputy director of the Heritage Foundation’s Institute for Constitutional Government and a former assistant attorney general in the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, said as a former prosecutor there are three things that are “surprising” about the revelations.
“First, Alvin Bragg’s office did not notify former President Trump’s legal team of the precise allegations in advance so that they could prepare an appropriate defense,” he said. “Second, the section of the code cited by the lead prosecutor (New York Penal Code Section 17-152) prohibits conspiracy to “promote or prevent the election of any person to public office by unlawful means.” Mr. Bragg still has not disclosed what his “illegal means” were.
“And thirdly, and most shockingly, that criminal code provision is a misdemeanor. So Alvin Bragg committed a misdemeanor crime to cover up another misdemeanor (conspiring to promote someone’s candidacy).” “[False entry into a business]is alleged to have been committed in an “unlawful manner” that can magically be converted into 34 felonies,” he continued.
Fahey told DCNF that everything about the case “stinks like heaven.”
“If this was anyone other than Donald Trump, you would be laughed out of court,” he said.
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