President Donald Trump’s former White House counsel, Ty Cobb, said Tuesday he believes the former president will likely be convicted in his hush money criminal trial this week.
“I expect a verdict of ‘guilty,’ but that’s because the jury instructions say [district attorney] “A sentence that a judge adopts in defiance of strong and well-founded defense objections effectively requires a guilty verdict,” Cobb said. He told Axios.
“I reached this legal conclusion based on my years of experience as a federal prosecutor and white-collar criminal defense lawyer and on rule of law standards, and notwithstanding my view that Mr. Trump remains the greatest threat to democracy in the history of our nation,” he continued.
Trump faces 34 felony charges of forgery of business documents in the case, the first criminal trial of a sitting or former president. Prosecutors allege that Trump illegally covered up allegations of past extramarital affairs by making hush payments in the weeks before the 2016 election, charges he denies.
Closing arguments in the trial are scheduled to begin on Tuesday, followed by a jury verdict. Cobb expects a verdict in the case within four days. If his prediction is correct, a verdict could be reached by this Friday.
Much of the proceedings are expected to focus on testimony from Trump’s former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, who has said the former president ordered the hush money payments.
Cohen was previously convicted of lying in a deposition and was subjected to tough cross-examination by Trump’s legal team earlier this month, casting doubts on his testimony.
If convicted, the former president could face up to four years in prison as well as being designated a felon.
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