{"id":2221069,"date":"2024-04-15T05:10:02","date_gmt":"2024-04-15T09:10:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/trump-goes-to-trial-in-hush-money-case-as-legal-experts-voice-skepticism-over-the-merits\/"},"modified":"2024-04-15T05:13:19","modified_gmt":"2024-04-15T09:13:19","slug":"trump-goes-to-trial-in-hush-money-case-as-legal-experts-voice-skepticism-over-the-merits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/trump-goes-to-trial-in-hush-money-case-as-legal-experts-voice-skepticism-over-the-merits\/","title":{"rendered":"Legal experts express doubts about the merits as Trump faces trial in hush money case"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">30<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Ftrump-goes-to-trial-in-hush-money-case-as-legal-experts-voice-skepticism-over-the-merits%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2221069&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Former \u200bpresident Donald Trump is \u200bfacing a \u2064trial in Manhattan over payments made to Stormy Daniels by \u2064the\u2064 Trump Organization. Legal experts question \u200dthe merit of the\u2063 case brought by Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg, challenging the decision to seek \u200cfelony charges for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/trump-indictment-in-stormy-daniels-hush-money-payment-investigation-imminent\/\" title=\"Trump indictment in Stormy Daniels hush-money payment investigation 'imminent'\">falsified business records<\/a>. The trial \u200bcenters on \u200dTrump&#8217;s alleged culpability, reigniting\u200d a case\u2062 once considered \u200bdormant. Former\u2063 President Donald Trump\u2064 is now at the center of a trial \u2063in Manhattan regarding \u200cpayments \u2064made to Stormy \u200bDaniels by the Trump Organization. Legal experts are raising doubts about the case pursued by Manhattan District\u2063 Attorney Alvin Bragg, particularly the decision to pursue felony charges related to falsified\u200c business records. The\u2063 trial is focused on determining Trump&#8217;s alleged\u2063 involvement, reviving a previously inactive case.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<section id=\"article\">\n<article data-post-title=\"Trump Goes to Trial in Hush Money Case as Legal Experts Voice Skepticism Over the Merits\" data-post-slug=\"http:\/\/bidens-stutter-is-core-to-his-identity-his-account-of-the-moment-he-overcame-it-doesnt-add-up\" data-post-url id=\"print-1878960\">\n<div>\n<h2>&#8216;The weaknesses in this case are clear,&#8217; says Touro Law Center professor Richard Klein<\/h2>\n<figure><figcaption> \t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t(Getty Images)\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<p><span>Former president Donald Trump is scheduled to appear at a Manhattan courthouse on Monday as the trial over payments sent from the Trump Organization to porn star Stormy Daniels gets underway. The case will center on Trump\u2019s culpability for the alleged falsification of Trump Organization business records, but legal experts are voicing skepticism over the merits of the case. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Brought by Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg, the case<\/span> <span>was <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/23e92bad-b6f5-4dc7-9336-d4e0e4659dcf\"><span>considered dead<\/span><\/a><span>  three years ago, when Bragg&#8217;s predecessor and federal prosecutors abandoned it. But Bragg, who campaigned on his record suing the Trump administration more than a hundred times as a deputy in the New York state attorney general\u2019s office, revived the case in 2021, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/abcnews.go.com\/Politics\/timeline-manhattan-district-attorney-case-donald-trump\/story?id=98389444\"><span>filing<\/span><\/a><span>  felony charges against Trump last year alleging he had falsified the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/more-than-6-in-10-do-not-want-trump-as-president-poll\/\" title=\"More than 6 in 10 do not want Trump as president: Poll\">business records pertaining<\/a> to the Daniels payments.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>A number of legal experts have questioned Bragg&#8217;s decision to seek felony charges in the case.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>In New York, charges over falsified business records are typically brought as misdemeanors and are &#8220;rarely the senior offense in an indictment,&#8221; according to the <\/span><i><span>Financial Times<\/span><\/i><span>. For the crime to rise to a felony, prosecutors must prove that the defendant falsified records to &#8220;commit or conceal another crime.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Bragg is <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/manhattanda.org\/district-attorney-bragg-announces-34-count-felony-indictment-of-former-president-donald-j-trump\/\"><span>arguing<\/span><\/a><span>  that Trump falsified records &#8220;in order to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/trump-lied-in-reimbursement-payments-to-lawyer-manhattan-da-says\/\" title=\"Trump Lied in Reimbursement Payments to Lawyer, Manhattan DA Says\">conceal damaging information<\/a> and unlawful activity from American voters before and after the 2016 election.&#8221; For Randall Eliason, a George Washington University law professor and former federal prosecutor, that argument is a weak one, given that the records in question were allegedly submitted months after the election by Trump&#8217;s private company.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>&#8220;Voters didn&#8217;t have any right to see them\u2014you couldn&#8217;t influence any voters or influence the election,&#8221; he <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/manhattanda.org\/district-attorney-bragg-announces-34-count-felony-indictment-of-former-president-donald-j-trump\/\"><span>told<\/span><\/a><span>  the <\/span><i><span>Times<\/span><\/i><span>. &#8220;There is no question that there is bad behavior here. The question is, are the particular criminal statutes violated.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Other experts have questioned the witnesses Bragg will rely on to prosecute the case. Former Trump attorney Michael Cohen, for example, is the star witness in the case. Cohen pleaded guilty to lying to Congress in 2018 and is facing <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2024\/mar\/20\/michael-cohen-perjury-trump-trial\"><span>further perjury allegations<\/span><\/a><span>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>&#8220;The weaknesses in the case are clear,&#8221; <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/23e92bad-b6f5-4dc7-9336-d4e0e4659dcf\"><span>said<\/span><\/a><span>  Touro Law Center professor Richard Klein. &#8220;For any jury to assess the credibility of the star witness for the prosecution, it&#8217;s gonna be a \u2026 tough barrier for Bragg&#8217;s office to overcome.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Bragg&#8217;s case is considered the least serious of the four criminal cases Trump faces and carries the lightest sentence. During a February podcast appearance, Democratic superlawyer David Boies called those cases &#8220;greatly mistaken.&#8221;<\/span>\t<\/p>\n<p><span>&#8220;If you take, for example, the cases against him in New York \u2026 you have to ask yourself: would these cases have been brought against him if his name were Donald Smith?&#8221; Boies said. &#8220;And I&#8217;m afraid that a very large number of people in this country believe they would not have.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Trump&#8217;s Manhattan trial will begin Monday with jury selection, a process that is <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/politics\/donald-trump\/trump-hush-money-trial-guide-what-expect-rcna145943\"><span>expected<\/span><\/a><span>  to take one or two weeks. Because the case is criminal, Trump is required to attend court proceedings in person. The trial is off on Wednesdays, and proceedings are expected to take about seven hours each day.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/section>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Touro Law Center professor Richard Klein asserts, &#8220;The weaknesses in this case are evident.&#8221; Former president Donald Trump is set to attend a Manhattan courthouse Monday for the trial concerning payments from the Trump Organization to Stormy Daniels. The trial will focus on Trump&#8217;s accountability<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":2221070,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/trump-outrage1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[544],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2221069","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-free-beacon"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/trump-outrage1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2221069","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/176"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2221069"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2221069\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2221070"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2221069"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2221069"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2221069"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}