{"id":2235234,"date":"2024-05-02T07:21:02","date_gmt":"2024-05-02T11:21:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/prosecutors-test-limits-on-admissible-evidence-in-trump-hush-money-trial\/"},"modified":"2024-05-02T07:25:03","modified_gmt":"2024-05-02T11:25:03","slug":"prosecutors-test-limits-on-admissible-evidence-in-trump-hush-money-trial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/prosecutors-test-limits-on-admissible-evidence-in-trump-hush-money-trial\/","title":{"rendered":"Prosecutors push boundaries in Trump hush money trial"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">16<\/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%2Fprosecutors-test-limits-on-admissible-evidence-in-trump-hush-money-trial%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=2235234&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>In\u200d the Trump <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/donald-trumps-criminal-hush-money-trial-set-for-march-25\/\" title=\"Trump's hush money trial scheduled for March 25\">hush money trial<\/a>, prosecutors face\u200c limits referencing Cohen&#8217;s guilty pleas \u200dbut link Trump\u2062 to \u2064the crimes. Judge \u200bJuan Merchan prohibits using Cohen&#8217;s pleas as direct evidence \u2063against Trump but allows some leeway. The trial also\u200c delves into \u200bCohen&#8217;s past and strategic moves by prosecutors to distance themselves while aiming to chip away at Trump&#8217;s credibility through legal battles. The Trump hush money trial \u2064presents challenges for prosecutors referencing Cohen&#8217;s\u2064 guilty pleas and tying Trump \u200cto the \u2063crimes. \u200bJudge Juan Merchan restricts the direct use\u2063 of Cohen&#8217;s pleas as evidence \u2064against Trump but provides some flexibility. The trial explores Cohen&#8217;s history, as prosecutors strategically navigate ways to undermine \u2063Trump&#8217;s credibility amid legal maneuvers.  <\/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<div>\n<p>Prosecutors are limited in how they may reference Michael Cohen\u2019s past guilty pleas during former President <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/donald-trump\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"Donald Trump\">Donald Trump<\/a>\u2019s hush money trial, but these restrictions have not stopped them from finding ways to tie Trump to Cohen\u2019s crimes in front of the jury.<\/p>\n<p>Judge Juan Merchan expressly ruled that prosecutors are not permitted to use Cohen\u2019s guilty pleas for two <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/breaking-president-trump-gives-pardons-to-73-individuals-and-commutes-another-70-sentences-steve-bannon-is-included\/\" title=\"BREAKING: President Trump Gives Pardons to 73 Individuals and Commutes Another 70 Sentences \u2013 Steve Bannon Is Included\">campaign finance violations<\/a> in 2018 as evidence that Trump committed a <a href=\"http:\/\/washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/crime\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>crime<\/a>, but the judge did provide leeway on the matter, and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has used it.<\/p>\n<p>Cohen, who is expected to testify in the trial, was Trump\u2019s attorney and fixer in 2016 amid the presidential election, but Cohen has since pleaded guilty to numerous crimes and has become openly hostile toward his former client in the years since his plea.<\/p>\n<p>Cohen\u2019s crimes are one example of the topics around which prosecutors and defense attorneys must navigate restrictions during the weekslong trial. Merchan also carved out some of Trump\u2019s past legal battles as inadmissible, while others are admissible, should Trump decide to testify.<\/p>\n<h2>Bragg\u2019s \u2018mendacious\u2019 Cohen remarks<\/h2>\n<p>Matthew Colangelo, one of Bragg\u2019s leading prosecutors, outright said in his opening statement that he expects Cohen, Bragg\u2019s star witness in the trial, to testify about how Cohen pleaded guilty for his role in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/five-weaknesses-in-the-hush-money-case-against-trump\/\" title=\"Five flaws in the hush money case against Trump\">arranging hush money payments<\/a> to former Playboy model Karen McDougal and porn star Stormy Daniels. Both women alleged they had affairs with Trump.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCohen will also testify in this trial that he ultimately pled guilty and went to jail for causing an unlawful corporate contribution in connection with the Karen McDougal payments and for making an excessive campaign contribution in connection with the Stormy Daniels payoff,\u201d Colangelo told the jury.<\/p>\n<p>Conservative legal analyst and former federal prosecutor Andy McCarthy called the remarks \u201cbreathtakingly mendacious.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cColangelo was not properly admonishing the jury that Cohen is a witness of dubious credibility. He was signaling to them that the NDA payments to McDougal and Daniels \u2014 for which he had just blamed Trump in an extensive narrative \u2014 were crimes for which Cohen \u2018went to jail,&#8217;\u201d McCarthy <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nationalreview.com\/2024\/04\/how-judge-merchan-is-orchestrating-trumps-conviction\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>said<\/a> in an op-ed. \u201cIn reality, Cohen was sentenced to prison because of his lucrative fraud crimes, not the [Federal Election Campaign Act] charges. The SDNY never charged Trump, and it almost certainly wouldn\u2019t have charged Cohen if he hadn\u2019t agreed to plead guilty.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Later, prosecutors called upon witnesses to testify about Cohen and steered them to condemn Cohen as an aggressive dealer and a \u201cjerk\u201d and to confirm how Cohen urgently secured a loan under false pretenses to pay Daniels to help Trump\u2019s campaign.<\/p>\n<p>Merchan ruled in an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nycourts.gov\/LegacyPDFS\/press\/pdfs\/Dec%20on%20People's%20MIL.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>order<\/a> in March that he agreed with Trump\u2019s defense attorneys that if prosecutors introduced evidence of Cohen\u2019s guilty pleas for the campaign finance matter, then they will have \u201copened the door\u201d for Trump\u2019s attorneys to introduce evidence about how the Department of Justice declined to prosecute Trump in the same case. But Merchan cautioned that witnesses could talk about Cohen\u2019s crimes.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis Court agreed with Defendant that the People cannot argue at trial that Cohen\u2019s guilty plea to FECA violations is probative of Defendant\u2019s guilt in the instant matter,\u201d Merchan wrote in March. \u201cHowever, this Court also ruled that testimony about the underlying facts of those guilty please will be accept[ed], provided the proper foundation is laid.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Katie Charleston, a California-based former prosecutor, said she believed Bragg\u2019s prosecutors were \u201cwalking the line.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think that the use of those plea agreements is rather a strategic and manipulating move to either confuse the jury into concluding that because Cohen pled guilty, Trump must be guilty,\u201d Charleston said. \u201cThe plea agreements themselves are highly prejudicial in this case and completely irrelevant in my mind for the prosecution\u2019s purpose.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Former U.S. Attorney John Fishwick of Virginia said he thought prosecutors were strategizing to distance themselves from Cohen, who has a slate of credibility problems from his past charges.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt appears the prosecution tried to deal with the Michael Cohen problem by encouraging Stormy Daniels\u2019 lawyer [witness Keith Davidson] to take shots at him,\u201d Fishwick said. \u201cThat way the prosecution has less ownership of Cohen when he finally testifies.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>The Harvey Weinstein factor<\/h2>\n<p>Trump has repeatedly said he will testify in the case, but another recent ruling by Merchan about what is admissible during the trial <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/justice\/2975915\/trump-new-dilemma-witness-stand\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"presented a dilemma\">presented a dilemma<\/a> for the former president.<\/p>\n<p>Merchan ruled prosecutors could ask Trump, if he chooses to take the stand in his own defense, about the former president\u2019s past\u00a0legal troubles,\u00a0including his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/gag-order-on-trump-may-be-playing-directly-into-his-hands-civil-rights-lawyer-says\/\" title=\"Civil rights lawyer warns that imposing a gag order on Trump could inadvertently benefit him.\">recent civil fraud trial<\/a> and certain aspects of his court battles with writer E. Jean Carroll. This would give prosecutors the opportunity to chip away at Trump\u2019s credibility in the eyes of the jurors.<\/p>\n<p>The Fifth Amendment of the Constitution protects Trump from being required to testify, but if the former president declines to take the stand, jurors could be left with questions about Trump\u2019s side of the story.<\/p>\n<p>Some legal experts have indicated prosecutors and the judge may have placed Trump in an \u201cuntenable\u201d position to defend himself. While Trump maintains he wants to testify, he must weigh his right to defend himself against the notion that prosecutors will cross-examine him about legal entanglements that are not part of the current trial.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTrump could argue that his right to testify has been \u2018chilled\u2019 \u2014 that he has been given a strong disincentive to exercising this constitutional right,\u201d former prosecutors Jim Walden and Deanna Paul wrote in a CNN <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2024\/04\/29\/opinions\/harvey-weinstein-conviction-overturned-trump-trial-walden-paul\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>op-ed<\/a>. The pair of former prosecutors explained that is\u00a0essentially what happened in the case of Harvey Weinstein, who last week had his felony sex crimes conviction overturned by a 4-3 ruling at the New York State Court of Appeals.<\/p>\n<p>Weinstein\u2019s trial court judge, Justice James Burke, also ruled that prosecutors could cross-examine Weinstein about a host of acts unrelated to his criminal case, including bullying and tantrums against employees and other business associates.<\/p>\n<p>Walden and Paul wrote that the judge in Weinstein\u2019s case \u201ctook the same bait\u201d as Merchan, contending that Burke\u2019s ruling to allow those lines of questioning against Weinstein \u201cundercut his right to testify in his own defense\u201d even though Weinstein never took the stand.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER<\/a><\/strong> <\/p>\n<p>The pair added it would be a \u201cmistake\u201d for Merchan to continue to allow such broad cross-examination options and called on Merchan to reverse his own ruling in the event that a jury does vote to convict Trump.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf he does not, Trump could get a conviction overturned while the ink hasn\u2019t yet dried on the jury\u2019s verdict,\u201d the former prosecutors added.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Prosecutors navigate restrictions on citing Cohen\u2019s past guilty pleas in Trump\u2019s hush money trial. Despite limitations, they creatively link Trump to Cohen\u2019s crimes before the jury. Judge Juan Merchan has expressly prohibited the use of Cohen\u2019s past guilty pleas as evidence against Trump<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3096,"featured_media":2235235,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/wex-s3.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/AP24080669331873-1024x683.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2235234","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/wex-s3.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/AP24080669331873-1024x683.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2235234","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\/3096"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2235234"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2235234\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2235235"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2235234"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2235234"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2235234"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}