{"id":2240778,"date":"2024-05-09T09:29:03","date_gmt":"2024-05-09T13:29:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/prosecutors-struggling-to-tie-trump-to-records-falsification-scheme\/"},"modified":"2024-05-09T09:36:02","modified_gmt":"2024-05-09T13:36:02","slug":"prosecutors-struggling-to-tie-trump-to-records-falsification-scheme","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/prosecutors-struggling-to-tie-trump-to-records-falsification-scheme\/","title":{"rendered":"Prosecutors face challenges linking Trump to falsification scheme"},"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\">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-struggling-to-tie-trump-to-records-falsification-scheme%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=2240778&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>Alvin Bragg aims to show Trump committed felonies by falsifying records, needing\u200d to prove intent. Recent trial days included \u2062testimony from Stormy Daniels and financial details linking payments to Cohen.\u2063 Defense arguments and \u200dwitness statements <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/russian-opposition-leader-navalny-sentenced-to-2-5-years-in-prison\/\" title=\"Russian opposition leader Navalny sentenced to 2.5 years in prison\">shed light<\/a> on payment categorizations and organizational dynamics. The case revolves around\u2064 alleged falsifications tied to the 2016 election. Alvin Bragg seeks \u2063to demonstrate that\u2063 Trump engaged\u200b in \u2064felonious acts \u2062by manipulating records, requiring proof of \u2063intent. Key trial events featured Stormy Daniels&#8217; \u200ctestimony and financial evidence connecting payments to Cohen. The defense and \u200cwitness testimonies provided insights into payment classifications and internal workings. The core issue pertains \u2063to\u2064 purported falsifications associated with the 2016 election.  <\/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>Alvin Bragg is hoping to convince a jury that former President <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/donald-trump\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"Donald Trump\">Donald Trump<\/a> committed <a href=\"https:\/\/washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/crime\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"felonies\">felonies<\/a> by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/indicting-trump-will-usher-in-americas-banana-republic-stage\/\" title=\"Indicting Trump Will Usher In America\u2019s Banana-Republic Stage\">allegedly falsifying business records<\/a>, but to do that, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/manhattan\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"Manhattan\">Manhattan<\/a> district attorney must prove Trump acted with intent.<\/p>\n<p>Over the last three weeks, prosecutors have called upon witnesses to deliver, at times, salacious testimony about Trump, and they have entered dozens of records into evidence. However, they have struggled to tie Trump directly to what Bragg, an elected Democrat, claims was a felonious payment scheme.<\/p>\n<p>Tuesday marked the most dramatic day of witness testimony in the trial thus far after porn star Stormy Daniels took the witness stand and rehashed graphic details about an alleged sexual encounter she had with Trump in 2006.<\/p>\n<p>The testimony was captivating for jurors and the public and provided color to her story, which Trump\u2019s ex-attorney Michael Cohen paid $130,000 in 2016 to hide. However, some critics found it lacked substance.<\/p>\n<p>Jonathan Turley, a professor at George Washington University Law School, called Daniels\u2019s testimony a \u201cdumpster fire.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe value of the testimony was entirely sensational and gratuitous, yet [Judge Juan Merchan] was fine with humiliating Trump,\u201d Turley <a href=\"https:\/\/jonathanturley.org\/2024\/05\/08\/stormy-daniels-day-alvin-bragg-lights-dumpster-fire-in-manhattan-courtroom\/#more-218688\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>wrote<\/a> in an op-ed.<\/p>\n<p>Defense attorneys repeatedly raised objections to Daniels\u2019s testimony, calling it \u201cextremely prejudicial\u201d and asking for a mistrial, but Merchan denied the request.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI agree that it would have been better if some of these things had been left unsaid,\u201d Merchan conceded, though.<\/p>\n<p>Other trial days involved drier but more substantive material, including prosecutors entering into evidence a paper trail of payments to Cohen that are at the heart of Bragg\u2019s case. However, the links between Trump himself and those documents remain unclear.<\/p>\n<p>Bragg, according to his indictment, accused Trump of knowingly falsifying business records, which would normally be a misdemeanor. But Bragg claimed Trump did so with the \u201cintent to commit another crime,\u201d which strengthens the charges to felonies. In an accompanying statement of facts, Bragg said the other crime was related to the 2016 election, though it remains unclear what specific other law Bragg believes Trump broke.<\/p>\n<p>Trump participated in a scheme to violate \u201celection laws and made and caused false entries in the business records of various entities in New York,\u201d Bragg wrote in the statement of facts. Trump \u201calso took steps that mischaracterized, for tax purposes, the true nature of the payments made in furtherance of the scheme,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n<p>Trump paid Cohen $420,000 in 11 installments in 2017, and, according to evidence, the payments included a reimbursement to Cohen for the payment Cohen made to Daniels. Trump Organization accountants categorized the payments as \u201clegal expenses,\u201d which Bragg has claimed was a willful falsification for tax purposes.<\/p>\n<p>Testimony from former Trump Organization controller Jeffrey McConney was less dramatic than that of Daniels, but it shed light on why the payments were categorized the way they were. The categorization as \u201clegal expenses\u201d was accurate because the payment was for a lawyer, McConney testified. The payments were recorded within the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/justice\/2996491\/trump-attorneys-highlight-key-reason-cohen-payments-labeled-legal-expenses\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>limitations<\/a> of an antiquated accounting program and \u201clegal expenses\u201d was the best option available from a computer system\u2019s dropdown menu, McConney said.<\/p>\n<p>Trump\u2019s attorney Emil Bove asked McConney who made the decision to categorize the payments as legal expenses, and McConney replied that he himself did.<\/p>\n<p>McConney also testified that he had no knowledge of Trump being aware of the payment structure set up for Cohen and that former Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg had <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/justice\/2993557\/trump-trial-witness-testifies-weisselberg-mastermind-behind-cohen-payments\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>crafted<\/a> it.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn none of the conversations that you had with Mr. Weisselberg did he suggest that President Trump had told him to do these things?\u201d Bove asked.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAllen never told me that,\u201d McConney said.<\/p>\n<p>Defense attorneys also underscored the busyness of January 2017, when Trump took office, saying the change involved making drastic accounting adjustments within Trump\u2019s company and that the president himself was not focused on the minutia of a payment plan for Cohen.<\/p>\n<p>Asked if January 2017 was a \u201cperiod of flux and chaos\u201d at the Trump Organization, McConney replied, \u201cThat\u2019s putting it mildly.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Prosecutors did submit <a href=\"https:\/\/pdfs.nycourts.gov\/PeopleVs.DTrump-71543\/Evidence\/People\/5-2-2024\/People's%20248%20(Cohen-Trump%20Recording%20Transcript%209.6.2016).pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>evidence<\/a> in the form of an audio recording that showed Trump had an awareness in September 2016 that Cohen had arranged a payment to suppress a story about a second woman, former Playboy model Karen McDougal. The audio was unrelated to the Daniels payments but still signaled Trump had at least some knowledge of Cohen making hush money payments on Trump\u2019s behalf.<\/p>\n<p>New York-based attorney Karen Agnifilo, who formerly worked in high-level positions in the Manhattan District Attorney\u2019s Office, has been openly critical of Trump, but she <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=HwoE0MVYbhE\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>said<\/a> during a podcast this week that prosecutors have not yet proven Trump knew the details of Weisselberg\u2019s payment plan.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe thing that the defense has done a great job at is distancing Trump from that crime,\u201d Agnifilo said.<\/p>\n<p>She noted that no witness has been able to show any \u201cdirect evidence that Donald Trump had any knowledge or intention to falsify the business records, and that\u2019s what the crime is.\u201d<\/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>\u201cSo far, there\u2019s been no direct evidence that Donald Trump knew that they were going to record it differently in the books and records. That I think is unfortunately going to rely on Michael Cohen,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>Prosecutors are expected to use Cohen\u2019s testimony to fill the void of evidence that would conclusively connect Trump to the payment plan created by Weisselberg. However, defense attorneys are expected to go after Cohen\u2019s credibility, in part by highlighting how he has in the past pleaded guilty to fraud and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/trump-trial-stormy-daniels-lawyer-testifies-on-dealings-with-hostile-michael-cohen\/\" title=\"Stormy Daniels' lawyer testifies about interactions with hostile Michael Cohen in Trump trial\">perjury-related crimes<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Alvin Bragg aims to persuade a jury that ex-President Donald Trump falsified business records, alleging felonies. The Manhattan DA must demonstrate Trump&#8217;s intent. In the past three weeks, prosecutors have presented witnesses with sensational testimony about Trump<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":2240779,"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\/04\/AP24107496149778-1024x591.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[538],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2240778","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-washington-examiner"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/wex-s3.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/AP24107496149778-1024x591.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2240778","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\/49"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2240778"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2240778\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2240779"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2240778"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2240778"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2240778"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}