In Trump’s New York ‘hush money’ case, prosecutors push election angle
Al JazeeraExperts say that prosecutors will attempt to make the case that Trump falsified business records to tip the 2016 race. Prosecutors are set to argue that the hush-money payments were “part of a deliberate plan to help Trump’s 2016 election”, Wu explained. Such laws are meant to protect “voter informational interest”, said Ciara Torres-Spelliscy, a law professor and fellow at the Brennan Center for Justice “The essence of the Manhattan district attorney’s case against ex-President Trump is his alleged illegal use of his corporation to hide his infidelity from American voters on the eve of the 2016 election,” she told Al Jazeera. “Hiding the hush-money payments — if they were meant to influence the 2016 election — would undermine this key interest for American citizens.” The judge overseeing Monday’s trial, Juan Merchan, had previously ruled in February that the possible federal and state election violations were “legally sufficient” to move ahead with the felony charges. “He has to convince jurors that hushing Stormy Daniels is tantamount to election manipulation — and that Trump knew he needed to fake a paper trail to hide the hush-money payments, so it wouldn’t look like he paid her off.” In their indictment, New York prosecutors also detail other instances where Trump’s team sought to stifle potentially damaging information to avoid political fallout.