Trump is actually on trial for election interference – not hush money payouts: expert
Raw StoryDonald Trump's first criminal trial has been commonly described as the "hush money case," but a legal expert said that vastly understates the seriousness of his alleged crimes. Jury selection began Monday in the Manhattan trial involving Trump's alleged falsifications of business records to cover up hush money payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels, but legal expert Norm Eisen wrote a column for CNN arguing that the case should be understood as election interference – as the presiding judge seems to agree. “The allegations are in substance," New York judge Juan Merchan told prospective jurors, "that Donald Trump falsified business records to conceal an agreement with others to unlawfully influence the 2016 presidential election." Referring to the trial simply as the hush money case diminished the seriousness of Trump's alleged crimes and helps explain why he won a surprise election win over Hillary Clinton, Eisen said.