Donald Trump May Have Implicated Himself in Court Rant—Legal Analyst

Former U.S. President Donald Trump talks to reporters at the conclusion of the second day of jury selection for his criminal trial at Manhattan Criminal Court on April 16, 2024 in New York City

A former federal prosecutor said Donald Trump may have implicated himself when he addressed reporters outside court in New York on Tuesday.

Jeffrey Toobin, who previously served as an associate counsel to the Department of Justice on its investigation over the Regan administration’s Iran-Contra scandal and now works as a legal analyst, said Trump’s rant may have hurt his case with comments that “could be played before the jury.”

The former president was speaking after leaving court on the second day of jury selection for the historic criminal hush money trial. The case was brought by District Attorney Alvin Bragg over payments allegedly aimed at keeping alleged affairs with adult film star Stormy Daniels and Playboy model Karen McDougall a secret ahead of the 2016 presidential election. Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records.

Seven jurors have been seated after the trial began on Monday, with 11 more expected to follow, including alternates.

Speaking outside the court, Trump said the alleged reimbursements at the center of the criminal trial were marked as a “legal expense,” something he said his accountant carried out.

“I was paying a lawyer and we marked it down as a legal expense,” he said. “Some accountant I didn’t know marked it down as a legal expense. That’s exactly what it was, and you get indicted over that?”

Appearing on a panel on CNN’s Anderson Copper 360, Toobin was asked if the former president’s comments post-court session were incriminating.

Toobin said the comments “could be played before the jury” and would later come back to haunt him.

“Remember, the whole case is about the falsification of these business records,” Toobin said. “And you know, Trump has potentially the argument: ‘Look, I run a multibillion-dollar company. I don’t know how the accountants, how the bookkeepers record things.’

“That’s going to be a big issue in the case. How is the government going to prove that Trump knew and initiated or at least supported the idea that these payoffs were recorded as legal fees?”

Toobin said the former president “sort of caught himself” ahead of going any further with his remarks.

“But you know that that video could be played before the jury, no question,” he concluded.

Also appearing on the panel, law professor Jessica Roth said: “I don’t think we should overstate how incriminating it was. He signed some of the checks to Michael Cohen reimbursing him for these fees. When he started to say, I marked it down as legal expenses, my ears perked up because it’s been a little bit unclear exactly how the state is going to prove that Trump falsified the records because many of these entries may have been made by the accountants for The Trump Organization.”

She noted that Cohen is “apparently going to testify that Trump was part of the scheme to falsify.”

Newsweek approached Trump’s office for comment.

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