Donald Trump's Videos May Be Used Against Him: Legal Analyst

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.

Former President Donald Trump’s videos may be used against him in the Manhattan hush money case, legal analyst Elie Honig said.

On Monday, jury selection began in the criminal case against Trump, who is the presumptive Republican presidential nominee. Court ended Tuesday with seven jurors selected. Eleven more are expected to be picked, includes six alternates. Court is in recess on Wednesday, as the trial schedule has every Wednesday blocked out.

Following an investigation by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office, Trump was indicted in March 2023 on 34 counts of falsifying business records relating to reimbursement payments made to ex-attorney Michael Cohen for $130,000 in hush money payments Cohen made to adult film star Stormy Daniels during Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. Daniels alleged that she had an affair with Trump in 2006, which he has denied.

Trump has maintained his innocence, pleading not guilty to all charges and claiming the case is politically motivated. Outside the courtroom on Tuesday, Trump said the trial “should’ve never been brought.”

He then touched on some details of the case, saying, “I was paying a lawyer and marked it down as a legal expense. Some accountant, I didn’t know, marked it down as a legal expense. That’s exactly what it was.”

Cohen initially said that he paid Daniels with his own money but later alleged that Trump directed him to pay $130,000 in hush money to Daniels. Cohen ended up serving three years in prison for campaign finance violations relating to the scheme, among other charges.

CNN News Central’s John Berman played the clip of Trump outside court on Tuesday to Honig, a senior legal analyst for CNN, on Wednesday morning.

“Donald Trump there is actually getting to the crux of what this whole case might be about, which is whether he falsified or knew about the falsification or directed the falsification of records here,” Berman said. “And he used language there that a lot of people look at and say, ‘Wait a second here, was he dancing very close to saying that he was involved?'”

Honig responded: “So, first of all, any statement that Donald Trump makes in public or on social media during the trial is absolutely potentially usable against him.

“Prosecutors can ask the judge, we want to show this video. Now that video Donald Trump’s syntax is a little bit garbled there. Prosecutors I think are going to take note that it sounds like, interpreted a certain way, Donald Trump is saying I was the one who came up with this idea of let’s label these hush money payments as attorney’s fees. That’s the falsification at the heart of the case.”

Newsweek reached out to Trump’s spokesman and lawyer via email for comment.

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