Alvin Bragg Case Against Trump 'Proved Beyond a Reasonable Doubt': Attorney
Former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to the media as he leaves court during his trial for allegedly covering up hush money payments at Manhattan Criminal Court on May 16, 2024 in New York City.
Attorney and legal analyst Glenn Kirschner said on Friday that it was "absolutely the right call" for the prosecution to bring Michael Cohen to the witness stand in the criminal hush money trial against former President Donald Trump, adding that the case "has been proved beyond a reasonable doubt."
Trump, the presumptive 2024 Republican presidential nominee, became the first former president in U.S. history to stand trial in a criminal case last month. 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 hush money paid to adult film star Stormy Daniels by Cohen during his 2016 presidential campaign. Daniels had alleged she had an affair with Trump in 2006, which he has denied. The former president has pleaded not guilty to all charges and said the case against him is politically motivated.
"I think he did far more harm than he did good for Trump's defense," Kirschner, a former U.S. attorney and frequent critic of Trump, said about Cohen on Friday in a YouTube video posted to political commentator Brian Tyler Cohen's channel. Kirschner also acknowledged that there were a "couple little points that the defense scored on cross-examination as they do on every cooperating witness in every criminal trial."
Cohen, a former Trump attorney who is now a vocal critic of the former president, is a disbarred lawyer who previously pleaded guilty to tax evasion, bank fraud, campaign finance violations, and lying to Congress. Cohen recently testified before the prosecution, and then was cross-examined by Trump's defense team for two days.
"The crux of the case is that they falsified business records. That's the crime," Kirschner said on Friday referring to the 34 felony counts the former president faces.
From the four weeks of testimony from various witnesses, including Cohen and former Trump aides, Kirschner said "it couldn't be more obvious. This was not payment for legal services to Michael Cohen this is repayment of hush money that Michael Cohen paid." He added that the reasoning behind the payment and alleged falsification of documents was to "gain unfair advantage in an election and to get around campaign finance laws regarding contributions to a campaign."
"That case has been proved beyond a reasonable doubt," Kirschner said. "The only impediment between where we are now and the criminal convictions of Donald Trump is maybe one juror who might want to decide the case based on their own political preferences or ideology rather than a fair assessment of the evidence." The 12 member jury is responsible for determining whether the former president is guilty or not guilty of the 34 offenses charged.
Newsweek has reached out to Kirschner as well as Trump's and Cohen's lawyers for comment via email.
Other legal analysts have commented on Cohen's testimony and the state of the prosecution's case.
Barbara McQuade, former U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan, wrote in an email to Newsweek on Thursday that prosecutors' "treatment" of Cohen shows that Bragg's office is aware the witness is "an unlikable character."
"The prosecution did not hide from Cohen's warts, but allowed the jury to see them by eliciting testimony from witnesses about them," she said. "But the jury need not like him to believe him. The prosecution has built scaffolding in the form of documents, phone records, and testimony of other witnesses without any credibility issues before calling Cohen as a witness. In this way, the jury already knows most of the facts about which Cohen will testify. Cohen's only job here really is to provide context and connect the dots."
Meanwhile, attorney and legal analyst Johnathan Turley called Cohen's cross-examination a "dramatic implosion," previously telling Newsweek that "Cohen's testimony not only highlighted his long legacy of lies but continued claims of false statements in this very trial." He also said "Cohen left the government without a single credible witness to establish any criminal intent by Trump."
CNN legal analyst Elie Honig said in a Thursday CNN panel discussion, "I don't think I've ever seen a star cooperating witness get his knees chopped out quite as clearly and dramatically as what just happened with Michael Cohen," in reference to Cohen's testimony.
In a different conversation, CNN host Anderson Cooper told Honig on Thursday if he were a juror he would "absolutely" have doubts about Cohen's testimony, adding that he would think "this guy is making this up as he goes along."
Newsweek has reached out to other legal analysts via email for comment.
On Friday, there was no testimony and jurors were excused as the former president attended his son Barron's high school graduation. On Monday, Trump's defense team is expected to finish cross-examination of Cohen. The prosecution is expected to rest its case soon after as it said Cohen will be its last witness.
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