Donald Trump's legal team made an "apparent slip" during his hush money trial, a legal analyst has suggested.
Writing on X, formerly Twitter, Andrew Weissmann, a former federal prosecutor said that when Jeff McConney testified on Monday that he was told by ex-Trump Organization executive Allen Weisselberg that Trump was reimbursing his then-lawyer Michael Cohen $130,000, but that he didn't know what exactly the repayment was for, this went against Trump's argument that he was paying Cohen "legal fees."
The high-profile trial, which is now in its fourth week, will determine whether the former president falsified business records over payments, allegedly facilitated by Trump's former lawyer and fixer Cohen, to Daniels to keep an alleged affair secret before the 2016 election, as alleged in a criminal indictment.
Prosecutors led by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg allege the payments, including the $130,000 referenced in court, were part of a scheme to stop potentially damaging stories about the Republican from becoming public. Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee for the 2024 election, has denied wrongdoing and pleaded not guilty to all 34 charges against him in the case.
McConney was questioned on the stand for about three hours. He said nine out of 11 checks Cohen received came from Trump's personal account.
On cross-examination, Trump's attorney, Emil Bove, asked McConney whether Trump's payments could be characterized as legal expenses to which he agreed, NBC News reported.
"Payments to lawyers by the Trump Organization are legal expenses, right?" Bove asked. "Yes, sir," McConney replied.
Weissmann wrote that this was an error, saying: "An apparent slip by Trump counsel as he elicits from McConney that Weisselberg told him the money was for some sort of reimbursement. Remember: that is the DA's position, and that the paperwork disguised it as legal fees. And Trump wants to say it was really legal fees and not a reimbursement."
An apparent slip by Trump counsel as he elicits from McConney that Weisselberg told him the money was for some sort of reimbursement. Remember: that is the DA's position, and that the paperwork disguised it as legal fees. And Trump wants to say it was really legal fees and not a…
— Andrew Weissmann (weissmann11 on Threads)🌻 (@AWeissmann_) May 6, 2024
Newsweek contacted a representative for Trump by email to comment on this story.
Elsewhere, Tristan Snell—a legal analyst and former New York assistant attorney who helped lead the prosecution against Trump University, which was successfully sued over deceptive and aggressive marketing practices, said that by objecting "to every other piece of evidence" presented in the trial, Trump's lawyers were making "it look like he has something to hide."
He said on X that Trump's lawyers are "doing him no favors."
Trump's lawyers are doing him no favors by objecting over and over to every other piece of evidence.
— Tristan Snell (@TristanSnell) May 6, 2024
It makes it look like he has something to hide (which he does).
But Trump is potentially making them object to everything so he FEELS like his attorneys are fighting for him.
Meanwhile, Judge Juan Merchan fined Trump $1,000 Monday for his 10th gag-order violation. Merchan warned the former president that should the violations continue, he would consider imprisoning him.
"The last thing I want to do is put you in jail," Merchan said. "You are the former president of the U.S. and possibly the next."
Trump's trial continues Tuesday and is expected to last for a total of six weeks.
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Kate Plummer is a Newsweek reporter based in London, U.K. Her focus is on U.S. politics and national affairs, and ... Read more
