Alvin Bragg's secret weapon against Trump revealed by legal experts

For weeks, a mystery has surrounded Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's business fraud charges against former President Donald Trump. To enhance the charges from misdemeanors to felonies, Bragg has to establish that the fraud was done to conceal another, underlying crime.

But he hasn't revealed what that crime actually is, and has declined to provide a "bill of particulars" on request of Trump's legal team — something that Trump's allies have been quick to claim is proof the whole case is illegitimate.

But now, as several legal experts including Paula Junghans, Norm Eisen, Siven Watt, Joshua Stanton, and Fred Wertheimer write for Just Security, there are clear hints of what Bragg's legal basis is — and they say it's strong.

"The main facts of the case have been known for some time," they wrote. "DA Bragg alleges that, in October 2016, Trump had attorney Michael Cohen pay adult film actress Stormy Daniels (whose real name is Stephanie Clifford) a $130,000 payment to prevent her from publicizing an alleged sexual encounter she had with Trump.

"To conceal the hush money payment, it was agreed that Cohen would make the payment to Daniels via a shell company (Essential Consultants), on the agreement that Trump would later reimburse Cohen."

What ties this all together, they wrote – and what likely allows for the felony enhancement – is violations of tax law. And there are not just state statutes that apply here, but federal ones.

"Because Bragg’s response to the request for a bill of particulars leaves open the door that other offenses than those listed might also serve as the 'bump-up' predicates to the falsifying business records charges, in addition to New York state tax statutes, we also consider the possibility that prosecutors will attempt to leverage federal tax offenses for this purpose," they wrote.

"Two statutes appear most relevant: Declaration under Penalties of Perjury (26 U.S.C. 7206(1)), and Willful Assistance in Preparation of False or Fraudulent Tax Documents (26 U.S.C. 7206(2))."

In essence, these crimes involve deliberately misrepresenting finances on tax documents with intent to defraud the state. Some of these tax crimes are misdemeanors — but that doesn't matter, because business fraud to cover up a misdemeanor is still a felony.

"Whatever the effectiveness of such a bump-up based on the alleged primary campaign finance violations, pursuing an approach based upon state tax violations is wise and well grounded," they concluded.

"The strongest case involves statements to tax authorities falsely characterizing the payments to Michael Cohen as “legal fees,” rather than their true nature (reimbursements for a hush money payment). A strong case could also involve other variations on state criminal tax violations, as well as possible federal ones."