Trump surrogates directed to nix mention of 'hush money' during trial: report

Former President Donald Trump's allies are auditioning to be his running mate by taking to the airwaves to defend him against criminal charges, and his campaign has offered some suggestions for framing the case.

The former president has become the first ever to stand trial with the start of jury selection Monday in the so-called hush money case involving porn actress Stormy Daniels, and the Trump campaign is circulating talking points that blame the prosecution on president Joe Biden and offer guidance for discussing the case, reported CNN.

"It urges Trump surrogates to paint the trial as 'a full-frontal assault on American Democracy and the Constitution' and a 'witch hunt' designed by the Biden campaign to hurt the former president’s 2024 White House bid – despite it being a state case brought by Manhattan’s top prosecutor," the network reported. "It also directs supporters not to refer to the case as a 'hush money case,' instead labeling it as being 'entries in the company’s records,' and claiming Trump 'did not control the books.'"

The document spends an entire page attacking Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg and devotes another section to discrediting Trump's former personal attorney Michael Cohen, who pleaded guilty in 2018 to crimes related to the same scheme and is expected to serve as a key witness in this trial.

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The campaign's talking points describe Cohen, who served three years in prison mostly on home confinement, as someone with a "personal vendetta" against the ex-president, and the document echoes many of Trump's attacks on prosecutors and insists he was completely innocent.

"President Trump did nothing wrong, his position has never wavered," the document states.

The document also states twice that, while Trump might potentially be convicted, he “faces no realistic threat of jail, even with a wrongful guilty verdict from the jury.”