Former Pentagon lawyer: Trump's attorney is dodging the central crime his client committed
Former President Donald Trump's attorney, Joe Tacopina, vehemently attacked the Manhattan DA in an interview with CNN's Erin Burnett on Wednesday evening, claiming the likely impending indictment of the former president is a partisan political act.
But, argued former Pentagon special counsel and editor of "Just Security," Tacopina was eager to dodge the actual issue at hand and the charges Trump could face.
"Here we are, a likely indictment is pending here," said Burnett. "What's your takeaway from Joe Tacopina?"
"I thought what was most curious was what he didn't talk about," said Goodman. "He's talking about things that are not crimes, or not the central crime. Nobody would be charged for hush money. That's true, because paying hush money is not a crime. He wants to talk about the campaign finance charges and that is shakier, but the central charge that he will bring is falsifying business records, that when they paid Michael Cohen they did not say that the payment was for, its true purpose, and it was legal services and that he was on retainer, and that is what the central charge was."
That particular charge would just be a misdemeanor punishable by a fine, Goodman added — but much more serious charges could be awaiting Trump in the Fulton County, Georgia election investigation, particularly in light of the newly revealed phone call between him and Georgia officials as he tried to overturn the 2020 election results.
"I think it's incredibly valuable, and that's not just the existence of the phone call — and he's trying to set up a special session with the House Speaker, GOP leader pushes back — but it's an audio recording of the phone call," said Goodman. "That's very important. It's vivid information that has an inherent reliability and credibility for a jury, that can be very compelling for a jury, and now it will have three, at least three audio recordings that will empower the prosecutor."
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