Prosecutors have 'key piece of evidence' to refute Trump's Melania-based defense: expert

One of Donald Trump's big defenses in the hush money criminal case is the claim that he wanted to pay women off to keep it from his wife, Melania. One legal expert said that the claim won't stand up in court because Trump was trying to wriggle out of the hush money.

Speaking on an MSNBC panel, former top Justice Department prosecutor Andrew Weissmann explained that the stories about Trump will be told "in gruesome detail."

That piqued the interest of host Nicolle Wallace: "Like what?"

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Weissmann said that the seedy world of "catch and kill" stories from the National Enquirer would ultimately be a big part of the discussion.

"And why they decided, for instance, one of the key pieces of evidence for the D.A. seems to be to refute the idea that he wants to do this just to keep it from Melania is Donald Trump saying, 'Well, let's see if we could do this later and if I lose the election, who cares because I'm not doing this to keep it from my wife.'"

Weissmann is citing Trump's comments to Michael Cohen not to pay the hush money until after November. If he lost, it wouldn't matter, but if he won, he still wanted to hide it. That shows it wasn't about his wife but about his campaign and his presidency, according to the expert.

"And on day one of this case, it was Monday," Weissmann continued. "The catch and kill was more than just catch and kill. It was, ironically, a fake news campaign. It was to keep information that was damaging to Donald Trump out. But I think we're going to hear a number of details that the D.A. is correct in what he's proffering about efforts to smear his opponents."

Weissmann went on to say that one thing he anticipates they will hear is that Trump was being sent headlines to approve for the National Enquirer beforehand.

"I don't want to call this a major news outlet, but [it was] a media outlet in complete cahoots with a political campaign," Weissmann closed.

See the video discussion below or click the link.

How prosecutors will kill Trump's claim he was worried about Melania: Legal expertwww.youtube.com