How 'additional charges' may be coming for Trump
Former President Donald Trump is facing a very likely indictment by prosecutors in Manhattan for bookkeeping fraud related to his $130,000 hush payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels to prevent 2016 voters from learning about their alleged affair. He also faces serious legal liability from an elections investigation in Georgia and two federal cases being probed by special counsel Jack Smith.
But even with just the Manhattan investigation, there is no guarantee the charges will stop at an accounting misdemeanor. On MSNBC Monday, former federal prosecutor Joyce Vance told anchor Ari Melber that other charges are possible out of that grand jury.
"How do prosecutors try to build beyond only campaign finance?" Because then ... it hangs or falls on the jury's view of the criminal intent or motivation in that window, in that October window, whereas if there's anything else, Joyce, I mean, business records, tax, other things that were mischaracterized, are those potential counts in New York as well?"
"The short answer is, there are other possible charges," said Vance. "I don't think it has to have been exclusively motivated by the campaign. That wouldn't make any sense in the real world. People have dual motivations all the time, and one of the early rulings in the John Edwards trial, which was for similar charges, albeit federal, suggested that a dual motivation was acceptable. You know, that's not directly on point, Ari, but it's a pretty good indication.
Specifically, argued Vance, "there could be, for instance, a tax avoidance motivation that would violate New York state law."
"There are a lot of other possibilities," said Vance. "We're working in the blind because we don't know what evidence the Manhattan D.A. has elicited from witnesses in front of his grand jury. But it's possible that there could be additional charges we just don't know about yet as well."
Watch the segment below or at this link.
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