Part of Engoron's ruling against Trump could doom ex-president in criminal hush money case
Donald Trump was recently ordered to pay hundreds of millions of dollars for fraud in New York, but the consequences don't end there. That ruling will likely come back to haunt the former president as he gears up for his first criminal trial in March, according to one legal expert.
Trump was hit with the massive fraud ruling by Judge Engoron, who additionally limited the ex-president's business activities in the entire state for three years. But the judge also made one finding that will hurt Trump in his criminal "hush money" case coming March 25, according to former federal prosecutor Shan Wu.
In the course of arguing that the hush money case, which alleges Trump paid off porn star Stormy Daniels to keep quiet about an affair as a form of election interference, is stronger than most believe, Wu notes that the case is all about a paper trail of money.
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"Rather—like so many of the white-collar cases that the office is known for (and many of the far more complex than this one)—the spine of the case is in the paper trial of the money, i.e., Bragg will be bringing the receipts to trial and its those 'receipts' that Cohen will be corroborating through his testimony," Wu writes referring to the former president's prior attorney and "fixer," Michael Cohen.
He continues:
"He has been remarkably consistent about the payments to Stormy Daniels throughout the years."
Wu adds that Engoron may have made a conviction easier.
"Moreover, in a remarkable poke in the eye to critics of Cohen’s credibility, Judge Arthur Engoron specifically stated that 'Michael Cohen told the truth' in Engoron’s opinion finding Trump liable for fraud to the tune of over $350 million dollars."
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