'Jury is taking notice': Ex-aide says Trump GOP allies' court appearance hurts his case

The slate of elected officials who appeared with former President Donald Trump Monday for his criminal hush money trial only highlighted the absence of the person he needs most to be there, a onetime aide argues.

Sarah Matthews, a former Trump White House deputy press secretary, made this argument during an appearance Monday evening on CNN's "The Situation Room," after a day in Manhattan criminal court that saw the former president flanked by Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH ) and Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL).

"We had some U.S. senators today show up and be by his side," Matthews said. "But the most important person who could show up and be by his side is his wife. And so I think that the jury is definitely taking notice of that."

Melania Trump's has yet to appear at her husband's historic hush money criminal trial since it started roughly four weeks ago. And it's likely damaging his standing with the jury, Matthews said.

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Matthews pointed to Trump's claim he wanted to prevent adult film star Stormy Daniels from going public with her account of an affair, which he denies, to stop a painful story from reaching his family.

But Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg contends Trump falsified business records to hide payments made to Daniels ahead of the 2016 presidential election he was not sure he could win.

"The prosecution has laid out that Melania was not the concern," she said, "that Trump's concern was with the campaign."

Cohen, who was Trump's former fixer testified on Monday that Trump had been laser focused on protecting his campaign, which was already rocked by the exposure of the infamous "Access Hollywood" tape.

"He wasn't thinking about Melania," said Cohen. "This was all about the campaign."

Cohen testified that Trump himself green-lit payments to Daniels, but also had a hand in securing $150,000 to The National Enquirer's parent company AMI to silence ex-Playboy playmate Karen McDougal who claimed she had a year-long affair.

Cohen surreptitiously recorded a conversation between him and Trump, where the former president asked him, "So what do we got to pay for this? One-fifty?"

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