Trump's plan to beat criminal case complicated by 'legal issue' involving intent

Donald Trump is likely hoping that the jury in his criminal case will find he has a "mixed motive" when it came to paying off adult film star Stormy Daniels to hide an alleged affair, but that might not be enough to save him, according to a legal expert Sunday.

CNN legal analyst Norm Eisen, who also served as one of the impeachment lawyers for House Democrats and White House ethics czar, appeared on the network to talk about Trump's case. The former president is currently facing 34 felony charges for bookkeeping fraud associated with payments to Daniels ahead of the 2016 election.

The host asked Eisen about the testimony of longtime Trump aide Hope Hicks, who said Trump wanted to protect Melania but was intensely focused on the campaign.

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"As a matter of law, if the prosecution can show that Trump had a mixed motive, but he would not have made these payments but for the campaign, legally, the judge is going to instruct the jury that's enough to establish the intent to commit a crime, then you have the phony documents, you have the cover up, guilty, if you find beyond a reasonable doubt," Eisen said.

This ties in directly with what former Trump lawyer Jim Trusty called a "nuclear moment."

"Does this judge tell the jury that President Trump, to be convicted, has to have an exclusively personal motivation or can it be mixed?" Trusty asked.

As for Eisen, he added that "the other evidence that the prosecution wants also came in through Hicks, because she also testified that she did not believe some of what Donald Trump told her."

"And that he made some admissions like isn't it better that this came in now, after the campaign, than during the campaign," he said. "So there was ammunition for both sides, but that's the controlling legal issue."

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