'So totally sketchy': New report on Trump criminal case witnesses stuns legal experts
June 03, 2024
It isn't unusual for an expert witness to be paid for testimony, but a new report that former President Donald Trump's media company and campaign have delivered major financial benefits to nine witnesses in his criminal trials is raising concerns.
ProPublica's extensive reporting found Margo Martin, a Trump White House aide, got a 20 percent raise and former Trump golf caddie Dan Scavino was appointed to the Trump Media board after he was subpoenaed.
National security lawyer Bradley Moss responded on X, "So totally sketchy."
Campaign aide Boris Epshteyn's salary doubled from $26,000 to $53,500 a month, the report notes.
Allen Weisselberg, the Trump Organization executive who has gone to prison twice for Trump, scored more than $2 million in a severance package, the report notes.
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The extensive report sorted through payment sources from Trump's campaign, PAC, and his businesses.
ProPublica reporter Justin Elliott appeared on MSNBC Monday to discuss his reporting with legal expert Andrew Weissmann.
Weissmann asked if Elliott had been able to gather "factual information that would explain why they were suddenly getting more money or why their relatives were being hired?”
Elliott said that the lawyers who got significantly greater sums claimed that their hours worked increased. The campaign claimed that Epshteyn's workload significantly increased and that warranted his salary increasing from $312,000 annually to $642,000.
Former prosecutor Richard Signorelli pointed out, "Buying off witnesses constitutes alleged obstruction of justice and unethical conduct by any attorneys who may be involved with the payoffs."
Shockwaves rippled through social media Monday.
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Historian Michael P. Breen commented, "The crime spree continues."
Meanwhile, veteran newsman Dan Rather said that Trump and his lawyers sent a cease and desist order to ProPublica demanding the article not be published, adding, "so you should definitely read it, ASAP."
Legal and political expert Amee Vanderpool argued, "The exchange of benefits for certain favorable testimony is a crime."
The group End Citizens United blasted the report's findings, saying, "Trump's corruption seems to know no end."
Speaking on the MSNBC panel with host Nicolle Wallace, former Jan. 6 committee investigator Tim Heaphy said that this information is consistent with the pattern that they found in their probe.
He explained that cases like this never provide "direct" evidence that there was an "intent to corruptly influence testimony."
"You don't need it," he said. "The power of the person providing the benefit is such that it's clear that they're clear what the intent is."
See the clip below or at the link here.
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