Former President Donald Trump has still not been indicted by the Manhattan District Attorney's Office for making hush-money payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels, but sources within the office tell The Daily Beast that they fear there won't be enough to convict him if they do bring charges in this case.
One source tells the publication that the Manhattan DA may have been better off wrapping the Stormy Daniels payments into a broader indictment of business fraud against Trump, but they acknowledged that either approach would carry risks.
“The Stormy case was the easiest, the most straightforward, but had the risk of being nothing more than a misdemeanor," they said. "The business fraud case had more heft, but was complex and sprawling, and much more difficult. There was never any discussion of breaking them apart."
Additionally, the publication writes the chances of the case being successful could also be hurt by the fact that the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York had already declined to charge Trump for the Daniels payments even though it successfully charged former "fixer" Michael Cohen for making them.
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Another insider source tells The Daily Beast that the Daniels payments were more tailormade for SDNY because it was clear that Cohen's actions constituted a federal crime.
“The hush money case had no exact state charge," they said. "It should have been the feds."
Nonetheless, Karen Agrifolo, a former top deputy for former Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance, argued that it would be wrong to dismiss the Daniels case as trivial.
"This was Donald Trump’s first attempt at interfering in an election," she said. "He did it in 2016 and again in 2020. In terms of what it represents, I think it’s significant."
