Former President Donald Trump appears to be on the cusp of being indicted by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg for falsifying business records relating to his $130,000 hush payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels, to cover up their alleged former affair from voters in the 2016 election.
But a big problem for this case, argued former federal prosecutor Elie Honig on CNN's "OutFront" Monday, is that the key element of intent rests on the word of Trump's former attorney and fixed Michael Cohen, who was convicted of perjury from his claims in this very case.
"So one of the lawyers who quit because [Trump previously wasn't indicted] wrote a book about it," said Burnett. "That book came out recently. And Mark Pomerantz wrote it about Bragg. He says, at one point, 'Alvin Bragg commented that he could not see a world in which we would indict Trump and call Cohen as a prosecution witness.' "Unless there's something that no one knows about, that seems like exactly what he's going to do."
Honig concurred with this assessment.
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"From a prosecutorial point of view, to stake a case solely on the word of Michael Cohen — yes, there are checks, yes there are documents, but on the key issue of did Donald Trump know about and authorize the false booking — if you base that solely on Michael Cohen, you are asking for trouble."
"There is one example that we just he did from Mark Pomerantz," continued Honig. "But if you go beyond that, Cohen has been convicted of perjury. He was convicted of financial fraud and tax fraud for himself. He also said the exact opposite back in 2018. He told the FEC these payments were entirely nonpolitical, entirely legal. So, he is going to be a very problematic witness."
Elie Honig warns Alvin Bragg will struggle to convict Trump on Michael Cohen's word alonewww.youtube.com
