Beneath the sexy headlines, former president Donald Trump's hush money case playing out in Manhattan is actually about a whether or not he committed state and federal election fraud, according to a legal expert.
Driving the prosecution led by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is a "scheme to commit tax fraud, a scheme to commit state and federal election fraud, and it was all facilitated by these false entries according to the prosecution's theory of the case," former federal prosecutor Barbara McQuade explained during an appearance on MSNBC's "The Last Word" with Lawrence O'Donnell.
She added that the effort to falsify business records in order to "cover for the hush money payments" and launder them through Michael Cohen's shell company and then on top of that writing them off as legal fees will be on display once the trial commences.
McQuade said that Trump and company went so far as to have "grossed out the numbers as alleged in the indictment so that Michael Cohen would get extra money because he would have to pay taxes on this money that was really income."
The insight comes as DA Bragg filed a response to Donald Trump's motion asking that his case be tossed out of court — and accused the defendant of demanding special treatment because he was a presidential candidate.
ALSO READ: What is Trump planning if he gets a second term? Be worried. Be really worried.
The former president had griped last month that the case – zeroing in on payments Trump allegedly made to porn star Stormy Daniels — “has prejudiced President Trump and the public by interfering with his presidential campaign.”
Trump is running for a second term in the White House while he is a defendant in several civil and criminal cases around the country.
Bragg argued that Trump is playing a VIP card by considering himself special to any other criminal defendant.
"This argument is essentially an attempt to evade criminal responsibility because the defendant is politically powerful," the prosecutor wrote in the 98-page filing.
In April, Trump pleaded not guilty to a 34-count indictment accusing him of falsifying business records in connection with a $130,000 to porn star actress back in October 2016 to win the silence of Stormy Daniels over an alleged 2006 sexual romp with him.
There was also a $150,000 payment in August 2016 issued by the parent company of the National Enquirer to former Playboy model Karen McDougal that was meant to "catch and kill" the story of having relations with Trump that was suspected of being attributed to a potentially illicit contribution to Trump's 2016 presidential campaign.
The former president has denied any wrongdoing.
