The lawsuit filed by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is against former President Donald Trump over payments to silence porn stars about their affair. It is based on a crime so subtle that it is never seen as a single crime. to the three lawyers working on that investigation.
These insiders spoke to The Daily Beast on condition of anonymity. Because they are not allowed to talk about ongoing criminal investigations.
A grand jury may soon decide whether to indict Trump for falsifying business records and evading campaign finance laws. when he used his company—the Trump Organization—and His personal “service provider”—Michael. Cohen—To Pay Quietly for adult film star Stormi To keep this revelation from hampering his 2016 presidential campaign, journalists from around the world are now settled on the New York City Courthouse. to await the possible arrest of the former American president
But the criminal investigation is only a small part of a much broader criminal investigation. about Trump’s lies to banks, insurers and government agencies
Bragg, who inherited the investigation from his predecessor, Sy Vance Jr., shut down operations broadly immediately after taking office. And recently resurrected this narrow section as a single case.
His decision to bring back what was seen as a “zombie” case came as a surprise to many insiders who had been briefed on several iterations of the Stormy Daniels case over several periods. years ago
“The Stormy case is the easiest. as straightforward as possible But the risk is nothing more than a misdemeanor. Business fraud cases have more clues. But it’s complicated and lengthy. and much more difficult There has never been any talk of separating them,” one source told The Daily Beast.
What attracted prosecutors in the first case was how the Trump Organization reimbursed Cohen as a separate check that had been segregated for a year. Participate in monthly cover-ups using this private business while Trump is in the White House.
But the New York County Attorney would never consider pursuing a hush money case himself, for one thing or another. Investigators on the DA’s Trump team can’t even agree on whether Trump committed a serious crime.
Forging business records is just a crime in New York, and three sources said. Vance will not give the green light to the historic law enforcement indictment against the former president. All of this landed Trump serving the city’s notoriously violent jail sentence in less than a year. Rikers Island.
Still, they state that this criminal charge could be bumped into a crime. If business records are forged to act or cover up separate Crime – Facts prosecutors fought for months. A recent memoir of former prosecutor, former team leader Mark Pomerantz details the vivid detail he had to resort to. How is “constructive legal theory” to pursue this case?
One version involved this local DA by attaching state charges to federal crimes. in the end The whole idea was that Trump failed to accurately record the silent payments made public in the carefully reviewed reports filed with the Federal Election Commission. But tying up state-level business records charged with alleged federal crimes will open up Pandora’s Box, according to one source. Because doing so would clearly highlight how this should be a federal lawsuit.
And that’s pretty risky. Because the US Attorney’s Office The Southern District of New York has chosen not to impeach Trump.
Federal prosecutors vigorously pursued Cohen and classified Trump as “Person 1,” but they stopped there. The federal government granted an immunity agreement to obtain incriminating information from Trump Organization finance officials, check-cutter Allen Weisselberg, and national inspector David Pecker, a media executive who helps brokerages handle silent money.
“The silent money case doesn’t have a fixed state bill. It should be a feed,” said a second person who spoke to The Daily Beast.
Assistant District Attorneys and their outside counsel are not yet clear whether the new approach will lead to court hearings.
“DANY would have to argue that the intention to commit or conceal a federal crime has turned record forgery into a felony. No court of appeals in New York has ever upheld (or rejected) this interpretation of the law,” Pomerantz wrote in a press release. People vs. Donald Trump: An Insider’s Account“There is a high risk that criminal charges will be dismissed before the jury even considers them.”
The second edition of Team DA is even more protracted. This involves attaching business records charged to criminal maniacs: See Stormy Daniels’ attempt to sell her story in the days leading up to the 2016 election as she tried to extort Trump. In his book, Pomerantz admits that this is “Somewhat uncomfortable structure”, which acts as if That would turn Trump’s payments into money laundering, he thought, but the “soft-core extortion” theory, as Pomerantz calls it, was lifted by itself. myself
“According to the law Quiet payments don’t turn into dirty money until (Stormie Daniels) receives them, so neither Cohen nor Trump commit money laundering by sending them.” Rantz wrote in his book
The book states that Vance hired outside lawyers twice. This is a rare procedure that is almost unheard of for a law enforcement office like this. To research the matter, Vance decided against any criminal allegations in late 2019 and revisited the verdict in early 2021, but ultimately decided against it.
The final nail in the coffin appears to have come when Bragg inherited the case in early 2022. In his book, Pomerantz recalls February 9, 2022, a time when Bragg said he “can’t see the world” in which he would use Kohei. testify against Trump on Tuesday A spokeswoman for the office said four people who attended the meeting disputed the recollections.
Joe Tacopina, one of Trump’s defense attorneys in the case, told The Daily Beast he was not surprised that attorneys close to the investigation for a long time were skeptical about making Stormy Daniels a standalone criminal case. “I’ve spoken to two FEC presidents. It’s not even close. I don’t understand how they did this. Eventually it gets thrown away,” Tacopina said.
Skeptics, however, may see Bragg’s recent decision to hire a top Justice Department attorney as a way to overcome concerns that state cases cannot run on their own. Or it could be weakened by the DOJ’s decision not to even charge Trump. Following the departure of Matt Colangelo, who left a highly distinguished position as acting deputy attorney general of the country. He previously worked on a fraud investigation against Trump at the New York Attorney General’s office.
And Bragg apparently approached Cohen, making him the key witness before a grand jury ready to impeach Trump any day.
Still, the three sources encouraged Bragg to take on the case, noting that this could be just the first iteration of a larger investigation.
Karen Agrifolo, who served as the DA’s former senior deputy chief for many years, said the Stormy Daniels case deserves more serious consideration than it has ever received.
“I disagree with people who think this is not a serious case. This is Donald Trump’s first attempt at election interference. He did it in 2016 and again in 2020 in terms of what it represents. I think it’s very important,” she said, noting that the DA was smart to take action first. because the statute of limitations may expire in May
“The 11 payments to Michael Cohen—then making false entries in business records—was made by the chairman who was in the Oval office at the time. she said
(Tag for translation)Donald J. Trump
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