Following on from Across's explanation of what Trump is being accused of (falsifying records) as opposed to the payola testimony etc. (thanks Across!)
Prosecutors spell out overall theory, underlying crime at the heart of Trump trial
By Devlin Barrett
Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass said the prosecution of Donald Trump for felony falsification of business records is based on the belief that fake records were created to cover up an underlying violation of New York state election law.
Under state law, falsifying business records is a misdemeanor, unless it is done to further or conceal another crime. Then it can be charged, as it was in Trump’s case, as a felony. In the Trump case, prosecutors have often been vague about what, exactly, is the underlying crime that was allegedly being concealed or furthered in the hush money case.
At a hearing Tuesday, Steinglass said the statute in question is New York state election law 17-152 — conspiracy to promote or prevent an election. That law makes it a misdemeanor when two or more people “conspire to promote or prevent the election of any person to a public office by unlawful means.”
Steinglass said the entire prosecution theory “is predicated on the idea that there was a conspiracy to influence the election in 2016.”
The prosecutor made the argument after Trump lawyer Emil Bove said prosecutors were eliciting from David Pecker, the former CEO of the company that published the National Enquirer, testimony involving people and political actions that do not relate to any crime.
Steinglass said Bove was wrong about what the evidence showed. “Mr. Bove may interpret some of the evidence in a way that’s different from the way that we interpret it,” the prosecutor said.
The defense and the prosecution did agree on one thing: Both expect there to be continued disputes at trial over how much testimony about political figures, and political activity, should be presented to the jury.