Disgraced, scandal-ridden former President Donald Trump is facing down a very likely felony indictment in the coming days in Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s investigation into the infamous Trump/Stormy Daniels hush money investigation they may finally see Donald J. Trump held personally accountable for his own crimes for the very first time.
Now, following remarks made by one of the ex-president’s own attorneys, legal experts are weighing in as the grand jury trial comes to a close, and theorizing that Trump and his legal team are very likely to use Donald’s own wife, Melania Trump, as a proverbial human shield in a key defense move on the former guy’s part as they make a last-ditch effort to save Trump from official felony charges.
Monday morning, Trump attorney Joe Tacopina made an appearance on ABC’s Good Morning America, where he refused to confirm to the host that his former presidential client “authorized” the $130,000 payment made to adult film star and alleged former Trump affair partner, Stormy Daniels, by Donald’s old personal attorney and self-described “fixer” Michael Cohen, on Trump’s behalf just weeks before the 2016 election, in an effort to buy Daniels’ silence regarding their alleged sexual affair.
Eventually, Tacopina did concede to the GMA host that there was a possibility that Donald Trump did order that payment to be made to Daniels, through his then-attorney. However, the Trump lawyer went on to attempt to add a rather interesting spin to Donald’s defense of making that alleged payment — his wife.
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“It’s not directly related to the campaign,” Tacopina said as he attempted to cobble together a defense for the former president. “He made this with personal funds to prevent something coming out [that was] false but embarrassing to himself, his family, his young son.”
With that, legal experts are now fairly confident that Donald and his legal team are about to center his own wife as his defense for making hush money payments to the woman he allegedly cheated on her with.
Vice’s Greg Walters writes on the development, “Trump’s argument that the money aimed at defusing an ’embarrassing’ situation, rather than circumvent campaign finance rules, could indeed help him out of his legal jam, legal experts say. But it could also raise awkward questions inside the Trump family home, by prompting a debate over why a guy like Trump would have shelled out so much money to cover up a story that was totally bogus.”
Former federal prosecutor Renato Mariotti weighed in and said that the claim of paying Daniels for her silence so Melania didn’t find out about their affair may be the only legal leg Trump and his team even have a chance to stand on before the Manhattan grand jury.
Election attorney Jerry Goldfeder said the burden of proof will rest on DA Bragg’s shoulders to draw a clear, concise, and unmistakable line between the hush money payments and Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign.
“The DA is going to have to prove that the payment was in furtherance of the campaign and that Trump did have criminal intent,” Goldfeder explains.
But at the end of the day, Donald Trump’s defense still has to deal with the wild card in it all — Donald’s old personal attorney, the very man who made that hush money payment, and went on to be indicted and serve prison time on charges related to that check he cut to Stormy Daniels.
Read the full report from Vice here.
Featured image via Political Tribune Gallery
