"Rick" <
rick@nospam.com> wrote in news:v381i1$19kfn$
1@dont-email.me:
Trump is essentially charged with falsification of business records,
which is normally a misdemeanor. But in this case, the prosecution is
saying that the records were falsified to cover up a second crime,
which is violation of campaign finance laws by not disclosing the hush
money payment which would presumably have hurt the campaign. So the
cover-up of the second crime now makes the initial falsification of
records a felony.
Here is my question. The prosecution has focused on trying to prove
the first crime, which is the falsification of business records. But
where have they shown that the motive for this action was to
circumvent campaign finance laws? It's clear that payments were made
to keep Ms. Daniels from disclosing her story that she had had an
affair with Trump. This definitely seems to have been done to
prevent negative publicity to adversely affect the campaign. But
where have they shown that anyone in the Trump circle was thinking
that this action was to circumvent campaign finance laws? I doubt
anyone was even thinking of this as a campaign finance law violation.
What am I missing here?
Here's my understanding:
There was significant evidence introduced that the purpose of the payoffs
to Daniels and McDougal were to influence the election. The payment to McDougal was a campaign finance violation because it was paid for by
Becker, and was in excess of the amount he was allowed to pay by an
individual for a specific campaign. The payment to Daniels was by Trump
so it wasn't a campaign finance violation. But it was mischaracterized
on his tax returns as a legal expense which, if fraudulent, can be a
felony.
--
Stu
http://DownToEarthLawyer.com
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