Former President Donald Trump’s long-time practice of not communicating by text or email is likely to present yet another obstacle for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office.
Prosecutors for Bragg’s office are hoping to prove to the jury in Trump’s criminal case that he’s guilty of the 34 felony counts of falsifying business records that he’s been charged with. Those charges stem from the hush money payment that former Trump fixer Michael Cohen made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 election. Trump has pleaded not guilty to all charges and denied Daniels’ claims.
But while the DA’s office is hoping to prove to the jury that Cohen made the payment on behalf of Trump’s campaign, there isn’t much of a paper trail for them to use against the former president.
“That’s the biggest problem with the case,” former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani told Newsweek. “The business records were false, but the prosecution has to tie Trump to those false records. They need something more than him signing the checks. And they still have to prove the campaign finance violation or election fraud.”
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The job before Manhattan prosecutors has been made all the more difficult since Trump does not use email or text messages to communicate and maintains a distance from most of his contacts.
Last week, former publisher David Pecker, who testified as the first witness in the trial, told the court that he would communicate with Trump through his office phone and “infrequently” on his cell phone. But mostly, Pecker said he was told to communicate with Trump through Cohen.
Upon meeting Cohen in 2007, Pecker was informed that “all of the contacts that I had with Mr. Trump, now my contact should go through Michael Cohen.”
“If anything ever came up to tell Mr. Trump about, if there were any rumors in the marketplace about Mr. Trump or his family…I would call Michael Cohen directly,” Pecker recalled for the jury.
Former federal prosecutor and elected state attorney Michael McAuliffe told Newsweek that because prosecutors are facing this challenge where there’s no direct paper trail, the DA’s office is doing their best to explain to the jury “the eco-system in which Trump directs and controls nearly everything in his personal, political, and business activities.”
“It’s not a stretch to conclude that Trump was the puppeteer,” McAuliffe said. “Importantly, jurors are instructed that they can use common sense in reaching conclusions about evidence and witnesses.”
Former assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Weissmann told Newsweek that there are also other ways to fill that gap.
“I would anticipate the introduction of telephone records and records establishing the money trail are worth keeping our eyes on, calls to and from the defendant at key times and his personal handling of various reimbursement payments along with the alleged fake invoices,” Weissmann said. “In addition, we have seen Bragg already use Trump’s public statements that will be used to show motive and mens rea.” Mens rea refers to the legal theory surrounding criminal intent.
Of all the evidence that the prosecutors will show the court, Rahmani said, “The audio recording of Trump talking with Cohen about McDougal will be key.”
Lead prosecutor Joshua Steinglass already told jurors during his opening arguments that they would hear a cell phone recording that Cohen taped of a conversation he had with Trump in September of 2016.
In the recording, Cohen is expected to tell Trump that he is creating an entity to buy former Playboy model Karen McDougal’s story about her relationship with Trump. Prosecutors said on the tape, Trump is heard asking his then-attorney, “So what do we have to pay for this? $150,000?” They say he also suggests that they pay cash.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.