Good decision. No matter how he answered a question, they would charge him with perjury.
He’s being facetious.
The idiom is to change tack.
I don’t even know exactly how this is falsifying business records. They put it as an expense, as attorney fees. But even if it was “hush money” it is still an expense. I’m not sure how you put “hush money” on the profit and loss statement. Say he paid it off to settle a dispute, or to protect his business from slander or something like that. It’s still an expense. Maybe advertising expense. Or misc expense. Doesn’t really matter, it’s an expense.
Even if they claim it was done for campaign reasons, it’s still an expense. I know they tied this to a federal campaign violation; which every other prosecutor looked at and said it’s not a crime or not a crime worth pursuing. Gary Hart did the same thing.
So you have maybe one minor campaign finance thing - maybe - because this is not the first time a politician bought silence. And it’s arguably not a campaign thing as the witnesses said this happens all the time with non politicians. And it all went between the corporate lawyer and the extortionist’s lawyer not even the campaign. And it’s arguably a payment to protect his name or his family from the nuisance and embarrassment unrelated to the campaign.
Now, supposedly it was an asset purchase and not an expense. I read that it was structured such that he bought the story rights, which means she can’t talk about it. Didn’t she even have to give the money back? I seem to recall something about that. Any way Say technically it’s an asset not an expense. Maybe that exposes him to a tax audit thing ( or since it’s trump, a criminal tax fraud case lol). The witness today said something to the effect that the story had ongoing value. So if this is this case then yes it is a false business record. It was an asset purchase investment, not an expense. But the statutes of limitations is expired on that claim in New York unless it is also tied to the other allegation. So if it was an asset purchase and the story had value - then in no way is it a campaign violation and there is no “second misdemeanor” that makes the first one a felony. He bought the story rights and can choose to produce a book or movie or do nothing at all with it. Many stories get bought but never turned into films or published books. So if it’s an asset purchase then there is no campaign issue, and thus no crime to piggy back onto, and the case should be dismissed because the statutes of limitations have run out.
This entire case is ridiculous. I know Trump can’t say too much - not because of the gag order as much as he has to reserve all his possible defenses. But he’s right the case is a sham political persecution run from the White House. The White House and the DNC have been after him for 9 years with every batcrap crazy theory they can muster.
i’m still trying to find a crime....the books legal services...should have written what...paying off black mailer??
Excellent play here.
He is saying he can’t reply to the simple question; “will you testify?”, because it could be used against him according to the “gag” order. HOWEVER, I suspect that he is also intimatng that if he testifies, his responses and testimony could be considered by the judge as commenting ABOUT the judge, the ABOUT the DA and ABOUT the entire witch hunt and the violations of his rights. A potential violation of the gag order, which is suffocating his own ability to defend himself in court, therefore a potential violation of his lawful right to defend himself upon the stand.
If the latter is also in play, his attorneys should file a motion to dismiss on the grounds that he is unable to defend himself on the stand due to court imposed threats due to what he may say AGAINST the court and the DA in his responses to questions while on the stand, according to the wording of the “gag” order.
IF this is so, then this case should be thrown out, or might be overturned very quickly.
...but I’m not a lawyer
GOOD.
Smart move on his part. Defense lawyers rarely if ever want their clients to take the stand.
Good. He’s great at campaigning, but every lawyer’s nightmare for a client testifying.