Former President Donald Trump still has two robust defense strategies to rebut prosecutors' charges in his Manhattan criminal trial.
The former president’s defense has taken some major hits, but Trump could still win his trial in Manhattan.
First, watch for the defense to take a wrecking ball to Michael Cohen, the former Trump lawyer/fixer and a key witness, in the hopes of taking the whole case down with him. Then there’s another, less explored route that Trump’s team could try: asking the judge to give the jury the option of convicting him on lesser, misdemeanor offenses instead of the felony counts that have actually been brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and his team of prosecutors.
Despite what you may have heard from some legal commentators, this is not a normal amount of baggage for a key cooperator in a major criminal case. There is a reason why roughly half of the respondents insaid that Cohen is not honest, and why a plurality — nearly 40 percent of respondents — said that the prosecutors’ case would be weaker if it is based “in large part” on Cohen’s testimony.
It’s true that Cohen’s testimony is likely to represent just a small portion of the evidence presented by the D.A.’s office, and he will presumably be corroborated by documentary evidence and testimony from other witnesses on facts like the timing and structure of the payments to Daniels. But that may not be as conclusive as some analysts have suggested.
Prosecutors charged Trump with no misdemeanor offenses, only felonies. But at the close of the trial, Trump’s team is allowed to ask the judge to give the jury the option of convicting him instead on the “lesser included” misdemeanor offenses of falsifying business records.
Donald Trump Defense Strategies Manhattan Trial Prosecutors' Charges
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