Trump’s own defense and judge’s instructions led to guilty verdict - Washington Examiner
Kaelan Deese
7–9 minutes
Former President Donald Trump went from having a clean record to becoming a felon after a Manhattan jury found him guilty in the criminal hush money case last week — in part due to his imperfect legal strategy and damning instructions given by the judge.
Legal experts say Trump’s conviction can be traced to the defense’s strategy from the beginning of the weekslong trial. Trump insisted the verdict was “rigged” and driven by politics after a jury found him guilty on Thursday of all 34 counts of falsifying business records to conceal hush money reimbursements made to his ex-attorney Michael Cohen.
Trump’s inability to gain an acquittal or a mixed jury verdict could be the fault of the judge and the former president’s defense tactics, some legal experts have written in the days since the verdict.
Former Assistant U.S. Attorney Andy McCarthy for the Southern District of New York said Trump’s strategy in the hush money trial was riddled with “ill-conceived, self-destructive defenses” that helped Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, an elected Democrat, secure “his coveted convictions.”
Trump and his defense team insisted on telling voters and jurors that porn star Stormy Daniels and Playboy model Karen McDougal, two women who said they had an affair with Trump that he, in turn, tried to conceal with hush money payments, were lying about their claims.
“The reason for this is clear: Trump insisted that his lawyers subordinate his defense at trial to the political narrative he wants to spin in the 2024 campaign,” McCarthy wrote for the National Review.
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https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/justice/3025188/trumps-defense-judges-instructions-led-guilty-verdict/
