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As the trial against President Donald Trump began Monday for allegedly falsifying business records, reports from the media are now speculating the strategies that Trump’s attorneys will possibly use.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg charged Trump in April 2023 on 34 counts for allegedly falsifying business records to pay porn star Stormy Daniels in “hush money.”
According to a new report by Politico, there are allegedly two possible ways Trump could argue his case. The first way suggested by the outlet is to attempt to rebut Bragg’s charges in the courtroom by going for former Trump lawyer and key witness in the case Michael Cohen.
An attempt to take Cohen down is believed to be able to take down the entire case, according to Politico. However, a second option would be asking presiding Judge Juan Merchan to give the jury an option of having Trump convicted on lesser charges, instead of the felony counts brought by Bragg, the outlet reported.
While falsified business records would typically be charged as a misdemeanor, Bragg upped the penalty to felony charges by claiming that Trump allegedly used the payments to Daniels to hide another crime.
Many have called out the exalted charges brought on by Bragg, as some legal experts have stated the case is weak. Former Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz called the case one of the “weakest” he’s seen in his 60 years of law during a Fox interview on Friday.
“I’ve been doing this for 60 years, Sean. Teaching criminal cases, defending criminal cases, writing about criminal cases — this is, by far, the weakest criminal case I have ever seen in my 60 years. There is nothing here. There is no misdemeanor, there is no felony, there is no federal crime,” Dershowitz stated.