Prosecutors at Donald Trump�s hush money trial Tuesday let slip their
�entire case� rests on a legal theory he was part of a �conspiracy� to
corrupt the 2016 election.

The presumptive Republican presidential nominee is charged with 34 felony
counts of falsifying business records, a crime which is usually a
misdemeanor.

To elevate the charges to a felony, prosecutors have to show Trump lied on
the documents with the intention of committing another crime.

A prosecutor in the case, Joshua Steinglass, told judge Juan Merchan and
Trump�s lawyers during a sidebar Tuesday �the entire case is predicated on
the idea that there was a conspiracy to influence the election in 2016,�
according to a report by CNN.

Another prosecutor, Matthew Colangelo, told jurors during opening
statements on Monday Trump orchestrated a �criminal scheme to corrupt the
2016 election� then �covered up that conspiracy by lying in his New York
business records � over and over again.�

Despite those claims, no federal charges have been brought against Trump
for interfering with the 2016 election. But Manhattan prosecutors claim
Trump and his partners broke local election law by conspiring to illegally
promote a candidate.

Trump�s lawyer, Todd Blanche, also pushed back at the notion of a
conspiracy to affect the results of the election during his opening
Monday, saying: �There�s nothing wrong with trying to influence an
election. It�s called democracy.�

Trump, 77, is accused of having his former lawyer Michael Cohen pay porn
star Stormy Daniels $130,000 in the lead up to the 2016 election to keep
her quiet about claims she had a one-night stand with Trump.

Prosecutors say the law was broken when Trump tried to hide the payment by
logging the reimbursements to Cohen as legal expenses in 2017.

Legal experts previously told The Post District Attorney Alvin Bragg�s
case is �going to be very complicated� to prove and the case wades into
uncharted legal waters.

Outside court Monday Trump defended himself, claiming: �I was paying a
lawyer and we marked it down as a legal expense.

�Some accountant I didn�t know marked it down as a legal expense. That�s
exactly what it was, and you get indicted over that?�

Prosecutors had previously floated three different legal theories for the
second layer of wrongdoing, saying Trump lied on business records to
commit campaign finance fraud, tax fraud, and election fraud.

Trump allegedly violated tax law by falsely calling Cohen�s payments
�income.�

He allegedly breached campaign finance law by allegedly exceeding the
$2,700 cap on the amount someone can contribute to a campaign when he
allegedly ordered Cohen to pay Daniels $130,000 to benefit his campaign.

Trump�s lawyers will likely attempt to combat all three theories by
arguing their client never meant to hide the payout to Daniels.

The trial will resume on Thursday.

https://nypost.com/2024/04/23/us-news/trump-prosecutors-reveal-case-rests-
on-proving-conspiracy/