Donald Trump Acquittal Now Unlikely Former Prosecutor
t is unlikely that Donald Trump will be acquitted in his hush-money case, a former federal prosecutor has said.
Neama Rahmani, now president of the firm West Coast Trial Lawyers in Los Angeles, commented on the former president’s chances of acquittal as the jury prepared to enter deliberations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
He told Newsweek: “An outright acquittal is unlikely, but a hung jury is very possible given the political nature of the case, and even convictions on misdemeanors would be a victory for the former president.”
Trump was indicted in March 2023, following an investigation by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office, on 34 counts of falsifying business records related to hush money paid to adult film star Stormy Daniels by Michael Cohen, Trump’s lawyer at the time, during the 2016 presidential campaign.
In April, Trump, the presumptive 2024 Republican presidential nominee, became the first former president in U.S. history to stand trial in a criminal case. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Donald Trump at Trump Tower in New York on May 28. Jury deliberations in Trump’s hush-money trial began Wednesday. JAMES DEVANEY/GETTY IMAGES
Rahmani said the defense’s closing argument should have focused on the charges in the case and stayed away from the two star witnesses: Cohen and Daniels.
He added that the defense’s case was partly built on a claim that “the records were personal and not business related,” “that they were not false,” and that “Trump didn’t personally falsify the records, and that even if he did, they were not in furtherance of or to cover up another crime.”
Paul DerOhannesian, a criminal defense attorney in Albany, New York, told Newsweek that Trump’s lawyers should have assumed that “most jurors won’t like their client and will want to convict him,” adding that they should have used their closing remarks to argue about the justice of the case.
“The best approach in this situation is to argue why the case is more important than the person—Trump,” he said.
He continued: “Why would jurors who don’t like him acquit him? Make the case about standing up for the principles of our system of justice, like the presumption of innocence and reasonable doubt.”
Stephen Gillers, a law professor at New York University, told Newsweek that “the weakest link in the government’s proof is Cohen. Cohen’s testimony is the sole direct evidence offered to prove that Trump knowingly authorized the fake payments.”
Gillers added that prosecutors were able to show that there was strong circumstantial evidence in the case.
He said, “Circumstantial evidence, contrary to popular myth, can be as strong as, or even stronger than, direct evidence and can establish guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.” fhv fhv fhv fhv fhv fhv fhv fhv fhv fhv fhv fhv fhv fhv fhv fhv fhv fhv fhv fhv fhv fhv fhv fhv fhv fhv fhv fhv fhv fhv fhv fhv fhv fhv fhv
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