No. of Recommendations: 7
According to who? They never prosecuted.
Cohen was prosecuted for it - this was one of the things he went to jail for. AMI and Pecker were sanctioned by the FEC for doing this as well. And the jury would have been allowed to determine whether these actions violated FECA for this to be a predicate crime, even if none of that had happened.
No. There are many reasons to pay the porn star to keep quiet. It's not up to "the jury" to even make this determination.
Yes, it is. It absolutely is. It's exactly the role of the jury to make factual determinations like this. To determine whether, based on the evidence provided, the payment was made for the purpose of aiding the campaign, or whether it would have been made "irrespective" of whether the campaign was going on. That's one of the factual determinations that's left to the jury.
Incorrect. There was no illegality here.
Yes, there is. It is illegal to cause business records to be falsified. By falsely indicating that the $130,000 transfer to Cohen was income earned by Cohen, rather than money being held by Cohen on behalf of Trump and not his own money, that caused false business records to be entered in Trump Org. That's illegal.
It's the role of the witness to help explain things to the jury.
No, it is the role of the witness to provide factual testimony to the jury. It is absolutely not their role to explain the law to the jury.
The judge is supposed to define terms of the law to the jury. This one didn't. When I've sat on juries we'd ask the judge to define certain legal terms and got written responses.
Yes, he did. The instructions to the jury included numerous definitions of legal terms, and explanations of the legal standards the jury was to apply. In New York (as opposed to whatever state you served in), the law does not authorize the judge to provide written instructions. So when the jurors had a question, the judge called them back in and orally answered their questions.
Oh? Then what was the underlying crime that triggered the felonies?
The underlying crime was causing false business records to be generated. That crime became a felony because it was intended to conceal other crimes. Those other crimes were: i) a violation of FECA, by having the money be given to Daniels by Michael Cohen as a personal payment rather than on behalf of Trump and having that money sourced from a corporation (both of which are illegal); ii) a violation of NY State tax law, by falsely representing Michael Cohen's income on his state taxes; and iii) a violation of NY election law, which forbids two or more people to enter into an agreement to support a candidacy by unlawful means.
