Tuesday, April 30, 2024
Year : 2, Issue : 18
Testimony is set to resume Tuesday in the Manhattan criminal hush money prosecution of former President Donald Trump.
Trump’s defense team includes lead attorney Todd Blanche.
Blanche left a prestigious Wall Street law firm last year to start his own firm with a primary client of Trump.
“We saw from Mr. Blanche’s opening statement, his opening statement was, what are we doing here, there is no crime,” former Manhattan prosecutor Bonnie Sard said.
Emil Bove is a former federal prosecutor who worked to take down drug trafficking rings.
Longtime criminal defense attorney Susan Necheles eared a reputation of taking on tough clients, including clients with mob ties.
“In the end, the defense has to do two things to win a case like this. They have to attack the credibility of the witnesses, but also have to attack the credibility of the story,” attorney Ron Kuby told NY1 in a recent interview.
For this first criminal prosecution of a former president, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg put together a team of seasoned prosecutors, including Joshua Steinglass.
Steinglass helped secure a conviction against the Trump Organization for tax fraud.
“He brings his trial skills, and his trial smarts and his ability to relate to juries, and his ability to sort of leave no stone unturned in an investigation,” Sard said.
Steinglass is working alongside fellow prosecutors Christopher Conroy and Susan Hoffinger.
Conroy has been with the district attorney’s office for close to 30 years. Hoffinger has also worked as a criminal defense attorney.
Trump is accused of falsifying business records to cover up an affair during his 2016 run for the White House.
Prosecutors allege the hush money payment was made through former Trump fixer, Michael Cohen. Cohen is expected to play a pivotal role in the trial, even though he’s admitted to lying under oath in the past.
“Certainly he’s going to be the central witness in this case,” Sard said. “By the time he testifies, much of what he has to say is going to have been proven by less controversial witnesses.”
Judge Juan Merchan is presiding over what’s expected to be a six-week trial.
“I think he is smart. He is measured, he is controlled, and he’s one of those judges who calls it like it is,” Sard said.
Source: AP
