New York DA says Stormy Daniels hush money not Trump’s official duty
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NEW YORK — Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg (D) argued on Tuesday that hush money paid in 2016 to adult film actress Stormy Daniels allegedly on Donald Trump’s behalf was not part of an official presidential act and cannot not be grounds for the case being removed to a federal court.
The filing was in response to a recent bid by lawyers for Trump who want his 34-count indictment — which includes charges such as falsifying business records — to be transferred from state criminal court to U.S. District Court in Manhattan.
Trump has pleaded not guilty and maintains his innocence. The indictment, which was voted on by a grand jury in late March, marked the first time a former U.S. president faced criminal charges.
On Tuesday, Bragg’s office said the $130,000 payment to Daniels by former Trump attorney Michael Cohen “had no connection to his official duties and responsibilities as President, but instead arose from his unofficial actions related to his private businesses and pre-election conduct.”
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The district attorney also argued that an elected official’s campaigning cannot qualify him for consideration under the federal statute Trump is trying to use to change the case’s venue.
“If an elected official’s political campaign activities do not amount to official conduct, then the campaign activities of a person who has not yet been elected to a federal office do not amount to official conduct either,” the prosecutors wrote in a 32-page legal memo.
Trump lawyers previously argued that some of the payments to Cohen at issue were made after Trump had begun his term, making the matter eligible to be transferred to a federal venue.
Trump is accused of concealing the true nature of the Daniels payments by noting in financial records that his reimbursements to Cohen for the deal were legal fees. The payments benefited the Trump campaign and should have been reported as campaign finance expenses, according to the district attorney.
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The allegations first came to light in 2018 when Cohen testified in front of Congress about his time working for Trump. He later pleaded guilty to federal charges in connection to the payoff deal to keep Daniels quiet about a sexual encounter she claimed to have had with Trump years prior.
Trump is actively campaigning for the Republican ticket in the 2024 presidential election. He has claimed that the Bragg case and other pending investigations that could result in criminal charges amount to politically-motivated efforts to keep him from retaking the nation’s highest office.
New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan set a trial date of March 25, 2024 in the case — timing that would interrupt campaigning for the primary election.
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Source: The Washington Post
