While New York's Democrat prosecutor is seeking to charge Donald Trump with election interference for calling a payment to a lawyer a legal expense, Trump and legal experts are decrying the actual election interference of a trial of "no crime."
The trial related to Michael Cohen's $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels before the 2016 presidential election began last week.
Newsmax recaps the top 6 things we have learned from last week's trial – a procedure Trump himself has dubbed the "Biden trials."
Trump has alleged President Biden and the White House have coordinated with local prosecutors to pursue multiple prosecutions against him, Biden's opponent in the election.
Here is the latest we learned from last week's New York trial of Trump:
1. Stormy Daniels May Have Auditioned for Apprentice
Rhona Graff, Donald Trump's longtime executive assistant, testified Friday that Daniels, the porn star who was allegedly paid to not report a relationship, was probably at the New York office to audition for the "The Apprentice."
Former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker, the first prosecution witness called, testified Thursday that Graff was often the conduit for his communications with Trump, routing his calls and summoning him to a Trump Tower meeting Jan. 6, 2017.
Graff testified that Daniels – also known as Stephanie Clifford – was once at Trump's offices in Trump Tower.
"I have a vague recollection of seeing her in the reception area" one time, Graff said.
Graff said she assumed Daniels was there to discuss potentially being a contestant on one of Trump's "Apprentice"-brand shows.
"You had heard President Trump say that he thought that she would be an interesting addition" to the cast, Trump lawyer Susan Necheles asked.
"It was part of the office chatter," Graff said.
Daniels never appeared on the NBC program.
2. Pecker Said 'Catch-and-Kill' Stories Happened All the Time
David Pecker, publisher of the National Enquirer, testified it was normal for celebrities and politicians to curry favor with the Enquirer to get good publicity.
One way he did it was to pay accusers of celebrities for the exclusive right to publish their claims – and then to spike the story – an approach called "catch-and-kill."
In turn, celebrities would give the Enquirer exclusive stories and interviews.
Pecker said catch-and-kill was standard operating procedure at the supermarket tabloid, noting he made such efforts to kill negative stories about other famous figures, such as Arnold Schwarzenegger and Tiger Woods.
Pecker said the Enquirer paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to obtain stories from women who came forward during Schwarzenegger's 2003 run for California governor to say they had affairs with him.
3. Judge Juan Merchan's Gag Order Lives On
Not only has the judge donated to Democrats and has a daughter who makes a living off funding for Democrat candidates who hold public Trump animus, but the judge also blocked Trump from exposing what Trump and his backers note is a clear conflict of interest that compromises the judge overseeing the trial.
Calls for Merchan to step down or recuse himself have fallen on deaf ears.
"45th President Donald J. Trump is again the Republican Nominee for President of the United States, and is currently dominating in the Polls. However, he is being inundated by the Media with questions because of this Rigged Biden Trial, which President Trump is not allowed to comment on, or answer, because of Judge Juan Merchan's UNPRECEDENTED AND UNCONSTITUTIONAL Gag Order," Trump wrote Friday on Truth Social.
Trump continued: "His opponents have unlimited rights to question, but he has no right to respond. There has never been a situation like this in our country's history, a candidate that is not allowed to answer questions."
4. We Still Don't Know the Crime
District Attorney Alvin Bragg's trial is actually one seeking to find a crime.
His prosecution has come up with a "novel" legal theory that somehow attempts to make it a crime for a presidential candidate to record a payment to a lawyer as a legal expense during a campaign.
Numerous legal scholars, including avowed Democrats Alan Dershowitz and Jonathan Turley, maintain this week's first testimony has failed to reveal a crime Trump has committed in recording a payment to Cohen as a legal expense instead of a campaign contribution.
"No normal judge would allow this case to go forward – just as the DA's office didn't think it should go forward when Mark Pomerantz presented it," former Trump impeachment lawyer David Schoen said this week. "The question is, do we really believe if a candidate wanted to either pay extortion money or hide some fact that may be unpleasant from the public, that that's really election interference?
"But the problem is we really don't know what they claim the charge is.
"Without the grand jury ever charging what that other crime is, it's impossible to defend."
5. Trump Is Accused of a Non-Crime
The trial is presenting a "moving target" and former independent counsel Sol Wisenberg notes what Trump is accused of is not illegal.
"The key problem is it is not illegal to catch-and-kill a story. It's not illegal to reimburse a publisher who pays that money," Wisenberg said.
"To convict Trump under the latest esoteric theory you have to show that he conspired to promote his own election by unlawful means."
The "theory" of illegal means of calling a payment to a lawyer as a legal expense instead of a campaign finance payment is not how the law is written, Wisenberg added.
"It's a very troubling case, even if they get a conviction, I think it stands a chance of being reversed on appeal," he concluded.
6. They're Skirting the Constitution to Get Trump
Legal experts fear the actual Constitution is being thrown out the window in the effort to get Trump and keep him from the White House.
Even President Biden has admitted such a motive at White House press conferences.
Peaceful assembly has been thrown out the window, Trump laments, as the Democrat leaders of the deep blue state and city of New York are keeping Trump supporters away from the trial after the construction union in New York City raised concerns about Democrats' lack of concern for working-class taxpayers.
Also, Dershowitz noted the Democrats who claim to be concerned about voting rights are fine with denying Americans the right to vote for or against Trump in seeking to keep him from returning to the White House.
"In order to get to where we are today, the state had to take a minor misdemeanor election filing, with statements that may have been untrue in corporate forms, which was long ago expired under the statute of limitations, and then try to turn it into a state felony by invoking a federal statute which they don't even name, which they have no jurisdiction over," Dershowitz told Newsmax's "Newsline" this week.
"In 60 years of practicing and writing and teaching criminal law, I've never seen a case as weak as this one."
Information from The Associated Press and Reuters was used to compile this report.
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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