A banker took the witness stand in Donald Trump's criminal hush money trial on Friday and for CNN's Elie Honig it was a critical moment.
"So the banker, the third witness, is the least sensational witness that we've heard from, but also in my view, the most important," he said Friday night on the network. "Because when people ask, 'Well, where's the crime?' it's really important to remember because we've just spent a week immersed in hush money payments and porn stars and payouts — the crime is in the financing and now we're finally getting to that."
Banker Gary Farro peeled back the scheme he and Trump's former fixer and lawyer, Michael Cohen, arranged in part to pay adult film star Stormy Daniels.
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Daniels was allegedly paid by Trump, who was a candidate for president, to remain quiet about an alleged sexual affair.
Trump has denied he engaged in the affairs and has pleaded not guilty in the case.
Specifically,Farro claimed he was assisting Cohen to create a bank account for the limited liability company, Essential Consultants LLC, that he would use to dip into in order to pay Daniels $130,000 as alleged.
But Farro claimed that Cohen misled him into believing the firm would be dealing with real estate consulting.
Honig believes following the money is crucial to pinpoint lawbreaking on behalf of Cohen but also orchestrated by former President Donald Trump.
He submits that the LLC is basically a smoking gun for Cohen, who he describes as feeling a "sense of urgency."
While Cohen is the prosecution's star witness, Honig said it's folks like Farro who are going to prove that "he committed a crime."
Honig said prosecutors must prove that Cohen broke the law.
"Because if the jury does not believe Michael Cohen committed a crime, it's over," he explained, adding they will then assume "There's no way Donald Trump committed a crime."
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