Donald Trump's attacks on Michael Cohen, the projected star witness in his criminal hush money trial, may just have been proved fruitless after prosecutors submitted into evidence two documents that appear to back up his former fixer's claims, legal experts said Monday.
This analysis arrived after a Trump Organization employee and former controller appeared in Manhattan criminal court to explain a series of documents linked to a $130,000 payment made to adult film star Stormy Daniels.
Prosecutors contend Trump gave Daniels the cash in hush money scheme that saw him falsify business records and reimburse Cohen. Trump has pleaded not guilty to those charges.
Want more breaking political news? Click for the latest headlines at Raw Story.
Speaking to MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace on Monday afternoon, Andrew Weissmann, the top prosecutor for former special counsel Robert Mueller, specifically cited exhibits 35 and 36 as the "star exhibits" of the trial so far.
READ ALSO: Michael Cohen claims Trump took Stormy Daniels hush-money payment as a tax deduction
Exhibit 35..pdf) is a copy of an October 2016 wire transfer from Cohen's account to Keith Davidson, Daniels' lawyer at the time, with a hand-written note about a $50,000 payment for "tech services."
Exhibit 36.pdf) shows a handwritten note on Trump stationary with Cohen's name on top and math calculating payments and taxes, prosecutors said Monday.
Weissmann called these two documents "devastating."
ALSO READ: Trump’s Manhattan trial could determine whether rule of law survives: criminologist
"You have these two intern Trump Organization witnesses who have written these things," Weissmann explained. "The reason it's so devastating, with respect to the scheme, is this is supposedly legal fees."
"But it doesn't make any sense because Exhibit 35 is the actual payment record that Michael Cohen brings to Allen Weisselberg that shows that this is $130,000 that he wired to Stormy Daniels' lawyer," Weissmann added.
He called it the "hush money record."
Weissmann then urged those following the case not to dismiss what appeared to be a dry day in Trump's hush money trial as insignficant.
"It may be a, 'boring day,'" Weissmann said, "but this is such hard evidence. It's the kind of thing that prosecutors in summation are going to latch on to and make sure the jurors understand how preposterous it is."
According to Weissmann, the two documents stand in direct contrast to the argument Trump's lawyer Todd Blanche made in his opening statement that Cohen was not reimbursed for hush money.
"Look at the document," Weissmann said. "Look at Exhibit 35 and 36."
Wallace then argued time spent "impeaching Cohen as a character witness" could only take the defense so far. New York University law school professor Melissa Murray agreed.
"You can't impeach the documents," said Murray. "That's what makes the documents the star witness."
See the discussion on the video below or at the link here.
The documents are the 'star' witness: Legal expert says of Trump trial www.youtube.com
