While there's uncertainty around whether three Donald Trump trials will begin before the November election — the former president's first criminal trial could present serious consequences.
Trump's New York hush money trial on his 34 felony counts for falsifying business documents in efforts to cover up payments made to adult film star Stormy Daniels is not looking good for the MAGA hopeful, to conservative lawyer George C. Conway's surprise.
The legal analyst writes in a Monday op-ed published by The Atlantic: "Not all that long ago, I thought that the trial currently being held in The People of the State of New York v. Donald J. Trump would be the last one I’d want to see as the first one tried against the former president. It seemed the least serious of the cases against him."
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The Trump critic emphasizes, "I feel the need to admit error. The truth is, I’ve come around to the view that People v. Trump is, in at least some ways, the perfect case to put Trump in the dock for the first time, and—I hope, but we’ll see—perhaps prison."
Conway asserts that "this case really captures" the former president.
"What the case is really about is Trump’s modus operandi—lying," the Republican lawyer writes. "He’s a matryoshka doll of mendacity. He lies, usually lies some more, and then often lies about the lies he’s previously told."
He continues, "To be sure, his other criminal cases involve lies—lies about the 2016 election, lies about the military secrets he stole. But the alleged lies in People v. Trump strike at the core of his moral putrescence—and Trump knows it."
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"The case truly embodies Donald Trump. And for that reason, I think, it deeply disturbs him."
Conway's full op-ed is available at this link (subscription required).
