The future of the Donald Trump hush-money trial is largely dependent on one key piece of evidence: People's Exhibit 35, a document that both the prosecution and defense are using to build their respective cases.
What Happened: People's Exhibit 35 is a one-page bank statement from October 2016 for "Essential Consultants," an LLC managed by Michael Cohen, a crucial prosecution witness.
The statement reveals that Cohen transferred $130,000 of his funds to a lawyer representing adult film actress Stormy Daniels just 11 days before the 2016 election. This payment is the hush money at the heart of the trial, according to Business Insider.
The document also indicates that Trump's former chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, calculated the amount owed to Cohen.
This sum was allegedly illegally doubled to account for income taxes and then allegedly illegally reimbursed.
The defense maintains that Trump was too preoccupied with running the country in 2017 to have been involved in the year's worth of bogus "retainer" reimbursement checks to Cohen, Business Insider noted.
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To link Trump to the alleged scheme, the jury must trust Cohen, who claimed that he and Weisselberg presented this document to Trump's office in mid-January 2017, the outlet added.
The defense has disputed that this meeting took place and has asserted that Cohen and Weisselberg are solely responsible for any falsified documents.
Why It Matters: This trial, which began on April 15, is Trump's first encounter with criminal proceedings, with allegations centered on a 2016 payment made to silence Daniels. Trump's legal team had previously obtained over 30,000 emails aimed at undermining Cohen's credibility in the trial by appealing directly to federal authorities. Furthermore, Cohen accused Trump of attempting to incite his supporters to harass and intimidate legal figures involved in his trials by publicly criticizing them.
The trial is set to continue with closing arguments expected next week. If convicted of felony falsification of business records, Trump could face a prison sentence of up to four years.
This content was partially produced with the help of Benzinga Neuro and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
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