Legal AF by MeidasTouch - Former TOP Manhattan DA Prosecutor gives us the SECRETS Behind Trump Grand Jury Process

Starting point is 00:00:00 I'm Karen Friedman Agnifalo. I'm a co-host on the Midas media network of the show Legal AF. Today, I'm going to talk about all things Manhattan, DA, and Trump. So, as we are recording this, the grand jury in Manhattan is hearing charges against the former president, Donald Trump. former president, Donald Trump. And what's going to happen next is the prosecutors in Manhattan will ask the grand jury to vote to indict. And the case that they are considering is the case involving Hush Money Payments to Stormy Daniels, through Michael Cohen, his lawyer at the time, Trump's lawyer at the time. Hush money payments in and of themselves is not a crime, but the way Trump recorded them in his books and records is what makes it a crime.

Starting point is 00:00:57 He hid that it was to be paid to her directly. It was recorded as legal fees, which they are not. But that only makes it a misdemeanor crime. What makes it a felony in New York and the crime is called falsifying business records in the first degree, what makes that fraudulent entry of a business record, a felony in New York, is if they're doing it to cover up a crime.

Starting point is 00:01:24 And we don't know exactly until we see the indictment, a felony in New York is if they're doing it to cover up a crime. And we don't know exactly until we see the indictment, exactly what crime the Manhattan DA's office is going to allege was committed here or by whom, because the statute doesn't say, for example, that the cover-up of the crime has to be Donald Trump. It could be Michael Cohen committing a crime, for example, but we'll get to that in a minute. So what's going to happen is that the Manhattan DA's office will ask the grand jury to vote an indictment once all the witnesses have testified.

Starting point is 00:01:59 And we heard this week that Donald Trump was given an opportunity, an an opportunity to come testify before the grand jury. And that's usually done at the very last stage after the grand jury has heard all of the evidence, or most of the evidence or the most significant evidence, then they give the defendant notice to see if he wants to come in and give his version of the story. Now, why give notice? Because does a defendant have a right to testify before the grand jury? And the answer is, yes, if they know about the grand jury, if they don't, if it's just going on in secret, which

Starting point is 00:02:36 grand juries typically are, then he does not have a right. But since this has been widely reported that they're in the grand jury, the prosecutors were going to be extra careful and give him notice. So he couldn't make an argument later, for example, that he didn't have an opportunity to testify. If he were to come in and testify, he'd have to swear under oath that everything he's telling is the truth, and he'd have to waive immunity. Because everyone who testifies in a grand jury in New York gets what's called transactional immunity, meaning they can never be prosecuted for the crime that they're testifying about.

Starting point is 00:03:11 So nobody thought he would go in and testify because he's not going to waive immunity and give his version of events. Why would he do that? And then all the statements could be used against him later at trial. Instead, he'll keep going out and making statements in the court of public opinion, which he's already started doing. But let's keep talking about the indictment. So let's assume the grand jury votes to indict Trump. What happens next? It will be sealed. Okay, so we're not going to necessarily know

Starting point is 00:03:40 about it. In fact, he could be indicted already as we speak. It will be sealed until he is brought before a judge. So we will not see that indictment and we will not know what's in the indictment unless, of course, it's leaked. Now, my guess is the number one person who will leak it is Donald Trump himself because he will be told that he has been indicted, and he will be given an opportunity to appear before the court at a mutually agreed upon convenient time, not be cant delay it for a long time, but they would give him a reasonable opportunity to come to New York and appear before a judge. So I think he could potentially leak it, so we might know about it then. And then again, he'll start to talk about it

Starting point is 00:04:26 and try to get out in front of it and he'll try to win over the public. And unfortunately, Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan DA, his hands will be tied and he can't talk about it despite the fact that Trump will likely be talking about it publicly. He can't talk about it because it's still sealed and he can't talk about it outside of court.

Starting point is 00:04:48 So until he Alvin Bragg's office and the prosecutors there go to court, we won't hear anything from them regarding the indictment. It could also be leaked by other people, obviously, granders, although they're not supposed to, could or others in the court system potentially could. Again, they could all get in trouble, but I'm just guessing in different ways that this information can get out. So, once he's indicted, Trump will, through his lawyers and the prosecutors will be given an opportunity to surrender and come to New York and appear before court. He'll have secret service with him at all times.

Starting point is 00:05:27 He'll have to be fingerprinted like everybody else when they're arrested. He will be processed, which includes a mug shot being taken, which we probably will not see. And he will be brought before a judge. A doubt he'll be handcuffed, most defendants are, but I doubt that'll happen here. And he'll be brought before a court, and he will be told what the charges are, and he'll

Starting point is 00:05:50 be what's known as a reigned before a court, and where the court tells them what the charges are, and asks him to enter a plea, which of course, he'll plead not guilty. The case will then be adjourned for motion practice, which, as we all know, Trump likes to make lots and lots and lots of different motions, and we'll try to delay this as long as possible. So again, we don't know exactly what the charges are. We all think it's going to be falsifying a business record in the first degree. And again, the crime they're going to cover up could be multiple different crimes. I suspect you're going to see many counts of this charge, one for each entry that was made in the books and records. Because if you recall, this was $130,000 payment from the trunk org to Michael Cohen to stormy

Starting point is 00:06:50 Daniels through an intermediary. So there are different steps in the process. And if the trunk org recorded these as legal fees, which Michael Cohen has said they did, then each one of those recording of it as legal fees, and I think it was paid out over the course of a year in structured payments. Again, why would he, if this was legal and legitimate, why would he structure the payments? Why wouldn't we just make $130,000 payment all at once? So each one of those would probably be a separate charge.

Starting point is 00:07:25 And there could also be multiple theories within each charge of which crime they're using to bump it up to the felony. So there could be multiple charges even within each charge, if that makes any sense. This could be an indictment with many charges. And there's been lots of speculation about what the felony is.

Starting point is 00:07:46 Does it have to be a state crime? Could it be a federal crime? What about election law violations? Who has to have committed the crime? Now, don't forget, in August of 2018, Michael Cohen played guilty to covering up these payments and violating federal election laws. So that could be one of the crimes that is going to be used to bump it up. It's a class E felony, which in New York is the lowest level felony.

Starting point is 00:08:17 It is punishable up to four years, but there's no minimum. So he likely will not go to jail on this charge. Many people are asking, why is this case going first? Depend, you know, there's lots of criminal cases that are being investigated and pending, pending to decide whether or not charges are going to be brought. There's a couple other cases in New York, both in the federal prosecutors and state prosecutors have are looking at various charges against Trump potentially in New York.

Starting point is 00:08:48 There's also Fannie Willis in Georgia, who has a case that regarding the election interference and the find the 11,000 votes. That case is also a state case. And then, of course, there's the special counsel, Jack Smith, who's looking at both the election interference and January 6 charges as well as the Mar-a-Lago classified document obstruction of justice charges. So there's many, many cases. And people want to know why

Starting point is 00:09:17 is this one going first? And is it bad that this one's going first at such a low level crime? One thing to keep in mind is that the statute of limitations is gonna run out soon. I think it's in May, so they have to, if they're going to bring this case, they have to bring it now. It also de facto that Alvin Bragg is bringing this now. It's the one he thinks is the most ready to go.

Starting point is 00:09:38 Now, one of the arguments Donald Trump is going to make is that the statute of limitations has already run because there was a period of time when Donald Trump was continuously not in New York. So for example, when he was president and New York allows that time to be excluded, he will argue that it should be included. So that's something a judge is going to have to rule on. And also, Donald Trump is also going to say,

Starting point is 00:10:05 because he said it already, that this is a political hit job, and he's called Alvin Bragg, a reverse racist, and he's a Democrat. But how do we know this is not a political hit job? Because if that's what Alvin Bragg wanted to do, don't forget, he had the opportunity Alvin Bragg to indict Trump over a year ago when he first became the new Manhattan DA after Sive Ants left. It's been widely reported that there was an investigation into Donald Trump's valuation of assets, and that there were prosecutors in the office who felt that that case was ready to go in the grand jury. Alvin Bragg reviewed the evidence himself and decided that it wasn't ready yet, just like Sy Vance, who also didn't bring the case yet.

Starting point is 00:10:53 But there was a lot of public comment by the prosecutor who, the ex-procute who resigned and also wrote a book about it and saying that he disagreed and also wrote a book about it and saying that he disagreed.

Legal AF by MeidasTouch - Former TOP Manhattan DA Prosecutor gives us the SECRETS Behind Trump Grand Jury Process

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.