Amid former president Donald Trump's criminal hush money trial, legal analyst Rebecca Roiphe warned Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg on Monday about "confusing" jurors.
Trump, the presumptive 2024 Republican presidential nominee, became the first former president in U.S. history to stand trial in a criminal case earlier this month. Following an investigation by Bragg's office, Trump was indicted in March 2023 on charges of falsifying business records relating to hush money paid to adult film star Stormy Daniels during his 2016 presidential campaign. Daniels alleges that she had an affair with Trump in 2006, which he has denied. Trump has pleaded not guilty to all charges and said the case against him is politically motivated.
On Monday, Roiphe, a law professor and former Manhattan ADA, shared her thoughts on the trial in an opinion column published in the New York Times.
She explained that despite lawyers on both sides trying to make the case about "something sexier," at the core of the case it is about "business integrity," pointing towards the false business records.
Roiphe continued by warning that the prosecution may risk "confusing" the jury if they emphasize Trump's allegations of interference with the 2016 election instead of the false business records, adding that the prosecution also risks the jury "into thinking about whether the lies affected the election."
"For the prosecution, the elements of the crime in this case do not require a finding that Mr. Trump interfered with the 2016 election. Nor does it matter whether he had sex with Ms. Daniels. Instead, the real elements concern the way Mr. Trump used his business for a cover-up. By emphasizing the crime he was intending to conceal rather than the false business records, the prosecution also risks confusing the jury into thinking about whether the lies affected the election," Roiphe wrote.
Roiphe explained that the prosecution may lead the jurors to question why Trump wasn't charged federally with the alleged election crime.
"It might lead them to wonder why Mr. Trump wasn't charged with this alleged election crime by the federal government—a talking point that he has promoted publicly," Roiphe added.
Newsweek has reached out to Bragg's office via email for comment.
Trump has continuously taken to his Truth Social account to scrutinize the case, often calling the case a political witch hunt.
In March, Judge Juan Merchan, who is presiding over the case, imposed a gag order on Trump, barring him from making public statements about witnesses, including Cohen and Daniels, as well as lawyers and staff in the case and their families. The order excluded Merchan and Bragg. It was later expanded to include Merchan's and Bragg's families after Trump made blistering attacks toward the judge's daughter, Loren Merchan.
Roiphe's comments come after David Pecker, a longtime friend of the former president and former chairman, president and CEO of American Media Inc. (AMI), the parent company of the National Enquirer, took the stand throughout the week. Pecker confirmed that he had met with Trump and Trump's former lawyer Michael Cohen at the Trump Tower in August 2015 and agreed that he would publish positive stories about Trump and publish negative stories about his political opponents.
Prosecutors had argued that the three men "orchestrated a coverup to interfere" with the 2016 presidential election by concealing negative information about Trump.
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