Cohen fronted the money for a very wealthy client that he knew was reliable to pay his legal fees. The money was part of a settlement that included a non-disclosure agreement. There is absolutely, positively, nothing illegal about that.
That is not correct, there incurred a violation of three criminal laws, for which Cohen pled guilty. As a lawyer himself, he would not have pled guilty to a bogus charge. He committed the crime "at the direction of, in coordination with, for the benefit of 'individual-1' " who, it has been established, is Donald Trump, and by that fact, Trump is an unindicted co conspirator.
What that means, Seymour Flops, Trump was party to the crime, given it was done has his direction and for his benefit. He wasn't prosecuted because he was President. When he left office, the 1/6 sucked up all the oxygen.
That crime is now the enhancement theory to enhance 34 counts of false business records to 34 felonies. Since the underlying crime is federal and passed the statute of limitations, he won't be indicted for the violatin, but it still can be used to enhance the 34 counts in the Bragg indictment.
That the legal fees were composed of both reimbursement for the money Cohen put up, and payment for Cohen's Legal Services also is certainly not illegal.
That's the claim, but the claim is false, which is the basis for the 34 counts.
There is no evidence other than what Cohen could provide, which we know would be unreliable, that Trump paid Cohen "extra" to make up for the taxes he would have to pay. Even if he did, so what? As long as Cohen paid the tax or As Long As Trump believed that he would pay the tax, there certainly no tax crime.
there's more than just Cohen's word:
1. Cohen paid Daniels, $130k. No crooked lawyer pays his client, whom he doesn't know, out of pocket money on the scale without reimbursement arrangement in advance, and even then, it would have to be a long time client, which Trump was, at the time.
2. Trump is the clear beneficiary of that payment, not Cohen.
3. The 34 reimbursement checks total the payment, and above that to compensate for taxes on the income
4. Testimony from Stormy Daniels (if her testimony is needed)
5. Taped conversation proving that Trump was in cahoots Cohen and Pecker / Nat Enquirer catch and kill scheme is consistent with this scheme which clearly proves a
mens rea consistent with the hush money scheme.
6. David Pecker's testimony to the grand jury.
With the preponderance of the evidence, all the prosecutor has to do is persuade the Jury that the evidence supports the allegation, beyond a reasonable doubt.
In order to convict Trump of violating any kind of election law, they would have to prove that the absolute only reason for the non-disclosure agreement was to win a specific election. I'm not sure how Bragg will connect those dots. Neither is he, which is why Bragg resisted Prosecuting for so long.
NDA signed in the commission of a crime are null and void. The dots will be easy to connect, see above
The ony beneficiary for the payments to Daniels is Trump, given the plain and obvious fact that the payments to her were made just a few weeks before the election, the facts of which, if made public, would clearly damage his chances in the election.
Why am I even having to explain such an obvious fact to you Republicans?
This bizarre theory that Trump made an illegal contribution to his own campaign by paying the gold digging bimbo to keep her mouth shut about him is like saying Trump contributed to his campaign every time he bought himself breakfast, because a healthy breakfast made him a better campaigner.
No, it's not. That's a rediculous comparison. If you think that is a valid comparison, how in holy hell are you going to be able to grasp fundamental facts and how they relate to the Bragg case? I must be wasting my time.