They've always been out to get me and this is all they've got." I think it's going to further polarize America, at a time we don't need it, into making his supporters more loyal because they feel he's being unfairly persecuted and his attackers just in their zeal to get him, looking at everything. He's going to make the argument, "They're out to get me. Trump is right, it would probably only enhance him. They've spent months trying to dig something out and they have this small crime based on an iffy theory about another crime. It's really outrageous, especially considering how poor a job the New York prosecutor has done in the face of all of the explosion and crime in the city. William McGurn: That's what it looks like. The suggestion is that the other crime would be a campaign finance violation that this $130,000 was an impermissible donation to President Trump's presidential campaign.īill, I find myself wondering, is this what it is all going to come down to? We're going to have a former president and a current 2024 candidate indicted, potentially sent to prison, and it's all going to come down to a campaign finance violation? What's notable about this, Bill, is that falsifying business records in New York is generally a misdemeanor unless it is in furtherance of covering up another crime. The charge that is being floated in the press is falsifying business records. ![]() Prosecutors said a couple years ago that Cohen was reimbursed for that in the form of payments that were supposedly due to a retainer and there was actually no legal retainer that existed. Kyle Peterson: To lay a little bit more of the groundwork here about what the alleged coming charges might be, so Stormy Daniels was paid $130,000 by Michael Cohen in the lead up to the 2016 election. ![]() And yeah, probably it'll enhance my numbers, but it's a very bad thing for America. There's never, the country's never seen anything like it. It's a disgraceful thing that's going on. Even Democrats are very angry about it.ĭonald Trump: Oh, absolutely. ![]() It's a disgrace and I think people are very angry about it. They've weaponized justice in our country. These have been going on for a long time. Here he is speaking to reporters before his CPAC speech.ĭonald Trump: These are witch hunts. Here's Trump reacting to questions about whether he would drop out if he was indicted. On that point, the media's full of trial balloons about what charges Bragg might bring against Trump, and the consensus is that they would involve his hush money payment in 2016 to Stormy Daniels. The former president is expected to decline that offer to appear before the grand jury, but legal analysts are saying that asking the target of an investigation to appear generally signals that prosecutors are wrapping things up, se may get more news soon. ![]() District attorney Alvin Bragg has also invited testimony from Trump himself. Michael Cohen, the Trump Organization's former fixer, testified for about three hours before a grand jury in Manhattan on Monday. We are joined today by my colleagues, columnist Bill McGurn and editorial board member Mene Ukueberuwa. I'm Kyle Peterson with the Wall Street Journal. Kyle Peterson: President Trump's former lawyer testifies to a New York grand jury, but what is the case that prosecutors seem to be trying to build against the former president? Speaker 1: From the opinion pages of the Wall Street Journal, this is Potomac Watch. This version may not be in its final form and may be updated. This transcript was prepared by a transcription service.
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