The arguments, evidence, and testimony are now over and the jury is off to deliberate. On the whole, there is nothing unlawful in purchasing silence of noncrimes (NDAs, for example) and it appears certain that Trumplethinskin knowingly intended to hide the purchase price. I think Trump imagined himself a shrewd accountant burying the smoldering embers as attorney fees, the substance of which (rendered legal services) was conceivably privileged. The thing is that in New York, that constitutes a form of money laundering. Overly simplified, money laundering is the process of using legitimate business records to conceal dirty money. New York extends that principle to any type of business record. Trump ran private business(es) in New York for decades and knew, should have known, or imputably did know the state laws on business records (and for this purpose, all election campaigns are special non-commercial corporations with tax returns and employees). The testimony forcefully showed that Trump directed the false recordation of an otherwise legal payment for public relations purposes. That appears sufficient to prove the state law offense as a misdemeanor. As to the felony enhancement, it needs to be shown that Trump knew that his self-imagined shrewdness violated federal canpaign law. That is the lynchpin. I expect that Trump will minimally be convicted of the misdemeanor but I haven’t followed the trial closely enough to know if scienter (knowingness) is a required element of the alleged federal campaign law violaton (nor if scienter was proven)
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