It’s not very convincing
Trump is highly, highly unlikely to testify in his NY hush money trial but he has been arguing his case (sort of) outside the courthouse every day. The NY Times did a fact check and it’s a doozy
He said:
“He puts in an invoice, or whatever, a bill. And they pay it and they call it a legal expense. I got indicted for that. What else would you call it? Actually nobody’s been able to say what you’re supposed to call it.”
— last Monday
The Times calls this false. Of course prosecutors know what to call them. They’re invoices for reimbursement of the $130,000 (plus taxes and bonus) second mortgage Cohen used to pay off Stormy Daniels to keep her quiet before the election.
They call Cohen’s payments “illegal campaign contributions” and the invoices “reimbursement intended to falsify business records.” In no way were they “legal expenses.”
He said
“Also the things that he got in trouble for were things that had nothing to do with me. He got in trouble. He went to jail. This had nothing to do with me. This had to do with the taxi cab company.”
— last Monday
Uh no.
Cohen did plead guilty to personal tax evasion related to the taxi medallions but the campaign finance violations were all about the Stormy scheme and they each carried up to five years in prison. He was sentenced to 3 years and he actually had to spend time behind bars as have many other Trump flunkies while he wines and dines his fans down at Mar-a-Lago.
He said:
“Federal Elections took a total pass on it. They said essentially nothing was done wrong or they would have done something about it.”
— last Monday
Au contraire
The Times reports that the commissioners deadlocked along partisan lines but an FEC OLC report found that Trump and the Trump org, along with Cohen “knowingly and willfully” violated federal election law. The GOPers on the commission wrote that pursuing the case wasn’t “the best use of agency resources.” It was enough that Cohen took the rap. (Yes, they actually said his punishment was enough.)
He said:
“I’m not allowed to defend myself, and yet other people are allowed to say whatever they want about me.”— on Tuesday
I think you know how dumb this is. He’s not allowed to talk about witnesses, jurors, court staff or their families but he can talk about the case. Obviously. He can’t shut up about it.
“This is all a Biden indictment. It’s in order to try and win an election.” –on Friday
Oh come on. It’s totally false. But here’s the Times’ fact check on this. …. sigh:
This lacks evidence. Mr. Trump again accused President Biden of orchestrating the legal woes he faces, offering no evidence to support that claim.
Mr. Bragg’s predecessor began investigating the hush money payments in 2018, years before Mr. Biden took office in 2021. As president, Mr. Biden has publicly emphasized the independence of the Justice Department. Moreover, news outlets including The Times have reported that Mr. Biden’s campaign strategy is to say nothing about Mr. Trump’s legal woes. Federal prosecutors in New York who work for the Justice Department have also declined to file charges against Mr. Trump.
Lacks evidence? Please. It’s the Manhattan District Attorney, not the Justice Department! The NY Times hedges as it so often does. Please.
That’s just a smattering of Trump’s courthouse babble. They tackle more statements at the link. And they are all 100% prime BS.