3 key takeaways from the Trump trial

You know, the campaign cover-up case, as opposed to the fraudulent financial statement case, or the defamation and sexual assault case, or ...

Now that we’re several weeks into the Trump criminal trial in NYC, with the prosecution potentially almost done with making its initial case, a number of key takeaways are coming into focus. This is something we’ll revisit as the case continues, so consider this a work in progress.

#1 — This case is less complicated than it seems: there are a few key exhibits the jury will focus on.

We have a tendency to overanalyze these cases. It’s why we’re here. If we just wanted to know the basic gist of what was going on, we’d glance at a headline or two and move on, right?

But if you’re not a news or legal junkie, how does this case look? Well, for one thing, it’s important to remember that when a jury goes in to deliberate, they have access to the exhibits, but when it comes to witnesses, they have to rely on whatever notes they took. They can’t bring Michael Cohen or Stormy Daniels or David Pecker back in to chat with them and do a Q&A — but they can go back and look at exhibits all they want. So what are the key exhibits here?

The figurative (though not literal) Exhibit A? The audio recording of Donald Trump and Michael Cohen discussing the payment to Karen McDougal.

And Exhibit B? The checks to Michael Cohen, signed by Donald Trump.

If you want hard evidence, rather than (or in addition to) witness testimony, there it is. Trump clearly knew and directed the hush money payments in advance — and he literally signed off on them.

These exhibits will loom large. They corroborate the witness testimony and the overall narrative the prosecution is developing.

#2 — Trump went to great lengths to hide these payments — not from Melania, but from the media and from regulators.

One of the other things that keeps hitting me as I watch this? Look at all the different hoops that Trump and his team went through to hide the payment to Stormy Daniels:

• They created a shell company

• They lied about the purpose of the shell company

• They drafted an agreement to process the payment, with fake names

• They drafted a side letter to the agreement

• They created fake invoices to make the reimbursement look like payment to Cohen for legal services

• They “grossed up” Cohen’s reimbursement number to make it look like he would then pay taxes on the amount

• They chopped up Cohen’s reimbursement into 11 different payments to make it look like a payment for ongoing services throughout 2017

• They had the payments come from a special business account that only Donald Trump could make payments from

But then the real question is — why?

Why did they need to go to such great lengths? Spoiler alert: it was not because of Melania. None of these steps was necessary in order to keep it from Melania — who never had any access or authority regarding any of the Trump Organization bank accounts. If all they wanted to do was to keep it hidden from Melania, all they had to do was to send a single $130,000 payment to Keith Davidson, Stormy’s attorney, from one of the Trump Org’s business accounts.

Instead, all of these efforts were undertaken to hide the payment from journalists, from regulators at the Federal Election Commission, and from the general public. It was all done to hide it from the American people — so that Trump could sweep this under the rug just long enough to make it past Election Day 2016.

That is the prosecution’s key point to make here, because the campaign finance violation (not reporting the payments as campaign contributions) is what elevates this from a misdemeanor to a felony.

#3 — Follow the money: the checks are even more fishy than you think.

Trump’s payments to Michael Cohen are very, very weird, far more weird than most people realize.

First, there is the simple fact that Michael Cohen was a full-time employee of the Trump Organization: he was an Executive Vice President. He was an in-house attorney and fixer. He had a regular salary and paycheck.

So why the hell was Cohen also being paid as a 1099, as an independent contractor, supposedly for legal services, for an additional $35,000 per month throughout 2017? Why was he getting paid extra for the same job for which he already drew a salary?

Because it wasn’t really for legal services, that’s why.

Second, there is the fact that Donald Trump paid Cohen out of a special “DJT” checking account that only Trump himself was authorized to use. So there is no way for Trump to say that the payments to Cohen somehow happened without his authorization or knowledge.

Third, it is critical to understand how the Trump Organization typically makes payments. During the time period in question, payments were made via checks, signed 99.999% of the time by then-CFO Allen Weisselberg. And while there were several hundred Trump Org bank accounts, they all typically had only 5 authorized signers: Donald Trump Sr., Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump, Ivanka Trump, and Allen Weisselberg. All payments for all Trump Org businesses were handled centrally by Weisselberg and his team, including the former controller, Jeff McConney (Weisselberg’s second in command, who has already testified in this trial); Weisselberg personally reviewed everything and signed the checks. And Weisselberg personally reviewed the books with Donald Trump.

So for Donald Trump to sign any check was highly unusual. And it was even more unusual for him to use the “DJT” account. Trump kept very close tabs on every dollar that left the building — but here, Trump knew exactly what dollars were leaving the building, because it was the very rare instance in which he’s the one who signed off on the payments.

This all makes it extremely difficult for Trump and his lawyers to argue that Trump was unaware of what was going on, that somehow Cohen did this of his own accord.

Why was Trump paying his own employee extra money for the same services that he rendered as an employee … from a special account only Trump was authorized to use … with checks signed by him personally? The only explanation is that Trump was hiding something — and he knew he was hiding something.

One last note here. This is not the first time that Trump signed checks personally when he was up to no good. He did it in the Trump University case too:

This was a payment Trump made to himself, siphoning profits out of the illegal unlicensed school. He made these payments to himself quarterly at the height of the scam, withdrawing around $5 million total.

Is it possible that Donald Trump has a weird confessional tell? Almost like a calling card left at the scene of a crime by a villain who can’t help himself. He knows he’s doing something wrong — and even though, in both cases, he did not need to be the one signing those checks, he wanted to sign them. It would appear that deep down he’s proud of all his scams and frauds and predatory misconduct — and he wants to show them off.

That’s all for now. As always, very happy to hear everyone’s thoughts, questions, and ideas for topics! And there will be more coming soon — including Q&A’s, once I figure out how to do them, plus <drum roll> the pilot episode of my new podcast, which you’ll be able to listen to right here, and everywhere else you listen to pods. More soon!