Trump lawyer says hush money payment ‘not even a bad act’
Ryan King
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Former President Donald Trump‘s lawyer Joe Tacopina roundly dismissed potential charges from the Manhattan district attorney’s office, saying there was “not even a bad act.”
Tacopina also shrugged off criticisms of Trump’s rhetoric over his possible indictment and insisted that Trump did not lie when he issued a cryptic warning that he would be arrested Tuesday of last week.
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“I swear to you, in my 32 years as both a prosecutor and a defense lawyer, I’ve never seen an abuse of discretion like this,” Tacopina told Meet the Press. “You can’t bring a case, cobble two misdemeanors together to try and make a felony and meet the statute limitations when not one misdemeanor exists. There is no crime here. There’s not even a bad act.”
When pressed about how Trump personally attacked Bragg, Tacopina conceded that one of the posts depicting himself holding a bat next to Bragg’s head was “ill-advised” and that Trump quickly took it down. Trump also warned there would be “death and destruction” if he was charged on Truth Social.
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“I’m not going to defend or condemn anything regarding social media. It’s not what I do,” Tacopina added. “I’m not a Trump PR person. I’m a litigator and a lawyer, and I’m talking about this case in Manhattan.”
Prosecutors have been rumored to be eyeing an indictment of Trump over a misdemeanor of falsification of business records pertaining to a reimbursement scheme of a $130,000 hush money payment made to adult film Stormy Daniels paired with a campaign finance violation.
Trump’s former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen entered a guilty plea in 2018, including for a campaign finance law, and admitted to wiring the money to Daniels on Trump’s behalf. Despite Cohen’s pleading guilty, Tacopina stressed that his case helped prove there was no basis for charging Trump.
“He said when he pled guilty that this was done for the benefit of the campaign and for personal embarrassment to the client and his family, including his young son Barron. Once he said the end part, it takes it out of campaign finance,” Tacopina added. “Even though it benefits the campaign, it’s not a personal campaign expenditure.”
Trump charged speculation that an indictment was forthcoming when he claimed on Truth Social that he would be arrested last week.
“No, he didn’t make it up. He was reacting towards a lot of leaks coming out of the district attorney’s office. There had been a leak, Chuck … that there was a law enforcement meeting including Secret Service and NYPD that was going to go through the logistics of the arraignment,” Tacopina said. “Certainly, he doesn’t want to be arrested.”
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Trump has denied wrongdoing on all accounts, and his campaign has fundraised off of the possible indictment. Ultimately, Tacopina conveyed confidence Trump would prevail in a hypothetical court case and hearkened back to the campaign finance case against former presidential hopeful John Edwards, who ultimately was not found guilty for payments revolving around an affair quiet.
“No one’s ever been prosecuted for that. The closest we’ve come was John Edwards back in the day, where a donor paid $900,000 for his mistress and the child to be housed somewhere. That case was ultimately dismissed,” Tacopina said.