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A former Watergate prosecutor has said Donald Trump's upcoming trial regarding payments made to adult movie actress Stormy Daniels in New York is just as strong as other legal battles that the former president is facing.
Nick Akerman, former assistant special prosecutor, appeared on CNN NewsNight with Abby Phillip on Friday. He was talking about allegations that the former president agreed to a scheme to falsify documents while reimbursing his former lawyer Michael Cohen via a series of checks for a "hush money" payment made to Daniels in 2016.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 felony charges relating to the case and has repeatedly said it is part of a political witch hunt aimed at derailing his bid for the White House. Daniels said in January that she is "set to testify" in the trial, which will begin in New York on March 25. Whether Trump will choose to attend the trial is unknown at this stage. Newsweek has contacted Donald Trump's office via the contact form on its website for clarification.
On the CNN show with Nick Akerman, Phillip cited a Washington Post article that declared in its headline that the upcoming case is the "runt" of the former president's criminal trials, which is a quote from Ronald Kuby, a criminal defense lawyer in New York. However, Akerman disagreed, saying: "This case involves Donald Trump basically defrauding the voters in the 2016 election."
Akerman added: "I think it's easily just as strong as the other cases, and you have two accomplices with Michael Cohen and you've got David Pecker from the National Enquirer, both of whom are going to corroborate each other over the scheme that Donald Trump had in order to try and pay off various women to keep them from telling their stories before the 2016 election."
"This case is extremely important," Akerman said.
In The Washington Post article, Kuby said that the hush-money case is less complex than the three other legal battles Trump is facing.
"Unlike the D.C. case, this does not involve any question of presidential immunity," Kuby added. "Unlike the Florida documents case, this does not involve the lengthy proceedings that are needed in cases where classified information is at issue; and unlike the Georgia case, it is not a sprawling indictment of 18 people—there's one defendant."
The payments case is now scheduled to be the next trial for Trump following the cancellation of the March 4 start date for the federal interference trial due to take place in Washington D.C.
It is also the first criminal case filed against Trump, with Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg bringing felony charges against the former president in March 2023.
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Aliss Higham is a Newsweek reporter based in Glasgow, Scotland. Her focus is reporting on Social Security, other government benefits ... Read more