Lara Trump downplays hush money charges as simple ‘bookkeeping error’
Lara Trump downplayed the criminal charges against her father-in-law Donald Trump as a mere "bookkeeping error."
The Republican National Committee co-chair appeared Wednesday on Sean Hannity's Fox News program, where she suggested Manhattan prosecutors were engaged in election interference for trying the former president on 34 counts of falsifying business records to cover up alleged hush money payments to adult movie actress Stormy Daniels, reported HuffPost.
"Everyone can see what this is about," Lara Trump said. "They have, and are forcing, Donald Trump to sit in a courtroom — this is a former president of the United States, the current nominee for the Republican side of the aisle for president — for weeks on end. For what, Sean? They claim a bookkeeping error — really?"
“This is insane," she added. "We can all see exactly what this is all about and what the goal of this is. Of course, it’s to keep Donald Trump from the campaign trail."
Prosecutors allege in their indictment that Trump directed his then-attorney Michael Cohen, who has already served nearly three years in prison after pleading guilty in the scheme, to pay Daniels off in the weeks before the 2016 election to ensure her silence about an extramarital affair.
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Trump then allegedly falsified business records by reimbursing Cohen in a series of transactions described as payment for legal services.
Trump has denied all the allegations.
The ex-president's campaign circulated talking points ahead of the trial, which started Monday, directing surrogates to describe the case as a "a full-frontal assault on American Democracy and the Constitution" and a "witch hunt," and recommending that supporters do not refer to the case as a "hush money case," but to instead describe it as "entries in the company’s records."
‘Virtually impossible’: Trump demands delay to classified docs case as NYC trial continues
Former President Donald Trump Thursday demanded a pause in his classified documents case in Florida, arguing his lawyers are too busy trying to keep him out of jail in New York City, court records show.
Trump’s attorneys Todd Blanche and Chris Kise doubled down on the weekend's deadline extension demands, opposed by special counsel Jack Smith, in a new request to Judge Aileen Cannon, according to Florida federal court documents.
The attorneys claim they cannot continue without access to a sensitive compartmented information facility, a military term for an enclosed area used to process sensitive information.
“Simply put, [former] President Trump and his counsel cannot prepare — or even discuss — the required filings anywhere but an appropriate SCIF,” the attorneys write. “A virtually impossible task given President Trump and Messrs. Blanche ... involvement in People v. Trump.”
People v. Trump is more commonly known as the hush money trial, which began this week in New York City, where the former president faces 34 counts of falsifying business records to cover up payments made to a star of adult films, Stormy Daniels.
Legal experts also call it an election interference case, as Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg contends Trump paid Daniels not to talk about sexual encounters ahead of the 2016 presidential race. Trump denies the allegations.
Blanche is overseeing both the hush money and the classified documents case — in which the former president stands accused of Espionage Act violations linked to classified documents found in his Mar-a-Lago bathroom, among other places — as well as weighing in on the D.C. election interference case.
Reports from inside the courtroom show Blanche’s many responsibilities Thursday included chastising Trump for disobeying court rules by taking out his phone.
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“Trump is using his phone in the courtroom, openly flouting the rules of the courtroom,” reported NBC correspondent Kyle Griffin. “Blanche just told him to stop and Trump tucked the phone in his pocket while looking annoyed.”
Thursday’s filing also contains the promise that the New York City trial is moving along at rapid speed.
“The trial is proceeding expeditiously,” the lawyers write. “And jury selection may be completed by the end of this week.”
This letter arrived the same day two jurors were excused, leaving just five selected for a panel of 16.
This is hardly Trump's first attempt to delay the Florida trial, a tactic legal experts say is aims to push the court date past the presidential election. If Trump reclaims the White House, he could essentially kill the case.
