Norman Eisen: Trump's Manhattan Trial Is About a Lot More Than Hush Money

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Trump’s Manhattan Trial Is About a Lot More Than Hush Money
PRIMER
Here’s what to know as Trump goes on trial this week, the first time an American president in or out of office has been charged with a crime.
Norman Eisen
Norman Eisen
Updated Apr. 14, 2024 3:40AM EDT / Published Apr. 13, 2024 10:56PM EDT

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Make no mistake: The Manhattan case is not just about hush money. According to the presiding judge, Justice Juan Merchan, “the charges arise from allegations that Defendant attempted to conceal an illegal scheme to influence the 2016 presidential election.” As Bragg described it, the “core” of the case “is not money for sex... It’s about conspiring to corrupt a presidential election and then... lying in New York business records to cover it up… That’s the heart of the case.” Bragg and his team built the case as a “clear-cut instance of election interference, in which a candidate defrauded the American people to win the White House in 2016.”

The timing of the scheme establishes its connection to the election. The hush money arrangement with Daniels occurred just after the “Access Hollywood” scandal, when Trump boasted about committing sexual assaults, and was consummated on October 27, 2016, 12 days before the election. As described in the charging documents, Trump initially directed Cohen to delay the payments to Daniels until after the election, “because at that point it would not matter if the story became public.” However, “with pressure mounting and the election approaching,” Trump ultimately agreed to the payoff.

The “catch and kill” scheme was squarely aimed at influencing voters’ perceptions. When Cohen pleaded guilty to eight charges in 2018, the Department of Justice (DOJ) explained that the hush money payments made to Clifford and another woman were “intend[ed] to influence the 2016 presidential election.” Similarly, in its non-prosecution agreement with the DOJ, AMI admitted that the hush money paid to another woman (former Playboy model Karen McDougal) was intended to prevent her from “publiciz[ing] damaging allegations about” Trump “before the 2016 presidential election and thereby influence that election.” And as I explained for The New York Times, it is “entirely possible that the alleged election interference might have altered the outcome of the 2016 contest, which was decided by just under 80,000 votes in three states. Coming on the heels of the ‘Access Hollywood’ disgrace, the effort to keep the scandal from voters may have saved Trump’s political prospects.”

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The overarching theme of the coming trial will be DA Bragg’s argument to the judge, the jury, and the court of public opinion that this case is about our democracy. In America, we value our freedoms—including our freedom to elect leaders who govern in our name. The legitimacy of American governance rests upon the honesty of our elections, and when information is withheld from voters, as Bragg alleges happened here, that undermines democracy. Indeed, the alleged 2016 campaign corruption and cover up may be viewed as setting the pattern for Trump’s presidency and its culmination: his alleged 2020 election interference. For these reasons, we believe the trial is deeply important to our democracy, and so worth understanding in depth. My book is our effort to help readers do just that.


Excerpted from Trying Trump: A Guide to His First Election Interference Criminal Trial, edited by Norm Eisen, SDDF Books. Copyright 2024 by SDDF Books. Reprinted with permission.