Alvin Bragg keeps proving that to call his case against Donald Trump a show trial would be an insult to show trials.
Trump’s trial flew off the rails because of Bragg’s big blunder.
And something very interesting happened when Alvin Bragg called Stormy Daniels to testify.
Stormy Daniels testimony backfires on Bragg
Stormy Daniels proved to be a disaster of a witness.
Her testimony had nothing to do with the charges against Trump.
Bragg just wanted to put Daniels on the stand to humiliate Trump by having her testify about the sexual encounter they allegedly had in 2006.
The scene made jurors uncomfortable.
But on cross examination, Trump’s lawyers scored major points.
CNN’s Elie Honig said jurors wouldn’t react favorably to Daniels admitting she hates Trump, will refuse a court order to pay the legal fees Trump won in a case against her, and laughing about the prospect of Trump going to jail.
That was the least of Bragg’s and Daniels’ problems.
Michael Avenatti makes his presence felt
Michael Avenatti – Daniel’s former lawyer – is emerging as one of the loudest critics of Bragg’s prosecution.
Avenatti is intimately aware of the details of the nondisclosure agreement Daniels signed in 2016.
And Avenatti believes the prosecution is an abuse of power and an attempt by Bragg to damage a political rival.
Avenatti also has been critical of Daniels’ truthfulness.
Avenatti is accusing Daniels of a crime
In a letter released the day Daniels testified, Avenatti described a conversation with Sarah Gibson, the director of a Peacock documentary entitled Stormy.
Gibson wanted Avenatti to participate in the documentary.
Avenatti asked Gibson if this was just a puff piece about Daniels or if it was a legitimate attempt to get at the truth.
“I was particularly interested in knowing whether the project was going to be legitimate and fair, or instead, a puff piece designed to put Daniels in a favorable light while ignoring facts and trashing me and Donald Trump. I wanted nothing to do with the project if it was the latter,” Avenatti wrote.
Avenatti then described how Daniels was going to get paid.
In his letter, Avenatti claimed Gibson laid out a complicated scheme to hide Daniels’ compensation, so Trump’s lawyers wouldn’t know about the money, and not go to court to order the funds turned over to collect on the judgment Trump won against Daniels.
“Ms. Gibson told me that Daniels was being paid for the documentary, but that because she owed Trump hundreds of thousands of dollars from a judgment Trump was trying to collect from Daniels, they – Daniels, Gibson and others – had come up with a plan that would allow Daniels to be secretly paid, while at the same time keeping the payment(s) from Trump and his attorneys,” Avenatti wrote.
Avenatti alleged Gibson “told me that they had fictionally ‘optioned’ the rights to Daniels’ book and then routed the money Daniels demanded through a fabricated ‘trust’ that had been set-up in the name of Daniels’ daughter – all to hide the money from Trump and avoid paying the judgment.”
Avenatti said he was shocked that Gibson laid out a criminal enterprise to commit what Avenatti claimed were multiple felonies causing him not to participate in the project.
“A woman I had never met or spoken to before was admitting to me, on a recorded line, that Daniels, she and others had engaged in multiple overt criminal acts (state and federal), including falsification of business records, wire fraud, and fraudulent transfers, all in an effort to defraud Trump and avoid paying him what he was legally due. Due to the fraud, I declined to participate in the documentary,” Avenatti added.
