While much of the focus of former President Donald Trump's legal issues are the federal and Georgia-originated charges he faces, Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg's "hush money" case is back in the headlines.
Bragg made what many believe to be a curious move recently as far as evidence he doesn't want in the upcoming Trump trial -- the only trial likely to happen before the general election.
According to JustSecurity, a 2018 interview between former Trump associate Rudy Giuliani and Fox News host Sean Hannity where Giuliani seemingly admitted Trump was familiar with Michael Cohen's payment to Stormy Daniels, will not be used as evidence in the trial.
One would think that such evidence would be paramount in a case where Bragg is attempting to prove Trump knew about the alleged $130,000 "hush money" payment.
As the outlet noted, Bragg likely decided against using the infamous Giuliani interview as evidence as it "could have compromised any conviction of Trump on appeal."
The interview in question was nothing short of a temporary disaster for both Giuliani and Trump's lawyers, who quickly disavowed the former New York City mayor's words.
JustSecurity noted:
Then-President Trump “did know about the general arrangement” that Cohen “would take care of things like this,” Giuliani told Hannity during the interview, referring to the hush-money payments. Later in the show, Giuliani noted that Cohen “funneled” his $130,000 payoff to a law firm and revealed, for the first time, that Trump “reimbursed” him.
Many reports indicated that Giuliani might have been intoxicated prior to doing the interview with Hannity, which is where his extra wording might have originated.
Notably, Giuliani would later claim that he "misspoke" during the Hannity interview, and the White House was forced to morph into damage control mode.
Julie Rendelman, a former homicide prosecutor in Brooklyn, New York, offered her take on Bragg's decision to not push to use the interview as evidence, saying, "The prosecution, I would think, wants a ‘clean’ presentation, and adding Rudy Giuliani’s statement to the mix could open an unnecessary can of worms."
Other legal experts believe Bragg isn't pushing to use the video as evidence because he already has stronger evidence he plans to use.
"As a defense attorney, my instincts are asking, ‘Do they have something better?'" said Brian Buckmire, a longtime public defender and practicing trial attorney.
Rendelman also added that she believes Bragg is attempting to avoid anything that could ruin the conviction on appeal, which would most certainly happen if Trump were to be convicted.
Only time will tell what Bragg plans to use to prove his case against the former president.
