Donald Trump's hush money trial could end in a hung jury because of the evidence of Trump's former lawyer, a New York attorney has said.
Lawyer Colleen Kerwick made her comments as prosecutors and Trump's attorneys prepared to make closing statements to the jury on Tuesday.
"I would hazard a guess that at least one juror will refuse to convict Trump, the jury will hang, and there will be a mistrial," Kerwick said.
The prosecution seeks to prove that before the 2016 presidential election, Trump paid or discussed paying two women—former adult film star Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal—to not disclose his alleged affairs with them. He denies affairs with both women.
Prosecutors claim that the payment to Stormy Daniels was made through Trump's then attorney, Michael Cohen.
They also claim the payment to Daniels was an illegal campaign contribution because the payment was intended to silence Daniels and thereby influence the 2016 presidential election.
Cohen was later jailed for illegal campaign contributions, tax fraud and other charges. He is now an implacable opponent of Trump and they have attacked each other's characters on social media posts since the trial began.
Newsweek sought email comment from Trump's attorney on Monday.
Kerwick told Newsweek that Cohen admitted to the jury that he had stolen from Trump and covered it up with fraudulent paperwork. She said that some of the jury may accept that Cohen acted alone in creating false records to hide hush money payments to Daniels.
Cohen admitted during his testimony that he stole from Trump's parent company, the Trump Organization.
During Cohen's testimony, Trump attorney Todd Blanche questioned him about a payment to tech company Red Finch. Cohen paid the company $20,000 from the $50,000 he received from the Trump Organization for financial services, according to Newsweek reporter Katherine Fung, who has been covering the trial from the courtroom.
Cohen admitted to billing the Trump Organization for the full expense, even though he never paid Red Finch the entire amount. When Blanche asked Cohen if he stole from the Trump Organization, given the $20,000 Red Finch payment, Cohen answered, "Yes, sir."
Kerwick said that it is not a crime to pay someone for their silence, which is a significant factor for the jury.
"It is not a crime to purchase someone's intellectual property rights or to have someone sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement. Trump also can't be said to have known what Cohen was doing with falsification of records when Cohen was stealing from Trump."
"A juror would also be within their rights to consider whether the payments were for the benefit of the election or not," she said.
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About the writer
Sean O'Driscoll is a Newsweek Senior Crime and Courts Reporter based in Ireland. His focus is reporting on U.S. law. ... Read more