Former President Donald Trump’s Manhattan hush money trial begins today, and Fox News’ bogus defense is well underway — with the network’s flagship morning show, Fox & Friends, suggesting there’s no “underlying crime” at the root of the case.
Trump has been charged with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in order to conceal a payment made to Stormy Daniels, a porn star who claims to have had an affair with the former president, in the days before the 2016 presidential election. In New York, falsifying business records is typically a misdemeanor, however, Trump was charged with felony counts as the records were allegedly falsified to conceal an underlying crime. Prosecutors have outlined three arguments explaining that aspect of the case, Politico writes:
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg needs to prove to the jury that Trump had “the intent to commit, aid, or conceal the commission” of one of these crimes by falsifying business records, not that he actually violated state or federal laws. But Fox News figures turned a blind eye to these explanations as Trump’s New York trial finally got underway on April 15.
Fox & Friends co-host Brian Kilmeade ignored Bragg’s previous detailing of the crimes Trump was trying to conceal, saying that the DA “hasn’t told us what the second crime is” and asking, “Don’t you think the defense needs to know?”
Fox News legal editor Kerri Kupec Urbahn appeared as a guest later in that episode of Fox & Friends to falsely state that “no one really understands what the underlying crime is,” claiming Bragg explained only “vaguely that he [Trump] had violated state and federal election laws.”
“At this point, and I mean this very sincerely, I am convinced that the New York justice system is determined to crush Donald Trump and they’ll do whatever it takes, including abusing the law,” she said, adding, “Now it appears they’re attempting to remove him altogether from public life.”
Bragg has extensively detailed how Trump attempted to conceal violations of state and federal election law, as well as state tax law, yet Fox News is now playing dumb by alleging that the DA failed to explain an underlying crime. This is merely the network’s latest ploy to defend Trump against his staggering 88 felony charges, regardless of evidence provided by prosecutors.
