Trump and his lawyers are now trying to get the judge to block ex-White House staffers from testifying against him in Manhattan.
Jose Pagliery of The Daily Beast was in the courtroom and posted:
I *think* the judge just said he'll address that as it comes at trial.
Next, the judge says he'll rule next week on Trump's claim that "he believes his conduct was legal because Cohen as an attorney negotiated the payments in question."
— Jose Pagliery (@Jose_Pagliery) April 19, 2024
Executive Privilege, which is where itis safe to assume Trump and his lawyers are going with this doesn’t apply because it doesn’t cover criminal activity. No matter how much Trump tries to make it so, Executive Privilege does not give presidents the right to commit crimes.
The second point raised by Trump and his legal team seems equally preposterous. A crime isn’t suddenly legal if a lawyers assists in it commission. Although, the idea that Trump thought he could commit crimes as long as he had a lawyer involved is a very Donald Trump way of thinking.
With each passing moment that Trump spends in court, his attempts at evading justice seem to be getting more far-fetched and desperate. Trump’s defense for years in this case has been to blame Michael Cohen, so it seems to be the plan to evade conviction by blaming Cohen.
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