continues. cnn primetime special inside the trump investigation starts now. a surreal moment. history made former president trump arrested and arraign cannot and will not normalized serious criminal conduct. 34 felony counts tied to alleged hush money payments felony crimes in new york state no matter who you are tonight, fact checking the former president s grievances. only crime that i have committed is to fearlessly defend our nation from those who seek to destroy it, comparing his charges to another infamous campaign finance case and answer the biggest questions. what s next for the manhattan case? this case is going to fall on its merits. well, before we get to a jury. what role does politics play in this prosecution as a nominee? would be much more difficult for a prosecutor to then go to trial and convict him and which of the other probes could imperil the former president? next this is the least of the legal troubles. we re seeing the special counsel making real strid
inside the trump investigation starts now. a surreal moment. history made former president trump arrested and arraign cannot and will not normalized serious criminal conduct. 34 felony counts tied to alleged hush money payments felony crimes in new york state no matter who you are tonight, fact checking the former president s grievances. only crime that i have committed is to fearlessly defend our nation from those who seek to destroy it, comparing his charges to another infamous campaign finance case and answer the biggest questions. what s next for the manhattan case? this case is going to fall on its merits. well, before we get to a jury. what role does politics play in this prosecution as a nominee? would be much more difficult for prosecutors to then go to trial and convict him and which of the other probes could imperil the former president? next this is the least of the legal troubles. we re seeing the special counsel making real strides. this is cnn prime time inside
or federal election law that was confusing to people, but a source close to the case suggests to me that they could be engaging in a belt and suspenders approach here. but again, it s not clear if federal election violations would work here. the case law is not clear. also questions about whether this could be a state election offense. because this was again about a federal election. now the next hurdle that the district attorney will have to get over is intent motive and was there an intent to defraud here? the courts have interpreted that in some instances as trying to deprive someone of money or property and here, of course, he was paying michael cohen more than he actually owed him. but at least one appellate court has looked at this idea of intent to defraud and said well, it could potentially apply to depriving the public or the government of something and because there was a allegedly an effort to get around tax obligations. it could work. but again, it s a hurdle for prosecutor
to people, but a source close to the case suggests to me that they could be engaging in a belt and suspenders approach here. but again, it s not clear if federal election violations would work here. the case law is not clear. also questions about whether this could be a state election offense. because this was again about a federal election. now the next hurdle that the district attorney will have to get over is intent motive and was there an intent to defraud here? the courts have interpreted that in some instances as trying to deprive someone of money or property and here, of course, he was paying michael cohen more than he actually owed him. but at least one appellate court has looked at this idea of intent to defraud and said well, it could potentially apply to depriving the public or the government of something and because there was a allegedly an effort to get around tax obligations. it could work. but again, it s a hurdle for prosecutors. and yet another hurdle that they ll have