Professor Gregory Germain commented to Salon on the testimony of former AMI executive Harvey Pecker during the Donald Trump hush money trial. In the article, Germain provides a legal perspective on Pecker’s testimony and other aspects of the trial.
Because the former AMI exec only referred Stormy Daniels’ story to Michael Cohen and wasn’t involved in Daniels’ payment or its documentation, Trump could “argue on appeal that the Court should not have admitted evidence of the unrelated Pecker crimes” should he be convicted, Germain explained.
“The judge allowed Pecker and [will allow] Karen MacDougal to testify, even though the potential crimes they were involved with had nothing to do with the charges in the indictment,” Germain said. “The Court of Appeals just overturned Harvey Weinstein’s conviction because the trial court allowed the admission of evidence of prior acts that had nothing to do with the charges, and I think the DA’s attempt to introduce evidence from Karen MacDougal that will be prejudicial to Trump but has really nothing to do with the document charges in the indictment will create additional problems for the DA on appeal if he is successful in obtaining a conviction.”